SPI Blog Declares Hip Hop Officially Dead

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 Only July 12, 1979, Disco Demolition Night was held at Comiskey Park near downtown Chicago. Between games of a White Sox baseball double-header, a radio station had arranged for fans to bring in records (those round black things) of Disco music. They were collected and the large box full of them was placed in center field where a huge explosion then destroyed not only the records but also the field. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game. The event is known to many as the defining moment when Disco died.  I don't think there's quite as defining a moment as to when Hip Hop died.  It's been slowly dying for a few years now.  But we're going to go ahead and declare it dead.

There has been much leading up to this of course. People have grown weary of the main sounds that make up Hip Hop. They're tired of the negativism of Hip Hop and the glorification of anti-social behavior found particularly in the lyrics of Rap. Perhaps the shock value that the genre used to deliver no longer shocks  Yes, there are still going to be Hip Hop and Rap songs out there but the massive hits that defined the early part of this century are now few and far between.

What's happening is that music is evolving and just like Disco evolved, most successful Hip Hop artists are now putting out songs with the much-faster beats-per-minute that define Electronic Dance Music. Hip Hop group Black Eyed Peas' unprecedented string of  more than a year at the top of the charts with I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow showed others how EDM sounds could lead to huge sales. Conversely, DJ David Guetta reached new levels of fame with back-to-back Dance hits by teaming up with Hip Hop artists Kelly Rowland for When Love Takes Over and then Akon for Sexy Bitch. He's subsequently teamed-up with Hip Hop greats Chris Willis and Fergie in Gettin' Over You, with Flo Rida for last year's Club Can't Handle Me and Whose That Chick? featuring Rihanna.  His latest album this year features hits with vocals by Hip Hop artists Chris Brown, Usher and Taio Cruz.

Many others have teamed-up with House DJ's to produce incredible new sounds that meld the best of both House and Hip Hop. Top 40 is increasingly EDM where just a few years ago it was mostly Hip Hop. Time after time we keep seeing today's music fans out in massive numbers for electronic music events ranging from club nights at various bars to massive events like Ultra and EDC.  Whether it's House, Dubstep, Drum & Base, Trance, Dance, Breaks, Techno, Electro, etc., it's all about electronic dance music!

EDM is where the money is now.  So let this Blog be the first to officially declare: HIP HOP IS DEAD!!

(My analysis of the rise of EDM was covered in this Blog story last February.)