Hip-hop is a developed art that has evolved into the culture that we all know and love. It has gone through phases and eras in order to provide its legacy that it holds today, as well as the lessons that it teaches to our youth. But which of these eras is most influential? Which era has most benefited the genre?
Isn’t it obvious? I think a majority of fans can come to an agreement. We’re talking about rap of the ’90’s! This is the most influential and beneficial era for the hip-hop genre, a very versatile era that has privileged fans by introducing gangsta rap, boom-bap, freestyling, conscious rap, and many other game-quaking contributions.
One of the things that makes this era such a positive addition to the culture is that it is such a successful glorification of diversity. Not only a diverse time in the sense of styles of music, but also in race and residence throughout the nation. From MC’s to producers, whites to blacks, and from CA to NY, revolutionary artists such as Tupac, J. Dilla, Outkast, Dj Quik, Common, Eminem, Dj Premier, and Biggie have worked hard and helped mature the culture into one of the greatest examples of successful variety of all time.
’90’s rap has set the craft on a trajectory that it continues to follow today. This era has set a bar that allows today’s artists to come with their hardest content in order to compete with one another in hopes to make as big a difference as was once made. A bar set so high, that even the most lyrical, innovative, and creative artists will struggle to overshadow for years to come. It’s only a matter of time before hip-hop exposes a degree of talent that will allow the world to benefit from it just as much, if not more, than the ’90’s did.