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E-book How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop : Radio, Rap, and Race

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Penilaian

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In July 1992, Seattle rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot topped the Billboard “Hot 100” chart with his insatiably catchy hit “Baby Got Back.” His ode to ladies who “look like those rap guys’ girlfriends” wasn’t anywhere near the only rap song that year to do well on the “Hot 100,” which recorded the most popular songs in the United States as measured by record sales and radio airplay.1 By the early 1990s, rap songs frequently and consistently appeared in the chart’s upper reaches, indicating the genre’s broad popularity. This was an extraordinary transformation: what began in the 1970s as just one element of a minority New York City subculture had become an essential part of the sound of popular music in the United States. And rap’s move from the margins to the mainstream, according to Sir Mix-a-Lot, had the potential to reshape racial attitudes. Rap, he thought, had the unique ability to “foster cross-cultural appreciation” by encouraging white audiences to engage with Black culture.2But US listeners tuning in to their local Top 40 radio station to hear the most popular new music might have missed this opportunity. Many Top 40 stations were playing the number one hit every few hours, giving it the airplay appropri-ate to such an achievement. And, indeed, these stations had contributed to the genre’s growth since the late 1980s, when they began regularly adding rap songs to their playlists, thereby introducing rap to new listeners across the country. But there were still some holdouts against rap’s radio ascendance: other Top 40 stations refused to play the genre even as they claimed to play all of the hits. Programmers at these stations were so opposed to playing rap that they pressured the nationally syndicated countdown shows to obscure its popularity when counting down the hits.3 Listeners tuning in to these stations and countdowns had an entirely different idea of what music was topping the charts. For them, “Baby Got Back” wasn’t on top—it had barely cracked the top twenty. If you’re confused, it’s understandable. By 1992, rap was somehow both mainstream and marginal. It was an integral part of musical culture in the United States, selling millions of records, appearing on Top 40 radio playlists, and regularly topping Billboard’s charts. But many within the radio industry consid-ered the genre tangential to the popular-music mainstream, and they worked to keep it on the periphery, denying listeners the opportunity to engage with it and denying rappers like Sir Mix-a-Lot the chance to change racial attitudes in the United States. To some, rap was another style of hit music; to others, not so much.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

781.649 COD h

Penerbit

California : University of California Press., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

227 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9780520383937

Klasifikasi

781.649

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Rap Music

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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