Celebrating The Culture: Hip-Hop Turns 50!

Hip-Hop turns 50.

The music genre that started in an apartment in New York City and spreaded across the world.

Hip-Hop turns 50 today.

1520 Sedgwick Avenue is a 102-unit apartment building in the Morris Heights neighborhood in the Bronx, New York City. Recognized as a long-time "haven for working class families," it has been historically accepted as the birthplace of hip-hop.

So I want to say my top rappers in Hip-Hop. I know that my list could be better and I really don't have a top favorite but I will give my props to the top 100 rappers in Hip-Hop.

1. Tupac Shakur 

2. Jay-Z

3. Eminem

4. Notorious B.I.G.

5. Nas

6. Snoop Dogg

7. LL Cool J

8. Wu-Tang Clan

9. Busta Rhymes

10. Bone Thugs-N-Haromony

11. 50 Cent

12. J. Cole

13. Drake

14. Outkast

15. Rick Ross

16. Twista

17. Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott

18. Gucci Mane

19. Fabolous

20. Ice Cube

21. Dr. Dre

22. Ludacris

23. Kardinal Offishall

24. Machine Gun Kelly

25. Kendrick Lamar

26. Three Six Mafia

27. Wiz Khalifa

28. Future

29. Nicki Minaj

30. Lil Wayne 

31. N.W.A.

32. Fat Joe

33. Nipsey Hussle

34. Wale

35. Lil Kim 

36. The Lox

37. Master P

38. E-40

39. Scarface

40. Nelly

41. DMX

42. U.G.K.

43. Puff Daddy 

44. Big Sean

45. The Migos

46. Cardi B

47. Chance The Rapper

48. Meek Mill

49. Big Punisher

50. Eazy E

51. Method Man

52. Tone Loc

53. Travis Scott

54. Eve

55. Queen Latifah

56. Ye

57. Pusha T

58. Slim Thug

59. Y.G.

60. Mobb Deep

61. De La Soul

62. Too Short

63. Redman

64. Juvenile

65. Run DMC

66. Cypress Hill

67. Kool Mo Dee

68. Public Enemy

69. Slick Rick

70. DaBaby

71. Megan Thee Stallion 

72. Lil Nas X

73. Cam'Ron

74. Jermaine Dupri

75. Ghostface Killah

76. Mac Miller

77. Tory Lanez 

78. Young Thug

79. Chamillionaire & Paul Wall

80. Sugar Hill Gang

81. Big Daddy Kane

82. Choclair

83. Eric B & Rakim

84. EPMD

85. Trick Daddy

86. Yo Yo

87. Ty Dolla Sign

88. Biz Markie

89. Tela

90. Devin Tha Dude

91. Ja Rule

92. Doug E. Fresh

93. Foxy Brown

94. Big L

95. The Lost Boyz

96. Juice WRLD

97. The Beastie Boys

98. Onyx

99. Lil Uzi Vert

100. MC Hammer

Now I am not excluding anyone in particular. I am just running off the rappers I picked as my Top 100. Don't hate me for being honest. Every rapper is talented.

Hip hop or hip-hop, also known as rap and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that was originated in the Bronx borough of New York City in the early 1970s by African Americans, having existed for several years prior to mainstream discovery. Hip hop originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence genre, while consisting of stylized rhythmic music (usually built around drum beats) that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. According to the professor Asante of African American studies at Temple University, "hip hop is something that blacks can unequivocally claim as their own". It was developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti art. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records (or synthesized beats and sounds), and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.

DJ Kool Herc, LL Cool J. Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.IG., Eminem and Kendrick Lamar.

Hip hop as both a musical genre and a culture was formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly among African American youth residing in the Bronx. At block parties, DJs played percussive breaks of popular songs using two turntables and a DJ mixer to be able to play breaks from two copies of the same record, alternating from one to the other and extending the "break". Hip hop's early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became widely available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks. Rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat.

Hip hop music was not officially recorded for play on radio or television until 1979, largely due to poverty during the genre's birth and lack of acceptance outside ghetto neighborhoods. Old-school hip hop was the first mainstream wave of the genre, marked by its disco influence and party-oriented lyrics. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles and spread around the world. New-school hip hop was the genre's second wave, marked by its electro sound, and led into golden age hip hop, an innovative period between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s that also developed hip hop's own album era. The gangsta rap subgenre, focused on the violent lifestyles and impoverished conditions of inner-city African American youth, gained popularity at this time. West Coast hip hop was dominated by G-funk in the early-mid 1990s, while East Coast hip hop was dominated by jazz rap, alternative hip hop, and hardcore hip hop. Hip hop continued to diversify at this time with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap and Atlanta hip hop. Hip hop became a best-selling genre in the mid-1990s and the top-selling music genre by 1999.

Big Sean, Future and Chance The Rapper.

The popularity of hip hop music continued through the late 1990s to early-2000s "bling era" with hip hop influences increasingly finding their way into other genres of popular music, such as neo soul, nu metal, and R&B. The United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics, and alternative hip hop began to secure a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of its artists. During the late 2000s and early 2010s "blog era", rappers were able to build up a following through online methods of music distribution, such as social media and blogs, and mainstream hip hop took on a more melodic, sensitive direction following the commercial decline of gangsta rap. The trap and mumble rap subgenres have become the most popular form of hip hop during the mid-late 2010s and early 2020s. In 2017, rock music was usurped by hip hop as the most popular genre in the United States.