The first real "wave" of pop-rappers arrived around the late 80s dawn of Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City as artists like Heavy D & The Boyz, Salt-N-Pepa, MC Hammer, Kid 'n Play, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Tone Loc and Young MC enjoyed major chart success with a style of Hip-Hop built around infectious hooks, slick production and dance-friendly beats. That conversation would linger for decades, but at the time, it manifest as some criticism of certain rap acts with major crossover audiences. But with that commercial success came some handwringing about where the genre was headed and whether or not it could survive mainstreaming. and the Def Jam acts like LL COOL J and the Beastie Boys had kicked down the commercial door, and rap was now selling big. In the late 80s, Hip-Hop was crashing the mainstream. But what about "pop" as in "infectious and accessible?" It's typically not that cool to be thought of as the "pop" version of anything, let alone a genre and culture born of an outsider's spirit. In a lot of ways, "pop" often means white-or, at the very least, created for the interests of white audiences. "Pop" means manufactured and inauthentic, soulless and by-the-numbers. It's one of those distinctions that either makes a person go "What is that?" or makes them cringe.įor some music fans, "pop" is treated like a dirty word. Ja Rule's Verzuz showing, as well as a subsequent IG debate between Jermaine Dupri and Diddy about who has the better body of work, has put artists who were once seen as (dismissed as?) pop-rap back in our cultural spotlight. In the latest Verzuz, chart-toppers Fat Joe and Ja Rule showcased their respective catalogs, with fans seemingly surprised to be reminded of just how formidable Ja, in particular, was back in the early 00s. ![]() It's deserving: Nelly enjoyed one of the genre's most successful commercial runs, a fixture at the top of the charts in the 2000s who furthered the rap game's mainstreaming while also helping to put the Midwest on the national Hip-Hop map. ![]() Louis rap superstar Nelly is to be honored at the 2021 BET Hip-Hop Awards with the prestigious I Am Hip-Hop Award, an honor that is given to legendary Hip-Hop artists who have moved the culture forward.
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