Rap atop the charts

spacemanspiff · 10-08-2003, 09:56 PM

It seems that rap has hit a milestone of sorts. Every song on the Billboard Top 10 singles is hiphop.

1. "Baby Boy": Beyonc� featuring Sean Paul
� 2. "Shake Ya Tailfeather": Nelly, P. Diddy & Murphy Lee
� 3. "Get Low": Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring the Ying Yang Twins
� 4. "Right Thurr": Chingy
� 5. "Frontin' ": Pharrell featuring Jay-Z
� 6. "Damn!": YoungBloodz featuring Lil Jon
� 7. "P.I.M.P.": 50 Cent
� 8. "Into You": Fabolous featuring Tamia/Ashanti
� 9. "Stand Up": Ludacris featuring Shawnna
� 10. "Where is the Love?": Black Eyed Peas

While I guess this could be called impressive for all you hiphop fans out there. I wonder what this really means besides big time sales. It seems that rap has become a part of pop music. If you look at the artist on that list, they are all popular, as you might expect. But would you really consider them a good representation of hip hop? My bet is that most of them will just come and go like other pop sensations. So I don't know if I would really call this progress for hiphop music in general.

davdes5 · 10-08-2003, 11:58 PM

spacemanspiff:yeah, you've got the right idea. there is a big argument going on in hip hop right now on "old school" versus commercial music.

Marijuana · 10-09-2003, 01:11 AM

Well... It surprises me how I ever found this forum in the first place, but here we go, I`ll put my 2 cents in just cuz...
I was kinda thrown back by that list when I realized that artists like Black Eyed Peas or Beyonce etc. are actually considered contributors to the hip-hop industry...It just seems that their music is so far out from real authentic hiphop that you struggle to understand how they got to be on the same list as Luda or Busta, Lil Jon...I mean sure you gotta respect their work and things they do because every artist deserves recognition for the hard-work and so on, nonetheless there isnt any question on the issue of their comercialism. Sure the beat and flow of most recent "hip-hop" tracks is undeniably catchy and it just makes itself liked by the listeners. But I`m afraid most of them are just gonna` poof and disappear... There is just too much emphasis on sales and what the public might like.. And it makes it a lil` frustrating when you see rappers like Obie who came out with an amazing Lp - Cheers - I would go as far as to say a classic, and most people dont give a nada about it...It`s just sad whats going on in this industry..
Good night ladies and gentlemen.

spacemanspiff · 10-09-2003, 11:13 PM

well it depends on who you ask. I would expect someone who was really all about hiphop culture to pay little attention to Black Eyed Peas and other comercial stuff. But for the general audience whatever kinda sounds hip hop (Justin Timberlake) is hiphop. You can't expect the popular stuff to be anything but comercial, that's how you sell enoungh to be in the Top 40. For the general audience hiphop is just a good beat and some smack about being a pimp or something equally cliche. You can't expect decent lyrics with some thought behind them (Mos Def) or something at least slightly creative (The Roots, Outkast) so be that popular overall.

(e) · 10-11-2003, 06:04 AM

I'd say Justin Timberlake was r'n'b, not hip-hop. Anyway, when has the charts ever indicated that a song was good?

Marijuana · 10-11-2003, 09:45 PM

Justin Timberlake is a hiphop artist..

Now that is a funny statement...Yeah I would probably agree wid (e) on that he is trying to be r`n`b and well frankly it seems a lil` ironic for a popstar (after n*cync and all that..) to change his approach entirely.. I mean he incorporates a few hiphop elements in his solo album & some songs with producers like pharell etc. and suddenly he is this big "hiphop" star and everyone loves Justin cuz he`s so cute AND he is hiphop too...THE PERFECT COMBINATION... It`s just like some girls i hear with shit like "oh i love Eminem he is so CUTE oh my Gosh" ****.. it just makes me sick...

bec · 10-13-2003, 04:21 AM

i wouldn't class any of the rap like 50 cent, ja rule as hip hop at all but r and b. Black eyed peas i would though if you've ever checked out their music before 'that song'. some thing made me laugh yeasturday i was watchin MTV's 'hip hop classics' but it was all j-lo and Ashanti, makes me so mad!

(e) · 10-13-2003, 05:27 AM

Yeah I don't like that either. I guess it's like Avril being classified as punk...

bec · 10-20-2003, 11:38 AM

its hard to resist some of it though......................... i thinl that new Beyonce tune with Sean Paul is good considering! (i can't help being female, you have to like some cheesy tunes sometimes!)