When do you feel hip hop peaked?

[Whips-n-Chains]

1996 was clearly the apex, with every subsequent year being of lesser quality

You could argue 94 or 95 as the apex since the 1996 releases had a more commercialized gloss to them, IWW from Illmatic, AEOM from MATW, etc. But from an overal amount of classics released in one year, 96 is probably the peak

 

[Finesse]

2010s had perfect balance


There was a rapper for everybody. From a Drake, Cole or a Wale to a XXXTentacion or Famous Dex and a Lil Uzi to a Chief Keef or a Young Thug.

 

[Plankton]

late 90s/early 2000s

Question. How could it "peak" when the consciousness was nothing like it was in the late 90's/early 2000's like it was in the late 80's early 90's. KRS and Public Enemy were at the forefront of the Late 80s/early 90's where we had political and conscious hip hop with a Black power stamp. Even smoking weed was looked down on and the drug dealer was considered the bad guy. By the time Diddy, DMX, Ja Rule and Jay Z were the kings in the late 90's /early 2000's, materialism was at the forefront, political rap took a back seat, The N word was now regular shyt, killing Black men was regular shyt. selling drugs was regular shyt, smoking weed was regular shyt & disrespecting Black women was regular shyt. Explain how that is a "peak" because compared to the political/conscious era it looked more like a decline.

 

[Malcy86]

Let me further elaborate on why Hip Hop peaked in the mid/Late 80's

Run DMC took Hip Hop to a commercial level without being some put together group. They were official and raw yet were able to gain mainstream attention. The Fresh Fest was led by Run DMC and was the first commercially successful hip hop tour. Run DMC were also the first to get branding with ADIDAS opening the doors for Hip Hop being a staple for endorsements.


LL Cool J was the template for the successful solo platinum selling rapper.


All of this started in the mid/late 80's. You don't get the direction Hip Hop would later go without these 2 entities pioneering the way.

I agree with this although it isn't the full picture, others also have to take credit for all that was going on in that era in terms of the different styles, situations. Mid to Late 80's with a fair bit of the 90's thrown in when you take it down to creativity alone. Commercially, early 2000's. It's a difficult question to answer as it goes a lot deeper than just 'when did it peak'.

There is a lot to consider, different factors like I said about creativity, sales, exposure etc.

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

Question. How could it "peak" when the consciousness was nothing like it was in the late 90's/early 2000's like it was in the late 80's early 90's. KRS and Public Enemy were at the forefront of the Late 80s/early 90's where we had political and conscious hip hop with a Black power stamp. Even smoking weed was looked down on and the drug dealer was considered the bad guy. By the time Diddy, DMX, Ja Rule and Jay Z were the kings in the late 90's /early 2000's, materialism was at the forefront, political rap took a back seat, The N word was now regular shyt, killing Black men was regular shyt. selling drugs was regular shyt, smoking weed was regular shyt & disrespecting Black women was regular shyt. Explain how that is a "peak" because compared to the political/conscious era it looked more like a decline.

Reganomics & crack era in full effect by 88...that infiltrated hip hop moving forward.

Keep it real tho...how many conscious albums are in your top 10?

 

[Knucklehead]

Question. How could it "peak" when the consciousness was nothing like it was in the late 90's/early 2000's like it was in the late 80's early 90's. KRS and Public Enemy were at the forefront of the Late 80s/early 90's where we had political and conscious hip hop with a Black power stamp. Even smoking weed was looked down on and the drug dealer was considered the bad guy. By the time Diddy, DMX, Ja Rule and Jay Z were the kings in the late 90's /early 2000's, materialism was at the forefront, political rap took a back seat, The N word was now regular shyt, killing Black men was regular shyt. selling drugs was regular shyt, smoking weed was regular shyt & disrespecting Black women was regular shyt. Explain how that is a "peak" because compared to the political/conscious era it looked more like a decline.

None of this has anything to do with the music. You’re just talking about the ideology you prefer. You won’t hear film buffs say that Pay It Forward is superior to Goodfellas because it has a more positive message.
There’s many music aficionados who would argue that music peaked in the classical or jazz era when there was no lyrics whatsoever or the great operas that were in Italian or Russian that they don’t even understand.

 

[Plankton]

Commercially, early 2000's.

Hip Hop peaking commercially has nothing to do with when the culture itself peaked. By the early 2000's the Black owned templates, Sugar Hill Records and Def Jam (Because Russell was the dominant owner before selling it) were both sold off to non Black entities.

 

[Lonj]

Culturally? The 80's.
Lyrically? The 90's.
Commercially? Probably the 00's.

 

[Plankton]

None of this has anything to do with the music. You’re just talking about the ideology you prefer. You won’t hear film buffs say that Pay It Forward is superior to Goodfellas because it has a more positive message.
There’s many music aficionados who would argue that music peaked in the classical or jazz era when there was no lyrics whatsoever or the great operas that were in Italian or Russian that they don’t even understand.

Paid In Full and Follow The Leader are iconic

Great Adventures Of Slick Rick is iconic

Run DMC's first 3 albums are iconic

Will and Jeffs 2nd album is iconic

LL's first 2 albums are iconic

BDP's first 2 albums are iconic (4th one as well but that's 1990)

Public Enemy's 2nd album is iconic (3rd one as well but that's 1990)

Kane's first 2 albums are iconic

De La Souls 1st album is iconic


Those are just a few examples so when you say it has nothing to do with music it sounds like you are just unfamiliar with the music.

 

[Plankton]

Reganomics & crack era in full effect by 88...that infiltrated hip hop moving forward.

Keep it real tho...how many conscious albums are in your top 10?

I don't have a top 10 but I do have a greatest of all times category. I'll post an old quote to elaborate so it doesn't look like I'm just saying anything to win an argument.

I will go on record to say that Stic Mans 2011 album "The Workout" in my opinion is the greatest concept record in hip hop history because its 1) An album that can be appreciated by all races, ages and genders 2) Its an album that truly gives back to the community on a level like no other hip hop album by having its concept revolve around motivation to live a healthy lifestyle and exercise. I have yet to see an album that has a universal appeal to actually help and improve peoples lifestyle on such a level. I mean ,the man has a song ( "Sober Soldier" ) acknowledging that smoking weed is slavery...what other rappers are talking like that?

That was written in 2019. Since then Stic Man dropped The Workout 2 and I believe those 2 albums are the greatest concept albums in Hip Hop history.



Here's another

But I still say not 1 rapper, not even the beloved Tupac has ever created an album on the level of Edutainment. KRS couldn't even outdo himself after that one. Criminal Minded gets acknowledged as his best but
The knowledge that was dropped on that Edutainment album should have won KRS some type of community award. I feel he had finally mastered what he was trying to do on the ‘by all means” and “blueprint” album with ‘Edutainment.”

Edutainment had a song that had the hip hop community questioning eating beef. When a song on an album can make you question something such as challenging your conditioned diet, it stands out from the rest. Even GZA had to pay homage.






That's 3 right there to answer your question.


Now if you are specifying the mid/late 80's, I already mentioned BDP's 2nd album and PE's 2nd album as iconic.

 

[lowkey0z]

Question. How could it "peak" when the consciousness was nothing like it was in the late 90's/early 2000's like it was in the late 80's early 90's. KRS and Public Enemy were at the forefront of the Late 80s/early 90's where we had political and conscious hip hop with a Black power stamp. Even smoking weed was looked down on and the drug dealer was considered the bad guy. By the time Diddy, DMX, Ja Rule and Jay Z were the kings in the late 90's /early 2000's, materialism was at the forefront, political rap took a back seat, The N word was now regular shyt, killing Black men was regular shyt. selling drugs was regular shyt, smoking weed was regular shyt & disrespecting Black women was regular shyt. Explain how that is a "peak" because compared to the political/conscious era it looked more like a decline.

oh ok, you believe hip hop was at its peak when it was on some conscious shyt - - i can't argue with that

when i compare the 80s to the 2000s, imo the beats got crazier, the lyricism (metaphors, simile's, rhyme structures, etc.) got better, and while the overall subject matter wasn't as conscious as before, rappers still had a few tracks on their albums/projects to address conscious/"real" shyt, plus you still had a pocket of rappers on that conscious shyt as well (common, the roots, talib kweli, mos def, etc.)

at the end of the day, i look at the hip hop industry for what it is - - a part of the entertainment industry, and the late 90s/early 2000s of hip hop were more entertaining to me

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

oh ok, you believe hip hop was at its peak when it was on some conscious shyt - - i can't argue with that

when i compare the 80s to the 2000s, imo the beats got crazier, the lyricism (metaphors, simile's, rhyme structures, etc.) got better, and while the overall subject matter wasn't as conscious as before, rappers still had a few tracks on their albums/projects to address conscious/"real" shyt, plus you still had a pocket of rappers on that conscious shyt as well (common, the roots, talib kweli, mos def, etc.)

at the end of the day, i look at the hip hop industry for what it is - - a part of the entertainment industry, and the late 90s/early 2000s of hip hop were more entertaining to me

Well said

I debated making the bolded point in my last post... to me it's like Malcom X is a great movie, but I'd still rather watch Goodfellas ()

 

[satam55]

I voted 2010's becuz I assume the OP was talking about Hip-Hop's peak popularity.

 

[re'up]

Around 2007.

Seems like we had more mainstream Rap stars than we did, now.

A lot will just depend on age, but this feels right to me. If I had to cut it closer, I would say around 1999-2002. It was the end of an era of late 90's excess, but also the sheer quality of releases. Everything from 1999 sounds incredible compared to, lets say 2009. And the major labels were so flush with money while the artists were still really creative, think of a major star like Nas making a song about killing his wife and her lover. It was fun, it was transgressive, but dominated the charts. That to me, is a peak.

 

[Easy-E]

A lot will just depend on age, but this feels right to me. If I had to cut it closer, I would say around 1999-2002. It was the end of an era of late 90's excess, but also the sheer quality of releases. Everything from 1999 sounds incredible compared to, lets say 2009. And the major labels were so flush with money while the artists were still really creative, think of a major star like Nas making a song about killing his wife and her lover. It was fun, it was transgressive, but dominated the charts. That to me, is a peak.

Yep, I was one year outta high school.

I will say; the reason I didn't pick the mid to late 90's because I think Hip-Hop had a second breath after Pac/BIG died in a way people didn't think would happen.

People hate on the South, but, that early Lil Jon era made stars outta so many random ATL/Southern rappers.

Plenty of hits in that mid 2000's timeframe.

Wayne at his peak, Jeezy at his peak, Southern visibility at it's peak.

Curtis was still a star, Kanye was on a rocket upwards.

DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE (early) BLOG ERA. (late 2000's-early 2000's).

That's one of my biggest arguments; Hip-Hop was beginning to cut out the middle man.

If those artist stayed independent (The Cool Kids for example), Rap would be in such a different place.

A lot of career got stalled because the labels wanted too much out of them.