ABSTRACT
Commercialization and commodification often go hand in hand. Commodification is the process by which an idea (or something otherwise not traditionally commercial) is transformed into something that can be bought or sold; commercialization is how an object is bought and sold. The first rap singles appeared in 1979 and were markedly different from the kind of music that was being played in the South Bronx. Labels like Sugar Hill, Def Jam, and Tommy Boy were among the first to focus solely on rap music, and they helped the music reach audiences outside of New York City during the 1980s. Several important changes in the music industry in the 1990s catapulted rap to the top of the Billboard charts and forced major labels to take notice. As hip-hop culture became mainstream and popular, it mingled with other genres of music, leading some to believe that it lost its power. Those artists and fans sought refuge in the underground, where they preserve hip hop’s history and push its artistic limits.
