A Movie in the Jacuzzi

January 27, 2016 11:11 AM

This is What Hip-Hop Sounded Like, Back in [1989-2015] An interactive visualization of the top songs on Billboard's 'Hot Rap Songs' chart, 1989-2015.
posted by box (11 comments total)

Does this tell us why Hip-Hop sucked in '96?
posted by demiurge at 11:17 AM on January 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

(Note: these are not all radio versions. NSFW language in places.)
posted by box at 11:23 AM on January 27, 2016

That's a pretty slick presentation. I wish it went back a little earlier than 89.
posted by Wolfdog at 11:25 AM on January 27, 2016

This is very, very cool. Thanks for the post!
posted by rtha at 11:27 AM on January 27, 2016

Man the TRACKS GET LOUDER AS YOU GET CLOSER TO 2016 (sorry for shouting it was kind of hard to hear myself).
posted by awfurby at 1:26 PM on January 27, 2016

Does this tell us why Hip-Hop sucked in '96?

It was the money ^{money money}
posted by sektah at 3:29 PM on January 27, 2016

SPOILER ALERT, SEKTAH, JESUS!
posted by symbioid at 4:30 PM on January 27, 2016

Biggie-Pac-Biggie-Pac-Biggie-Pac... That was interesting. I can see the shift where I start to fade out from appreciating hip-hop as much when fuckin P-Diddy comes on stage. Ugh, that guy. I mean, so much of my favorites is from that 89-96 era. Not that there wasn't (and isn't still) some great stuff after, but it seems that between Puff Daddy and Crunk/Southern Style I just lost a lot of love, and nowadays most mainstream hip-hop for the past, I dunno decade... Well... I'm only up to 1998, so I await to see if I eat my words and find some good stuff that I missed out on (you know, via 2 second clips).

What's interesting to me is how some of the stuff we think of as classic and killer was only at the top for a little bit, while others which may be classic but not considered as high as the others were on the chart for a long time...
posted by symbioid at 4:32 PM on January 27, 2016

Does this tell us why Hip-Hop sucked in '96?

Little Kim, Busta Rhymes (Woo-hah), Bone Thugs (Crossroads), Tupac (How do you want it), Outkast (Elevators - Me and You), Nas, Westside Connection.

Honorable mention - Hay by Crucial Conflict (no doubt propelled by that awesome video) and MC Lyte's Cold Rock a Party.

I must have missed some kind of joke? Cause it didn't suck at all!
posted by cashman at 6:29 PM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

The joke's on DJ Shadow, Jack.

But that Kriss Kross jam? Might've kinda sucked.
posted by box at 7:11 PM on January 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

This was awesome. Brought back a lot of fun memories.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:43 AM on January 28, 2016