In January, it was revealed that (for the first time), Hip Hop was the most streamed genre in the country. Now, it seems an important time as ever for the genre to establish itself at the top. For someone who doesn’t like Drake or anything he stands for, it feels important that the year is full of good music from potentially chart-topping hip hop artists. Just past the halfway mark of 2018, it’s probably about time we take a look at the quality and popularity of the genre before answering a few other questions about the year in hip hop so far.

Is Hip Hop still popular?

It seems so. In answering this, I consulted the Billboard 200 albums chart. I know that albums are not the way that many consume music these days, but this helps track the popularity of an artist slightly easier and individual song streams do factor in, so singles are not all together ignored. Out of the 28 weeks before this article was written, 16 of those weeks had a hip hop or hip hop adjacent (The Weeknd and Post Malone) project at the top spot of the album chart. At just over 50%, the grip on listener’s ears seems to have continued.

Out of those 28 weeks, four projects have held the top spot for multiple weeks. Three of those projects were hip hop, Drake’s Scorpion (two weeks, but will probably continue), Post Malone’s Beerbongs & Bentleys (three weeks) and the Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther Soundtrack (three weeks). This is a dominant control of the industry. None of these albums are nearing the records of Adele (over 20 weeks), but that seems almost impossible in the unlimited access age we live in.

Is Hip Hop still good?

I mean, probably. After searching through the top albums on Billboard, it’s hard not to be disappointed, but that’s nothing new for chart-topping music. However, while Black Panther was nowhere near Kendrick’s best, it held its own as a good album. It’s also always nice to see an artist as artistically ambitious as Lamar get a chart topping album (even with a little help from Marvel). Cardi B also showed that her charisma can be carried across a full length project (and it was under 20 songs!) which led to what is probably the best album out of the number one’s.

As the genre becomes more popular, there will be more artists and labels behind them that opt for music made strictly to top the charts. This music is usually not good (see Revival, Beerbongs). While it may be frustrating that this is how non-hip hop fans may be introduced to the genre, chart-topping music hasn’t been good for much of the last 20 years. It’s not made to be.

The flipside of this is that there are now more subgenres than ever. This is a good thing. From genres that dominate the charts like trap, to the growing influence of other genres like rock or jazz. A decade ago, albums like Anderson .Paak’s Malibu and Kanye and Kid Cudi’s Kids See Ghosts probably wouldn’t have happened, and they definitely wouldn’t have been as easily accessible as they are today. Young Father’s Cocoa Sugar is another 2018 example of this genre-blending.

Another upside is the easier access to up and coming artists. Labels and people in musical power are more likely to help promote young hip hop artists with potential than ever before. This can be good or bad, artists like Saba and JPEGMafia can gain traction, or you can end up with the 2018 XXL Freshman list…

So has 2018 been a good year for Hip Hop?

Halfway through the year, it’s hard to say. There seems to be an especially large number of releases from big name artists. Drake, Kanye West, J Cole and Kendrick Lamar have all put forward some type of project this year. Yet there hasn’t seemed to be that “perfect” or “classic” album that the past few years have had. 2017 had DAMN. 2016 had We Got It From Here… and Coloring Book, 2015 had To Pimp a Butterfly.

That elusive classic album is probably what’s holding this year back from being an all-time great year in hip hop. That being said, it’s still been a good year for the genre. Even though the top albums have been hit or miss, there have been plenty of smaller artists who have released projects. Jay Rock and Nipsey Hussle each found a high point in their respective careers. There were plenty of good albums from bigger artists too, Pusha T had a great album, and Jay Z and Beyonce had a collaboration. Let me not skim over that, Jay Z and Beyonce put out a collab album!

If you had told me at the start of the year that we’d get albums from all the artists I mentioned before plus Nas, A$AP Rocky and Flatbush Zombies, I would be ecstatic. Unfortunately, this brings me to the downside of 2018. A lot of historically good artists have put out the worst projects of their careers. Even over impressive Kanye production, the main takeaway from Nas’ album is that he might be an anti-vaxxer and he thinks a bunch of historical white people were black. Oh, and he doesn’t get the #MeToo movement. Kanye put out a solo album that feels like it was executive produced by the Kardashians. A$AP Rocky finally convinced his fan base that he hasn’t actually been good in seven years. Oh yeah, and Drake is trash.

Even the Jay Z and Beyonce collaboration, while good, was a noticeable step back from the career-defining albums they were each coming off of. To my next point, none of these artists I mentioned in the last section are under 25. We’re starting to see a generational shift in hip hop music, the first that people my age have seen. The genre is becoming “pop-ified” for lack of a better term, which isn’t a bad thing, just a natural progression of a genre as big as Hip Hop.

What have we learned this year?

One, people probably don’t really care about albums anymore, which is heartbreaking. I don’t have much else to say on this because it because it makes me sad, so I’m going to make a counterpoint. Maybe people still could? There are some young artists who seem committed to the format. Chance the Rapper deals in full projects and we could still see multiple projects of his come out this year. BROCKHAMPTON have a project coming at some point this year and their past three have all been assembled with quality in mind.

Second, Kanye can still produce top tier beats. Other than the outlier of Ye, all of his other seven-track projects had the top-tier production we’ve come to expect from West. Daytona has a strong claim for rap album of the year, and it has much to do with the beats and samples Kanye lays for him. Kids See Ghosts showed Kanye dabble and polish off the rock influences that Kid Cudi never seemed to perfect on his own. Even with Nasir, West lifted up a mediocre performance from the man the album is named after. While his solo work is reaching its twilight, the month of June has showed that Kanye still has plenty left in the tank as a producer.

Lastly, also Kanye related, long albums are still a thing, but we have an alternative! Kanye’s seven-song run showed a new format for hip hop project that’s way better than Drake’s preference. The format still has its weaknesses, mainly that artists often don’t have enough time for their star to shine through, but hopefully the allure of working with Kanye will lead more artists to record in this format in the future.

So what’s left this year?

Oh, so much! I had to step away from this article for a bit because I was beginning to feel overly old and cranky about what the kids are doing. In my reflection, I realized there’s still plenty to look forward to. As I said above, BROCKHAMPTON are set to release another project this year. As are Chance the Rapper (maybe two?), Schoolboy Q and Isaiah Rashad. Many artists who may not be chart toppers are going to have big releases this year.

Anderson .Paak and his band are each still supposed to drop projects this year. Mac Miller has a project this year that could bring a return to the potential we saw from his years ago. Danny Brown, 2 Chainz and YG also all have projects this year. The second half of the year has plenty left for the artists that keep the hip hop community alive at a sub-Billboard level. Just researching these names makes me excited for what the rest of year has to bring. While the genre may not control the charts the way it has so far this year, it seems that the quality that lies a bit below the surface is preparing to shine through.

Oh yeah, and Frank Ocean is probably dropping an album, so I think we’ll be fine.