Hip-hop's Sea Change at Rolling Loud

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hip-hop is in a weird place right now. Research says that the genre, in both streaming and chart performance, has declined over the last decade. And while rap artists can still get number one songs on the Hot 100, it’s a far cry from the peak of trap circa 2017, when Nielsen data named hip-hop as the most popular genre in the U.S. So what does that mean for the future of rap? To find out, producer Reanna Cruz spent all weekend reporting from Inglewood, CA, at the California edition of the world’s largest hip-hop festival: Rolling Loud. Through talking to attendees and catching the weekend’s hottest sets, they learned about the current state of hip-hop – the good and the bad – as well as what the future may hold. To read Reanna’s highs and lows from the festival, check out their Vulture article here. Special thanks to Antonio Cruz for his production help on this episode. Songs Discussed: OsamaSon – Pop Nicki Minaj – BARBIE DANGEROUS ¥$, Kanye West, & Ty Dolla $ign – EVERYBODY (live) ¥$, Kanye West, & Ty Dolla $ign – BACK TO ME (live) Junior H – Y LLORO Natanael Cano – Pacas de Billetes Fuerza Regida – Enculado That Mexican OT, Lefty SM – Barrio (with Lefty SM) That Mexican OT – Cowboy Killer (live) KenTheMan – Not My N**** – Extended KenTheMan – Poppin Sh!t KenTheMan – Keep Going (live) Kaliii – Area Codes Action Bronson & Statik Selektah – Respect the Moustache Drake, SZA, & Sexyy Red – Rich Baby Daddy (live) Sexyy Red, Sukihana – Born By the River (feat. Sukihana) Sexyy Red, Chief Keef – Skee Yee (live) Nettspend – shine n peace (live) Nettspend – deftones snippet (live) Matt Ox – Overwhelming Nettspend – What they say SOPHIE – BIPP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for SwitchIton Pop comes from Square Space.
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0:24.9	your first purchase of a website or domain. Switch on pop.
0:40.0	Welcome to Switch on pop. I am producer Rianna Cruz.
0:43.2	I'm musicologist Nate Sloane.
0:45.0	And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.
0:46.4	Over the past few years, it's no secret that hip-hop's popularity
0:50.8	as a culture-dominating genre has waned.
0:53.7	According to a report by the music analytics firm ChartCifer, in 2023, hip-hop songs had made up
0:59.7	about 27% of Billboard's streaming songs chart. But just three years earlier, hip-hop had made up 58% of the chart. That's a pretty big drop.
1:12.4	And looking at the Billboard 200 this year,
1:15.0	only two hip-hop albums in 2024 have managed to top the charts.
1:20.0	This could be for a few reasons.
1:23.0	Maybe it's because country has been steadily gaining popularity over the last few years
1:28.0	or you know maybe pop is just you know on a big Taylor Swift-esque kick right now?
1:35.0	She's taking over everything.
1:37.0	She really has and maybe that's the title wave of Taylor Swift affecting all of the charts. But either way, hip hop is in a much different space than, say, 2017, when Nielsen data named hip hop as the most popular genre in the US. These are interesting stats to
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