<P> During the April 2011 Canadian party leader debate, Jack Layton, then - leader of the New Democratic Party, referred to Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's crime policies as "a hashtag fail" (presumably #fail). </P> <P> The term "hashtag rap", coined by Kanye West, was developed in the 2010s to describe a style of rapping which, according to Rizoh of the Houston Press, uses "three main ingredients: a metaphor, a pause, and a one - word punch line, often placed at the end of a rhyme". Rappers Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Drake, and Lil Wayne are credited with the popularization of hashtag rap, while the style has been criticized by Ludacris, The Lonely Island, and various music writers . </P> <P> On September 13, 2013, a hashtag, #TwitterIPO, appeared in the headline of a New York Times front - page article regarding Twitter's initial public offering . </P> <P> Bird's Eye foods released in 2014 a shaped mashed potato food that included forms of @ - symbols and hashtags, called "Mashtags". </P>

What does a hashtag mean in a text message