Since the mid 1990s hip-hop and it's associated genres have become one of the most dominant forms of music both commercially and culturally.
Although the exact origins of Hip Hop are debated intensely, it is widely accepted that Hip Hop started in 1970s America and at that time Hip Hop was a sub or counterculture compared to the more commercial forms of rock, funk, punk and disco that were mainstream at the time. However near the end of the decade artists and groups such as the Sugarhill Gang started to make inroads into the charts, and subsequently Hip Hop came into the public conscience.
The 1980s was the decade in which Hip Hop started to become a significant musical, as well as cultural, movement. Hip Hop culture started to infiltrate popular culture during the 1980s and in the mid to late 1980s the inevitable happened - Hip Hop became Pop! Artists such as MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice became superstars on the back of the Hip Hop movement although many felt that they gave the genre a bad name. Whilst Hip Hop was busy becoming mainstream, a darker, more aggressive form of Hip Hop was putting down it's roots - Gangsta Rap. Spearheaded by groups such as NWA, Gangsta became, for a while at least, the dominant underground form of Hip Hop.
Like so many other genres of music, Gangsta was eventually assimilated into the mainstream during the early 1990s by artists such as Dr Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and The Wu Tang Klan. Once again the void of underground, or alternative, Hip Hop had to be filled by a new sub genre. This time the void was filled with a style of rap that was more reminiscent of Hip Hop artists from the early 1980s and had little in common with the music coming from Gangsta labels such as Death Row. Groups such as Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious rapped about social issues and also seemed to have more fun performing their art than their Gangsta counterparts who seemed more interested in male posturing. During the late 1990s, with Jurassic 5 leading the way, many people predicted a new golden age for Hip Hop with a return to the 'Daisy Age' of acts such as De La Soul.
However this was soon forgotten when a new powerhouse entered the Hip Hop fray - Eminem. Likened by many to Elvis - a white man selling black music to
white teenagers - Eminem had huge commercial success and, if possible, made Hip Hop even more mainstream than it already was. Hip Hop was also permeating other genres of music such as the closely linked contemporary form of R'n'B and several forms of dance music. Acts such as Nightmares on Wax, Quantic and Mr Scruff took elements of Hip Hop, often minus the rapping, and managed to invade the soundtracks of numerous daytime television shows in the UK.
With Hip Hop as popular as ever, newer forms of underground Hip Hop always seem to become mainstream before long, mainly aided by record companies intent on mining the seemingly endless vein of Hip Hop and the riches it can provide.
Since the turn of the millennium we have seen the 2 current underground movements slowly becoming more mainstream, namely Grime (UK) and Crunk aka Krunk (USA), pioneered by artists such as Dizzee Rascal (Grime) and Lil Jon (Crunk).
The very nature of Hip Hop music ensures that as soon as the next sub genre becomes mainstream, another underground form will appear to take it's place.
What will be the next big underground movement in Hip Hop? Let us know in our forums.
