50 years of Hip Hop- How Come?


Having been a music fan for over 50 years, it’s been fun to see all the different musical genres that have come and gone in popular music.

In the the 50s it was Rock n Roll. Then in the 60s we had Psychedelia, in the 70s Punk, in the 80s New Wave, in the 90s Grunge. It was always interesting to see how music changed into the next new thing.

At the latest Grammy awards, which I did not see, there was a segment called 50 years of hip hop.

I’ve personally never been a big fan of the genre, there are some songs I have liked, but that’s ok. Everyone has their tastes. What I am surprised about is Hip Hops longevity. It just seems like for the last 25 years a lot of music hasn’t really changed much. There has been no " next new thing"as far as I can tell.

How Come? Anyone feel the same way or care to comment. Am I just getting old??

 

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Personally, I enjoy rap and hip-hop; I don't enjoy jazz. I don't care about instrumental virtuosity; I care about whether I enjoy listening to the final result. Some genres I just prefer to others. 

50 years?? Oh no it was a lot earlier!

You need to dig down to slavery times and that's when rap/hip-hop first appeared

@larsman I wasn’t making a value judgement either way.  I certainly don’t consider technical proficiency/musical complexity to be synonymous with quality.  I was just elucidating the stark differences between the music that comes out of someone’s speakers when they listen to jazz vs. when they listen to pop (let alone rap).

Old men yell at screen, details at 11.

I wonder if many here could name even 5 of the top songs from last year?

Some Hip-Hop is really awful, but within the envelope of of popular music, Hip-Hop/Rap arguably has presented some of the more interesting music of the last 10 years and Hip-Hop has a lot of crossover with R&B and EDM, so hard to pigeon hole.