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\n\tThere\u2019s no agreed upon birthdate of the term \u201crock\u2019n\u2019roll.\u201d Ohio DJ Alan Freed is widely credited with popularizing it in the early 1950s to describe a new upbeat version of R&B music that was gaining traction with young audiences throughout America. Almost 70 years later, in 2017, it was R&B\/hip-hop that surpassed rock as the country\u2019s dominant music. And unlike rock, hip-hop does have an agreed upon birthdate, resulting in the current 50th-anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n
\n\tDespite chatter to the contrary, a large segment of rap sounds very similar to what it was like at 30, 25 or even 15 years old. A clear line can be drawn between Big Daddy Kane or Rakim and the deliveries of Jay-Z, Nas, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. The aesthetics may have changed a bit, as well as the effectiveness of the techniques, but the artistic values shared by the first group of MCs are also shared by the latter.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd yet, until this September, hip-hop had gone an entire calendar year without a song topping the Billboard Hot 100<\/a>, for the first time since 1993. The concern was understandable, but when it\u2019s considered that the artist who broke the streak isn\u2019t even a traditional rapper \u2014 Doja Cat, whose \u201cPaint the Town Red,\u201d the Dionne Warwick-sampling single from her most recent rap-flavored project, Scarlet<\/em>, did the honors \u2014 the genre seems to be just fine. And to be fair, when the genre\u2019s most consistent hit-makers did return \u2014 Drake and Cole\u2019s collaboration \u201cFirst Person Shooter\u201d debuted at No. 1 in October \u2014 things more or less went back to normal.<\/p>\n