While during the decade 1980 el hip hop had firmly established itself as a culturally and commercially viable forceThose years were spent primarily as a clandestine concern, but by 1990, all of that changed.
And it could be said that by the time the new decade entered, that of the 90s, the genre not only reached its peak, but, for the first time, its artists became superstars in their own right, going from the suburbs to the top of fame, to the top of the heap, a lofty position from which he has never looked back again.
However, as in many other cases of trends and innovations, the success was accompanied by a kind of crisis.
With the path marked thanks to groups of gangsta rap as NWA, originating from Los Angeles, whose 1988 debut album, Straight Outta Compton, detailed street violence in an explicit and uncompromising style, the hip hop it grew tied with criticism and effective boycotts against the most aggressive artists of the genre.
However, through record labels such as Death Row Records y DOC, the sound not only endured, but evolved and revolutionized his production style, creating sub-genres such as G-funk, a crafty mix of deep bass, beats indebted to the p funk and soulful voices that smoothed out the jagged edges of the gangsta rap, making formats more accessible so that radio stations could reproduce them.
By the middle of the decade, it was clear that turntables were beginning to change commercially, and albums that were forged deep in the urban heartland were finally reaching the bedrooms of suburban youth. In this way, those who had presented themselves as rappers jumped into the social collective as celebrities, and names like Ice Cube y Dr. Dre forged their own solo career that would define the undeniable rise of the hip-hop.
By 1996, the gangsta rap It ceased to be an exclusive property of the west coast and began to grow in large cities such as New York y Chicago, where record labels, gangs and formations rooted in the sentiment of music emerged, and although they struggled to compete commercially, the hip hop of the scene was far from stagnant.
With these new squares, culture grew along with the sound of the arrival of Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Notorious BIG, Snoop Dogg, Sean Combs, among many others, that made visible other notable talents of the time such as michael jackson Although also, the bigger the triumph, the more was claimed with racial segregation, collective prejudice and discrimination always so latent in the USA, especially in the years after their war conflicts.
The notoriety of characters like 2Pac it was not just a constant reminder of how successful the hip hop during the 90s, but on how profitable their artists were. Its 1995 release, Me against the world, while still in prison, reached number one on the charts of Billboard, while the following year he released All Eyez On Me, confirming its status as one of the most unique voices in the genre, as well as one of the most successful, again reaching number 1 and moving 566 thousand copies in its first week.
For the death of 2Pac On September 7, 1996, those who refuted the success of the sound and thought that the genre would decline were greatly surprised to see that the genre did not stop its triumphant march, but although the album Life after death de Biggie Smalls became the album of hip hop best selling of all time.
Given this, the genre was forced to make a serious examination of conscience. Sean P. Diddy Combs he was the first to point the way to a less antagonistic art form.
Later that year, already named Puff Daddy, released two charity singles in memory of his murdered friend. It was followed by a solo career laden with successes, business interests, and a high-profile relationship with jennifer lopez, that as banal as it seemed, it gave a new air to the genre, although not to everyone's taste, but proving it as one of the most resilient sounds in music.
By 1998, this newfound fame was heralding a new generation of rap stars, and names like Jay Z, that had a broader but moderate relationship with radio stations, even reaching the market of the pop.
There was one more seismic shift in the genre before the decade ended, and perhaps one of the most important, as dr dre, who, in 1996, had abandoned Death Row to establish your new company, Aftermath entertainment, signed with a rapper from Detroit little known, Eminem, whose triumph would establish the hip hop from the 90's like the global dominance point of music, a force still in force and palpable.