Tag: kendrick lamar

Spotify CLASSICS: 30 Classic Hip-Hop and R&B Albums From the Streaming Era

February 15, 2024

Streaming has transformed not only the way fans listen to music, but also the way artists release music to the world. And while music has become a more song-driven culture in recent years, that doesn’t mean albums have lost their impact. With the introduction of Spotify CLASSICS: Hip-Hop & RNB Albums of the Streaming Era, we’re celebrating the classic albums that have stood the test of time, no matter the era. 

Available in North America, Spotify CLASSICS is our first-ever program to celebrate catalog music. For the first iteration, we’re looking at albums from the streaming era, 2015 to the present day. Through a selection process examining an album’s holistic impact, our North American editorial team has put a spotlight on the ones that helped define the streaming era.

To inaugurate this new series, our editors have immersed themselves in the world of hip-hop and R&B, picking the 30 classic albums from the likes of Beyoncé, Tyler, The Creator, Solange, Kendrick Lamar, JAY-Z, SZA, Travis Scott, and Future.

Anderson .Paak – Malibu

Steel Wool/Empire, 2016

After years of honing his craft in L.A.’s underground scene, Anderson .Paak finally had a breakthrough with his second studio album, Malibu. A true hybrid, Anderson collages pieces of funk, R&B, dance, and rap into a cohesive puzzle. Released independently, the album earned a Grammy nomination and served as a springboard for AP to become one of music’s most multifaceted artists.

Beyoncé – Lemonade

Columbia, 2016

Beyoncé took the idea of the blockbuster album to new heights with her self-titled surprise in 2013, but less than three years later, she somehow managed to outdo herself on her sixth album, Lemonade. A reckoning with infidelity, the album is a visual and sonic tour de force that effectively lifted the star’s otherwise impenetrable veil through a stunning display of vulnerability and catharsis. From its melding of genres to its incorporation of visual and fashion cues to its marketing, Lemonade has become a multidisciplinary blueprint in its own right.

Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE

Columbia, 2022

Beyoncé’s ability to outdo herself was already unparalleled, but then RENAISSANCE arrived. The full scope of its impact can’t be known so soon, but already, it’s clear that this album is truly special. It’s conceptual like its predecessor, but beyond that, there’s little in her catalog to point to for reference; this is Bey like we’ve never heard her before. Atop a soundscape of Chicago house, Detroit techno, bounce, ballroom, and their numerous derivatives, she sings, raps, and sing-raps, mightily proclaiming that dance music is Black music—then, now, and forever.

Bryson Tiller – T R A P S O U L 

RCA, 2015

A product of 2010s post–Drake R&B, Bryson Tiller’s T R A P S O U L represented an evolutionary step in the merging of hip-hop and R&B. Stylistically, he covers the spectrum between rapping and singing, at times on the same verse. Combining vintage songwriting with futuristic production, T R A P S O U L offers up relatable love songs that strike a chord with a generation enamored by toxicity. While countless pop stars and R&B upstarts would go on to adopt Bryson’s blueprint, T R A P S O U L remains the standard.

Cleo Sol – Mother

FLO/Tunecore, 2021

Becoming a parent permanently alters a woman’s world, and when Cleo Sol arrived at that crossroads in her own life, she created a monument. Her aptly titled second album, Mother, is a beautiful and emotional project that reflects on her personal transformation and her complicated relationship with her own mom. There’s a profundity to the songs—many of them recorded with her newborn son in her arms—that still feels like a rare gift.

Daniel Caesar – Freudian 

Golden Child, 2017

Daniel Caesar went against the grain as trap soul was becoming the norm. The Toronto balladeer merges his gospel, soul, pop, and indie sensibilities into Freudian, a 10-track masterpiece that’s unmistakably R&B. Released on the singer’s label, Golden Child Recordings, the album features hits like “Get You,” as well as the Grammy-winning “Best Part” with H.E.R., which has earned over 1 billion streams on Spotify to date. Freudian is a testament to R&B’s enduring appeal and the genre’s capacity to reference the past, present, and future in its purest form.

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib – Bandana

Keep Cool/RCA, 2019

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib released their first collaborative album, Piñata, in 2014 during a transitional time in music. By the time they delivered the 2019 follow-up, Bandana, streaming had become the world’s top medium for music discovery and melodies had all but replaced traditional rapping. Despite this, Bandana established the duo as leaders of a more vintage sound centered around lyricism and lo-fi beats—a counter-culture movement that’s still inching toward the mainstream today.

Frank Ocean – Blonde

Boys Don’t Cry, 2016

A critical darling since his 2011 breakout mixtape, Nostalgia, ULTRA, Frank Ocean stepped into a class all his own with his second album, Blonde. More sparse and atmospheric than previous releases, Blonde leans into his most endearing and enigmatic qualities. Emotions are high, but neatly contained narratives are few, which is fitting for an album that makes deconstruction—sonic and otherwise—its guiding principle.

Future – DS2

Epic, 2015

At the time of DS2’s release, Future had come off of a five-month, three-mixtape run that included Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights. Still, questions remained about whether he could conjure the same magic on a proper album. DS2 quickly silenced doubters as the Atlanta rapper elevated his signature brooding to new levels. A refined and focused album, DS2 both cemented an iconic run from the artist and forged a new way for trap—and popular—music.

H.E.R. – H.E.R.

RCA, 2017

The 2010s were rife with artists incorporating mystery into their marketing, but H.E.R. made it central to her musical identity. Her self-titled compilation album—which combined her first two EPs along with a handful of new songs—used the faceless, nameless approach (especially rare for women) as a way of highlighting universal experiences with love and heartbreak. More than that, her anonymity allowed her striking voice and musicality to take center stage, laying the groundwork for the star she’s evolved into.

The Internet – Ego Death

Odd Future/Columbia, 2015

Once the in-crowd’s best kept secret, The Internet stepped out of Odd Future’s shadow and expanded its reach with Ego Death, proving that the group could no longer be confined to the alternative R&B label they carried at the beginning of their career. The streaming hit “Girl,” produced by Kaytranada, was instrumental in creating the band’s pathway to more casual R&B listeners. The album serves as a coming out party for frontwoman Syd, revealing her talents as a formidable songwriter, and bandmate Steve Lacy, who would go on to blossom as a solo artist.

Jay-Z – 4:44

Roc Nation, 2017

Jay-Z built his career rapping about his hustler’s spirit. But Hov’s ability to deliver a message that resonates with millions who don’t share his background helped make him one of the most influential artists of all time. 4:44 is part confessional and part business manual. He addresses the transgressions that led to a controversial elevator ride with his wife Beyoncé and her sister Solange, and sprinkles food for thought through the album. 4:44 also showcases Jay-Z at his razor-sharp best, silencing any doubts that he could still deliver a compelling body of work 20 years after his classic debut.

Jazmine Sullivan – Heaux Tales

RCA, 2021

By the time Jazmine Sullivan’s Heaux Tales was released, it’d been nearly 13 years since her breakthrough single, “Need U Bad.” But even for longtime fans, this album felt like an arrival for one of modern R&B’s most stunning vocalists. Conceptually, it’s an exploration (and reclamation) of femininity, sexuality, and romance; sonically it’s a breathtaking display of range and tone that only further confirmed her prowess. The effort earned her her first, long-deserved Grammys: Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance.

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly

Top Dawg Entertainment/Interscope, 2015

Rap is arguably most impactful as protest music, but the genre had almost exclusively become party music, at least in the mainstream, by 2015. Kendrick Lamar offered rare social commentary months after the police killings of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown. To Pimp A Butterfly’s jazz backdrop is a sharp contrast from the trap sound that had become ubiquitous, spawning the Pharrell Williams-produced “Alright”—one of the most important protest songs of the 21st Century, and one that pushes the idea of rap’s role as the “CNN of the ghetto.”

Kendrick Lamar – DAMN. 

Top Dawg Entertainment/Interscope, 2017

Following up his previous two albums was never going to be an easy task for Kendrick Lamar, but on DAMN., the rapper proved he could deliver crossover hits without compromising a drop of his innovative spirit. The album has sold over 3 million album -equivalents to date, won multiple Grammy Awards, and earned a Pulitzer Prize—making K.Dot the first non-classical or jazz musician to win the honor. With DAMN., Lamar joined a short list of musicians who’ve released three classic albums in a row, and he cemented himself as the most critically acclaimed artist of his generation.

Lil Uzi Vert – Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World

Generation Now/Atlantic, 2016

Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World is a crystallization of the exact moment Lil Uzi Vert exploded into stardom. All of the qualities he would continue to warp, expand, and transform over the course of his career take shape on this mixtape: his irresistible melodicism, sharp-but-defiant cadences, and an experimental streak that pushes rap’s boundaries to some of its quirkiest limits. In the years since its 2016 release, the sonic seeds of Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World have been scattered across hip-hop, pop, and beyond.

Migos – Culture 

Quality Control Music/300, 2017

At the height of their powers, Migos were half-jokingly, half-earnestly considered to be better than The Beatles, with signature triplet rhymes effectively resetting the sound of popular rap. Then the trio’s second album, Culture, arrived and promptly cemented their place in the zeitgeist. Riding the massive, viral wave of “Bad and Boujee,” which earned Migos (and Lil Uzi Vert) their first and only number one, Culture emphasizes all the things that made them impossible to resist: playful ad-libs, inventive cadences, earworm melodies, and savvy beat selection.

Nipsey Hussle – Victory Lap

All Money In/Atlantic, 2018

Many rappers tend to peak early, but Nipsey Hussle entered his creative prime 10 years after his breakthrough release. The L.A. native’s vision was always clear: As a self-made entrepreneur, Neighborhood Nip preached about economic empowerment. Nip perfected his formula on Victory Lap, and his lyrics had the ability to resonate with street disciples and ordinary people alike. The project brought Nipsey the acclaim and commercial reach he long deserved and, as has historically been the case, the album gained even more importance in the wake of his untimely death.

Playboi Carti – Die Lit

AWGE/Interscope, 2018

Playboi Carti’s appeal lies, in part, in his ability to do a lot with a little, and he used his debut album, Die Lit, to double down on his style. The beats are captivating and Carti’s melodic flow—punctuated by repetition and chirped ad-libs—leaves plenty of space to appreciate not just the production, but also the slippery minimalism of his flow. It’s a formula that has been praised and criticized in turns for being simplistic, but the Atlanta rapper is redeemed by the many imitators who repeatedly fail to recreate his singular magic.

Rihanna – Anti

Roc Nation/UMG, 2016

Rihanna’s ability to churn out a hit was well-established before the release of Anti. In fact, the decade leading up to its release saw Rihanna consistently topping the charts. But this album opened up a new chapter of her artistry, revealing the pop star in a new light. Anti culls inspiration from a wide range of genres, including psychedelic and pop-rock, but it’s the soulfulness of it all that sets it apart. And fans continue to keep this classic in heavy rotation, evidenced by three songs (“Work,” “Love On The Brain,” and “Needed Me”) that have surpassed a billion streams.

Roddy Ricch – Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial

Atlantic, 2019

After releasing a trilogy of acclaimed mixtapes, Roddy Ricch’s grind culminated in his blockbuster debut album, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial. In an era of increasingly fragmented rap fandom, the project represents an inflection point as his chart-topping single “The Box” possibly exemplifies the last ubiquitous rap song. Roddy goes through a range of moods as he contextualizes why being a product of his environment has made him so rigid today.

Saba – CARE FOR ME 

Saba Pivot, LLC, 2018

Following the murder of his cousin, Chicago rapper Saba surveyed his grief and responded with CARE FOR ME. On the album, his second, Saba allows his emotions to sharpen his craft, deftly capturing the depths of his sorrow and loneliness while still expressing the love he has for his fallen family member. Despite the weightiness of its concept, Saba emerges triumphant, not just as a rapper but as a person as well.

Solange – A Seat at the Table

Saint Records/Columbia, 2016

While Solange offered a glimpse at her potential on earlier releases, A Seat at the Table is where the singer found her identity and announced her arrival as a full-fledged creative. Revealing a new, mature point of view as a lyricist, and a new sound, A Seat At The Table is cool, substantive, and unapologetically Black. With Raphael Saadiq handling coproduction for most of the project and Master P narrating throughout, the album embodies qualities that had become disassociated with R&B amid pesky perceptions that the genre was dying. The album made Solange a favorite among tastemakers and positioned her as one of R&B’s most forward thinkers. 

Summer Walker – Over It

LVRN/Interscope, 2019

When Summer Walker’s breakout single, “Girls Need Love,” emerged from the ether in 2018, it felt as though she had gifted a generation of women the language for expressing their sexual desires. Her debut album, Over It, further expanded that lexicon, with the singer-songwriter replacing archaic attitudes and feelings of shame—shame for wanting love, shame for wanting sex, shame for being too loud, shame for being imperfect—with a sense of pride. In a hypercritical era, Over It became a necessary meditation on how to embrace one’s own flaws.

SZA – Ctrl

RCA, 2017

Few albums have captured the complexities of modern love and lust like SZA’s debut, Ctrl. Upon its release in 2017, there was a near immediate recognition that Ctrl was special. The wounded vulnerability and raw candor of SZA’s lyrics made her listeners feel seen as she laid bare some of the hardest truths about romance in today’s world. She brilliantly transformed the messiness of her inner world into a masterpiece for all to see, and music—along with each person who heard it—was made a little better by her bravery. 

Travis Scott – ASTROWORLD

Cactus Jack/Epic, 2018

Inspired by a now-defunct theme park in his native Houston, ASTROWORLD showcases Travis Scott’s ability to create fictional worlds his fans can inhabit. Before Astroworld’s release, Travis made fans wait two years for the album to drop, at a time when flooding the market was becoming a survival tactic for most artists. As the anticipation reached a fever pitch, he’d carefully whet his fans’ appetites with excellent cameos on SZA’s “Love Galore” and Drake’s “Portland.” Then, Travis delivered and ascended to a new stratosphere as one of hip-hop and pop’s biggest stars.

Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy

Columbia, 2017

Tyler, The Creator reinvented himself into an artist’s artist on his fourth studio album, Flower Boy. The Los Angeles rapper peeled back layers and revealed a sophistication that was hidden behind the shock value and provocative behavior showcased in some of his earlier work. Over dreamy production, Tyler paints a portrait of a complex human, displaying his personal and artistic growth. Tyler’s evolution was also rewarded with a commercial leap, as Flower Boy gave the artist his first platinum certification. The album’s biggest single, “See You Again,” has gone viral twice in the years after its initial release and has now surpassed a billion streams on Spotify.

Tyler, The Creator – IGOR

Columbia, 2019

Tyler, The Creator has historically pulled from a boundless pool of musical influences, but with IGOR, he offers up an album that challenges genre classifications. There’s some rapping, but the album’s hip-hop DNA is less apparent. It’s soulful—Tyler sings for most of the album—but it’s not necessarily R&B or pop. Instead, T’s journey of personal and artistic maturation takes center stage as he reflects on past relationships. Speculation around the object of Tyler’s affections has given the album a mythological air. Despite being left of center, IGOR earned a Grammy for Best Rap Album and ironically pushed Tyler toward the center of rap’s cultural conversation.

Tyler The Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost

Columbia, 2021

For most of the 2000s and into the 2010s, a Gangsta Grillz mixtape represented a milestone moment for artists, both rising and established. In 2021, Tyler, The Creator restored the feeling with Call Me If You Get Lost, his very own Gangsta Grillz mixtape, hosted by DJ Drama himself. The acclaimed tape evokes the gritty rawness of the aughts and juxtaposes it with some of the rapper’s finest and most confident writing. In calling on the past, Tyler introduced the world to a new era of his artistry, clear-eyed and more fearless than ever.

XXXtentacion – 17

Bad Vibes Forever/EMPIRE, 2017

XXXtentacion’s 17 turned the Florida native into a streaming juggernaut. X managed to gain organic traction when manufactured virality was becoming standard. He hardly ever promoted his music. Instead, the persistent controversy that followed him seemed to fuel his momentum. Pulling heavily from emo influences, 17 showcases X’s ability to effortlessly move between styles, singing over acoustic guitars one moment and rapping over vocal samples the next. Touching on mental health and tapping into angst, 17 demonstrates the artistic qualities that made X a fan favorite among younger audiences, and four of the album’s 11 songs have surpassed a billion streams to date. Less than a year after 17’s release, X’s moment in the spotlight would be tragically cut short, and his death has left a void that’s yet to be filled.

Discover more of today’s future hip-hop classics on our flagship playlist, RapCaviar.

 

Spotify’s Interactive Experiences Create the Magic of Wrapped Year-Round

October 18, 2023

Spotify users start chattering on social media about Spotify Wrapped months before the experience is unveiled. The data dive turned cultural phenomenon, in which we unveil global top-listened-to songs, artists, albums, and podcasts, as well as fans’ personal listening trends, is as much of a learning experience for us as it is for our users. It’s an opportunity to see firsthand how much audio impacts our listeners’ lives, and the ways they turn to our platform to dive into this experience even more deeply. 

So the Spotify marketing teams make efforts to leverage our unique abilities and insights for original interactive experiences throughout the entire year. From New Years–inspired Playlist In a Bottle to My Top Five artist experiences with Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, ROSALÍA, BTS, and Taylor Swift, these new campaigns delight our users, more deeply connecting them with the artists they love and with fellow fans. 

“Wrapped really credentialed us in the marketplace in terms of marrying data with creativity and delivering it to users in an interesting way. And it gave us permission to think outside the box,” says Louisa Ferguson, Head of Global Marketing Experience. “There’s a lot of cultural energy on Spotify, and it’s nice to carve out space for Spotify to be more experimental and to try things that we’re not sure if they’re going to work and we want to find out. Our users help us do that.”

Louisa notes that as the team developed ideas for interactive moments, they realized there were opportunities to illuminate new and different insights on our users’ listening behaviors.  

“We want users to more consistently stumble upon these exciting, engaging moments throughout the year,” says Colette McIntyre, an Associate Creative Director at Spotify. “We see the younger generation, in particular, craving more interactivity and more personalization. They want to connect with the artists they love more, they want to connect with their own tastes more, and they want to connect with other fans more. And we wanted to facilitate that more regularly.” 

Playlist in a Bottle is a notable example of a moment of surprise and delight when users aren’t expecting it. It also puts listening ownership in users’ hands by enabling them to create a playlist for their future self. 

“Playlist in a Bottle is a lovely complement to Wrapped, which is a look back, in that it’s a look forward, a prediction of how your year is going to unfold,” said Louisa. The team was floored by the reception and is eyeing January 2024 as an opportunity to reintroduce the experience.

Our platform reflects the cultural zeitgeist

Though Playlist in a Bottle is one example that focuses on a topical moment, New Years, the team also prides itself on keeping abreast of unique trends and cultural conversations. 

Social media is core to this. “We think social first, always,” says Colette. “Social conversation is inherent to these experiences. Part of why these are connecting with people is because they’re built on very real insights of fandom, of genre, of the ways our users or fans react. One of our interactive experiences, GetReadyWithMusic, was inspired by, yes, music’s long-standing relationship with fashion, but also the social phenomenon of ‘Get Ready With Me’ videos on social.” 

“We are very, very focused on tapping into existing cultural conversation,” Louisa agrees. “It is really important that we enable these fans, who are already having this debate in various places, to come to the place where they actually listen to the music, engage with the experience, and then share it out to their friends and spark maybe a little bit of disagreement. We’re okay with that. We like that friction.” 

Having those moments on our platform isn’t necessarily a given, and that’s where Johannes Vuorensola, Director for Tooling, Integrations, and Labs, comes in. Johannes oversees a back-end product that allows Spotify to create these playful experiences in our Android and iOS mobile apps, keeping listeners where they are to enjoy moments like Supergrouper or Pet Playlists 2.0. 

“We want to be able to provide a seamless experience for our users, rather than driving them to another destination on a microsite or web page,” says Johannes. “We know that our users love our app; they want to consume music and other content on our platform. And obviously it’s natural for us to be able to bring these playful elements into their everyday lives, right where they are.” 

Johannes notes that it’s also a boon for the team to be able to develop and get feedback on these experiences across Spotify. “It helps us to take the product onto the next level by pushing it even further. This allows us to continue to innovate and build even more engaging products that truly create these playful and meaningful experiences and connections with our users and artists.” 

Evolving data as the differentiator 

While some interactive experiences are more general, others fall into niche fandoms or favorite genres. All of these are rooted in the habits of the listening communities we see on Spotify. 

“You can’t escape the fact that genre is still a useful organizing principle for music, and it’s a way for fans to come together and convene over a passion and attract a bigger community,” says Louisa. 

In Find Your Flow, listeners discovered which Latin music style best defined them by answering questions specific to their tastes. Then they received a listening persona based on their styles. “For an experience like Find Your Flow, all the details we used were hyper-specific to the reggaeton community, and all those data and listening insights came from a local level to us,” notes Louisa. “That is a real example of how Spotify’s broad reach is enabling us to dive deeper into a specific market, pull out insights, and share them globally.” 

Our My Top 5 franchise focuses on highly visible artist fandoms and also pulls from the way fans naturally debate their fandoms. For the My Top 5 BTS experience, fans were encouraged to not only share their top songs, but to do so using a background that signified their favorite band members. The ease of sharing to social media naturally brought fans together and sparked new interactions. 

We added Spotify data as another layer to our recent My Top 5: Taylor Swift’s Eras. After selecting their Top 5 Eras, fans received a share card, similar to past My Top 5 moments. But after self-identifying, “We’d come in with receipts, as only Spotify can,” says Colette. “Well actually, you’re more of a Reputation fan than you thought.” 

Colette notes this opportunity as a beautiful melding of what we’ve become known for with Wrapped, now applied to the framework of the My Top 5 franchise.

“When I think of Spotify, I think of discovery, and I think of play,” explains Colette. “And I think these experiences are inherently playful, right? They’re fun. They’re light-hearted. They provide unique, surprising ways for fans to look at their own fandom or look at themselves. They capture the spirit of Spotify and what sets us apart and why our users trust us and love us. At the end of the day, music is personal. But it’s also meant to be shared. I can’t think of better ways to have both.”

Nearly a Quarter of All Streams on Spotify Are Hip-Hop. Spotify’s Global Editors Reflect on the Genre’s Growth

August 10, 2023

As hip-hop turns 50, fans around the world are celebrating its golden anniversary. For a genre that started at a block party in the Bronx, this milestone is a testament to the massive impact and influence hip-hop has had in virtually every corner of the globe.

And today on Spotify, hip-hop is thriving, with artists and fans from around the world discovering and connecting with one another. In 2023, nearly a quarter of all streams on Spotify globally are hip-hop music, led by artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj, 21 Savage, Ice Spice, and Metro Boomin.

But it goes further than that . . . 

  • Hip-hop is one of the most-listened-to genres globally on Spotify, and more than 400 million users around the world have streamed hip-hop music in 2023 so far.
  • RapCaviar ranks as the second most-followed playlist on Spotify. 
  • Around the globe, there are over 53 million user-generated and Spotify-curated playlists on Spotify that mention hip-hop or rap in the title of the playlist, and over 2 billion playlists that contain at least one hip-hop song. 
  • For the past three years, almost half of Spotify’s Top 50 most-streamed artists globally have been hip-hop or rap artists. 

One of the most distinct aspects of hip-hop culture is its regionality, with the unique sounds coming out of local U.S. scenes like New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Miami helping one of the most dynamic genres in the world flourish.

That’s why we’re celebrating these iconic regions with a series of original murals created by Raj Dhunna. 

Quase um quarto de todos os streams no Spotify são para o Hip Hop. Os editores globais do Spotify refletem sobre o crescimento do gênero

August 10, 2023

Quando o Hip Hop completa 50 anos, fãs de todo o mundo comemoram suas bodas de ouro. Para um gênero que teve um começo inesperado em um parque do Bronx, este marco é uma prova do enorme impacto e influência que o Hip Hop teve em praticamente todos os cantos do globo.

E hoje no Spotify, o Hip Hop está mais forte do que nunca, com artistas e fãs de todo o mundo se descobrindo e se conectando. Em 2023, quase um quarto de todas os streams no Spotify globalmente foram para músicas de Hip Hop, lideradas por artistas como Drake, Nicki Minaj, 21 Savage, Ice Spice e Metro Boomin.

Mas, vai além disso… 

  • O Hip Hop é o segundo gênero mais popular globalmente no Spotify, e mais de 400 milhões de usuários em todo o mundo escutaram música Hip Hop em 2023 até agora.
  • RapCaviar é a segunda playlist com maior número de seguidores no Spotify. 
  • Em todo o mundo, existem mais de 53 milhões de playlists editoriais e geradas por usuários no Spotify que mencionam Hip Hop ou Rap no título, e mais de 2 bilhões de playlists que contêm pelo menos uma música de Hip Hop.
  • Nos últimos três anos, quase metade dos 50 artistas mais escutados no Spotify em todo o mundo são artistas de Hip Hop ou Rap.

Um dos aspectos mais distintos da cultura Hip Hop é sua regionalidade, com sons únicos vindos de cenas locais dos Estados Unidos, como Nova York, Atlanta, Los Angeles e Miami, ajudando um dos gêneros mais dinâmicos do mundo a florescer.

É por isso que celebramos essas regiões icônicas com uma série de murais originais criados por Raj Dhunna.

Spotify and FC Barcelona Celebrate ROSALÍA’s ‘MOTOMAMI’ With a Special Shirt and In-App Fan Experience

March 15, 2023

One year ago this week, Spanish superstar ROSALÍA released her album MOTOMAMI to massive fanfare—and the accolades quickly followed. In 2022, ROSALÍA was the most-streamed Spanish artist globally, with streams of her tracks on Spotify growing by more than 110% year over year. And in Barcelona, she was also the most-streamed female artist on Spotify last year. 

So when football fans around the world come together on Sunday to watch FC Barcelona take part in another epic El Clásico clash, we’re thrilled the club will be celebrating the first anniversary of her album. Players will step onto the Spotify Camp Nou pitch wearing a special Barcelona home shirt that features ROSALÍA’s MOTOMAMI album logo, much like they did when they commemorated Drake’s landmark achievement of 50 billion streams with a limited-edition OVO shirt. 

‘Bel-Air’ Star Coco Jones Dishes on Season 2 and Life Behind the Scenes

March 2, 2023

photo of bel-air star coco jones posing with her hand on her cheek

When the Peacock original series Bel-Air debuted last year, it reimagined the original series in the truest sense. Where the original sitcom was more of a lighthearted, fish-out-of-water tale, Bel-Air arrived with a decidedly dramatic edge. And while Will may have still left West Philadelphia for the gated mansions of LA, he found himself reckoning with the conflicts, biases, and emotions of the world around him in a more serious way.

With a new season of Bel-Air returning, the show is raising the stakes. Will, Jazz, and the entire Banks family are all back to pick up where they left off and navigate the relationships that exist between them. And just like in Season 1, fans can expect all the dramatic plot twists to be backed by an iconic soundtrack, which will include tracks from Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill and Tyler, The Creator. 

The new season also sees the return of Will’s cousin Hillary Banks, who surprised fans in Season 1 when she struck up a relationship with Jazz. Hillary is played by the multi-talented Coco Jones, who, in addition to acting, made her major-label debut last year with the release of her EP What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe).

For the Record sat down with Coco, who dished on the new season of Bel-Air, what it’s like to juggle music and acting careers, and what makes her character, Hillary, tick.

With the new season of Bel-Air just around the corner, what can fans expect? 

I think they can expect more jaw-dropping drama, because that’s what we do. But I’m really curious to see how they enjoy learning more about these characters and getting to see them operate in deeper ways. I feel at the start, they were introduced as these nostalgic characters with a new storyline. But now you know who these people are, what they’re going through. And I think it will be interesting for fans to see how that plays out.

Are there any ways that you drew inspiration from the original series when it comes to your character, Hillary?

Definitely, the OG Hillary has so much confidence and poise. I just love the feminine energy she exuded, and it makes her really captivating. I studied how she enters a room, and even the funnier sides of her. She was kind of quirky, and so I took some of that as well—not only to make Hillary feel really well-rounded, but also to have that nostalgic poise about her. 

Given that Hillary is an aspiring influencer, are there any recent viral trends you think she’d be really into? 

There are these viral recipe videos where people try the most random things, like Jolly Ranchers in their wine or frying something crazy. And Hillary really delves into cooking culture, so I think she would love to tap into that trend and make her own commentary type of TikTok channel. 

Was there any music you and the cast really got into while you were filming?

I think what I really enjoy about my cast is that we all have similar passions, but different inspirations. So I think we put each other on to a lot of music. For example, Olly Sholotan (who plays Carlton) really loves The Weeknd, so he showed me songs that I’d never even heard before. Jabari Banks (who plays Will) is super into throwback and nostalgia. And Simone Joy Jones (who plays Lisa) is really into jazz and alt music. And you know I like R&B. So it was fun showing each other different styles and introducing each other to different music. 

You also recently released a new EP and were named as one of Spotify’s Artists to Watch. What’s it like working on both aspects of your career at the same time? 

I think it’s been an amazing and challenging blessing. Like, I’m not going to complain that both of the things that I love to do are heavily, heavily happening at the same time. I think it’s taught me a lot about my work ethic and how much passion I really have for these things to be able to go from one thing to the other and still find the energy to make sure that I give it everything I have.

Are there any songs from your EP that you think Hillary would enjoy?

Oh my gosh, yes! I think Hillary would love my single “Caliber.” It’s just the epitome of her. She has very high standards for herself and those around her. In the first season of Bel-Air, she’s literally leveling up Jazz. She’s like, “Let me put you on. You don’t even run a social media profile and you’re missing out on marketing. What are you doing?” 

She’s very much an “I will level you up”–type of girl. I think she’s looking for that same ying to her yang in her life, and I think “Caliber” embodies that. But I think she’d love my whole EP, to be honest.

If you could play any character in a reboot of any movie or show, who would it be? 

Wow. I have always said that I wanted to do a new version of Charlie’s Angels because there’s so much cool technology. We could really make this movie really visually impressive. I’m very athletic and I love a kickboxing class. I feel like I could really do that. 

Is there anything you’d want to say to fans of your acting or fans of your music? 

I definitely want to say thank you. And what I love to share and constantly remind anyone who’s a fan of me is that the journey that is yours is probably going to take a different route, or at least different timing, than you expected. So don’t let your heart believe that things won’t happen because they’re not going exactly to plan. 

Would you give similar advice to aspiring artists or actors? 

I feel like the main thing you need to be a successful singer, actor—or honestly anything—is you just need to not give up. Of course, there are going to be days where you’re not inspired or you’re hella discouraged. But do not give up on that day, and then go to the next day, and then do the same thing. If you stick with it, one day you’ll look up and great things will have happened.

Ready to discover more from Coco Jones? Check out her EP What I Didn’t Tell You (Deluxe) now.

VidCon 2022: Spotify and SZA Give Gen Z Fans and Creators an Unforgettable Experience

June 27, 2022

Last week, more than 75,000 people came together for VidCon 2022, one of the largest creator and consumer conferences in the U.S. Over the span of four days, Gen Z stars, industry leaders, and fans enjoyed talks, meet and greets, games, and live music performances. As an official sponsor, Spotify was there to make sure fans had an incredible experience. 

Spotify had something for everyone: Creators gained wisdom from Spotify leaders like Jessica Angeles, Senior Partner Manager at Anchor, and Tracy Rivas, Creator Partner Manager, who explained why they should be including Spotify in their video content strategy. Fans, meanwhile, could receive an audio tarot reading based on their mood and music tastes, have their audio aura captured in a photo (which correlated with collaborative, aura-specific playlists), and collect exclusive Spotify swag. 

 

Check Out Our 2022 All-RapCaviar Teams and Cast Your Vote for MVP and Rookie of the Year

June 21, 2022

All-RapCaviar Logo

When it comes to iconic duos, hip-hop and basketball are a match made in heaven—dedicated fans, unbridled passion, and unmatched competition bring these two worlds together. And while the playoffs have reached their thrilling conclusion, Spotify is just getting started with our third year of All-RapCaviar.

Our flagship RapCaviar playlist has attracted more than 14 million followers and featured over 13,000 artists since its launch in 2015, and the All-RapCaviar teams are our way to honor the standout performers. Just as pro basketball’s end-of-season awards are created to celebrate the best players in the league, we are picking the top 15 rappers in the game. We base this on their streaming performances on RapCaviar and other Spotify hip-hop–centered playlists throughout the duration of the basketball season (November 2021 to June 2022).

And the wait is over. Here are our 2022 All-RapCaviar picks.

All-RapCaviar First Team:

Kendrick Lamar, Future, Drake, Gunna, Lil Durk

All-RapCaviar Second Team:

Lil Baby, Kanye West, Doja Cat, Jack Harlow, Megan Thee Stallion

All-RapCaviar Third Team:

Nicki Minaj, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Kodak Black, Pusha T, Latto

The fun doesn’t end here, however. 

The nominees for All-RapCaviar MVP and Rookie of the Year have been revealed on the RapCaviar Twitter account. Now, you and your fellow rap fans get to vote on the winners. Here are the nominees:

All-RapCaviar MVP Nominees

All-RapCaviar Rookie of the Year Nominees

Following the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards, we’ll also announce our pick for the All-RapCaviar Coach of the Year on June 22. And as voting commences and the online debates unfold, we’ll be discussing our All-RapCaviar teams and nominees with hip-hop’s biggest influencers on “Inside RapCaviar,” a mini episode that you can watch on Instagram and Twitter. 

“Every rapper wants to be a baller and every baller wants to be a rapper. We kicked off the All-RapCaviar franchise on social two years ago but after seeing such a positive response from fans online, we decided to bring it to life for real,” Carl Chery, Creative Director, Head of Urban Music at Spotify explained to For the Record. “This is a digital campaign that taps our audience to share who they think should win MVP & Rookie of The Year; allowing fans to really share their opinions and encourage a little friendly debate online. We look forward to creating these moments for our listeners and recognizing a wide array of artists that have been featured on our RapCaviar playlist.” 

As the leading destination for hip-hop, conversation, and culture, Spotify and RapCaviar are thrilled to host this one-of-a-kind fan vote, and even more thrilled that fans will make their voices heard. 

So who will take home hip-hop bragging rights? It’s time for you to make your voice heard.

Visit RapCaviar on Twitter to vote for All-RapCaviar MVP and Rookie of the Year. And as you wait for the results to roll in, stream the latest tracks from all of our picks and nominees on the RapCaviar playlist.

 

Ready for an Encore? ‘The Big Hit Show’ Examines Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ in Season 2

February 23, 2022

For movie buffs, music lovers, and TV show fans, the influence of pop culture can feel as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. But what happens when the films you love or the albums you have on repeat start to infiltrate political discourse and your extended family’s mealtime conversations? This is what The Big Hit Show—a podcast documentary series from Spotify and Higher Ground—seeks to explore. 

After breaking down the Twilight saga phenomenon during season one, host and journalist Alex Pappademas is back to discuss the power and influence of Kendrick Lamar’s iconic second record, To Pimp a Butterfly. Following his successful major label debut, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, the heavier and more universal themes of Kendrick’s sophomore album struck a chord with mass audiences when it was released in 2015. 

Seven years later, the album has more than 1.5 billion streams on Spotify and continues to hold its place in the zeitgeist. The cultural conversation regularly finds its way back to To Pimp a Butterfly, an album that, according to Alex and his podcast guests, made it bigger than mainstream—it changed the world. 

For the Record spoke with Alex about his decision to follow up his four-episode analysis of Twilight with an examination of Kendrick’s masterpiece in the second chapter of The Big Hit Show. 

The last chapter of The Big Hit Show was about the Twilight saga and this new one is about Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly—two moments in culture that don’t seem all that related. How are the chapters connected for you? 

To me, it’s all one story about what’s left of mass culture in the 21st century and the vagaries of creative success in a mediascape where there’s no such thing as a sure thing. Maybe it’s like a book that approaches one subject—the hit and often its surprising consequences—from four different angles. Part one is about how the Twilight saga defied conventional Hollywood wisdom, became a box-office sensation, and changed the lives of many of the people who worked on it. Part two, the Kendrick Lamar season, is about the next phase of a hitmaker’s arc. You’ve made your first hit—what do you know? How does success complicate the life and public image of an artist?

Why did you choose to cover Kendrick in this second chapter?

I’m a huge fan of Kendrick’s and a huge fan of To Pimp a Butterfly. But I also knew there was a specific story to tell here. Modern recording technology has made it possible for people to collaborate on music without ever meeting in person, but Kendrick made this record in a more timeless way—in actual rooms, with a big cast of characters who are fascinating musicians and fascinating people in their own right. So right away there was this interesting social, communal aspect to the story of how this record came together. Everyone who passed through those sessions—even for a day or two—seems to have come away from the experience with an expanded sense of their own potential, and I was excited about the opportunity to tell that story using the voices of the people whose creative lives were changed by that experience. 

Why is it important to revisit the themes of this record now? 

The themes of this record have been the themes of the last seven years and counting in America. To Pimp a Butterfly feels prescient now because even on the other side of a national protest movement, a global pandemic, and a presidential election, we’re still in the same place as a country in so many ways. This is an extremely personal album about what it was like to be Kendrick Lamar after the success of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City changed everything—struggling with fame and responsibility and homesickness and particularly with the violent deaths of several friends. But Kendrick was making this record between 2012 and early 2015, a moment that coincides with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the beginning of a national reckoning on the subject of structural racism and police violence, and these songs were already touching on issues that would explode onto the national stage.

What can listeners expect to hear for the first time while listening to the show? 

We’re going to hear from people who knew Kendrick as a quiet, observant middle schooler and saw the potential for stardom and leadership in him before he saw it in himself. We’re also going to hear from the extended family of L.A. musicians who helped bring this record to life—players whose whole careers led them to a moment like this. We will hear the voices of legends including George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic, and we will find out the one thing you were absolutely forbidden to do when visiting Prince at Paisley Park.

Looking forward to future chapters, how will the show continue to tie these seemingly disparate cultural moments together?

One of the things I’m proudest of about these first two chapters of the show is the way they use Twilight and Kendrick as a way into a larger story about a country where big hits are increasingly the one thing we have in common. These shows aren’t just about the big hits they’re about—they’re about the moments in which those hits happened and what the success of Twilight or “Alright” revealed about what people living through those moments were hungry for, or turned on by, or afraid of, or angry about. In an increasingly fractious world, we can’t really draw conclusions about every person who bought To Pimp a Butterfly or camped out overnight for Breaking Dawn tickets, but I think there is something to be learned from the fact that it was these things that got people excited and not something else. 

Ready to hear how the music industry’s most influential players came together to create a world-changing album? Stream season two of The Big Hit Show below.  

Classic Hip-Hop, Rap, and R&B Hits Spiked After Yesterday’s Halftime Show

February 14, 2022

The halftime show of the Big Game garners as much excitement and anticipation as the gridiron rivalry itself, and last night was no exception. In Los Angeles, while the players hit the locker rooms, icons Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, along with surprise guests 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak on drums, pumped up viewers in the stadium and at home with an electrifying set of hip-hop, rap, and R&B hits.

Halftime Hits

Following the 12-minute performance, fans were ready for more. Listeners turned to Spotify to continue streaming their favorites from the show. Last night, Mary J. Blige saw a lot of love with a more than 520% increase in streams of her song“No More Drama.” Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s “The Next Episode” saw more than a 270% increase in streams. The 1999 track “Still D.R.E.” saw an increase of more than 245%, and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” saw more than a 250% increase. In the U.S., overall streams of Dr. Dre saw a nearly 185% increase on Spotify in the hour following the game.

’90s and ’00s Nostalgia

Last night’s performances brought back some of the most iconic hits of the 1990s and early 2000s, but the halftime show isn’t the only place listeners are getting a dose of nostalgia—listening to popular tracks from the past has become a big trend on Spotify.

Eminem is one of Spotify’s top-streamed hip-hop artists of all time, with “Lose Yourself” topping the list as the most-streamed track across classic hip-hop, rap and R&B.* Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are two of Spotify’s top-streamed classic hip-hop artists, with “Still D.R.E.” being one of the most popular tracks.

Hometown Pride

Spotify also dug into the data for what listeners in Los Angeles and Cincinnati were playing on Sunday to prepare for the game. 

In Cincinnati, listeners showed spirit for their home team by streaming Bengals-themed tracks like “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, “The Bengals Growl (Fight Song)” by Cincinnati Pep Band and ML Music, “Joe Burrow” by Lil Gav, and “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor.

Farther west in LA, Spotify listeners prepped for the eventual Rams victory by cranking up tracks by the halftime performers, including “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, “California Love – Original Version” by 2Pac, Dr. Dre, and Roger, “Forgot About Dre” by Dr. Dre and Eminem, and “Money Trees” by Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar.

Check out the “I Love My Classics” playlists if you’re craving more of the hits you heard last night. From LA to ATL, Spotify’s regional playlists (West Coast, Down South, Midwest, and East Coast) give fans the best of the genre.

*“Classic hip-hop, rap, and R&B” refers to anything released pre-2005

‘The Big Hit Show’ Podcast Analyzes What Makes Something Pop in Pop Culture

January 12, 2022

What makes something a cultural phenomenon? Is it the people involved or the topics covered? Or does it just have to have that special je ne sais quoi? The Big Hit Show, a new podcast from Spotify and Higher Ground—President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s media company—is setting out to examine the rise and enduring power of global sensations. 

This new podcast looks at a moment where a title made it big across mediums—film, music, TV, internet culture, and video games. Each topic gets its own “chapter,” with each chapter spread out over five episodes. “The shows and films and albums we explore have all been chosen not just because they’re massive pieces of popular culture. We’ve picked them because each has had a profound butterfly effect on our culture,” said host Alex Pappademas. 

The first chapter of the podcast will highlight Twilight, the four-book teenage vampire series that became a global phenomenon and eventually inspired a movie franchise. To understand fans’ love for the saga, just look at Spotify, where listeners have made more than 1.3 million Twilight-themed music playlists. The movies’ soundtracks have also seen quite a bit of play time, from Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole – Twilight Soundtrack Version” (almost 310 million streams) to “Bella’s Lullaby” (almost 18 million streams). 

Now, nearly two decades after the first book’s release and 13 years since the first movie premiered, The Big Hit Show will explore this unlikely success story as well as the power of teenaged girls and the rise of fan fiction.

In the second chapter, which debuts in February, Alex will explore the musical styles of American rapper Kendrick Lamar—and specifically, the effects of his album To Pimp A Butterfly. The music that won Kendrick a 2016 Grammy for Best Rap Album was born out of his grappling with personal tragedy and the world around him. Since 2015, the album has seen more than 1.5 billion streams on Spotify, and every year it has remained in the top 1,000 of the most streamed albums on the platform.

“Whether we’re tracing how an author’s vivid dream about a sparkly vampire led to an entirely new fan culture or how a megastar reckoning with success, expectation, and survivor’s guilt crafted a masterpiece that became the soundtrack to the biggest protest movement in a generation, listeners will know from chapter to chapter they’re getting a high-stakes narrative that explains how our culture has been influenced and shaped by these creations,” explained Alex.

After dissecting Twilight and To Pimp A Butterfly, the show will continue its deep dive into pop-culture phenomenons. Follow the podcast to find out which topic it will cover next.

Athletic Greens is the premier sponsor of season one of The Big Hit Show. Dive into the first chapter on the Twilight phenomenon, below.