Is Rap Music Dead? with Broken Record’s Justin Richmond
The Sam Sanders Show
KCRW & Sam Sanders
4.9 • 709 Ratings
🗓️ 5 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For the first time in 35 years, there are no rap songs in Billboard’s Top 40. Is hip-hop in trouble?
Sam breaks down what it all means with Justin Richmond, music journalist and host of Pushkin’s Broken Record podcast. The two chat about the warning signs that might have led to this moment, how hip hop has evolved, and how Black music continues to influence artists across genres today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey listeners, it is the season of giving. |
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| 0:20.7 | Hey, y'all. You are listening to the Sam Sanders show from KCRW, a show all about the things that entertain us. |
| 0:27.8 | Thank you so much for checking out my show. |
| 0:34.4 | This episode, music, and what songs get to count as the most popular in the country. |
| 0:40.9 | So, last week I saw a headline about the Billboard charts that kind of stopped me in my tracks. |
| 0:47.6 | Billboard measures the top songs and albums in America, and there was a story about Billboard last week that I thought was pretty shocking news. |
| 0:56.8 | Last week, for the first time in 35 years, there were no rap songs in the Billboard top 40. |
| 1:04.9 | None. |
| 1:06.1 | That's wild, right? |
| 1:07.9 | Of the biggest songs in America, none of them were classified as rap. This felt weird to me as someone who grew up on hip hop. It felt weird to me, if I'm being honest, as a black person. I wanted to talk this out. So I called up one of my favorite music heads, Justin Richmond. Justin hosts a podcast called Broken Record for Pushkin Industries. |
| 1:30.3 | Think of a show as audio liner notes for your favorite albums and favorite artist. |
| 1:37.5 | Anywho, me and Justin broke all this down and asked the larger question behind that headline |
| 1:44.0 | of no rap in the top 40. |
| 1:46.0 | Is hip hop or black music writ large in trouble? |
| 1:55.2 | You saw the same headline for the first time in 35 years on the Billboard charts, |
| 2:01.2 | there are no rap songs right now in the top 40. |
| 2:06.0 | This has not happened since 1990. |
| 2:09.1 | I want to break down why and what this means. |
| 2:11.4 | But first, as a music head like myself, |
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