"Fight The Power" got heavy rotation on MTV. So did "Mama Said Knock You Out"...."Check Yourself" by Cube...."Method Man". During the day, prime time MTV. No, they didn't only play the "pop" hits off those albums. Well they did, obviously, but not exclusively. You would see everything from 3rd Bass to Supercat during those "blocks", neither of which had much mainstream appeal.
People seem to forget that the "Drakes" and "Lil Waynes" of the early mid 90's are people like Wu-Tang and LL and Cube. They were the mainstream acts back then.
completely agree with this.
Since the early 90's the term, crossover, and sellout started to creep into the culture. Coincidentally, that's when "the underground" was formed. At that point, artists that had a pop feel sold more and got play on tv. But urban stations were NOT bumping Vanilla Ice and Young MC.
The last few days I've listened to the radio just to see what they play. I shyt you not, 90% of the time they play one of these songs.
1.) Oh Na Na
2.) Loyal
3.) Up Down
4.) Bey and Jay (pick a damn song)
5.) The Worst
When I listen to hip hop stations on Satellite radio and internationally, their playlist is VASTLY different for the same genre. They actually play a variety of songs. You would think that no one else put out an album this year. Chuck's platform is, at least have more balance in markets like NY, LA, etc. And don't play, literally the same five songs over and over and over again.
Finally, when you look at the content of these songs, and you realized that it programs our young children to value money, drugs and misogyny over knowledge of self, integrity and hard work, you can understand why our youth walks around lost.






