What will kill off rap/hip-hop's mainstream dominance? I think I know..

Duder5k

This may sound a little..weird. But I think there's a new..shift happening. It's kinda hard to describe, because it's everywhere. Think of these things:

Guitar Hero/Rock Band
Disney bands/singers (Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers)
Emo/scenester bands and the stupid emo/scenester fad (I know they're not "real" emo--emotive hardcore-- but this is just an easy label, I guess)



I think these things have combined into one force and are slowly starting to take over the mainstream. And it goes from any age range. The older casual gamer people (30's and up) are hooked on games like Guitar Hero and in turn, start listening to that kind of music.

Then there's the young people - Generation-Y (which I'm a part of). Emo/scenester bands are growing in popularity still, and the little kids are hooked on the Disney stuff and also Guitar Hero. Even that fisher-price company is making Guitar Hero rip-off toys (if you've seen that commercial where the 3-year-old is singing "Wild Thing", you know what I'm talking about).

So you have pretty much the entire age range getting into rock, or getting back into rock. The "wannabe thug" fad is appearing pretty dated lately. I see a lot of people around the web saying that the hip-hop fascination is already giving way to these sorts of things that I'm talking about. A few years from now, when people think "youth stereotype" of the late 2000's, I think the emo/scenester/disney teenybopper thing is gonna come to mind, and not the "gangster" stereotype of the first half of the decade.

Disney is pushing out a bunch of new Hansons and new Britney Spears-type singers, while more and more young people would rather listen to bands like Fallout Boy than listen to hip-hop. So is it possible rap is starting to lose the tight grip it has on the charts, similar to the way alternative rock began losing it's grip in the late '90s? Or maybe it's still too early for that to happen? (keep in mind I'm talking about the mainstream audience here and not everyone)

Lanegan7

You may be on to something, but from what I gather from the post a lot of shitty bands are going to kill off rap. Either way we're screwed as far as good music goes.

red mos

There is still tons of great music out there. I have recently started listening to/ seeking out local bands that sell music independently for most of the new stuff that I want to discover. Most new stuff on the radio in terms of alternative music: Well alot of bands sound the same. With a few exceptions, most of the music I hear on mainstream radio sounds like watered down thrash metal. Most bands in the alternative rock genre between 2001 and 2008 sound the exact same. The music is so generic, no originality to me at least.

You are definitely on to something about the Guitar hero scenario. The thing to remember though is that when Television markets bands like Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers, those bands are just a popular fad and will fade away in due time. Now those artists may still be in the business and making records 10 years from now, but their "15 minutes of fame" and the peek of their career is right now. Their merchandise that is all over chain stores is another ploy for these Particular artists to cash in on their 15 minutes of fame.

With hip hop it is just Marketed so well, that I don't think it will ever go away. It dominates many mainstream radio stations. There was even a time when Modern rock and Alternative stations (which I listen to in the car) were doing the whole "crossover" bit and playing Eminem singles on their stations. It's purpose was to achieve more record sales mostly, but also tried to convert new fans. It failed on that aspect with me though.
The Music business is suffering and they will do anything to try and stay afloat and drive sales. This includes selling guitar hero type things. On the contrary though, this move does exploit the bands to a younger generation of fans, which will make the youngsters aware of bands they may have bypassed due to being overshadowed with the mainstream stuff today.
I'm part of Generation X and got to tell ya, I felt so old when I heard Nirvana and PJ on the classic rock station in Dallas when I lived there a few years ago.