10 Things That Changed Hip Hop This Past Decade, Numbers: 6-4

And the List Goes On . . .

6) The One Man Who Still is Relevant:50 Cent. Okay remember Chingy. Remember that he went triple platinum in his debut album back in 2003. Your like for real, yeah for real.

Well 50 Cent is ahead of the other events on the list for that simple reason. Since August of 2002 (I remember the day he was on Angie Martinez talking about Wanksta, *sigh, remember when Hot 97 played 'good' music), 50 Cent has managed to stay relevant in hip hop. How? Beef. No, not the type you purchase at a supermarket, but the type you find in the streets (that made me chuckle lol pardon). He put one rapper out of business and got the spotlight of the whole industry.

50 Cent was once the hottest rapper in the industry. He helped make the careers of all the rappers in his label. Anyone remember 'Beg For Mercy,' well this album went triple platinum also. Basically, anything at the time that was attached to 50 was hot. He even got Tony Yayo to sell a quarter of a million records in his first week (Hello! Buffie The Body).

His 'beefs' was not of legend and kept him relevant. He was a showman, he even competed with Kanye on the same day to sell records. 50's mvp though, 'I Get Money.' Why? Well if it was not for that song 50 might not still be around.

5) The Line that Changed Hip Hop Fashion. 'And i don't wear jerseys I'm thirty plus
Give me a crisp pair of jeans nigga button ups'

What does this line mean to hip hop fashion? Well, Jay-Z showed the power of voice in a movement.. It's early 2003 and everyone had a jersey. King of the Jersey game was Fabolous. Everyone followed them. Throwbacks and all types of jerseys were something that people wore. It was hip hop.

Fabolous Diddy Jagged Edge Trade It All
by fantasy1986

Was it the line? I don't know. But after he said it, the jersey game ended. Rappers and hip hop followers went to the next trend, and the next trend, and then the next. Hip Hop fashion has gone through major changes in the era since this line. Hip hop went from oversized baggy clothes to tight punk rock ones, from non-bright or weird colors to the whole spectrum, from this decade to the 1980's. Every trend, moves in and out the door with quickness. The most fashionable rappers have been the ones to lead the trends. Now the trend is inbetween movements, so wherever hip hop goes, the fashion behind it is going to atleast look at it.

4) What did we watch this decade? DVD Magazine series gave a facelift to hip hop. Rappers were now able to be free from censors and sell themselves a new way. Every rapper who claimed to be street got in on the action. New rappers on the mixtape scene finally was able to show their face without having to pay big bucks to do so.

Your like, okay we get it, but what is the big deal? What these street DVD's did was enhance the visual behind how the artist sold themselves. Redman may have not been able to smoke weed live on MTV, but on Smack DVD he did.



Also, the phenomenom that is the rap battle dramatically changed with this movement. At its height the rap battle phenomenom drove Eminem's movie '8 Mile,' and helped made 106 & Park a must see on fridays (Jin!! everyone's favorite rapping chinito). People who were not around to personally watch a battle, were able to see rap battles. Suburbs and other places that only knew hip hop through TV now had a new vision on hip hop. Who emerged victorious out of this group? Murda Mook. Yes, this guy was in so many battles but he still is hot. His last battle with Yung Hott lead to the hugest SMH of his battle career (Hott wasn't ready, should have just gone with a written rhyme). Other stand outs included, Math and Iron Solomon. And what else did this do for battle rap? Well now every new online battle rapper sounds like Murda Mook (case in point: Okwerdz)

S.M.A.C.K. dvd's and Sub 0 remains as the two most important dvd series of this decade.