proto-rap

noun2

1. •
   Performance art forms that served as precursors to rap, especially those that feature rhythmic spoken or half-sung lyrics.

   • It opens with a W.H. Auden poem that is read with the urgency and the rhythm of the piston on a steam engine. It sounds like proto-rap. — 2014
2. •
   A specific piece or performance delivered in such an art form.

   • Another source of rap, this one closer to home, was George Clinton's funk; we heard a proto-rap at the beginning of “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk). — 2008