The Transformation Era
BY: KEELY ONGOS-COLE
Believe it or not but hip-hop did not start dominating sales until the late 2010s. In the 2017, hip-hop started making its way to the top when eight of the year’s Top 10 artists were hip-hop influenced.
Hip-hop was a considered a cultural movement and the backing music for rap. It originated in the predominantly African American lower income area of South Bronx, New York City in the late 1970s.
This movement gain widespread popularity through the ’80s and ’90s. Fast forward to 40 years later to the 2010s, where hip-hop/rap finally outsold rock music.
To most this was very shocking because of the outbreak of NWA’s Straight Outta Compton album at the end of the 80s because this was an album that was almost in every household.
However, this era was a transformative period of time for all types of music thanks to the development of technology.
The development of technology has a big impact on music. Thanks to the advancements in technology, people were able to gain access of music from all over the world. This was the era where music streams became so popular because of the various music app that were being created, such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.
In 2012, Korean hitmaker Psy released his song Gangnam Style which took the United States for surprise. His hit song was #2 on the Hot 100 Chart on Billboard. This hit single helped K-pop get a ton of exposure and recognition it deserves.
American hip-hop artist, Nicki Minaj, took advantage of the rise of K-pop by featuring on the a Korean boy group called BTS’s song, IDOL. In 2019, a K-pop girl group got a spot in one of the biggest music festivals called Coachella. Latin American music and British bands also started growing in popularity. Technology benefitted artists worldwide and gave them a chance to be heard by fans on a global scale. This was a spark in the transformation of music.