Over the years rap has become one of the most listened to music genres. Why you may ask well first rap is undeniably most popular music genre to date the origin of rap is in Africa where village storytellers used to play some handmade instruments when they told stories to their family. Rap music’s beginning were humble and focused on bring families together and uplifting each other’s spirit in times of pain and because of that people find that as a strong way to motivate themselves. and that was strong now because of all the things that were going on such as police brutality and there and they would listen to this music and their children would listen to it. and after years people would change the rap game. Or instance nwa the rap group and then there was Kanye west who changed the game in 2007.
And ever since then the rap game has never been the same and quickly rap took over the music industry then next thing you knew no multiple rappers aperid all creating new styles of rap and even new dances to go with the song. And even though people are constantly changing the rap game. Hip-hop dominated the charts in 2017, with viral hits such as Lil Uzi Vert’s XO Tour Llif3, Future’s Mask Off and Post Malone’s Congratulations ranking among the 10 top tracks of last year according to buzzangle music and Mediabase rap up and comers cardi B (Bodak Yellow) and Migos (Bad and Boujee) each spent multiple weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with their respective singles, while four of the five Grammy nominies.
Another reason that rap has become so popular today is because of the money, Money is a simple and dumbed down way of showing your success in the world. Stereotypical rap images of dominance exude this. Again, it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not, or if the stuff in the video really belongs to said rapper. The images being projected make rappers seems successful, and who doesn’t want to be associated with success people? Sometimes listening to the music of “successful” people is as close as most people will ever get to that kind of success.
Again, being that rap was born in the ghettos of America, there’s a natural disdain for authority, and the system. That’s something most people can relate to. Whether it’s disagreeing with our government, your boss at work, or your parents. Rappers are kind of like “F*** the system” Or “F*** your way of doing things” and they make it sound cool to boot. On a subconscious level, we love that.
Everyone wants a fair shot in life right? This is a point about rap culture that almost never gets discussed. In hip hop culture, it’s really all about skill – and the colour of your skin, your gender, your anything just don’t matter – as long as you’re amazing, people in rap culture will accept you. THERE’S NO SNOB FACTOR like in some other genres like Jazz or classical. Starting rapping last week but you’re amazing? Great! You’re in!! I think this is one of things that make this culture so appealing to “people on the outside”. Anyone can join in, as long as you got love for the art.
All in all, rap is a culture that has become dominant because it perpetuates the notion that we can have it all, be ourselves, not give a damn what anyone thinks about us, and get a fair shot based on who we are, not who we know. Isn’t that what we all really want?