“Hip-hop ain’t pop…or is it?” This is the last line from Q-Tip in “Check the Rhime” in response to the heavy commercialization of hip-hop and its integration into the mainstream consciousness. In A Tribe Called Quest’s heyday, rapping in a pop song was a way to be edgy. Rappers such as MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice made it accessible to white middle America. In cutesy commercials, popular rap songs were remixed and rapped by someone other than the artist. In some cases, the artist themselves lent their songs to commercials like Young MC did for Pepsi. It’s no different today. Kendrick Lamar rapping on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” gave it some edge and perhaps gave Swift a little street cred. Macklemore and Iggy Azalea had hits that traveled outside of rap and hip-hop into pop. Sprite is and has been using rappers to sell its products for years. Now it seems like the artists themselves are determined to make that cross over. Kanye West’s marriage to Kim Kardashian has undoubtedly broadened...
