Medieval chants and Twentieth Century rap are both musical forms that have many similarities and differences. There are many aspects to these two musical forms. These aspects include creation, development and history. In both their purpose andaudience, chants and rap can be both similar, but at the same time, completely different. The way that they are performed and set up, or structured, is where the most evidentdifferences occur.The Medieval chant, also known as the Gregorian chant, has been credited toPope Gregory I. Medieval chants originated around the year 600 A.D. The purposebehind the creation of chant was to fight the political, and somewhat social, stress andtension among the Bishops and in turn, converting the congregation back to worshippingGod. The chant was considered a very strict and functional type of music that wassacred, or used only for religious worshiping purposes. In contrast, rap, whose rootsoriginated out of the Africa American oral traditions and slave field songs were wrotemainly from the views, thoughts and concerns of the singer/writer. The creation of rapwas never, and has yet to be, attributed to any one certain individual. Rap, also known aship-hop, evolved from out of the urban slang on the streets. It was also found to be themain attraction at many DJ mixing competitions in teen clubs and hangouts. Somewherealong the way, of the road of rap that was being traveled and explored by so many, cametwo men by the name of DJ Hollywood and DJ Herc. These two men would eventuallybecome known as the Founding Fathers of Rap. Yet, in 1979, The Sugar Hill Gangreleased the first rap song to let rap do for their decade, what the Charleston did for theRoaring Twenties. The entire purpose of the Medieval chant was to completely focus on God andonly on God. One was to forget or drop everything and step outside of the real world andenter a perfect world full of serious praise and worship. Where as rap wa...
