This hip hop quiz draws from a pool of 50 questions covering five decades of rap history, from DJ Kool Herc's 1973 block parties in the Bronx to today's chart-dominating artists. Hip hop is now the most-consumed music genre in the United States, accounting for over 27% of all music streams.
Each session randomly selects 10 questions from our bank of 50, so no two rounds are the same. Every question is multiple choice with four options, and you get instant feedback with detailed explanations after each answer. Share your score with friends to see who really knows their rap history.
Questions span old-school pioneers, golden age albums, East Coast vs. West Coast rivalries, Southern rap, and modern hip hop. You might discover that Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won five Grammys including Album of the Year, or that OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is the best-selling hip hop album in US history.
Hip hop originated in the early 1970s in the South Bronx, New York City. DJ Kool Herc is widely credited as the father of hip hop for hosting block parties in 1973 where he isolated and extended percussion breaks. The first commercially released hip hop record, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, came out in 1979.
While the greatest rapper debate is highly subjective, artists like Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, and Kendrick Lamar consistently top critics' and fans' lists. Kendrick Lamar made history in 2018 as the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, while Jay-Z holds the record for the most #1 albums on the Billboard 200 by a solo artist with 14.
Blondie's "Rapture" became the first song featuring rap vocals to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1981. Though primarily a new wave track, it included a rap verse by Debbie Harry. The first pure hip hop song to reach #1 was "Walk This Way" by Run-DMC and Aerosmith in 1986, a groundbreaking rock-rap crossover.
Last updated: March 2026