In March 1991, rap was legitimized in a different(and perhaps more significant) way: Billboard unveiled a radical (and long-overdue) change to its chart methodology. By 1991, the quickly industrializing genre had spawned its own house organ, as The Source-the first magazine to cover rap in its fans’ vernacular, and a central node linking the disparate nationwide phenomenon together-was bringing in seven-figure ad revenues after moving to New York City from Boston in 1990. The Geto Boys took their nightmarish vision of Houston’s Fifth Ward to the Hot 100 singles chart while Miami’s 2 Live Crew emerged as unlikely First Amendment pioneers, and regional rap scenes took shape around the country.Īs rap continued to evolve and mutate during this two-year period, forces both internal and external worked to validate it as a cultural and economic power. On the East Coast, Public Enemy’s Black Nationalist oratory and incisive media critiques, which inspired Straight Outta Compton, continued on 1990’s Fear of a Black Planet.
Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Kid ‘N Play, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and Digital Underground took rap to the top of the charts and into the heart of suburban multiplexes, while southern California gangsta rap continued to proliferate in N.W.A.’s wake via Above the Law, Compton’s Most Wanted and Cypress Hill.
During the two years between Cube’s split in late 1989 and the release of Death Certificate, his sprawling, imperfect magnum opus in late 1991, rap music grew up in a hurry, experiencing its pop and punk moments simultaneously.
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