This introductory chapter begins with a provocation from Busta Rhymes at the 2023 BET Awards, where he advocates for the multi–locational precedents of hip-hop music, most notably its Jamaican forebears. Accordingly, and following this, it sets out this book’s core agenda and goals. Firstly, through calling for a a deepening of our gaze on rap, as a performed verbal art, specifically. Secondly, a widening of our gaze to acknowledge the truly global significance of this art form. It also addresses the dangers of lionising ‘foundational’ figures and moments in popular histories rap, and advocates for a critical engagement with global rap and the myriad cultures produced through this art-form. The introduction closes by detailing the book’s four key sections – “Historical and Cultural Perspectives”, “Approaches to Rap”, “Applications of Rap”, and “Contexts for Rap”. In both its theoretical and empirical endeavours, the Cambridge Companion to Global Rap enters into communion with artists, their work, and their lives. Rap’s status as a global force therefore demands appreciation of myriad cultural contexts, approaches to performance, and means by which this art form is sustained.