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Rapso has become the most influential of these two main descendants of calypso ; it arose as Black Power and Pan-Africanist thought spread in Trinidad.

Lancelot Layne is said to have invented the genre with his 1971 hit " Blow Away ", while Cheryl Byron brought rapso to calypso tents in 1976.

The term rapso first appeared in 1980 on Busting Out, an album by Brother Resistance and his Network Riddum Band.

Rapso has currently become one of the most prevalent expressions of music on Trinidad itself, but is largely absorbed into calypso during Carnival celebrations and contests.

The 1990s saw a more politically and spiritually-conscious form of rapso, which has been infused with soul and reggae music, as well as native J ' ouvert, an early introduction to Carnival which consists of percussionists using makeshift materials to hammer out a beat.

The trio band 3canal is among the most popular modern proponents.