Hip Hop Matters(55-84)

Summary
In 1997 a small group decided to make a music magazine. They called it the XXL. Then there was another magazine made by these two Harvard students and it was The Source. The Source was published in 1988 and it was really successful. In 1993 a guy name Quincy Jones created Vibe. He wanted it to be better than Rolling Stone. By 1998 the magazine had a rate base of 600,000 and it was named one of the fastest growing magazines. In 2003 it went up to 800,000, but it still did not beat the Rolling Stone(1.3 million). All these magazines creators was getting out of hand. It was not about making the community better and doing for people. There was hypercompetitive as they would call it. It was just turning into who is going to get more money than the other person and if they can blow them out. Hip Hop has influenced many young kids and even the deaths of the famous hip hop people it is still going. Rap was the biggest year in the industry right now and in 1998 that was the most important year for hip hop. The reason way was because it was on going and many good artistes was out there and made it better. As the artists started to come out many of them was hitting the billboard within the week they bring their albums out. There was so many competition in the business it was crazy. After Master P more and more came and it was just getting better an better. Then a female solo artist comes out and her name is Lauren Hill and she had that R&B soul to her and many people liked her. Her songs had so many ratings it was crazy. The rap posted a 13 percent and the R&B had a 10 percent so R&B was not recognized as rap music.


Quote
A quote I decided to pick is "This is America today. However you look at it, hip-hop is what's influencing little kids right now"( Watkins 61). I decided to pick this quote because it is really true. They way young kids listen to the music it encourages many to make their own music so others can hear it. Right now that is what kids are listening to that kind of music and get inspire in that.



Reaction
This book is talking about how with in the years 1993-2003 that is when the business was turned into a competition and also how many different new artists came and made it better. They are going through on how life was in the 90's and up to 2003. It was good on how they made it seem like hip hop is just not about getting money there is meaning also and people get influenced by it.