Hip Hop is in a really strange place.... Deep Dive...

[L $ C]

5 Years ago when you went on spotifys top 50 charting US songs there was prolly anywhere from 12-20 of them being hip hop id say. I was thiking of 2017-2019 when it just ran everything and then 2021 -22 also


Today? there is 2. One kendrick song one Drake song and thats IT. nothing else on charts...a lot of albums that drop have no staying power even. popularity wise records arent moving in hip hop and a lot of kids I work with and teach listening to more country and more pop and this was after the afrobeats/ reggeton trends.....in ways the genre is not hitting at all nation wise and def not globally right now outside of drake kendrick tyler travis....its crazy to see the huge uptick country music has had on charts here in USA and middle american that used to be heavy on hip hop has changed a lot same cars you hear other music now .. Country has had a HUGE comeback and I wonder if that happens with hip hop maybe 5 years from now for some reason popularity or chart wise.

think about it, have we even had a rap record as a hit this year outside of Luther that was last years record *(and heavy on rnb) and Nokia (which is rap but also heavy melodic) ? Bodies is a quazi hit?? sorta?

No female rap is doing anything out here chart wise I mean 0

And that trap/drill rap era of the lil baby, roddy, polo g ect has really died off popularity wise


ON THE OTHER SIDE: Damn have we ATE theres been so many GREAT albums this year I'm really happy

1. Juicy Js 2 albums
2. Clipse
3. Freddie shyt
4. JID shyt
5. Banks
6. Wiz
7. Roc
8. mac *rip
9. Rae
10. Slick
11. ghost on way
12. larry june 2 chainz joint
13. key glocc

We still could see drops from a ton of major hitters ...Nas Cardi Drake Em Cole


and many more, like theres TONS of good music coming out honestly, drake album id mention but its mostly rnb not hip hop....

The quality has been super up,
depending how the rest of the year goes I could see this as one of the best recent years quality wise but mainstream and hit wise its a diff planet and has really fallen off market share wise.



So 2 questions:
where do yall see it going as a genre 1

and 2 is hip hop going to honestly see another "big 3" or is stuff to microwave to create true hip hop stars anymore like this last era?

 

[ADP]

To me the genre has been stagnating after Kanyes peak

Kendrick has his lane and he is fantastic but hip hop as far as creativity and quality reached its summit.

Proud to have been a supporter for MANY years but sad to see where things went

Around trap & mumble is where i got lost in the shuffle and i dont see it making a comeback

Theres some good stuff in the underground but as far as mainstream COMPARED TO 1988 - 2006, you can stick a fork in it...

 

[Bryan Danielson]

I think most of y’all like too many crossover main stream artist.

I always been a fan of more UNDERGROUND hip-hop which is truly that….

HIP-HOP.

I just discovered some cat named Gekibot and I’m feeling his shyt….

Reminds me of some shyt I used to listen to from 2001-2007

 

[2ATMsYouSteppinOrWhat]

that big 3 style group of rappers shyt is out

outside of kendrick, future larry & lndn and maybe freddie all these new/newish dudes can

even the oldheads except for clipse if they keep putting out some fire…

 

[MaNu Minu]

Funny because billboard posted the numbers last year, and 2024/2025 were dominated by hip hop.

 

[bourgeoisie tall freak]

guarantee that kpop ish has a lot of rap or rap influenced beats in it so this is not really accurate.
plus some other artists you left off (tyler, post, shaboozey) is probably fake rappin or whatever
then you look at the apple music list and it's gunna all over it

so i guess you got a lot more work to do before you classify this ish as a "deep dive"

 

[derro13]

Hip-Hop Back on Top: The State of the Hot 100’s Top 10 for 2024

Hip-hop is back on top. Hit Songs Deconstructed's 2024 State of the Hot 100's Top 10 report reveals trends of last year. Get the details.

www.billboard.com

 

[derro13]

"Hip hop was the only primary genre that increased in prominence, this is due to the success of artists who appeared in multiple top tens like Kendrick Lamar leading the way alongside Future, Metro Boomin and Tyler The Creator. It was the common primary genre in the hot 100’s top ten throughout 2024, contributing 38% of all top 10 hits and bounding from a 23% take in 2023."

- Billboard

 

[Sad Bunny]

Hip hop has to mature.

The fans outgrow it too fast.

I can’t imagine being 40 and listening to new Uzi lol

 

[derro13]

Almost 40% of all top 10 hits in 2024 were hip hop tracks.

That's a better data than looking at some spotify charts at one specific time when no major rapper dropped music.

 

[tysigna]

"Hip hop was the only primary genre that increased in prominence, this is due to the success of artists who appeared in multiple top tens like Kendrick Lamar leading the way alongside Future, Metro Boomin and Tyler The Creator. It was the common primary genre in the hot 100’s top ten throughout 2024, contributing 38% of all top 10 hits and bounding from a 23% take in 2023."

- Billboard

Came to post this.

 

[Cloutius Maximus]

People clearly want some melodic shyt and something they can dance to and sing along to.

These new rappers can't rap but the melodies aren't memorable either and the hooks aren't catchy. Nokia is catchy, at least. So what are we doing?

 

[Nuuko]

That's because there hasn't been any major release.

Last time we had major releases, hip hop was the most dominant genre in the game & on the charts.

 

[Mr 18]

So what OP is saying is big artists haven't dropped in a while? And other people posted evidence that last time they were being active, hip hop was running the billboard like never before...so what is op talking about?

 

[Piff Perkins]

I agree that a lot of good-to-great rap shyt has dropped this year from underground to mainstream. But from a mainstream perspective this has been a pretty empty year and it still feels like the beef sucked the air out of the rap industry. Country has exploded but pop music has exploded too. The summer (and soon to be fall) was run by Sabrina Carpenter. Or should I say...Jack Antonoff lol. Last year, besides the titanic rap battle, the big music events were Chappell Roan and Taylor Swift.

The problem isn't the absence of hit rap songs or albums. Future could have easily run the summer if he had dropped. But therein lies the problem. We've had 5+ years of no real planning or development of new artists. The guys we thought we next up fell off (Baby) or are drugged out (Carti, Kodak). The hoe rappers are completely burned out artistically and are running entirely off attention. Legends who could shake things up are retired (Jay) or gone (Kanye). And Drake/Kendrick/Cole keep trucking along with no real competition because nobody else is building proper fanbases. And I continue to believe XXX/Juice/Pop dying killed the next wave of where shyt was going.

How do you get out of the rut when labels are clearly not prioritizing rap unless you're an established rapper in your mid 30s or older. Meanwhile the money that does go to younger rappers is for gimmicks and bullshytters. All that "don't try, don't take it seriously" shyt nikkas thought was cool a few years ago? Well congratulations, now all these dudes burning out and nobody is decent enough to replace them.

BTW...anyone notice that Atlanta is dead. The succession of Future/Migos/Thug/Gunna/Baby/etc is broken. Who is next up? It's done. And btw if I can throw a shot in here...that's partially why Drake is struggling right now too. Who is the next ATL (or non-ATL) rapper he can attach himself to?