Piff Perkins
Veteran
How is it decreasing every year when it increased every year to become the #1 genre a couple years ago?
Last year we dealt with people claiming the genre was dead because no rap albums had gone #1 on the charts for a few months. That spawned multiple Coli threads and various old heads telling us the rap world was crashing. This year the most important, seminal music moment of the year was a rap beef that culminated in the #1 song in the country and an eventual Super Bowl performance. Next year will be full of record breaking, massive tours from Drake, Kendrick, and Cole.
The ONLY concerns I have about hip hop kinda go together. Whereas there are young, new-ish superstars emerging in pop (Chappell Roan, Sofia Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, etc) there are no new rappers on the horizon who seem like the next superstar. The only new-ish black artist (across rap and other genres) who seems like they might be the next superstar is Tyla, and she has some time to go before reaching it. Labels are pushing resources into developing and cultivating sexy pop stars again but where are the black people? SZA became a superstar last year, sure. But who is next? I don't see it.
And that gets to the second part about development. Right now, black music in general is treated like little more than quick cash/revenue. Some degenerate goes viral rapping about wild shyt, goes 2-3x plat with a couple songs, the album bombs, the tour fails, and then the next degenerate artist is introduced to the same cycle. Where is the next Drake? Where's the next Kendrick? Hell, where is the next Chance or even Wale lol. Is there even a spot for a new big rapper who is a black guy?
