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Hip-Hop on Pause? Not One Rap Song in Billboard’s Top 40 for the First Time Since 1990

For the first time since February 1990, no rap songs are in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 40. This happened after Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s hit “Luther” dropped from the chart. The highest rap song now ...
American Songwriter

On This Day in 1990, an Iconic Hip-Hop Song With a “Stolen” Beat Started a Four-Week Run at No. 1

In terms of artistic advancement, many rap fans would probably not consider Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” a genre-shifting single. However, regarding popular appeal, they probably would, as it was the ...
KQED

Unsigned and Hella Broke: The East Bay’s Dirt-Hustling 1990s Hip-Hop Subculture

Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, an ongoing KQED series about Bay Area hip-hop history. “I’ll never lose that spirit, but I don’t miss being on the street from morning to night,” ...