Romanian hip hop first emerged in 1982, along with the break-dancing movement which became very popular in the 1980s. However, Romanian hip hop was developed in the early 1990s, when American rappers hit the European charts. Most notable Romanian hip hop artists come from Bucharest, Romania's capital and largest city and most notable trap from Craiova and Bucharest. The genre is currently growing in popularity in Europe.

B.U.G. Mafia, is a Romanian hip hop group from Pantelimon, Bucharest, widely regarded as one of the seminal acts of gangsta rap in Romania. Founded in 1993 as Black Underground, its original lineup consisted of Vlad "Tataee" Irimia, Dragoș "Caddy" Vlad-Neagu and two other members, D.D. and Mr.Nobody, who, by the end of the year, had already departed from the group. Irimia and Vlad-Neagu, who were still teenage high school students at the time, had been working on amateur solo recordings and had little professional prospects on their own prior to their encounter. The group initially performed as a duo throughout Bucharest at local highschool proms and parties while considering their options for professional careers in music and, following a string of relatively unsuccessful attempts at promoting their music in English, they recruited Alin "Uzzi" Demeter in 1995 and eventually transitioned to writing in Romanian.