(GEMS RADIO)—Hip Hop is by far the most dominant genre in music today. Nine out of ten most bought songs in the United States are by rappers. According to Billboard Magazine though, the signs point that rap music is not delivering the way it used to be.
“I will say, I’m concerned,” says Carl Chery, Spotify’s creative director and head of Urban. Chery says he’s been alarmed about rap since last year: “2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, those years felt magical. My concern is that the magic is gone.”
Rap’s heavyweights Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone all had respectable debuts within the past year, but their albums quickly slid down the charts. Another reason is that many of tomorrow’s hitmakers are dying young: The late Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD, XXXTENTACION, Nipsey Hussle, Mac Miller, Lil Peep, King Von, Drakeo the Ruler, Young Dolph and, most recently, PnB Rock.
There are no new stars emerging anymore. “I’m always worried about where it’s heading,” says Chery. “But music is cyclical. I don’t think we’ll ever live in a world where hip-hop isn’t the most influential type of music and culture. That’ll never happen. Hip-hop will always be in this position where it just helps shape [culture] and makes everything move.”