Meanings
- uncountableentertainmentA microgenre of hip hop with mumbling or unclear vocal delivery by artists, and may generally refer to rappers who do not share the genre's typical emphasis on lyricism.
Derided by some, artists such as Future and Migos have been wildly successful mumble rap artists.
2018, Nick J. Sciullo, Communicating Hip-Hop: How Hip-Hop Culture Shapes Popular Culture, page 403 more examples
"Mumble rap" is the most active and vigorous scapegoat rap has had in years, in part because the internet — particularly social media — has created a landscape for it to thrive and be a hotly debated topic, engaging in the ideas of language and whether or not rappers should have to adhere to them, or whether or not this so-called mumble rap is actually pushing the genre forward, past some of its bowing to establishments.
2019, Hanif Abdurraqib, Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest, page 201The logical culmination of this tendency is today's mumble rap, featuring rhythmically monotonous phrasal and verbal repetition, strongly auto-tuned and, in some cases, literally mumbled.
2020, Macklin Smith, Aurko Joshi, Rhymes in the Flow: How Rappers Flip the Beat, page 256There was an exciting proliferation of punk rap, mumble rap, emo rap and trap-influenced SoundCloud artists.
2020, Adrian Besley, Billie Eilish: From e-girl to Icon, Michael O'Mara Books, →ISBN
Origin
From mumble + rap. First coined by hip hop artist Wiz Khalifa in 2016 during an interview.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mumble rap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mumble%20rap
“mumble rap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mumble%20rap. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mumble rap,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mumble%20rap.
Source: mumble rap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.