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How Rap Became the Sound of the Mainstream
When Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi vert was 20 years old, he uploaded a few songs to SoundCloud, a free music-sharing platform. The tracks got a couple hundred plays, then a few thousand. Three years later, the rapper, now 23, has racked up over a billion Spotify streams and nabbed a Best New Artist Grammy nomination.
Lil Uzi Vert's rise is impressive. But this year, he's just one in a crowd of hip-hop stars who are dominating the mainstream. Nearly half of the songs on Jan. 27's Billboard Hot 100 chart were rap or incorporate elements of hip-hop. Listening in the genre increased 74% on Spotify in 2017, and Drake, the Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar were three of the platform's top five most popular artists. This is a marked change from the past 10 years, when artists like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga ruled the charts.
The Grammys are evolving as well. This year, rap dominated the category, thanks to artists like Jay-Z, Lamar and Donald Glover. Three of the five nominees for Record of the Year are also hip-hop, as are three of the five for Best New Artist, including Lil Uzi Vert.
For fans of American hip-hop, this recognition is long overdue. "It was kind of a 'Well, duh', moment," says Ross Scarano, Billboard vice president of content. "Rap has been the most dominant force in American culture for years."
It's impossible to talk about rap as a genre without also talking about issues of race and class. The barriers to entry, either as a fan or an artist, are lower than they've ever been; the visibility of those who have made it is, thanks to social media, higher than ever before. For kids, to become the next Migos, rising from the streets to hip-hop royalty, is a new American Dream.
Raisa Bruner, TIME Magazine, 2018