Old heads who lived in the 90s, what was the exact year hiphop/rap became mainstream and blew up?

[TheDarceKnight]

Honestly I wanna say 1998.

After Pac and Big died, 1997 is when the momentum started going that way. You could feel it bubbling. No Way Out from Puff was a huge album and you could tell the music videos were starting to get massive budgets.

To me, DMX and Jay dropping Hell is Hot and Volume 2 the same calendar year ('98) is when it really exploded. X dropped Flesh is Flesh at the end of the year too. 3 massive albums in one year.

Volume 2 by Jay was huge for pushing hip-hop into mainstream pop culture. That's when it felt like to me that hip-hop really went worldwide. That Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay, X, and Method Man and Redman was huge, and it was the first time hip-hop was able to fill up stadiums and do a massive tour like that.

Volume 2 is the album that I would push the chips in on. It's definitely the album that made Jay a superstar, and IMO it's either 1998 with Jay and X dropping those albums, or you could argue it was a year earlier with Biggie's passing and Puff dropping No Way Out.

Also, Busta Rhymes low key contributed a LOT in late '97 with the videos for Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See and Dangerous. Those were both big hits with big budget videos.

 

[TheRtist]

LOL...exactly...I was responding to u saying Hip Hop took over...not Op saying when did it blow up.

I edited my original response to SirBiatch to make it clear.

 

[smokeurobinson]

I edited my original response to SirBiatch to make it clear.

Yeah I Just caught that....My bad.

 

[Monoblock]

1999?
2000?
2001?
2002?

After tupac and biggie's death?

How old are you 15? But to answer your question it was way before that.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

Hip-hop became 'mainstream' in 1984.......

Late 80's-Early 90's was when it 'blew up' thanks to Gangsta Rap and the Conscious Era.​

 

[TheRtist]

I meant one-off as in 'limited number of acts'. You can't name the only acts that were going mainstream and then saying that hip hop as a genre was mainstream. Pac was in movies but these were not mainstream movies by any stretch of the imagination. "Above The Rim" is basically an independent film shot on a 6 mil budget, which is nothing in 1994. Studios were spending up to 100 mil or more on action pics and 30-80 mil on dramas.

A genre is mainstream to me when #1 on Billboard becomes more frequent simply because that genre is in demand and established. If you look at the list below, it becomes obvious that this genre started taking the fukk off in the late 90s and especially into the 2000s.

Every No. 1 Rap Song in Hot 100 HistoryLudacris f/ Shawnna "Stand Up" (2003)

I named plenty of acts tho....and can name more

CrazySexyCool was a 96 album that went diamond. All Eyez On Me was a 96 album that went diamond. Fugees The Score in 96 was six times platinum.

In 96 alone hiphop was mainstream.

Will Smith had two mainstream Top 40 songs in Men In Black and Getting Jiggy With It

Big Willie Style was a 97 album that went diamond.

The following years DMX, P, Em & Diddy really took over.

One thing to note is that what you are calling taking over is a time when the rotating door began on acts in the music industry. In the early 90's artist development existed and labels would stick with thier artists for much longer than the late 90's/early 00's...the same year downloads began.

 

[OHSNAP!]

95/96 with Bone, Fugees, Pac, Biggie, Coolio etc doing huge numbers and being played on all radio/video stations

 

[TheRtist]

Hip-hop became 'mainstream' in 1984.......

Late 80's-Early 90's was when it 'blew up' thanks to Gangsta Rap and the Conscious Era.​

thank you!!!!!

 

[SirBiatch]

I named plenty of acts tho....and can name more

CrazySexyCool was a 96 album that went diamond. All Eyez On Me was a 96 album that went diamond. Fugees The Score in 96 was six times platinum.

In 96 alone hiphop was mainstream.

Will Smith had two mainstream Top 40 songs in Men In Black and Getting Jiggy With It

Big Willie Style was a 97 album that went diamond.

The following years DMX, P, Em & Diddy really took over.

One thing to note is that what you are calling taking over is a time when the rotating door began on acts in the music industry. In the early 90's artist development existed and labels would stick with thier artists for much longer than the late 90's/early 00's...the same year downloads began.

cmon breh. CrazySexyCool is NOT a hip hop album. All Eyez On Me went diamond because Pac got killed - totally unique circumstance. Fugees were pop hip hop. They're dope, don't get me wrong. But they weren't hip hop like that.

These are all exceptions to the rule. If you mean 'mainstream' as in 'people knew the hip hop genre existed and could walk into a shop and buy the new hip hop album if they wanted', then yes. It was already mainstream by the 90s. It wasn't some underground vinyl/tape trading type shyt. But it wasn't til 98 at least until the genre started taking over, which is what I consider mainstream.

If hip hop had been totally accepted by the mainstream in the late 80s/early 90s, we wouldn't still be having convos like "I'm surprised x white person is into hip hop":



White people and other minorities accepting hip hop en masse is a fairly recent phenomenon.

Hip-hop became 'mainstream' in 1984.......

Late 80's-Early 90's was when it 'blew up' thanks to Gangsta Rap and the Conscious Era.​

Again... just because a film exists that is around hip hop at that time does not mean that the genre was mainstream at that time. Movies are not equal. These shyts were damn near independent. Made for pennies.

If hip hop was mainstream like y'all say it was, they would've spent at least tens of millions on these shyts and we would've had Tom Hanks play the title role. Cmon b

 

[IllmaticDelta]

hiphop has been mainstream ever since Rappers Delight (late 70's)...it was international by the early 90's and ultra global by 1996.

 

[IllmaticDelta]

at those options breh:lmaonas:

 

[SunZoo]

Since Sugar Hill.

Y'all don't understand how they disrespected and continue to disrespect Hip Hop....the shyt was a fad, it was noise, filth...next thing you know Fred Flintstone is rapping to sell fruity pebbles.

 

[Waterproof]

Hip Hop became Mainstream when Kurtis Blow took hip hop commercial and global, In 1979, Christmas Rappin went Gold and The Breaks went Platinum

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

Again... just because a film exists that is around hip hop at that time does not mean that the genre was mainstream at that time. Movies are not equal. These shyts were damn near independent. Made for pennies.

Those movies wouldn't have been made at all if not for the interest generated in the genre.

No one makes a movie to LOSE money.​

 

[TheRtist]

cmon breh. CrazySexyCool is NOT a hip hop album. All Eyez On Me went diamond because Pac got killed - totally unique circumstance. Fugees were pop hip hop. They're dope, don't get me wrong. But they weren't hip hop like that.

They grouped hip-hop/r&b together often back then. TLC was def a mix with Left Eye rapping on their biggest songs.

Fugees were not pop-hiphop...they made official hip-hop. PM Dawn was pop-hip-hop.

You would have had to be around to see how they classified music back then to understand....they still do it today...keep in mind 2pac recently got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

These are all exceptions to the rule. If you mean 'mainstream' as in 'people knew the hip hop genre existed and could walk into a shop and buy the new hip hop album if they wanted', then yes. It was already mainstream by the 90s.

thats the only definition of mainstream that exists. Its everywhere. Everyone wanted a piece of hip-hop. This was the theme song for Ghostbusters 2 and Bobby Brown was rapping

It wasn't some underground vinyl/tape trading type shyt. But it wasn't til 98 at least until the genre started taking over, which is what I consider mainstream.

If hip hop had been totally accepted by the mainstream in the late 80s/early 90s, we wouldn't still be having convos like "I'm surprised x white person is into hip hop":

White people and other minorities accepting hip hop en masse is a fairly recent phenomenon.

mainstream and takeover are two different things tho breh.

mainstream can be a collective of different genre's types, its just what is popular culture. Think movies...comedy, horror, action all been mainstream movies forever.

Taking over is the one dominant force that damn near represents all music.

Drake went mainstream in 09 he took over much later....some will say the Views period. Lil Wayne went mainstream in 99....but he clearly took over around The Carter 3 in 2008.

White people and other minorities accepting hip hop en masse is a fairly recent phenomenon.

This is primarily because they didnt understand it and plenty people on this site show they still dont.

Look up Steve Stoute's tanning effect stuff....Jay-Z and alot of other artists were advertising drug deals and pimping in their music. People outside the inner city understanding never got it....but Eminem talking about hating his mother....every white kid in America latched on ASAP.