Genre Analysis - Pop/Rap

  

Pop-Rap, also known as mainstream hip hop, is a hybrid genre of music which combines two of the biggest genres Rap and Pop. It gained mainstream popularity in the 1990's, with artists such as Outkast and Vanilla Ice. It has connotations of Rap but usually has a much more lighthearted lyrics. Modern artists such as Pitbull and the Black Eyed Peas are arguably the biggest stars and are the artists that  have set and pushed the boundaries for the genre.

Generic conventions of this Genre include flash cars, designer labelled clothing and the songs usually have a masculine perspective on relationships and sex. This genre is often considered a sanitized version of more conventional rap music as it, unlike the conventional rap genre, is not so heavily linked with gang culture. The light hearted themes the genre tackles often include parties, fast cars, beautiful women and Jet setters. This demonstrates how the pop side of the hybrid genre has helped to lessen the intensity of the rap genre as it attempts to make the rap music more radio friendly. this is where the name mainstream rap comes from as it is the rap music that sells and can be played on the radio.

The genre has been around since the 1980's with artists such as Vanilla Ice, Kriss Kross and Will Smith recording hit songs in the style of rap but unlike the rap artists of the time they weren't talking about their upbringing in a rough area or violent crime but were instead discussing girls, cars and partying, all things that were referenced in rap of the time but in a far more negative light than these artists were casting them in. These were some of the pioneers in Pop-Rap but the genre seemed to fade away before resurfacing in the 1990's and becoming one of the biggest genres of the next 30 years.

The genre gained notable popularity in the late 1990's and early 2000's with artists such as Snoop Dogg, Akon and Nelly selling number 1 records and albums during the period. this paved the way for what is now referred to as mainstream hip hop and has lead to the introduction of global superstars such as Nicki Minaj, Drake, Pitbull and J. Cole.

J. Cole is currently one of the brightest stars within the genre as his lyrics are much more powerful and meaningful than many of his fellow artists. He is more of a conventional Rap artist than most but some of his songs including the song Power Trip, the one I shall be tackling, have more of a pop influence than others. Although in many of his songs he tackles deeper more meaningful subjects, it is his Pop-Rap songs that have been the most successful of his records. Songs such as 'Work Out', 'Power Trip' and 'Planes' have all been immensely successful in the charts because of their far more general themes.