In the 2000s, rappers including Kanye West, Jay-Z, Cardi B, Drake, and Nicki Minaj were responsible for massive pop hits.
Yet no matter how big, how prosperous, how influential hip hop became, it retained an aura of the underdog, the counterculture.
Over the years the Recording Academy has faced criticism for failing to pay rappers their due, often narrowing their Grammy wins to racial categories.
But as the streaming era has taken hold and hip hop’s unmistakable global influence — from music to fashion, from language to dance — has become apparent, it’s also clear that hip hop is more a movement than a genre.
“People weren’t really accepting of hip hop—they thought it was going to fail,” said Paula Farley, a 59-year-old Bronx native who started attending underground hip hop parties in her youth and worked with Grandmaster With recently returned to a festival in the Bronx. Glow.
“As you can see, 50 years later, we proved them wrong.”
Even though the culture has gone global, for Farley, hip hop remains a New Yorker.
“It’s the heart, right here, the Bronx,” she told AFP as performers warmed up on stage before a throwback jam featuring Flash, which included a troupe of breakdancers and artists such as Mel Mel and KRS-One. ,
“It’s the birthplace of hip hop,” Farley said, as kids played in the sweltering heat, their parents and grandparents grooving to the beat.
“That’s what it is.”