The 90s Part 5a: Hip-Hop's Effects Part 1

Published: March 17, 2018, 12:35 a.m.

b'There are some things you should never mix...oil and water...nitro and glycerin...tequila and\\u2014well, it\\u2019s not a good idea to mix tequila with anything other than salt, lemon and maybe some fruit juice\\u2026\\n\\nThey used to say this about rock and rap music, too...and they were pretty adamant about that\\u2026\\n\\nWhen rap and hip-hop started seeping into the mainstream in the middle 1980s, it immediately polarized people...those who didn\\u2019t (or refused) to get it, were aggressively dismissive of what rap brought to the table...\\n\\n\\u201cthat\\u2019s not rap\\u2026it\\u2019s crap!\\u201d \\u2026. \\u201cthis isn\\u2019t music\\u2026it\\u2019s just bad poetry over beats stolen from another record\\u201d\\u2026\\n\\nIt took a few years, but by the time we got into the 90s, hip-hop and rap was becoming a very powerful musical and cultural force\\u2026today, it is the genre when it comes to driving culture\\u2026after half a century of being in charge, rock has fallen to second place\\u2026\\n\\nNot only that, but a chunk of the rock scene was co-opted into hip-hop, creating a new series of hybrid sounds\\u2026\\n\\nThe original post-punk alt-rock population also aged...the older, set-in-their-ways crowd was pushed out by a new generation who didn\\u2019t have any preconceived notions or baggage when it came to these new sounds...to them, rap was just another form of exciting new music...\\n\\nSo, by the end of the 80s, there were signs that punk, funk, rap, hip-hop and metal were all becoming inextricably intertwined...but who knew that in a few years we\\u2019d all be talking about this thing called \\u201cnu metal?\\u201d...\\n\\nThis is part 5 of our look back on the alt-rock of the 1990s\\u2026\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'