Hip Hop / Rap
Born in the South Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s, hip-hop and rap grew out of block parties, neighborhood expression, and a creative community with something to say.1 It has progressed into one of the most-streamed genres in the United States, with a reach that extends far beyond music into fashion, film, and language.2
At its core, hip-hop and rap are built on four main pillars: DJing, MCing (rapping), breakdancing, and graffiti art. This foundation informs live hip-hop and rap performances, where the energy between artist and audience is raw and direct.3 Whether a packed arena show with full production or an underground club set, hip-hop concerts are built on presence, high energy, and an audience screaming the words along with the artist.
Find hip-hop and rap tickets at AXS today.
All Hip Hop / Rap Events
Hip Hop / Rap Information
Hip-hop and Rap Events
Hip-hop’s live event scene is one of the most varied in music. On one end, performers produce stadium arena tours, massive productions with crafted DJ sets, surprise guest appearances, and setlists that span entire careers and albums. Just as common are intimate club and theater shows where an emerging artist might perform their debut EP feet from the front row.
Music festivals are also a major part of live hip-hop and rap events. Three-day extravaganzas like Rolling Loud festival are dedicated destinations for the hip-hop genre, while mainstay festivals like Coachella or Lollapalooza regularly feature hip-hop headliners. The steady presence of hip-hop in mainstream music events cements how central hip-hop has become to popular culture and contemporary music.4
No matter the format, hip-hop and rap events share a common thread: a crowd that’s fully locked in, and artists who feed off that energy in real time.
Hip-hop and Rap Venues
Hip-hop and rap concerts happen across the globe, from 20,000-seat arenas to the kind of intimate rooms where the genre first caught fire. AXS partners with a range of venues, making it easy to catch both the most buzzy national tours and the small, pop-up shows.
- Crypto.com Arena (Los Angeles): One of the busiest and most storied entertainment venues in the country, Crypto.com Arena has hosted some of hip-hop’s biggest names, from Jay-Z to Kendrick Lamar, with over 20,000 seats and production infrastructure built for large-scale touring shows.5
- T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas): Located just off the iconic Vegas Strip, T-Mobile Arena is a premier destination for major hip-hop tours, with a capacity of up to 20,000 and world-class production capability that has hosted large-scale acts like Drake, Cardi B, and Lil Baby.6
- Barclays Center (Brooklyn): Situated in the borough that gave hip-hop much of its identity, Barclays Center is a natural home for the genre. The likes of Chance the Rapper, Gunna, and Playboi Carti have all sold out the “Center”.7
Hip-hop and Rap Artists
Hip-hop and rap artists have always been driven by individual voices, reflections of topical issues, and repping their hometowns and communities. DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa are widely credited as the architects of the genre in the 1970s, developing the DJ techniques and MC culture that laid the foundations of hip-hop.3
Through the 1990s and 2000s, artists like Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Nas, Missy Elliott, and Eminem brought hip-hop and rap fully into the mainstream, becoming top charting “radio artists.” Their distinct tones and regional perspective helped the genre branch in multiple directions at once.2 Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj have carried that momentum forward, building global audiences and reshaping what a hip-hop and rap career looks like in the streaming era.
Artists like Doechii, GloRilla, and Lil Uzi Vert represent the new wave of the genre, pulling from hip-hop’s history while pushing its sound into new territory.4 In hip-hop and rap, the next generation never waits long to make its statement and leave a mark.
History of Hip-hop and Rap
Hip-hop and rap originated in the Bronx borough of New York City in the early 1970s, with most music historians crediting an August 1973 dance bash hosted by DJ Kool Herc as the inception point for the movement.3
A Jamaican immigrant, Herc pioneered the technique of spinning the same record on two simultaneous turntables, toggling between them to isolate and extend percussion breaks into prolonged dance breaks. This method filled the dance floor and provided an escape from the turmoil experienced by the city’s working class throughout the 1970s.2
The late 1980s and early 1990s ushered in the golden age of hip-hop and rap, as the music spread across the country in full force. Record labels recognized the genre as an unstoppable trend and invested significant money into hip-hop artists and rappers. Sampling became a defining production technique, though it later led to major copyright disputes and legal changes in the music industry.2
By the turn of the millennium, hip-hop had become the top-selling music genre, having fully gone mainstream with its far-reaching influence. Hip-hop and rap’s influence in the 21st century can be seen across fashion, popular culture, film, technology, language, dance, politics, media, and more.