October 11, 2004

Hip Hop: America's Status Quo

Newsday's "30 Years of Hip Hop" notes what a cultural force and commercial powerhouse hip hop has become around the globe:

    However, in this small-world-after-all age of Internet downloading and non-stop cable TV programming, hip-hop can reach fans anywhere. And it does. Nearly 30 years after its birth at a Bronx house party and 25 years after it jumped into the mainstream with the release of the Sugar Hill Gang's single "Rapper's Delight," hip-hop is in its prime - an industry that generates $10 billion annually.

    In 2003, nearly one out of every four CDs sold in the United States was a hip-hop or R&B CD, totaling $2.8 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The most popular CD of the year was 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," helping hip-hop become the second-biggest genre in music, behind rock. Its popularity has nearly doubled since 1995, going from 6.7 percent of the market to 13.3 percent last year.

    Public Enemy's Chuck D used to say that hip-hop was "the black CNN," the way many minorities and the disenfranchised communicated with one another and the outside world. With hip-hop's continuous growth, the rapper and radio host has expanded the metaphor.

    "Hip-hop is now a worldwide religion," Chuck D says. "People all over the world understand its language, its culture. Each country has its own brand, its own style."

For those who still don't believe this cultural expression possesses the commercial efficacy to cut across color, class, and cultural barriers, witness:

    Hanan said that the days of marketing hip-hop-influenced clothes and shoes only to African-Americans or even city-dwellers are over.

    "It's not color-dependent," he said. "It's about reaching those in urban areas and those who relate to urban style in the culture. Hip-hop transcends urban and suburban. It's not just one demographic."

    Retailers are also embracing hip-hop because it has been able to sell products to demographic groups in ways that had previously not been successful.

    "Hip-hop has exploded the mens' jewelry market," said Amanda Gizzi, spokeswoman for the Jewelry Information Center, the New York-based industry group. "Oversized diamond studs and chains - people see them on Puffy or 50 Cent and they want them. People see that, and they think they need to get themselves some bling. It was hip-hop that started setting those trends."

    It is this power to sell that has pushed hip-hop beyond the final color barrier. It's no longer about black or white; it's all about the green.

    "Hip-hop," Marshall's DeBarge-Goonan said, "is now the mainstream."

No doubt. Read the entire story.

Posted by thomas at October 11, 2004 08:03 PM | TrackBack