Rapso is a form of Trinidadian music

Music of Trinidad and Tobago

Calypso music and steelpan is what Trinidad and Tobago is best known for, including internationally in the 1950s through artists like Lord Kitchener and Mighty Sparrow; the art form was most popularised at that time by Harry Belafonte...

 that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. It has been described as "de power of de word in the riddim of de word". Though often described as a fusion of native soca

Soca music

Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....

 with American hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

, rapso is uniquely Trinidadian.

Black Power

Black Power

Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...

 and unions

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 grew in the 1970s, and rapso grew along with them. The first recording was Blow Away by Lancelot Layne

Lancelot Layne

-Person:Lancelot Layne was born to a Ms. Ethel Strawn and raised in Gonzales, Trinidad, a village near Port of Spain. He had a start in many local singing shows and showcase forums in and about Trinidad...

 in 1970. Six years later, Cheryl Byron

Cheryl Byron

Cheryl Byron was a visual artist. She started her studies in her native land, Trinidad & Tobago. There she also studied dance with Neville Shepard and acted with the Caribbean Theater Guild....

 (founder of the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 based Something Positive Dance Company) was scorned when she sang rapso at a calypso tent

Calypso tent

Calypso tents are venues in which calypsonians perform during the Carnival season. They usually are cinema halls, community centers, or other indoor buildings which have seating and stage arrangements to host the entertainers, guests and patrons; or outdoor shows which are held in parks or, more...

; she is now called the "Mother of Rapso".

The term rapso was not invented until 1980, when the revolutionary Brother Resistance

Brother Resistance

Brother Resistance is a musician from Trinidad and Tobago.Born Lutalo Masimba, Brother Resistance became the lead singer of the Network Riddim Band, a Trinidadian soca ensemble, in 1970...

 released Busting Out with the Network Riddum Band. Initially dominated by the children of the Black Power movement, changes came in the 1990s with the younger artistes adopting the art form, most significantly the bands Kindred and 3 Canal.