REMILLARD: Is Hip-Hop the New Pop?

On March 26, Billboard announced that Kendrick Lamar’s newest album, “To Pimp a Butterfly, “had debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Billboard 200. Lamar’s latest effort marks the third hip-hop album this year to make a No.1 debut, and that’s significant for a couple of different reasons.

Ten years ago, only four hip-hop albums managed to snag the top spot in their opening week all year. And with major artists like Lil Wayne and Kanye West—who’s taken the top spot ever since his sophomore album—set to release new work later this year, 2015 is starting to look like a big year for hip-hop. Further, as we reflect on the music industry’s first quarter, hip-hop performed better than pop, a genre that only had two No.1 debuts: Meghan Trainor’s “Title” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Piece by Piece.” These trends have me asking one very important question: is hip-hop the new pop?

Pop as we know it today—Pop with a capital P—evolved into a genre of its own seemingly out of nowhere. The first recorded use of the word “pop” in reference to music was in 1926 and signified shorthand for “popular music.” This usage was commonplace throughout the ’50s and ’60s, when The Beatles were considered pop music, consumed en masse and wildly popular. However, that’s no longer the case. Today, we call The Beatles rock, and pop has transformed from an adjective into a genre, one that dominates Top 40 but is no longer synonymous with it.

Pop is a particularly interesting genre in that it appears to be infinitely porous to influence from a breadth of other genres—rock, jazz, soul, electronic, R&B, and,more contemporarily, hip-hop—while retaining a certain sense of cohesion. It is more of an aura in music, begotten not made, that centers around a collection of sounds and feelings, synths, basses, drums and electronic instruments that evoke appeals to youth, love, elation and intoxication. But is it dying?

In the same way that Pop overcame rock for airtime and sales in the 80s with the rise of mega-stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna, hip-hop may be making a similar move on the Pop music we hold so dearly today. Hugely famous rappers like Drake and Nicki Minaj have helped in making hip-hop a genre significantly more palatable to wider audiences, carving out something of a sub-genre I like to call “hip-pop.”

This hip-pop movement has been propelled by incredibly successful singles like Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” and Minaj’s “Super Bass,” among many others. Drake himself likens his success to that of a traditional pop star, rapping on his song “Worst Behavior,”

“Who else making rap albums, doing numbers like it’s pop?” It’s a valid question since it’s starting to look like hip-pop may be a transitionary period after which hip-hop could become the world’s next dominant musical genre.

After all, it’s no secret that in recent years the most successful Pop artists have taken more than a few pointers from R&B and hip-hop styles. Why, for example, was “Dark Horse” the only single we cared about off of Katy Perry’s “Prism”? Why was “Love Me Harder” such a big song? If you need further proof, check out Beyoncé’s latest album or Lorde’s “Pure Heroine.”

But how did this start and why is it happening? Two words: Kanye West. No, really. Kanye’s work has and continues to signify a departure from what is known as “gangsta-rap.” Gangsta-rap, which typically deals with gang culture and themes surrounding violent criminal lifestyles, defined hip-hop from its birth until deep into the ‘90s, and some of the greatest rappers alive made their names through this style, most notably, Jay-Z. Kanye didn’t completely reject these themes, but he essentially made it cool to rap about your feelings, opening the door for hip-hop to be a more personal expression of emotion and struggle.

Today, most rappers, especially ones that have notoriety outside of the hip-hop realm, are making music that explores psychological, social, existential and spiritual issues. Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” lauded by critics, deals with topics such as self-loathing, racism, suicidal tendencies and religion.

As hip-hop becomes increasingly personal, a wider audience can relate to it. Whereas gangsta-rap alienated many who had little understanding of gang culture, modern hip-hop, pioneered by Kanye West, has moved beyond remaining a niche genre. Hip-hop, like rock and Pop before it, is taking over. Our parents don’t “get” it, it speaks to us in affecting ways and it represents and appeals to youth. It has all the trappings of the next great genre, but only time will tell.