In 1979, The Sugar Hill Gang released hip-hop's first hit song, "Rapper's Delight," topping out at No. 36 on American charts. Seven years later, in 1986, the Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill" became the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard albums chart. Since then, over 100 hip-hop albums have reached that zenith. By 1995, the Grammys had an award for Best Rap Album.
Hip-hop has spawned pop culture icons in Jay-Z and Kanye West; rappers do product endorsements and their songs earn commercial spots. Eminem is a generally respected figure, something that was completely unthinkable back in 2000. Hip-hop's rise to popularity is far from a new phenomenon, but a distinctly different trend is emerging, one that is pushing the genre from simply popular music to actual pop music.
Today, the Billboard Hot 100 features a rapper/singer/hip-hop producer holding the top spot - Pharrell for his song "Happy" - and two trap rappers with guest verses on top five hits: Juicy J on Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" (2013) and 2 Chainz on Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty" (2013). In other words, it includes one rapper-turned-pop artist, and two rappers featured on pop artists' songs. Rappers are collaborating with pop artists, and hip-hop musicians are making music targeted towards the traditional pop music audience.
As long as songs that blend rap delivery and hip-hop beats with the accessible, catchy hooks and lyrics of pop music continue to succeed, they will fuel the rise of more rap-pop collaborations and crossover artists seeking access to that expanded audience. Nicki Minaj has established an entire career on bridging the gap between pop and rap. The line between genres has never been thinner, and it's only going to become more obscure.
In recent months, songs have been released by duos such as Chance the Rapper and Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons and Rick Ross and The Weeknd. Electronic music has made inroads in hip-hop, as well, as West's "Yeezus" (2013) attests. The Skrillex-produced A$AP Rocky song, "Wild for the Night" (2013), is another example. These combinations represent unions of formerly dichotomous genres.
Mashups and remixes further dilute the differences, chipping away at the ever-crumbling lines between these genres. It doesn't even matter if a rapper actually works with an electronic dance music or pop artist; their music may still end up blended together in some corner of the Internet. This cross-pollination has opened hip-hop up to an audience well beyond its original scope. Where hip-hop was once a niche genre, it now wields influence over traditional mainstream domains. Nor does this influence go only one direction; hip-hop is increasingly shaped by the desire to reach those intersectional audiences.
In many respects, the growth of hip-hop and its culture is a good thing: artists have higher ceilings, the music earns more widespread respect and its legacy is further solidified. However, such growth into the mainstream brings a host of problems to hip-hop, not the least of which is the predominantly white connotation that "mainstream" refers to. Hip-hop began as a form of cultural expression for African Americans and as a response to inner city life. Searching for radio plays and audience crossover risks losing touch with those cultural roots. As rap grows more intertwined with other genres, it may lose its cultural expression and ideological power - the very things that made it great to begin with.
Moreover, it presents the troublesome quandary of whether such coalescence represents a reduction in racial and social barriers or a more subversive cultural annexation. These are not questions with cut-and-dried solutions, but one thing is clear: pop rap is here, and it's here to stay, even if its impact is still undetermined.
