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The Impact of Hip-Hop

By Andy Beaubien, BPR

In a recent article, BPR’s Peter Don wrote about the reduced passion for contemporary music as compared to past decades. With the advent of recorded music (just over a hundred years ago) hit songs began to attract mass audiences. In the 1920’s and 30’s hit songs by artists such as Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland reached wide audiences. In each successive decade hit songs defined the era. The 1950’s was the rock ‘n roll decade with stars like Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, the 60’s gave us an explosion of hits by British artists such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones, in the 70’s artists like Led Zeppelin, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac dominated the music scene. In the 80s and 90s, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey produced numerous mass appeal hits.

Over the years, hit songs have shared one common denominator and that is memorability. A song’s staying power is rooted in an easily remembered lyric or melody. Unique vocal styles have also contributed to a song’s appeal. In every era, singing stars with memorable voices added to a song’s memorability.

In addition to a succession of Pop hits, the 90s saw the emergence of a new musical phenomenon – Rap (later called Hip Hop). One of Rap-Hip Hop’s main distinctions was the absence of melodic vocals. Singing was replaced by a declamatory vocal presentation style. Melodies were either completely absent or reduced to short repetitive rhythmic phrases.  For the first time in Pop music history “singable” melodies were absent. Lyrics were spoken, not sung.

Another significant departure from traditional Pop music was subject matter. As Hip Hop differentiated itself from Pop and R&B, the lyric content became increasingly aggressive and reliant on shock value. One of the most common themes in Hip Hop is alienation and this may explain much of its appeal to young listeners.

The career lifespan of most Hip Hop artists is extremely short. Artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Drake are the exception to the rule. Ironically, the recent feud between the two Hip Hop stars may be designed to prolong their careers.

The influence of Hip Hop is now worldwide and can now be found in countries as far ranging as the France, Mexico, South Korea, Germany, Brazil and the Russia Federation. In contrast to American Hip Hop, the lyrics of Hip Hop hits in other countries tend to be milder and less aggressive.

Despite Hip Hop’s ubiquitous influence, Pop music remains healthy. Taylor Swift has achieved extraordinary success in part because she continues to produce songs that have memorable lyrics and melodies. Drawing on her earlier Country music roots, Swift’s music evolved into highly accessible Pop and made her one of the biggest music stars of the current era.

In the US, Country songs and artists are increasingly making an impact on the Top 100 charts. Over the years, Country artists have adopted many of the songwriting and performance techniques once associated primarily with Pop and Pop Rock. As a result, artists such as Morgan Wallen now dominate US Pop charts. Today’s Country music is often reminiscent of 70’s-80s Pop Rock.

Are love songs with haunting melodies a thing of the past? Perhaps. However, one would be foolish to attempt to predict the next big thing in Pop music.