Keeping up with the most influential trends of pop culture has been one of my favorite hobbies for quite sometime. Some trends were pretty lame and others were awesome until the radio over played them. Either way I have always kept track because someday I hope to pass on my knowledge of what is and what was in hip hop culture.
Recently I’ve been trying to define pop culture of the last 20/30 years by eras of what was considered popular. Since the beginning of the New Millennium, I’ve taken note of a few eras to pop up. There was the wildly popular “boy-band” era, followed by the “bling” era, and the fashionista era. We’ve currently been living in what I have defined as the “auto-tune” era. You can usually figure out what era that you’re living in by seeing what some of the more immortal pop icons use in their music.
If you are truly immortal as an artist, you can reinvent yourself into different eras. Good people to follow are usually the eye-rolling celebrities. You know who I’m talking about. Everytime you mention their name, you roll your eyes as if to say “not them again.” Example: Britney Spears. She is definitely immortal and I think I could almost feel your eyes roll through the computer screen as you read the name. I was listening to some of her music from her upcoming album, which I do often because regardless of what you think of her own talent, the people that produce her tracks are masters of their trade and always up on the newest music craze. And that’s when I found evidence of the newest hip hop era. Embedded in her newest pop track was a snippet of a heavy drum and bass influenced break beat.
This new era will be defined in much the same way as eras in the past. This particular music trend will dominate the radio-waves and consistently put artists in the top 40 charts for several years until people get tired of it and move on to the next musical craze. Mark my words, this next era will be known as the “dubstep” era.
What is dubstep you might ask? Well its actually been around for awhile, growing off of other types of electronic dance music such as DnB (drum and bass) and grime. Here’s a wikipedia article about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubstep
But I guess the best way to figure out dubstep is to listen to it. Really hot in the UK right now, it makes sense that the youtube channel for finding this music is at UKF dubstep:
http://www.youtube.com/user/UKFDubstep?feature=chclk
Check it out. Listen to the sounds. I think its pretty sick. But more importantly,take note of the mainstream artists that start to use the sound in their newest chart-topping tracks.
Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the dubstep era of Hip Hop and Pop.
I think your missing something big here. Sadly or gladly or what ever way you look at it, UK music tends not to transition to the U.S.
The U.S. tends to transition to the U.K. Any where you go, if you go out to a popular night club in the area, it will most likely have what is currently hip and popular at the time.
If you were to go into a UK night club these days, you would hear music made popular in the US in the 90’s mixed with a bit of techno or heavy bass. I feel the music is actually making a big circle. Its going back to some of its roots from 30 years ago. Why, its because what the current “hip” dancing age grew up with sitting in the car listening to it why their parents drove with a little of their own remixed content. I don’t specifically think the dubstep will transfer over to the US.
Tho, I don’t think its Brittney Spears who is transforming her self. I think its the “upper echelon” studio’s who are transforming a girl who already gets a huge amount of publicity. If you have a good song, have Spears dance and sing to it. It will be the next big thing. She is only a puppet to the underground scene. Its just how a big Actor like Daniel Craig who always makes big bucks in the box office. Its not the people that want to see the movie. Its the people that want to see the actor. The actor makes the movie. Just like Britney spears makes any music she is attached to.
Brittney Spears is only an Icon because of the people behind her image. Not because she declares it.