Hip-hop

This article is about the musical genre. For its cultural origins, see Hip-hop culture. For other uses, see Hip-hop (disambiguation).

"Rap music" redirects here. For the form of vocal delivery associated with hip-hop music, see Rapping. For the Killer Mike album, see R.A.P. Music.

Hip-hop
Stylistic origins	Disco, Funk, Jazz, Rhythm and blues, Scat singing, Soul, Spoken word, Talking blues, Performance poetry
Cultural origins	Early 1970s in The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Typical instruments	Voice (Rapping, Singing), Turntable, Mixer, Drum machine, Sampler, Sequencer, Synthesizer, Keyboard
Derivative forms	Breakbeat, Grime, Nu metal, Reggaeton, et al.
Other topics
Old-school hip-hop New-school hip-hop Golden age hip-hop
2025 in hip-hop

Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip-hop includes rapping often enough that the terms can be used synonymously. However, "hip-hop" more properly denotes an entire subculture. Other key markers of the genre are the disc jockey, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks. Cultural interchange has always been central to the hip-hop genre. It simultaneously borrows from its social environment while commenting on it.

The hip-hop genre and culture emerged from block parties in ethnic minority neighborhoods of New York City, particularly Bronx. DJs began expanding the instrumental breaks of popular records when they noticed how excited it would make the crowds. The extended instrumental breaks provided a platform for break dancers and rappers. These breakbeats enabled the subsequent evolution of the hip-hop style. Many of the records used were disco due to its popularity at the time.

This disco-inflected music is known as old-school hip-hop. The genre became more stylistically diverse in the 1980s as electro music started to inform new-school hip-hop. The transition between the mid-1980s and 1990s became known as hip-hop's Golden age as the genre started to earn wide critical acclaim and generate massive sales.

The popularity of hip-hop music expanded throughout the late 1990s and into the 21st century, where it became a worldwide phenomenon. Most countries have local variations on the style. By 2017, hip-hop had become the bestselling genre of popular music.

Etymology

"Hip-hop" has been in use since the 17th century to mean a succession of hops. In George Villiers' 1671 play The Rehearsal, Prince Volscius exits a scene awkwardly with one boot on and the other off. The director of the scene exclaims, "to go off hip hop, hip hop, upon this occasion, is a thousand times better than any conclusion in the world".

A common variation on "hip hop" is "hippity hop", which was in wide usage by the 19th century. It appears in works like a poem from 1882 where four children sing, "Hippity hop to the candy Shop!" It was a common refrain in skipping games.

Many dance steps include a hop. By the 18th century, "hop" began to be used interchangeably with "dance" as both a noun and a verb.

Usage

Keef Cowboy (top right) with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five in 1982

An early usage of "hip hop" in recorded popular music is found in The Dovells' 1963 dance song "You Can't Sit Down", "...you gotta slop, bop, flip flop, hip hop, never stop". Disco disc jockeys would pepper their sets with exhortations to the crowd, which is why the emerging style was originally known as "disco rap". One of DJ Hollywood's chants was "hip hop de hippy hop the body rock". Lovebug Starsky recalls originating the phrase when he messed up the change between records, "I picked up the mic and just started saying 'a hip hop, hip hop, de hibbyhibbyhibbyhibby hop'". He was claiming credit for inventing the name by 1979.

In another version of Starsky's tale, he coined "hip-hop" with Keef Cowboy from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five as they traded jibes at a friend who was going into the Army. Kidd Creole recalls the scene without Lovebug present, "Cowboy was on the mic playin around doing that Army cadence: Hip/Hop/Hip/Hop...Disco was king at the time, and the Disco crowd referred to us as those 'Hip Hoppers', but they used it as a derogatory term. But Cowboy was the first one I heard do that to music, as part of his crowd response."

The phrase was in common usage by the time The Sugarhill Gang recorded "Rapper's Delight" in 1979. The chorus begins, "I said a hip-hop, the hippie, the hippie/To the hip, hip-hop and you don't stop the rockin'".

By the early 80s, hip-hop's defintion had expanded into "the all inclusive tag for the rapping, breaking, graffiti-writing, crew fashion wearing street sub-culture". Afrika Bambaataa was instrumental in turning the term into a positive force through his Universal Zulu Nation. Their social movement was anti-drug and anti-violence.

As rappers began to dominate hip-hop, the terms became synonymous. However, hip-hop's definition has always applied to its entire culture. Its four principal elements include rapping, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti art. Knowledge is sometimes described as a fifth element, underscoring its role in shaping the values and promoting empowerment and consciousness-raising through music.

KRS-One identified additional elements: self-expression, street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and street entrepreneurialism. He also recognized girls' double-dutch jump rope as a key stylistic component of breakdancing.

In addition to borrowing from the culture, hip-hop simultaneously comments on it. From its roots in the Bronx to its current global reach, hip-hop has served as a voice for the disenfranchised, shedding light on issues such as racial inequality, poverty, and police brutality.

Historical background

Set of Technics 1200 turntables with a Vestax PMC-06 Pro A mixer

Hip-hop's initial medium was the turntable. Vinyl records were the primary source for DJs who reworked songs into new material for dancing. The process echoed the appropriation of styles that created jazz decades earlier. The genres hip-hop initially assimilated were wide-ranging, but its primary sources were disco and funk records.

Nowhere was this cross-pollination of musics better typified than in the Caribbean island of Jamaica, where AM radio signals from Miami, Florida, were audible. The U.S. stations played much more invigorating music than the staid BBC which was syndicated by the island's only radio channel, Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation. American DJs like Jocko Henderson and Jockey Jack introduced R&B records and jive talking to the island. Local DJs soon began setting up sound systems for outdoor parties. A vibrant music scene emerged. The jive of American DJs transmuted into toasts in Jamaican Patois.

Jive talk popularized black-appeal stations in the post-war era. Its double entendres were a godsend to radio, re-invigorating ratings at flagging outlets. It emerged from traditions like call and response, signifyin', the dozens, capping, and jazz poetry. The transition from oral tradition to the commercial airwaves was exemplified by WDIA disc jockeys like Nat D. and Rufus Thomas. Their on-air jive was honed during their hosting duties at the Palace Theatre's Amateur Night on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. D.J's like Chicago's Al Benson (WJJD), Austin's Doctor Hep Cat (KVET), and Atlanta's Jockey Jack (WERD) spoke the same rhyming, cadence-laden rap style. They might introduce a great musician like, "Here is a guy that will move you in from the outskirts of town because he breathes natural gas...so droop to listening to a real gone cat whose loaded his knowledge box in the house of the righteous, and can lo blow." Many white DJ's like John R Richbourg on Nashville's WLAC emulated the southern 'mushmouth' and jive talk, and switched out swing music for blues and bebop. The jive-talking rappers of 1950s radio inspired musical comedians like Rudy Ray Moore, Pigmeat Markham, and Blowfly, along with soul singer James Brown. They have been called "godfathers" of hip-hop music.

Muhammad Ali, a major influence on hip-hop.

The rhythmic speech of rap is an ancient practice, first codified by the Greeks. In 20th-century Western music, it was a widely used practice in everything from sprechstimme to the talking blues. The roots of rapping in African-American music are easily traced to the griots in West African culture. Bo Diddley made several influential talking records, and the gospel group The Jubalaires' 1946 song "Noah" is frequently seen as a forerunner of rap. Other notable talking records were Muhammad Ali's I Am the Greatest (1963) and Pigmeat Markham's "Here Comes the Judge" (1968). Ali's patter was an enormous influence on hip-hop. He was known as a "rhyming trickster" due to the funky delivery of his boasts, trash talk, and indelible phrases. Many of his monologues were freestyle improvisations which would become a vital skill Old-school hip-hop rappers.

In New York City, spoken-word poetry by artists like The Last Poets, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, and Gil Scott-Heron had a significant impact on the post-civil rights era. They helped establish the cultural environment in which hip-hop music was created.

During these proto-rap years in America, Jamaican music regularly featured talking records like U-Roy and Peter Tosh's "Righteous Ruler" and King Stitt's "Fire Corner" in 1969. Jamaican DJs were also heavily remixing recorded music to generate new sounds. Duke Reid would preside over his sound system, tweaking knobs until the record he was playing became unrecognizable. In the studio, artists like King Tubby would strip the vocals out of records to create a new version. The public appetite for these remixes became so strong that singles were released with the original on one side and the "version" on the other. The eclectic stew of production techniques came to be known as dub music, and it is the strongest artistic precedent for hip-hop.

Birth of hip-hop

Breaking

By the 1970s, The Bronx had been cut in half by the Cross Bronx Expressway. The construction accelerated "white flight" from the neighborhood and concentrated lower income African American, Latin American, and Caribbean residents in the southern half of the borough. This massive, multi-ethnic, working class community is where hip-hop was born. The traditions of these ethnicities all informed the emerging genre. As all music does, hip-hop reflected the social, economic, and political realities of its creators, who were sometimes disenfranchised and marginalized.

The dominant genre of the time was disco. Even black radio stations were playing hit disco records as they targeted larger suburban audiences. The way Europe stripped the blackness out of funk and disco and streamlined it became a target for parody in the black community. George Clinton mercilessly lampooned it as "The Placebo Syndrome" in his P-Funk mythology. Even though disco birthed hip-hop, much of the genre's early spirit was a rebellion against its parent. Hip-hop first had to inherit the rich trove of studio and DJ techniques that disco innovated.

DJ Kool Herc in 1999

A big trend in the dance clubs was for dancers to wait for the break in a song to show off their best moves. Some would even forego dancing until the break in a record came on. The practice became known as "breakdancing", and it increased demand for breaks that DJs would soon supply. One of the most popular clubs was the Plaza Tunnel in the basement of the Concourse Plaza Hotel where DJ John Brown held sway. To keep people moving, he would mix a wide range of records like Jimmy Castor Bunch's "It's Just Begun", The Isley Brothers' "Get Into Something", Earth, Wind & Fire's "Moment of Truth", Rare Earth's Get Ready, Redbone's "Maggie", and Chicago's "I'm a Man".

Breakdancers prized originality. They created signature moves that other breakers would only imitate in order to outdo them. The emphasis on creativity extended to DJs who would battle each other. They would even replicate the Jamaican practice of removing record labels to keep their breaks a secret from other DJs. Many early hip-hop DJs were immigrants from the Caribbean. The techniques they used to generate new material from existing vinyl records was familiar to Jamaican dub music. Hip-hop began to develop its own moral code that prized truth and ingenuity over limpid mimicry.

DJs found certain breaks to be extremely popular from records like Baby Huey's "Listen To Me", James Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", Dennis Coffey's "Son of Scorpio", Cymande's "Bra", Dynamic Corvettes' "Funky Music Is the Thing", Jeannie Reynolds' "Fruit Song", as well as the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" and "Bongo Rock". DJ Kool Herc figured out a way to prolong these breaks by crossfading between two copies of the same record. Herc's initial claim to fame was his sound system which featured a McIntosh Laboratory amplifier and two columns of Shure speakers. He dubbed it "The Herculords", and it earned him a massive following.

Two DJs work the turntables and mixer.

His method of playing breaks was extremely crude, however. Herc would just estimate where the break was as he tried to extend it. Often, he would have to talk over the transition as the breaks did not match up. It was DJs like Grand Wizzard Theodore, Jazzy Jay, and Grandmaster Flash who perfected the technique. They developed a technique known as needle dropping by precisely cuing up the breaks in headphones in order to create a perfect transition between the two phonographs. As the first break finished, they would crossfade to the second turntable which was cued up at the beginning of the break. While the second record played, they would spin the first record backwards to the beginning of the break and crossfade into it when the second break was over. This method allowed a break to be prolonged indefinitely. These extended breaks became known as a "breakbeat". When a playing record is reversed, the sound is distorted. The effect became trendy and eventually evolved into the hip-hop technique known as "scratching".

Turntablist techniques – such as rhythmic "scratching" (pushing a record back and forth while the needle is in the groove to create new sounds and sound effects, an approach attributed to Grand Wizzard Theodore), beat mixing or beatmatching, and beat juggling – eventually developed along with the percussion breaks, creating a musical accompaniment or base that could be rapped over in a manner similar to signifying.

Block parties

1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the southwest Bronx, site of Cindy Campbell's August 11, 1973 party.

Herc first began extending breaks at a back-to-school rent party his sister Cindy Campbell hosted in the recreation room of their building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on the southwest side of the Bronx. The date of the party, August 11, 1973, has been aggressively marketed as the "Birth of Hip-Hop". The Campbells emigrated from Jamaica when Herc was 12. Initially, Herc denied any connection between the Jamaican music scene and his work. Later in life, he embraced the parallels.

Kool Herc's style attracted a following that outgrew the rec room. He eventually joined the thriving block party scene in the Bronx. DJs would hook their sound systems up to the street lights. These outdoor parties became a means of expression and an outlet for teenagers, where "instead of getting into trouble on the streets, teens now had a place to expend their pent-up energy." Tony Tone, a member of the Cold Crush Brothers, stated that "hip hop saved a lot of lives". For inner-city youth, participating in hip-hop culture became a way of dealing with the hardships of life as minorities within America, and an outlet to deal with the risk of violence and the rise of gang culture. MC Kid Lucky mentions that "people used to break-dance against each other instead of fighting". A typical hip-hop event was a triple bill featuring the DJ, MC, and breakdancers. Graffiti artists would decorate the stage and design flyers and posters. Much of the graffiti, rapping, and b-boying at these parties were artistic variations on the one-upmanship of street gangs. Sensing that gang members' often violent urges could be turned into creative ones, Afrika Bambaataa founded the Zulu Nation, a loose confederation of street-dance crews, graffiti artists, and rap musicians. Rock Steady Crew were a group of breakdancers which included members from Puerto Rico.

During the New York City blackout of 1977, DJ equipment was heavily looted due to the popularity of the emerging genre. Kool Herc recalls, "The next day there were a thousand new D.J.'s." By 1978, Billboard magazine was taking notice of the popularity of "B-beats" in the Bronx.

Rapping

Main article: Rapping

Hip-Hop evolved without rap as a requirement of the genre, but the two terms became functionally synonymous. Hip-hop DJs continued the disco DJ practice of intermittently rapping with the crowd. As their duties became more complex, a Master of Ceremonies (MC) was often present to introduce the DJ and hype the crowd.

Kool Herc found Jamaican toasts did not resonate with dancers. He and Coke La Rock developed an influential rapping style over their funk breaks. MCs relied on call and response chants and eventually developed more sophisticated routines. As with other practitioners of hip-hop, MCs strove to set themselves apart with their creativity and competitiveness.

Just as many of the best breakdancers were women, the birth of hip-hop included female rappers like the Funky 4 + 1's MC Sha-Rock. Sugar Hill Records signed The Sequence, a trio that included Angie Stone. Their single "Funk You Up" was the first hip-hop hit by an all-female group.

Often these were collaborations between former gangs, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation—now an international organization. Melle Mel, a rapper with the Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC". During the early 1970s B-boying arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive and frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a worldwide audience for the first time in documentaries and movies such as Style Wars, Wild Style, and Beat Street. The term "B-boy" was coined by DJ Kool Herc to describe the people who would wait for the break section of the song, showing off athleticism, spinning on the stage to 'break-dance' in the distinctive, frenetic style.

Although there were some early MCs that recorded solo projects of note, such as DJ Hollywood, Kurtis Blow, and Spoonie Gee, the frequency of solo artists did not increase until later with the rise of soloists with stage presence and drama, such as LL Cool J. Most early hip-hop was dominated by groups where collaboration between the members was integral to the show. The first hip-hop artist to appear on national television were the group Funky 4 + 1, who appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1981.

Recordings

Hip-hop was a live music genre for its first several years. By 1977, bootleg tapes made from the soundboards of hip-hop DJs were being circulated beyond New York City. The first dub recording, also known as a "mixed plate", was released by DJ Disco Wiz and Grandmaster Caz.

The Sugarhill Gang, 2016.

In March 1979, Fatback Band released "You're My Candy Sweet" as a single. The B-side was called "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", and it is generally considered the first commercially released rap song.

Three months later, Chic released "Good Times". It became a #1 single on August 18th. The track quickly became a favorite for rappers. As it climbed the pop charts on August 2nd, Sylvia Robinson, the singer and owner of Sugar Hill Records, hired a band to recreate "Good Times" in the studio. Looking to cash in on the hip-hop trend, Robinson assembled The Sugarhill Gang to rap over the instrumental. They recycled phrases from other rappers like The Cold Crush Brothers. It was a Top 40 single, and what had become passé in the Bronx exploded in popularity around the country. The arrival of mainstream hip-hop recordings has been described as "The First Death of Hip-Hop".

One of the composers of "Good Times", Nile Rodgers had been exposed to hip-hop in 1978 when Debbie Harry and Chris Stein from Blondie took him to a show. Rodgers and his co-writer Bernard Edwards sued Sugar Hill Records for copyright infringement and won songwriting credit on "Rapper's Delight".

In 1971, one city councilman had dubbed Philadelphia "The Graffiti Capital of the World". It was one of the first hip-hop centers outside of New York, and by 1979, hip-hop recordings such as Jocko Henderson's "Rhythm Talk" and Lady B's "To the Beat, Y'all" were emerging from the city.

Mercury Records was the first major label to sign a rapper. In 1979, they released Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" which sold 400,000 copies. The song peaked at #30 on the UK charts on December 15 that year and went on to become a holiday classic.

1980s: The end of old-school

Main article: Old-school hip-hop

The period from 1973–1983 is referred to as "old-school hip-hop". The genre exploded in popularity. Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" (1980) was the first hip-hop single certified gold.

The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer.

As hip-hop became mainstream, it also grew vastly eclectic. Part of this evolution was enabled by technology. The 1980s saw the miniaturization of recording technology, making samplers, synthesizers, and drum machines affordable. Devices like the Akai MPC 2000, Linn 9000, and Roland TR-808 drum machine became beloved tools for hip-hop creators.

In 1980, the Roland Corporation launched the TR-808 Rhythm Composer. It was one of the earliest programmable drum machines, with which users could create their own rhythms rather than having to use preset patterns. Though it was a commercial failure, over the course of the decade the 808 attracted a cult following among underground musicians for its affordability on the used market, ease of use, and idiosyncratic sounds, particularly its deep, "booming" bass drum. Popularized by hits like Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing", it became a cornerstone of the emerging electronic, dance, and hip-hop genres. The 808 was eventually used on more hit records than any other drum machine. Its popularity with hip-hop in particular has made it one of the most influential inventions in popular music, comparable to the Fender Stratocaster's influence on rock.

Diversification of styles

Further information: List of hip-hop genres

Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash's "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981) typified the diversification of hip-hop in the new decade. The single consists entirely of sampled tracks. Hip-hop and electronic dance music were fused in songs like Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" (1982). Bambaataa was inspired by Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos". He incorporated elements from Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers". "Planet Rock" helped spawn electro music, which included songs like Planet Patrol's "Play at Your Own Risk" (1982), and C Bank's "One More Shot" (1982). This fusion would often overlap with Afrofuturism in songs like "Nunk" and "Light Years Away" by Warp 9. Electro helped spread hip-hop beyond America, when UK DJs like Greg Wilson started spinning records like "Planet Rock", Extra T's "ET Boogie", and Man Parrish's "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)".

As rap matured, metaphorical lyrics about a wider range of subjects moved the style beyond the boasts and chants of old school. The influential single "The Message" (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, with its focus on the misery in housing projects, was a pioneering force for politically conscious rap. Hip-hop continued in the tradition of rock and roll by outraging conservatives who feared romanticizing violence and law-breaking.

Independent record labels like Tommy Boy, Prism Records and Profile Records became successful in the early 1980s, releasing records at a furious pace in response to the demand generated by local radio stations and club DJs. Producers like Arthur Baker, John Robie, Lotti Golden and Richard Scher pushed the genre in new directions. Some rappers eventually became mainstream pop performers. The 1981 songs "Rapture" by Blondie and "Christmas Wrapping" by the new wave band the Waitresses were among the first pop songs to use rap.

Breakdancing remained the vanguard of hip-hop worldwide. Breakdance crews like Black Noise and Prophets of Da City in South Africa helped spread the genre. They recognized the connections in the African diaspora between practices like breakdancing and capoeira. Musician and presenter Sidney became France's first black TV presenter with his 1984 show H.I.P. H.O.P. on TF1. Radio Nova helped launch other French hip-hop stars including Dee Nasty. Along with his radio show, his Rapattitude complilations and 1984 album Paname City Rappin' popularized hip-hop in the country.

Hip-hop reached Japan by 1982 when DJs Hiroshi Fujiwara started playing it in dance clubs.

New school

Main article: New-school hip-hop

Run-DMC: Joseph "Run" Simmons, Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels (from left).

The second wave of hip-hop began around 1983–4 and became known as new school. The taunting and boasting of old-school hip-hop got more aggressive in the 1980s. New York artists like Run-DMC and LL Cool J typified new school.

Drum machine minimalism was typical for the new school, a stark opposition to old school's funk and disco breaks. New-school artists also made shorter, radio-friendly songs and more cohesive LP albums that became fixtures of mainstream music. Run-DMC's third album Raising Hell was the first in the genre to be certified platinum on July 15, 1986. It also featured the massive hit collaboration with Aerosmith on "Walk This Way". The same year, rap notched its first No. 1 album with Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill.

Rap was getting so marketable that it was being used in national advertising. Sprite hired Kurtis Blow to appear in one of their commercials in 1986. Other soft drink companies would soon follow.

Marley Marl

New school rappers often established themselves by simultaneously honoring and battling their old school forbearers. LL Cool J relished sparring with Kool Moe Dee. The feud boosted sales for both artists. The cover of Kool Moe Dee's 1987 album, How Ya Like Me Now, featured LL Cool J's Kangol hat under the wheel of Moe Dee's Jeep Wrangler. LL's response was the vicious B-side "Jack the Ripper".

Samplers like the AKAI S900 and E-mu SP-1200 empowered creativity through greater processing power. Breakbeats were no longer reliant on a DJ and two turntables. They could be made in seconds with a sampler. Marley Marl used samples in combination with drum machines to create more variegated grooves.

DJ Jazzy Jeff

Cypress Hill was formed in 1988 in the suburb of South Gate outside Los Angeles. Brothers Senen Reyes and Ulpiano Sergio (Mellow Man Ace) moved from Havana, Cuba to South Gate with their family in 1971. They teamed up with Lawrence Muggerud (DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (B-Real), a Mexican/Cuban-American native of Los Angeles. After the departure of "Ace" to begin his solo career, the group adopted the name of Cypress Hill named after a street running through a neighborhood nearby in South Los Angeles.

By the end of the decade, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences decided to create a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance. The inaugural statue was given in 1989 to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince for "Parents Just Don't Understand".

Golden age

Main article: Golden age hip-hop

KRS-One.

The period after hip-hop became mainstream in 1986 until the middle of the 1990s is considered its "golden age".. The era is marked by increased diversity and innovation and the vast expansion of hip-hop's influence. Rolling Stone described the fecund era as one where "it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre".

There were strong themes of Afrocentrism and political militancy in golden age hip-hop lyrics. The music was experimental and the sampling drew on eclectic sources. There was often a strong jazz influence in the music. Notable golden age artists include Public Enemy, KRS-One, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Brand Nubian, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, Big Daddy Kane, Digable Planets, and the Jungle Brothers.

Albums became an important artistic marker during this period. 1987 alone produced landmark albums like Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded, Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show, and Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full. The sustained artistic statement of an album became the genre's measuring stick.

Gangsta rap

Main article: Gangsta rap

Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip-hop that reflects the violent environment of inner-city American black youths. Gangsta rap commingled stories of crime and street life with political and social commentary. In 1985, Schoolly D released "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?", which is often regarded as the first gangsta rap song. His lyrics reflected the street vernacular, including the word "nigga". Ice-T's "jaw dropped" when he first heard the song, and it inspired his 1986 track "6 in the Mornin'". Boogie Down Productions Criminal Minded (1987) set a precedent by featuring guns on its cover. On their 1988 follow-up By All Means Necessary, KRS-One is holding an uzi, but the album also sees the emergence of his anti-violence persona "The Teacher".

FBI letter to Priority Records about N.W.A.

N.W.A is the group most frequently associated with gangsta rap. Their lyrics were incessantly profane and more violent, sexually explicit, and openly confrontational than their peers. These lyrics were placed over rough, rock guitar-driven beats, contributing to the music's hard-edged feel. Their blockbuster 1989 album Straight Outta Compton established Los Angeles as a legitimate rival to hip-hop's capital New York City. It also sparked the first major controversy regarding hip-hop lyrics, largely due to the song "Fuck tha Police". FBI Assistant Director Milt Ahlerich wrote a letter to Priority Records lamenting the album's "discouraging and degrading" impact on law enforcement.

Ice-T encountered censorship even during his live performances, much like Jim Morrison. In reaction to Parents Music Resource Center's new "Parental Advisory" stickers, he rapped, "that sticker makes 'em sell gold." His 1992 heavy metal song "Cop Killer" prompted so much backlash that Time Warner Music balked at releasing his next hip-hop album Home Invasion.

Both Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton criticized gangsta rap. Sister Souljah argued, "The reason why rap is under attack is because it exposes all the contradictions of American culture ...What started out as an underground art form has become a vehicle to expose a lot of critical issues that are not usually discussed in...a political system that never intends to deal with inner city urban chaos".

Mainstream breakthrough

Flavor Flav of Public Enemy performing in 1991

1990 was "the year that rap exploded". Public Enemy released Fear of a Black Planet, which was a critical and commercial hit. The Los Angeles Times declared, "an explosion of energy and imagination in the late 1980s leaves rap today as arguably the most vital new street-oriented sound in pop since the birth of rock in the 1950s". Time concurred, "Rap is the rock 'n' roll of the day. Rock 'n' roll was about attitude, rebellion, a big beat, sex and, sometimes, social comment." Rap had the best-selling single of the previous year, Tone Lōc's "Wild Thing". By February 1990, nearly a third of the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 were hip-hop.

MC Hammer's third album, Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em, was a monster smash. It hit #1 on the album chart. Its lead single, "U Can't Touch This", became a global phenomenon after it was released in May 1990. It reached the Top Ten in the U.S. and #1 in several countries. MC Hammer was one of the first rappers to become a household name. Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em was the first hip-hop album certified diamond by the RIAA for sales of over ten million. By 1996, it sold 18 million units. In November, Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" became the first hip-hop single to hit #1 on the Billboard charts.

Dr. Dre's The Chronic was released in 1992, establishing the G-funk style and going triple platinum. Snoop Dogg's 1993 album Doggystyle helped the subgenre continue to dominate the charts, but black radio stations kept hip-hop at a distance. Russell Simmons felt, "Black radio hated rap from the start and there's still a lot of resistance to it".

Despite the lack of support from some black radio stations, hip-hop became a best-selling music genre in the mid-1990s and the top selling music genre by 1999 with 81 million CDs sold. By the late 1990s hip-hop was artistically dominated by the Wu-Tang Clan, Diddy and the Fugees. The Beastie Boys continued their success throughout the decade crossing color lines and gaining respect from many different artists. Record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis, and New Orleans also gained fame for their local scenes. The midwest rap scene was known for fast vocal styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Tech N9ne, and Twista.

Rapper Scarface from Geto Boys

Southern rap became popular in the early 1990s. The first Southern rappers to gain national attention were the Geto Boys out of Houston, Texas. Southern rap's roots can be traced to the success of Geto Boy's early albums. The group's strongest member was Scarface who later went solo.

Atlanta hip hop artists were key in further expanding rap music and bringing southern hip-hop into the mainstream. Releases such as Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... (1992), Goodie Mob's Soul Food (1995), and Outkast's ATLiens (1996) were all critically acclaimed. When Outkast won the Best New Rap Group at the 1995 Source Awards, it signaled a power shift in Atlanta's direction.

During the golden age, elements of hip-hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music. The first waves of rap rock, rapcore, and rap metal went mainstream. Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, and Rage Against the Machine were among the most well-known bands in these fields. In Hawaii, bands like Sudden Rush created the na mele paleoleo style which fused hip-hop with Hawaiian language and [[sovereignty issues.

East v. west

Main articles: East Coast hip-hop, West Coast hip-hop, and East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry

Wu-Tang Clan at the Virgin Festival in 2007

In the early 1990s, east coast hip-hop was dominated by the Native Tongues posse, which was loosely composed of De La Soul, Prince Paul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, 3rd Bass, Main Source, and Black Sheep and KMD. Although originally a "daisy age" conception stressing the positive aspects of life, darker material soon crept in. In 1993, Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) pioneered a hardcore rap response to the west coast's gangsta.

New York hip-hop experienced a renaissance the following year with the release of two landmark albums: Nas' Illmatic and Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die. The 10-member Wu-Tang Clan also started creating a hip-hop universe of solo albums that served as advertisements for each other. Some of the standout titles were Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., Ghostface Killah's Ironman, and GZA's Liquid Swords. RZA had a hand in producing most of their efforts, and his style became massively influential. Prominent producers during this period were DJ Premier (Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja), Pete Rock (CL Smooth), Buckwild, Large Professor, Diamond D, and Q-Tip. Nas' Illmatic, O.C.'s Word...Life, and Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt all relied on this talent pool.

Tribute to Tupac Shakur.

A lazy media narrative emerged that rappers on the coasts were feuding with each other. As Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J had previously found, playing into a rivalry was good for sales. It became fashionable to emphasize the east coast versus west Coast beef, but it did not remain a lyrical battle. On November 30, 1994 in New York City, Tupac Shakur was shot five times. He blamed the attack on a cohort that included Sean Combs and the Notorious B.I.G..

Tupac left Interscope Records for Suge Knight and Dr. Dre's Death Row Records on the west coast. Tupac's February 1996 debut for the label, All Eyez on Me, was promoted by relentlessly highlighting his grievances with east coast personalities. The ploy was successful and led to monster sales. On September 7, 1996, Tupac was killed in Las Vegas. On March 9, 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. was killed in Los Angeles. Though the coastal feud involved dozens of people in countless imbroglios, the twin tragedies of Tupac and Biggie are at the core of the episode. Their deaths are used as markers for the end of the golden age of hip-hop.

2000s: bling and blog

Commercialization and new directions

Birdman

Now a mainstream genre and dominating the charts, hip-hop became commercially-oriented in the late 1990s. The musical approach was typified by Sean Combs who ruled the 1997 charts by repurposing old hits into new ones. Diana Ross' "I'm Coming Out" became "Mo Money Mo Problems". Herb Alpert's "Rise" became "Hypnotize". The Police's #1 hit "Every Breath You Take" became "I'll Be Missing You". The shiny suits he and his protege Mase wore became a punchline for the period. The same year, Will Smith's single "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" gave a catchier name for the era. The slick consumerism of the jiggy era was indelibly rechristened by B.G. in his 1999 song "Bling Bling". The slang immediately resonated, and the "bling" label stuck.

In New Orleans, Master P built No Limit Records into a multimillion dollar enterprise. The New Orleans upstart Cash Money label supercharged its sales by signing a distribution deal with Universal. Their roster included Birdman, Lil Wayne, B.G., and Juvenile.

Eminem performing in Munich, Germany in 1999

Many of the rappers who achieved mainstream success at this time, such as Nelly, Puff Daddy, Jay-Z, the later career of Fat Joe and his Terror Squad, Mase, Ja Rule, Fabolous, and Cam'ron, had a pop-oriented style, while others such as Big Pun, Fat Joe (in his earlier career), DMX, Eminem, 50 Cent and his G-Unit, and the Game enjoyed commercial success at this time with a grittier style. Although white rappers like the Beastie Boys, House of Pain, and 3rd Bass previously had some popular success or critical acceptance from the hip-hop community, Eminem's success, beginning in 1999 with the platinum The Slim Shady LP, surprised many. Hip-hop influences also found their way increasingly into mainstream pop during this period, particularly in genres such as R&B (e.g. R. Kelly, Akon, TLC, Destiny's Child, Beyoncé, Ashanti, Aaliyah, Usher), neo soul (e.g. Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott), and nu metal (e.g. Korn, Limp Bizkit).

50 Cent performing in 2012

Dr. Dre remained an important figure in this era, making his comeback in 1999 with the album 2001. In 2000, he produced The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem, and also produced 50 Cent's 2003 album Get Rich or Die Tryin', which debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 charts. Jay-Z represented the cultural triumph of hip-hop in this era. As his career progressed, he went from performing artist to entrepreneur, label president, head of a clothing line, club owner, and market consultant—along the way breaking Elvis Presley's record for most number one albums on the Billboard magazine charts by a solo artist.

Rise of alternative hip-hop

Alternative hip hop, which was introduced in the 1980s and then declined, resurged in the early-mid 2000s with the rejuvenated interest in indie music by the general public. The genre began to attain a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as Outkast, Kanye West, and Gnarls Barkley. Outkast's 2003 album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below received high acclaim from music critics, and appealed to a wide range of listeners, being that it spanned numerous musical genres – including rap, rock, R&B, punk, jazz, indie, country, pop, electronica, and gospel. The album also spawned two number-one hit singles, and has been certified diamond by selling 11 times platinum by the RIAA for shipping more than 11 million units, becoming one of the best selling hip-hop albums of all time. It also won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, being only the second rap album to do so. Previously, alternative hip-hop acts had attained much critical acclaim, but received relatively little exposure through radio and other media outlets; during this time, alternative hip-hop artists such as MF Doom, the Roots, Dilated Peoples, Gnarls Barkley, Mos Def, and Aesop Rock began to achieve significant recognition.

Glitch hop and wonky music

Main articles: Glitch hop and Wonky (music)

The Glitch Mob performing in the Netherlands in 2010

Glitch hop and wonky music evolved following the rise of trip hop, dubstep and intelligent dance music (IDM). Both glitch hop and wonky music frequently reflect the experimental nature of IDM and the heavy bass featured in dubstep songs. While trip hop has been described as being a distinct British upper-middle class take on hip-hop, glitch-hop and wonky music have much more stylistic diversity. Both genres are melting pots of influence. Glitch hop contains echoes of 1980s pop music, Indian ragas, eclectic jazz and West Coast rap. Los Angeles, London, Glasgow and a number of other cities have become hot spots for these scenes, and underground scenes have developed across the world in smaller communities. Both genres often pay homage to older and more well established electronic music artists such as Radiohead, Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada as well as independent hip-hop producers like J Dilla and Madlib.

Glitch hop is a fusion genre of hip-hop and glitch music that originated in the early to mid-2000s in the United States and Europe. Musically, it is based on irregular, chaotic breakbeats, glitchy basslines and other typical sound effects used in glitch music, like skips. Glitch hop artists include Prefuse 73, Dabrye and Flying Lotus. Wonky is a subgenre of hip-hop that originated around 2008, but most notably in the United States and United Kingdom, and among international artists of the Hyperdub music label, under the influence of glitch hop and dubstep. Wonky music is of the same glitchy style as glitch hop, but it was specifically noted for its melodies, rich with "mid-range unstable synths". Scotland has become one of the most prominent wonky scenes, with artists like Hudson Mohawke and Rustie.

Glitch hop and wonky are popular among a relatively smaller audience interested in alternative hip-hop and electronic music (especially dubstep); neither glitch hop nor wonky have achieved mainstream popularity. However, artists like Flying Lotus, the Glitch Mob and Hudson Mohawke have seen success in other avenues. Flying Lotus's music has earned multiple positive reviews on the independent music review site Pitchfork.com as well as a prominent (yet uncredited) spot during Adult Swim commercial breaks. Hudson Mohawke is one of few glitch hop artists to play at major music festivals such as Sasquatch! Music Festival.

Crunk music

Main article: Crunk

Producer Lil Jon is one of crunk's most prominent figures.

Crunk is a regional hip-hop genre that originated in Tennessee in the southern United States in the 1990s, influenced by Miami bass. One of the pioneers of crunk, Lil Jon, said that it was a fusion of hip-hop, electro, and electronic dance music. The style was pioneered and commercialized by artists from Memphis, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia, gaining considerable popularity in the mid-2000s via Lil Jon and the Ying Yang Twins. Looped, stripped-down drum machine rhythms are usually used. The Roland TR-808 and 909 are among the most popular. The drum machine loops are usually accompanied by simple, repeated synthesizer melodies and heavy bass "stabs". The tempo of the music is somewhat slower than hip-hop, around the speed of reggaeton. The focal point of crunk is more often the beats and instrumental music rather than the lyrics. Crunk rappers, however, often shout and scream their lyrics, creating an aggressive, almost heavy, style of hip-hop. While other subgenres of hip-hop address sociopolitical or personal concerns, crunk is almost exclusively "party music", favoring call and response hip-hop slogans in lieu of more substantive approaches. Crunk helped southern hip-hop gain mainstream prominence during this period, as the classic East and West Coast styles of the 1990s gradually lost dominance.

Snap music and influence of the Internet

Main article: Snap music

Soulja Boy in an interview with Bandai Namco Entertainment at E3 2018

Snap rap (also known as ringtone rap) is a subgenre of crunk that emerged from Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1990s. The genre gained mainstream popularity in the mid-late 2000s, and artists from other Southern states such as Tennessee also began to emerge performing in this style. Tracks commonly consist of a Roland TR-808 bass drum, hi-hat, bass, finger snapping, a main groove, and a simplistic vocal hook. Hit snap songs include "Lean wit It, Rock wit It" by Dem Franchize Boyz, "Laffy Taffy" by D4L, "It's Goin' Down" by Yung Joc, and "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. In retrospect, Soulja Boy has been credited with setting trends in hip-hop, such as self-publishing his songs through the Internet (which helped them go viral) and paving the way for a new wave of younger artists.

Decline in sales

While hip-hop music sales dropped a great deal in the mid-late 2000s, rappers like Flo Rida were successful online and with singles, despite low album sales.

Starting in 2005, sales of hip-hop music in the United States began to severely wane, leading Time magazine to question if mainstream hip-hop was "dying". Billboard magazine found that, since 2000, rap sales dropped 44%, and declined to 10% of all music sales, which, while still a commanding figure when compared to other genres, is a significant drop from the 13% of all music sales where rap music regularly placed. According to Courtland Milloy of The Washington Post, for the first time on five years, no rap albums were among the top 10 sellers in 2006. NPR culture critic Elizabeth Blair noted that, "some industry experts say young people are fed up with the violence, degrading imagery and lyrics." However, the 2005 report Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8–18 Year-Olds found that hip-hop music is by far the most popular music genre for children and teenagers with 65 percent of 8- to-18-year-olds listening to it on a daily basis.

Other journalists say the music is just as popular as it ever was, but that fans have found other means to consume the music, such as illegally downloading music through P2P networks, instead of purchasing albums and singles from legitimate stores. For example, Flo Rida is known for his low album sales regardless of his singles being mainstream and having digital success. His second album R.O.O.T.S. sold only 200,000+ total units in the U.S., which could not line up to the sales of the album's lead single "Right Round". This also happened to him in 2008. Some put the blame on hip-hop becoming less lyrical over time, such as Soulja Boy's 2007 debut album souljaboytellem.com which was met with negative reviews. Lack of sampling, a key element of early hip-hop, has also been noted for the decrease in quality of modern albums. For example, there are only four samples used in 2008's Paper Trail by T.I., while there are 35 samples in 1998's Moment of Truth by Gang Starr. The decrease in sampling is in part due to it being too expensive for producers.

In Byron Hurt's documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, he claims that hip-hop had changed from "clever rhymes and dance beats" to "advocating personal, social and criminal corruption." Despite the fall in record sales throughout the music industry, hip-hop had remained a popular genre, with hip-hop artists still regularly topping the Billboard 200 Charts. In the first half of 2009 alone artists such as Eminem, Rick Ross, the Black Eyed Peas, and Fabolous all had albums that reached the No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 charts. Eminem's album Relapse was one of the fastest selling albums of 2009.

Innovation and revitalization

See also: Progressive rap and I Love Hip Hop in Morocco

Kanye West performing in 2008

By the late 2000s, alternative hip-hop had secured its place within the mainstream, due in part to the declining commercial viability of gangsta rap. Industry observers view the sales race between Kanye West's Graduation and 50 Cent's Curtis as a turning point for hip-hop. West emerged the victor, selling nearly a million copies in the first week alone, proving that innovative rap music could be just as commercially viable as gangsta rap, if not more so. Although he designed it as a melancholic pop album rather than a rap album, Kanye's following 808s & Heartbreak would have a significant effect on hip-hop music. While his decision to sing about love, loneliness, and heartache for the entirety of the album was at first heavily criticized by music audiences and the album was predicted to be a flop, its subsequent critical acclaim and commercial success encouraged other mainstream rappers to take greater creative risks with their music. During the release of The Blueprint 3, New York rap mogul Jay-Z revealed that next studio album would be an experimental effort, stating, "... it's not gonna be a #1 album. That's where I'm at right now. I wanna make the most experimental album I ever made." Jay-Z elaborated that like Kanye, he was unsatisfied with contemporary hip-hop, was being inspired by indie-rockers like Grizzly Bear, and asserted his belief that the indie rock movement would play an important role in the continued evolution of hip-hop.

In 2009, Time magazine placed M.I.A. in the Time 100 list of "World's Most Influential People".

The alternative hip-hop movement was not limited only to the United States, as rappers such as Somali-Canadian poet K'naan, Japanese rapper Shing02, and Sri Lankan British artist M.I.A. achieved considerable worldwide recognition. In 2009, Time magazine placed M.I.A in the Time 100 list of "World's Most Influential people" for having "global influence across many genres." Global-themed movements have also sprung out of the international hip-hop scene with microgenres like "Islamic Eco-Rap" addressing issues of worldwide importance through traditionally disenfranchised voices.

Due in part to the increasing use of music distribution through social media and blogging, many alternative and non-alternative rappers found acceptance by far-reaching audiences, hence why this era of hip-hop is sometimes termed the "blog era". Several artists, such as Kid Cudi and Drake, managed to attain chart-topping hit songs, "Day 'n' Nite" and "Best I Ever Had" respectively, by releasing their music on free online mixtapes without the help of a major record label. Emerging artists at the time such as Wale, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, the Cool Kids, Jay Electronica, and B.o.B were noted by critics as expressing eclectic sounds, sensitive life experiences, and vulnerable emotions that were rarely seen in the prior bling era.

Also at this time, the Auto-Tune vocal effect was bolstered in popularity by rapper T-Pain, who elaborated on the effect and made active use of Auto-Tune in his songs. He cites new jack swing producer Teddy Riley and funk artist Roger Troutman's use of the talk box as inspirations for his own use of Auto-Tune. T-Pain became so associated with Auto-Tune that he had an iPhone app named after him that simulated the effect, called "I Am T-Pain". Eventually dubbed the "T-Pain effect", the use of Auto-Tune became a popular fixture of late 2000s and early 2010s hip-hop, examples being Snoop Dogg's "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne's "Lollipop", Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak, and the Black Eyed Peas' number-one hit "Boom Boom Pow".

2010s–2020s: trap and SoundCloud rap

Main articles: Trap music, Mumble rap, and Emo rap

Cupcakke in 2018

Trap music is a subgenre of Southern rap that originated in the early 1990s. It grew in the 2000s to become a mainstream sensation, eventually reaching ubiquity in the mid-late 2010s and frequently having songs top the Billboard hip-hop charts. It is typified by double or triple-time sub-divided hi-hats, heavy kick drums from the Roland TR-808 drum machine, layered synthesizers and an overall dark, ominous or bleak atmosphere. The strong influence of the sound led to other artists within the genre to move towards the trap sound, with a notable example being Jay-Z and Kanye West on their joint song, "H•A•M". Non-rappers have also experimented with trap, such as "7/11" by Beyoncé and "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry (featuring rapper Juicy J).

Lil Nas X was one of the rappers to emerge in the 2010s. He garnered mainstream success in 2019. He is also the first openly gay rapper to be heavily nominated at the Grammy Awards.

Major artists to arise from the genre in the 2010s include Lil Nas X, Waka Flocka Flame, Future, Chief Keef, Migos, Young Thug, Travis Scott, Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Yung Lean, Lil Uzi Vert, XXXTentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, Juice Wrld, Trippie Redd, Lil Pump, Smokepurpp, Rae Sremmurd, Tekashi 6ix9ine, NBA YoungBoy, Lil Baby, Fetty Wap, among others. Female rappers Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Saweetie, Doja Cat, Iggy Azalea, City Girls, and Megan Thee Stallion also entered the mainstream. Trap artists that originated in the 2000s were able to recapture mainstream success in the 2010s with the rise of trap, including 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane and Juicy J, becoming more successful in the latter part of their career than when they debuted. Trap producers to reach mainstream success include Metro Boomin, Pi'erre Bourne, London on da Track, and Mike Will Made-It.

Critics of the trap genre have used the term "mumble rap" to describe the heavily auto-tuned, and sometimes hard to understand- delivery of verses from a majority of the artists. Artists longstanding within the genre have had their own comments regarding the rise of mumble rap, such as Rick Rubin stating that Eminem was confused by it, and Snoop Dogg claiming that he can not differentiate between artists. Black Thought, lead rapper from the Roots, stated that the "game has changed. It's different. The standards are different, the criteria that's taken into consideration in determining validity is different. We're at a point in history where lyricism almost comes last in very many regards."

On July 17, 2017, Forbes reported that hip-hop/R&B (which Nielsen SoundScan classifies as being the same genre) had usurped rock as the most consumed musical genre, becoming the most popular genre in music for the first time in U.S. history.

In the 2010s, Atlanta hip hop dominated the mainstream.

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, Brooklyn drill became popular since Pop Smoke emerged before his death. The 2020s decade began with Roddy Ricch as the first rapper to have a Billboard Hot 100 number-one entry.

Age of streaming

Doja Cat was the most streamed rapper of 2021 on Spotify.

The rise of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music in the mid-late 2010s greatly impacted the entire music business as a whole. Despite being a free streaming-only mixtape with no commercial release, Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book won Best Rap Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards, being the first streaming album ever to win a Grammy Award. Kanye West has stated that his own album, Yeezus, marked the death of CDs, and thus his subsequent release, The Life of Pablo was only released digitally. The Life of Pablo was also nominated for 2017 Best Rap Album. In 2017, Drake released a free streaming-only project titled More Life, which he called a "playlist", insisting that it was neither a mixtape nor an album.

The online audio distribution platform SoundCloud played a massive role in the creation of various artists' careers in the latter half of the 2010s. Mainstream acts to start on SoundCloud include Post Malone, Lil Uzi Vert, Russ, Bryson Tiller, Lil Xan, Lil Pump, Lil Peep, Lil Skies, Smokepurpp, Ski Mask the Slump God, XXXTentacion, Trippie Redd, Playboi Carti, YBN Nahmir, Tay-K, ZillaKami, Ugly God, Nav, and others. These songs are usually closely related to trap, but have also been labeled separately as SoundCloud rap and sometimes emo rap. They have been characterized as usually having moody, sad undertones, and usually feature lo-fi rough production. The genre has been met with criticism for its perceived low effort in lyrics and production, and the problematic nature of the artists to arise from it, such as Lil Peep's drug abuse that led to his death, the multiple assault charges to XXXTentacion, 6ix9ine pleading guilty to using a child in a sexual performance, and the murder charges on Tay-K. On the contrary, the image of artists such as XXXTentacion have been met with praise due to perceived character improvement since their controversies.

Female hip-hop artists

In today's society, hip-hop or even rap, recognizes mostly male artists. Oftentimes the female artists are overlooked. There are many women that have notably influenced the hip-hop culture. However, a few names that cannot go unsaid are MC Sha-rock, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, Lil Kim, Erykah Badu, Foxy Brown, Nicki Minaj and many more. Of this list MC Sha-rock is considered the historian/pioneer of female hip-hop culture. She started her career as a break-dancer in the Bronx, New York and later became "The hip-hop's culture's first female emcee/rapper". Her career has been long-lived. From being a former member of the Funky 4+1 more to having MC rhyming battles with groups such as Grandmaster Flash and Furious 5. Another notable pioneer of female hip-hop is the famous Queen Latifah, Born Dana Elaine Owens in Newark, NJ. Queen Latifah started her career from a young age, as early as 17. But, not long after it began it soon took-off. She released her first full length album, All Hail the Queen in 1989. As she continued to release music she grew more and more popular, and her fame increased amidst the hip-hop culture. However, Queen Latifah was not an ordinary rapper. She rapped about the issues surrounding being a black woman and overall social injustice issues that appear in the music industry. In 1993, she recorded an album called Black Reign that featured the song U.N.I.T.Y that confronted the anti-feminist rhetoric and domestic violence, which was prominent among male acts. As time passes, Queen Latifah has been recognized as a popular songwriter, actress, and producer. These early pioneers have led female rap culture and impacted today's popular female hip-hop artists. For example, such popular artists may include Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Miss Mulatto, Flo Milli, and many others. Each artists has their own identity in the rap game, however as hip-hop evolves so does the style of music.

The most streamed hip-hop album of all time on Spotify is XXXTentacion's second album, ? (2018).

In 2021, the most streamed rappers were Doja Cat and Lil Nas X. Other rappers with high streams in 2021 were Drake, Eminem, Lil Baby, Polo G, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Moneybagg Yo, Masked Wolf, Pop Smoke, J. Cole, and Lil Durk. The most streamed rap album of all time on Spotify is XXXTentacion's second album, ? (2018).

World hip-hop music

Pete Rock performing at Razel and Friends – Brooklyn Bowl, 2016

Hip-hop music has reached the cultural corridors of the globe and has been absorbed and reinvented around the world. Hip-hop music expanded beyond the US, often blending local styles with hip-hop. Hip-hop has globalized into many cultures worldwide, as evident through the emergence of numerous regional scenes. It has emerged globally as a movement based upon the main tenets of hip-hop culture. The music and the art continue to embrace, even celebrate, its transnational dimensions while staying true to the local cultures to which it is rooted. Hip-hop's impact differs depending on each culture. Still, the one thing virtually all hip-hop artists worldwide have in common is that they acknowledge their debt to the Black and Latino people in New York who launched the global movement.

Hispanics and people from the Caribbean played an integral role in the early development of hip-hop in New York, and the style spread to almost every country in that region. Hip-hop first developed in the South Bronx, which had a high Hispanic, particularly Puerto Rican, population in the 1970s. Some famous rappers from New York City of Puerto Rican origin are the late Big Pun, Fat Joe, and Angie Martinez. With Hispanic rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land.

In many Latin American countries, as in the U.S., hip-hop has been a tool with which marginalized people can articulate their struggle. Hip-hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba in the 1980s and 1990s through Cuba's Special Period that came with the fall of the Soviet Union. During this period of economic crisis, which the country's poor and black populations especially hard, hip-hop became a way for the country's Afro-descended population to embrace their blackness and articulate a demand for racial equality for black people in Cuba. The idea of blackness and black liberation was not always compatible with the goals of the Cuban government, which was still operating under the idea that a raceless society was the correct realization of the Cuban Revolution. When hip-hop emerged, the Cuban government opposed the vulgar image that rappers portrayed, but later accepted that it might be better to have hip-hop under the influence of the Ministry of Culture as an authentic expression of Cuban Culture. Rappers who explicitly speak about race or racism in Cuba are still under scrutiny by the government. An annual Cuban hip-hop concert, beginning in 1995, held at Alamar in Havana helped popularize Cuban hip-hop. Famous Cuban rap groups include Krudas Cubensi and Supercrónica Obsesión.

Black Theama performing in Cairo, 2011

Black and indigenous people in Latin America and Caribbean islands have been using hip-hop for decades to discuss race and class issues in their respective countries. Brazilian hip hop is heavily associated with racial and economic issues in the country, where a lot of Afro-Brazilians live in economically disadvantaged communities, known in Brazil as favelas. São Paulo is where hip-hop began in the country, but it soon spread all over Brazil, and today, almost every big Brazilian city, including Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Recife and Brasília, has a hip-hop scene. Some notable artists include Racionais MC's, Thaide, and Marcelo D2. One of Brazil's most popular rappers, MV Bill, has spent his career advocating for black youth in Rio de Janeiro.

Reggaeton, a Puerto Rican style of music, has a lot of similarities with U.S.-based hip-hop. Both were influenced by Jamaican music, and both incorporate rapping and call and response. Dancehall music and hip from the United States are both popular music in Puerto Rico, and reggaeton is the cumulation of different musical traditions founded by Afro-descended people in the Caribbean and the United States. Some of reggaeton's most popular artists include Don Omar, Tego Calderón, and Daddy Yankee.

In Venezuela, social unrest at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s coincided with the rise of gangsta rap in the United States and led to the rise of that music in Venezuela as well. Venezuelan rappers in the 1990s generally modeled their music after gangsta rap, embracing and attempting to redefine negative stereotypes about poor and black youth as dangerous and materialistic and incorporating socially conscious critique of Venezuela's criminalization of young, poor, Afro-descended people into their music.

In Haiti, hip hop developed in the early 1980s. Master Dji and his songs "Vakans" and "Politik Pa m" are mostly credited with the rise of Haitian hip-hop. What later became known as "Rap Kreyòl" grew in popularity in the late 1990s with King Posse and Original Rap Stuff. Due to cheaper recording technology and flows of equipment to Haiti, more Rap Kreyòl groups are recording songs, even after the January 12 earthquake. Haitian hip-hop has recently become a way for artists of Haitian backgrounds in the Haiti and abroad to express their national identity and political opinions about their country of origin. Rappers have embraced the red and blue of the Flag of Haiti and rapping in Haitian Creole to display their national origin. In the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip-hop and merengue.

De La Soul at the Gorillaz tour, Demon Days Live in 2005

In Europe, Africa, and Asia, hip-hop began to move from the underground to mainstream audiences. In Europe, hip-hop was the domain of both ethnic nationals and immigrants. British hip-hop, for example, became a genre of its own and spawned artists such as Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, the Streets and many more. Germany produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel, Kool Savaş, and Azad. In France, hip-hop music developed itself from the end of the 80s. It can be divided into three eras: The classical period, which extends from the end of the 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s marked by a majority of black artists like Oxmo Puccino, Mc Solaar, Kery James (with IdealJ), IAM, NTM, the period of democratization from the 2000s, with groups and artists like Lunatic, Diam's, Sinik, Rim'K, Sefyu, Sniper, Rohff, La Fouine, which are beginning to affect the French population in general and to record the first significant commercial successes. Finally, from the 2010s, French-speaking rap experienced a rather paradoxical period of innovation, the logical start of new experiments that opened up French rap to new musical genres, such as trap, drill or "folk" rap. This period is distinguished by the great variety of French hip-hop music, where several movements beginning to separate, artists like Booba, Kaaris, JuL, Gims, Freeze Corleone, Ziak or Soolking try to innovate and look for new tracks to explore. In the Netherlands, important nineties rappers include the Osdorp Posse, a crew from Amsterdam, Extince, from Oosterhout, and Postmen. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G. Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the housing projects of America's ghettos.

The annual Blockfest in Tampere, Finland is the largest hip-hop music event in the Nordic countries and also one of the best-selling festivals in advance. Picture of Blockfest in 2017.

One of the countries outside the US where hip-hop is most popular is the United Kingdom. Grime, a genre of music derived from UK Garage and drum and bass and influenced by hip-hop, emerged in the early 2000s with artists such as Dizzee Rascal becoming successful. Although it is immensely popular, many British politicians criticize the music for what they see as promoting theft and murder, similar to gangsta rap in America. These criticisms have been deemed racist by the mostly Black British grime industry. Despite its controversial nature, grime has had a major effect on British fashion and pop music, with many young working-class youth emulating the clothing worn by grime stars like Dizzee Rascal and Wiley. There are many subgenres of grime, including "Rhythm and Grime", a mix of R&B and grime, and grindie, a mix of indie rock and grime popularized by indie rock band Hadouken!

The German rapper Fler caused significant controversy with his music.

In Germany and France, gangsta rap has become popular among youths who like the violent and aggressive lyrics. Some German rappers openly or comically flirt with Nazism; for example, Bushido (born Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi) raps "Salutiert, steht stramm, Ich bin der Leader wie A" (Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like 'A') and Fler had a hit with the record Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) complete with the title written in Third Reich style Gothic print and advertised with an Adolf Hitler quote. These references also spawned great controversy in Germany. Meanwhile, in France, artists like Kery James' Idéal J maintained a radical, anti-authoritarian attitude and released songs like Hardcore which attacked the growth of the French far right. In the Netherlands, MC Brainpower went from being an underground battle rapper to mainstream recognition in the Benelux, thus influencing numerous rap artists in the region. In Israel, rapper Subliminal reaches out to Israeli youth with political and religious-themed lyrics, usually with a Zionist message.

In Nigeria, hip-hop gained popularity in the 80s, 90s and 2000s through artists like The Remedies, JJC Skillz, M.I Abaga and Sound Sultan, encompassing the incorporation of local languages and traditional hip-hop beats. In the 2010s and 2020s it developed further with rappers like Naeto C, Reminisce, Olamide, Phyno, Blaqbonez and Odumodublvck.

In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Francis Magalona, Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane. In Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the 1990s. Of particular importance is the influence on East Asian nations, where hip-hop music has become fused with local popular music to form different styles such as K-pop, C-pop and J-pop.

South African rapper, YoungstaCPT

In South Africa, the hip-hop scene overlaps with kwaito, a music genre that emphasizes African culture and social issues. Rappers such as Pope Troy have harnessed the use of socio-economic issues plaguing the political spheres of South Africa and hip-hop as a whole whilst balancing his lingual approach in order to communicate with the masses about the technical aspects that are creating the issues, South African hip-hop has evolved into a prominent presence in mainstream South African music. Between the 1990s and 2010s, it had transcended its origins as a form of political expression in Cape Town to produce artists like HHP, Riky Rick and AKA. Prominent South African rappers include Stogie T, Reason, Da L.E.S, Cassper Nyovest, Emtee, Fifi Cooper, A-Reece, Shane Eagle, Nasty C, K.O, YoungstaCPT and Big Zulu.

Israel's hip-hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with several stars both Palestinian (Tamer Nafar) and Israeli (Subliminal). In Portugal hip-hop has his own kind of rapping, which is more political and underground scene, they are known for Valete, Dealema and Halloween. Russian hip hop emerged during last years of Soviet Union and cemented later, with groups like Malchishnik and Bad Balance enjoying mainstream popularity in the 1990s, while Ligalize and Kasta were popular in the 2000s. In former Yugoslavia hip-hop first appeared during the 1980s mostly with Serbian hip hop with performers such as B-boy, the Master Scratch Band, Badvajzer, and others. During the late 1990s hip-hop had a boom, with Rambo Amadeus and later Beogradski sindikat becoming a major performer. Bosnian and Herzegovinian hip hop is nowadays dominated by Edo Maajka. In the region hip-hop is often used as a political and social message in song themes such as war, profiteering, corruption, etc. Frenkie, another Bosnian rapper, is associated with Edo Maajka, and has collaborated beyond Bosnian borders.

In the 2010s, hip-hop became popular in Canada particularly in Toronto, which has a large Afro-Caribbean and African population. The city expressed a new sub-genre called Toronto sound. After Drake achieved mainstream success, the Toronto sound began with works by producers T-Minus and Boi-1da.

See also

• Hip hop and social injustice
• The Holy Book of Hip Hop
• Homophobia in hip hop culture
• List of hip hop festivals
• List of hip hop genres
• List of murdered hip hop musicians
• Misogyny in rap music
• Music of the United States
• List of hip hop musicians
• Video vixen

Further Reading

• "15 Years of Hip Hop: The Ultimate History", Vibe. December/January 1994/5. 66–81.
• Polfuß, Jonas "Hip-hop: a Marketplace Icon", Consumption Markets & Culture, volume 3, no. 25. 25. June 2022. 272–286.
• Dyson, Michael Eric. Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop. Basic Books, 2007.
• George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. Penguin, 2005.
• Hilburn, Robert. "Rap: Striking Tales of Black Frustration and Pride Shake the Pop Mainstream", Los Angeles Times. April 2, 1989.
• Kitwana, Bakari. "The State of the Hip-hop Generation: How hip-hop's cultural movement is evolving into political power." Diogenes, vol. 51, no. 3, Aug. 2004.
• McLeod, Kembrew. "How Copyright Law Changed Hip-Hop: An interview with Public Enemy's Chuck D and Hank Shocklee", Stay Free!, #20. 2002.
• Olivo, Warren. "Phat Lines: Spelling Conventions in Rap Music". Written Language & Literacy, Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2001. 67–85.
• Potter, Russell. Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism. SUNY Press, 1995.

External links

• "Afrika Bambaataa talks about the roots of Hip Hop", The Cornell Daily Sun. November 27, 2012.
• Daniels, Matt. "The Largest Vocabulary in Hip-Hop", The Pudding.
• Deflem, Mathieu. "Rap, Rock, and Censorship: Popular Culture and the Technologies of Justice." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, Chicago, May 27-30, 1993
• George, Delano. "When did Reggae become Rap?", Jamaicans.com.
• The History Of Hip Hop by Davey D.
• Kool Herc Interview: 1989 New Music Seminar by Davey D.
• Kool Herc Interview by Frank Broughton; Kool Herc, interview by Tim Westwood, Radio 1 Rap Show, BBC Radio 1. December 28, 1996.
• KRS gives 9 elements of Hip Hop at Harvard, video of 1999 Harvard lecture at YouTube.
• "The Roots of Hip Hop" lesson plan, TeachRock.
• WhoSampled: User-generated database of commercial music samples, covers, and remixes.