Genre Case Study

I thought Hip-Hop would be a great genre to research as although it has been around as long as most other genres, only recently it has overtake ‘Rock’ to become the most popular genre of this modern, youth generation. A first example I am going to show you is Playboi Carti - Magnolia. I feel this video shows all elements of Hip-Hop at the moment especially through the visuals. As with constantly improving technology, editors are finding new ways to show off their skills with combining different shots together and creating other elements to the video such as the Butterflies.

Hip-Hop can date as far back as 1924 and has been majorly influenced by artists such as Run DMC, The Rock Steady Crew, The Grandmaster and more.

Brief Timeline:

1980s - Throughout the 1980s artist ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ helped define not just the genre and it’s songs but the culture itself. His key thoughts were that Hip-Hop was a state of mind and a way of expressing yourself creatively not a set of hard rules and guidelines.

1990s - The 90s is where Hip-Hop really started to become a popular genre. This century saw the rise of some of the biggest and most important names in Hip-Hop. Legends like Snoopdog, 2 PAC, NAS and The Notorious B.I.G all took over. NAS's first big album 'Illmatic' is thought of as one of the greatest Hip Hop Albums of all time. During the 90s, 2 PAC is also involved in gang violence where he was shot five times and served 8 months in prison, beginning to give the Hip Hop culture a particular stereotype.

2000s - Dr Dre, Eminem and Missi Elliot, N.W.A and Puff Daddy (now known as P Diddy) are now on the scene and are bringing new ideas. Eminem created a huge stir in the industry as he was one of the only white rappers in Hip-Hop (seen to be for the most part a black culture), to start challenging the other rappers lyrically and defeating them.

2010s - Kanye West, J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Mob, Nicki Minaj and many more are now some of the top Hip Hop artists of our generation. Hip Hop is ever-growing and in 2014 Eminem was the first Hip Hop rapper to headline at Wembley Stadium, selling out a venue holding 90,000 people. Hip-Hop has also very recently taken over the Rock genre in being the most popular and listened to genre; this is the first time in years. Also the birth of the new sub-genres of Hip-Hop such as 'Soundcloud' and 'Mumble Rappers' have evolved like Travis Scott, Lil Pump and XXXTentacion.

Key Examples:

Lil Pump:  Lil Pump at only 17 years of age, is an American rapper and songwriter from Miami, Florida. He began uploading songs to the recently popular music sharing website SoundCloud in 2016, gaining almost one-hundred million streams combined on the site. He linked together with fellow Miami rapper Smokepurpp, who was already quite popular for this new style of Hip-Hop. He has already performed at the Rolling Loud Festival. Lil Pump is best known for his song "Gucci Gang" which peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.

A$AP Mob: A$AP Mob are a hugely influential group on the Hip Hop scene and holds a total of 12 members. They have their own record label called A$AP Worldwide but are also represented by RCA Records and Polo Grounds Records. A few of the group's largest members include A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg and the late A$AP Yams.





J.Cole: J. Cole has 10 top selling albums and has toured world wide multiple times, most recently selling out the O2 on multiple dates. He's a producer, songwriter, rapper and singer. He says he was inspired by Canibus, NAS, Eminem and Tupac - mainly by their ability to story-tell with their lyrics and word play. He is currently signed with Dreamville Records and like I mentioned, has just finished his most recent world tour to show off his latest platinum album, For Your Eyez Only.