Rap metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 Then
Nu metal 1994
Seven-string guitars tuned very low, hip-hop groove, a DJ or sampler and lyrics about personal trauma. The decade's best-selling and most disputed genre.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Korn - Korn. The first track opens with bagpipes, which nobody ever remembers.
Korn, Korn (1994) - 3 What you asked about
Rap metal 1991
Rapped vocals over metal riffs, built around groove and a shouted chorus.
Rapped. Verses delivered as rap over the riffs.
Put on
Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles. Their best-produced record.
Rage Against the Machine, The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) - 4 Where to go next
Rap rock 1986
Rapped vocals over rock riffs. The Run-DMC and Aerosmith collaboration opened the door; Rage turned it into a political weapon.
Rapped. Verses delivered as rap over the riffs.
Put on
Rage Against the Machine - the debut. No synths and no samples, just four people.
Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Rap metal descends from, in order. Rap metal has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.