Genre Research: Alternative Hip-Hop

History of Alt Hip-Hop

Alternative hip hop also known as alternative rap or Mellow Hip-Hop is

a sub-genre of hip hop music.

Alternative Rap refers to hip hop groups that do not follow the traditional

stereotypes of rap. Instead, they blur genres - drawing equally from Funk, Indie, Rock, Jazz, Soul or Techno.

This genre originated in the late-80s, in the Golden age of hip hop, alternative hip hop was primarily situated by East Coast rappers such as De La Soul, A

Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, and Digable Planets and after by West

Coast acts such as The Pharcyde, Digital Underground

and Jurassic 5 as well as certain Southern acts such as Arrested

Development, Goodie Mob, and OutKast. The Fugees, stand as

the some of the first few alternative rap groups to be recognized by

mainstream audiences and Missy Elliot as one of the very first solo female in

the scene.

Main Artists in the genre at the moment

OFWGKTA

M.I.A

Kid Cudi

Childish Gambino

Kreayshawn

Kendrick Lemar

A$AP Mob

Audience for Alt Hip-Hop & Demographics

Alternative Hip-Hop is most common among males from ages 16 – 30. This is a very large scale of audience as because most of the artists in this sub-genre are male. Which doesn’t mean that females don’t listen to Alt rap as much,

but suggests that its predominately a male related.

Families in the Sub-genre

Indie Rap/ Horrorcore

OFWGKTA

Dance & Funk

N.E.R.D. Gym Class Heroes

Rap Rock/ Reggae

Within Alternative Rap, all artists sub generate from their music family e.g. The Fugees – Soul & Reggae. Here are a few:

OutKast

Techno Rap/ Neo Soul

Black Starr

Soul/ Poetry

Public perceptions of Alt Hip-Hop

Hip Hop was once the African-American experiences and the voices of their people being told throughout music in the early 1990’s. African-American youth

experiences came about from the rise in police brutality, the cocaine outbreak, and gun crime.

However Alternative Hip-Hop defines a style of hip hop music that focuses primarily around horror-influenced and anti-religious topics that can

include cannibalism, drug-abuse, promiscuity, suicide and murder. The lyrics are often inspired by anti-religious subjects over moody, hardcore beats,

expressing eclectic sounds, life experiences and emotions.A reason why this could

be critiqued by the public as a bad genre is probably due to the themes presented in the songs. And also as this genre is also seen not mainstream enough and a more underground scene.

Record Labels

XL Recordings held by Richard Russell who has worked with a few Alternative

Hip-Hop artists such as:

M.I.A.

The Weeknd

Tyler, The Creator

This record label is currently worldwide, successful and is expanding with

artists from other genres for instance Adele and her recent popularity in the

music industry.

Rawkus Records is an American hip-hop record label owned by Brian

Brater. This record label known for jump-starting the careers of both Mos

Def and Talib Kweli. Rawkus started in 1996 with initial releases ranging from

hip-hop to drum and bass.

This same label produced another Alternative rap artist named Common, who was also successful in the 90s-

present. And also the likes of Eminem's freshman singles.

CompetitionThese are the other competitions of The Source & Spin within the

Alternative Hip-Hop:

Cross Media

Also radio stations just as Red Bull MA FM, Choice FM and Last.FM show a lot of Alt Hip-Hop coverage, and these radio stations

also support websites like GotRadio, that present this genre of music.

There are many of cross media

concerning Mellow Rap/ Alternative Rap and most

happen to be music coverage

companies such as MTV & 3VOOR12.

The Future For Alt Hip-Hop

The future for Alternative Hip-Hop from my perspective seems to be growing worldwide as this sub-genre of Hip-Hop in the 90s used to be underground. Until the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, OutKast, Kanye West, Missy Elliot

and Common made this a mainstream genre for the 2000s.

Alternative Rap as I said is growing worldwide and is seen to many Hip-Hop legends from the past as ‘‘a breathe of fresh air’’. Plus, recent collaborations

with other genres shows signs of this genre on the rise.

Also the recent expansion on female artists recently conveys this as well. To be honest within the next 5 years, Alternative Hip-Hop could go further than

mainstream.