The music world was set on fire when hip-hop emerged as a major player in the entertainment industry. As the years have passed and the golden era of hip-hop is now gone there has been a convergence of styles between hip-hop and pop music. Country music has remained one of the leading contenders in record sales while hip-hop and pop music have remained solid in recent years when compared to other genres. The new genre to have emerged from the combination of hip-hop and pop is simply called hip-pop. Gone are the days of pop and hip-hop artist being on different sides of the revenue spectrum. Now both sets of artist share similar lifestyles and instrumental templates.
Some of the worlds biggest pop stars such as Brittany Spears and Rhianna often do music alongside hip-hop artist such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne to name a few. This emergence as a joint genre has produced multiple platinum hits and has sparked the debate of if mainstream hip-hop can maintain the underground sound without the pop appeal. There can be some success on the underground marketplace of hip-hop but even there the line between going pop can be blurred.
Music acts such as “Black Eyed Peas” have exemplified a musical style that encompasses hip-hop traditional sounds with a clear-cut pop feel. This format of music has garnered them worldwide acclaim as elite artist who can fill a stadium to its capacity with little promotion needed. Maybe artist should refer to hip-hop as more then a subculture containing the elements of DJ'ing, graffiti, rapping, and breakdancing. More so hip-hop can be identified as the new popular form of music. In itself being a popular form of music makes that genre pop based on sheer definition.
In the modern era of music I wonder how many young artist realize that making a hit record no longer entails sticking to your genre to receive acclaim from peers. With the completion of a joint genre now the goal should be simply to stand out amongst all competing music acts for the same consumer dollar. Now the competition for a hip-hop rapper is no longer the rapper from across town that is known for “spitting hot verses”. More so the competition might be a singer from around the corner who can dance and melt the hearts of their fans. Going forward these opposing musical acts should be identified as the barometer for comparable success.
