As an expression of Black American pop music, its origins stood in much the same territory – funk, R&B, disco, and jazz made up the lion’s share of early hip-hop DNA, with strains of techno, reggae, dancehall, and Latin music filtering in through other communities. But gospel, one of the oldest and most revered forms of the diaspora, was at best a rare undercurrent, and at worst, completely at odds with hip-hop. - thevinylfactory