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nor visit nore dot com forward slash UK Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of Pop Chart history from Slate magazine, about the hits from coast to coast.

I'm Chris Malamphi, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why Is This Song Number One series.

On today's show, at the Grammys this year, many of the most compelling performances came

from the world of hip-hop.

From Kendrick Lamar. To new rap star, Cardi B, supporting the night's biggest Grammy winner, Bruno Marsh.

To new rap star, Cardi B, supporting the night's biggest Grammy winner Bruno Marsh. Even if hip-hop didn't walk away with any of the night's biggest trophies, which mostly went to pop singers like Mars and Ed Sheeran, not rappers like Lamar,

rap in the 2010s is the undisputed top genre in all of recorded music.

Just last year, 2017, the hip-hop and R&B genre accounted for one quarter of all music consumed in America.

That's remarkable for an art form that didn't exist as a recorded medium

40 years ago, started as street music,

and was long seen as a fad.

When rap historians are asked about the greatest moments in hip-hop history,

they will often point not just to classic artists but classic eras like sports fans who recall

the 69 Mets or the 78 Steelers or the 96 Bulls.

Rap fans tend to organize hip-hop history not just around pivotal players, but pivotal years.

For example, rap's widely agreed upon Golden era usually starts around 1988, marked by such Hall of Famers as Public Enemy and NWA.

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