The 31st of August marks the official end of Hip-Hop’s birth month. The album has come quite far in its five decades of existence. It has experienced highs and lows as well as moments of existential dread and unlikely coronations along the way. More than anything, hip-hop is a competitive sport, its growth depending much on the quality of musicians who choose to butt heads for glory and the throne.
As the month draws to a close, here are five major events of competition in hip-hop which changed the game for the better.
Groups During the Golden Age
The late 80s and early nineties saw the rapid growth of hip-hop collectives, not only from a commercial standpoint but also an artistic one. From 1988 to 1994, the genre saw the acclaimed releases from group. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul spearheaded the movement of jazz rap and themes of peace and love with seminal releases like The Low End Theory, while Public Enemy and NWA operated on the opposite end of the spectrum with It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, dynamising the Black community with socially-aware and politically-charged lyricism. The Beastie Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and The Roots are just some of the names among many others that took hip-hop to greater heights commercially.
The existence of the wide variety of groups in the hip-hop sphere proved that rap music wasn’t merely street poetry but a way of life that helped people with different personalities to come together in the making of meaningful art. Healthy competition between hardcore hip-hop and peace-loving rap music not only saw the golden age breed classic albums; it also highlighted the importance of co-existence between different sub-genre’s for the greater good of the culture.
Watch NWA:
Tupac and B.I.G.: The East Coast-West Coast’s Greatest Tragedy
Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. are two names in the game that need absolutely no introduction, with the former representing the West Coast under Dr. Dre and the latter heading the East under the auspices of Puffy Combs. With the both of them touted as the Messi and Ronald of their day, the pair are often considered as two of the greatest rappers to ever grace the mic. However, more than their music, it is the legacy of both their deaths that changed hip-hop.
With the both of them perishing through getting shot, their demise, to this day, is still seen as a senseless tragedy. A thing that could’ve been avoided. What started out as a friendship between the two would culminate into something as bitter as Tupac’s “Hit Em Up” and Biggie Smalls “Who Shot Ya?”, albeit the latter is still billed as not being a direct shot at Pac.
Many still wonder what the rappers would’ve gone on to become if not for their deaths, with their catalogues being celebrated as some of the most aesthetically pleasing works of art, not just hip-hop music. It is this wonder that continues to inspire rappers to use the music when beefing rather than violence and bullets.
Nas vs. Jay-Z: The Beef of East Coast Titans
The beef between two of New York’s finest rappers is one that most are familiar with for its output when it came to quality disses and album-making. The spectacle started with Jay-Z making a killshot at Nas with his Kanye West-produced diss “Takeover”, calling him a has-been and that his only hot album was his 1994 debut Illmatic.
To a degree, Jay had a point, with Nas’s career somehow having taken a steep nosedive since Illmatic, his follow-up albums not faring well in comparison. Many though “Takeover” was the final nail in Nas’s coffin.
Then came “Ether”, a scathing barrage against Jay-Z that is still considered to be the crowning blow of the beef. Even though there isn’t an outright winner, the streets still acknowledge Nas’s response as being much more lethal.
The two went on to make peace and came together to perform on stage at the I Declare War concert in 2005, where they performed a mashup of “Dead Presidents II” and “The World Is Yours”. The end of the beef saw Jay-Z release a string of well-received albums whereas Nas’s albums since Stillmatic (his beef days with Jay) have been received with greater acclaim and commercial success.
Jay-Z last released a solo album back in 2017, 4:44, hailed as being one of his best and most personal works in his stellar discography. Outside of rap, he’s become a billionaire mogul. Nas has gone on to re-establish his dominance as one of the best rappers alive, with his King’s Disease run (2020 – ongoing) alongside producer Hit-Boy scoring him his first ever Grammy Award. Much like Jay, he’s also a successful businessman, coining himself a “Cryptocurrency Scarface” with his ventures and exploits beyond the mic.
And the best part? The two are now besties. Well, maybe not on the level of wearing matching rings, but they’re on good enough terms to be on the same song without satistying any itch to rip each other apart. Growth. Something the future generations should follow – something that is a mild improvement from what happened between Tupac and Biggie.
Watch: Jay Z and Nas Perform in 2005
Curtis vs. Graduation: The Album Battle That Shifted Power In the Game
2007 was a glorious year for hip-hop, and for many reasons. T.I. was at the peak of creative powers with T.I. vs. T.I.P. Everyone around the world (including myself) was cracking that Souljah Boy, turning Souljah Boy into one of hip-hop’s earliest pioneers of internet and viral marketing. Intellectual wordsmith Lupe Fiasco dropped his only album to ever touch platinum status (Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool). 2007 was a historic year, but one thing the year will forever be remembered for is the battle between Kanye West, Roc-A-Fella’s golden producer-turned-successful rapper, and 50 Cent, gangster rap’s avatar.
Leading up to the year, hip-hop music was seeing the development of a chasm, a fork in the road concerning artistic impact, and Kanye and 50 were the representatives of two diametrically different paths. With Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003) moving close to a million copies on the first week as well the multi-platinum single “In Da Club” and The Massacre (2005) shifting over seven figures of units in seven days, 50 Cent was a commercial juggernaut. With his gritty persona, hustler mentality, and violent lyricism, 50 championed the cause for those who leaned more towards edgy rap.
Kanye West on the other hand was on a different wave. Having started out alongside the legendary Just Blaze as Jay-Z’s special producer, he carved out a name for himself with his soulful production and uncanny sampling game, some of his greatest credits behind the desk being “Izzo (Hova)” and the infamous “Takeover”. However, just a year after 50 released his breakthrough major-label debut, he let loose The College Dropout (2004), which was brewing since 1999, which not only won him a Grammy for Best Rap Album, but also the acclaim from music pundits and his contemporaries for his mellow production and humourous approach to crafting raps. His next release, Late Registration (2005), fared better than his debut, moving over 800, 000 copies in its first week, spawning classic singles such as “Gold Digger” and “Heard ‘Em Say”. Much like its predecessor, it also won Best Rap Album at the Grammys and featured R&B and soul samples; however, it differed in that it interpreted hip-hop from an opera-like standpoint, inspired by an orchestor’s spirit.
At this time, 50 and West had established dominance in their respective fields within the hip-hop landscape.
In 2007, competition stirred between the two of them when 50 challenged West to a first-week sales showdown between their albums Curtis and Graduation. To sweeten the deal, 50 promised that if West beat him, he’d hang up the mic, and Kanye gladed accepted the challenge, noting that he’d rather be number two against 50 than to be number one on another day no one will remember. When the albums dropped, Kanye West pummeled 50 when it came to the numbers, with Graduation scoring over 900 000 units sold in one week against 600 000 that 50 got.
And while 50 never retired due to contractual obligations, the battle was lauded as a good day for hip-hop. Great music was released on the day and hip-hop saw the movement of over a million shipments from only two albums. A win even for 50 as a top dog of the genre at the time. Whilst it marked the waning of gangsta rap’s power, the battle staged hip-hop as an ever-evolving genre, music loved by different people for different reasons. The one-on-one illustrated that at the end of the day, hip-hop music is a relevant artform with a palette so broad that everyone was guaranteed to leave with something they liked.
Watch 50 Cent and Ye:
Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize: DAMN. vs. The World
Regarded as a modern great in hip-hop, and one of the most influential rappers in history, Kendrick Lamar’s career is one marked by numerous achievements, with his biggest one being his historic win for Pulitzer Prize for Music, which he notched for his album DAMN. (2017). The album, by winning the prize, became the first non-classic project of any genre to ever claim the prize, once again, marking the authenticity of hip-hop as a growing power in music.
Described by the Pulitzer Prize website as “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life”, DAMN. reached gold status in its first week on the shelves, moving over 600 000 units. It also took over with viral singles like “HUMBLE.” and “DNA.”, with every song on the album obtaining the bare minimum of gold status. On top of being commercially successful, it’s one of the most acclaimed albums in history, with a Metacritic aggregate of 95/100, marking universal praise.
What makes the album claiming the Pulitzer Prize for Music so significant in the growth of the genre is that the victory marked the breaching of a new frontier. For the longest of times, rap music has been a pariah when it comes to accolades. It’s been a recurrent theme, especially with in Grammys where there have been multiple snubs for Album of the Year, with awards going to other genres. Great examples being Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy not even making it to the final shortlist despite being its year’s most acclaimed release in hip-hop and Kendrick’s own To Pimp a Butterfly losing the award to Taylor Swift, despite his album having a higher critical rating and greater social impact.
With DAMN. winning an elite prize such as the Pulitzer, it was a win for hip-hop, one which validated the artform that many felt was dying at the time what with the rise of mumble rap and the general decline in creativity overall. Kendrick’s Pulitzer served as a reminder that hip-hop was important and that the stories of Black people and Afro-American realities were as relevant as any other, deserving of praise and recognition for its mere existence and excellence.
Watch Kendrick Accepting the Prize
With hip-hop having turned fifty earlier this month, it continues to grow and evolve beyond what it was when it first started out. From an insular form of art to a global phenomenon, hip-hop is showing no signs of senility and it lives on through the pens and minds of diverse artists all over the world.
