Music Trivia | 100 facts & trivia about music industry (part 2)

Some people believe that music is one of the most important things on earth since it can soothe your soul when you don’t feel well.

In case you wanna more things in general about music and the industry in general, you can read part 1. Right now we are about to focus on the rap music industry. So, let’s find out more about it!

1. Hip-hop is a cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and ’90s.
2. Also, the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movement’s most lasting and influential art form.
3. Rap means rhythm and poetry.
4. There are four elements that are considered to be its pillars: deejaying, rapping, graffiti painting, and break dancing, or “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude.
5. Rapping is also known as “MCing” (emceeing) or “rhyming”.
6. Rappers are also known as MCs.
7. Rap music grew out of the 1970s in NYC block parties.
8. Isolating the percussion elements of funk, soul, and disco songs, MCs began to lyricize to the beats in between DJs, thus giving birth to a new form of music- rap.
9. The first commercially successful rap albums were The Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight (1979) and Kurtis Blow’s The Breaks (1980).
10. Rap was forged by black and Latinx youth, largely as a response to poverty, urban crime, and cultural displacement.
11. Scholars have referred to hip-hop, or rap music, as “polycultural”.
12. That’s because it grew out of a diverse blend of historical and ethnic traditions.
13. Jay-Z is the most financially successful hip-hop artist.
14. He reached billionaire status in 2019.
15. One of rap’s most influential early groups was N.W.A.
16. They were made up of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Yella, MC Ren, The Arabian Prince, and the D.O.C., N.W.A.
17. Their music was about the realities in the streets.
18. Rap has faced social backlash since its inception, with many calling for censorship of its often violent, homophobic, and misogynistic lyrics.
19. Dr. Dre is one of rap’s most successful producers.
20. He discovered Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and 50 Cent.
21. In addition, he produced for artists such as Michel’le and Tupac Shakur.
22. Women have broken into mainstream hip-hop in recent years with famous women rappers like Nicki Minaj and Cardi B to be on the top of it.
23. Rap and hip-hop have traditionally been dominated by men though.
24. The best-selling rap album of all time is Outkast’s 2003 Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
25. Eminem’s The Marshal Mathers LP comes in at number two.
26. Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G. rounding out the top three.
27. N.W.A.’s song “F*** tha Police,” released on their 1998 Straight Outta Compton, caused outrage.
28. Many feared it would spark violence against law enforcement agents, prompting the FBI to send a letter of warning to Ruthless Records, who released the album.
29. Many rappers live a version of the lifestyle they glamorize in their lyrics and face corresponding legal trouble.
30. Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., T.I., Ja Rule, and Lil’ Wayne are just a few of the hip-hop artists who have spent time behind bars.
31. Initially viewed as a fad, then as dangerous fringe music, rap and hip-hop have established themselves in nearly every aspect of contemporary American life, from professional sports to children’s movies.
32. The concept of authenticity is a dominant theme in rap music, with rappers vying for status as being more legitimate, real, or expressive of true rap culture than other rappers._[9]
33. Hip-hop culture and music explores, among others, themes of racial identity, inequality, economics, masculinity, and violence.
34. Modern-day rappers have some similarities with Viking Skalds
35. They are like those poets and minstrels who memorized oral traditions and recited them in order to pass on legends, histories, and codes of conduct.
36. Much like rappers, Skalds often used humor, irony, obscenity, or boastfulness to get their points across.
37. R&B and rap music are the most commercially popular genres of music as of 2017.
38. Their popularity is still ongoing.
39. In their article “100 Greatest Artists of All Time,” Rolling Stone magazine included rappers Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Run DMC, and Tupac Shakur.
40. Nicki Minaj is the wealthiest female rapper.
41. Her net worth is roughly 80 million dollars.
42. The term hip-hop was likely coined by Keith Cowboy, a member of the group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, around 1975.
43. Post Malone’s smash hit ‘rockstar’ was originally a completely different song.
44. T-Pain revealed that Post Malone’s ‘rockstar’ originally featured himself and Joey Badass before the latter added that he actually ghostwrote the song!
45. Drake wrote in his high-school yearbook that he wanted to be a “breakdancer/singer”.
46. He also wrote that his fav expression is “bling-bling”.
47. Later he wrote the famous song “Hotline Bling”.
48. P Diddy used to be a back-up dancer for Big Daddy Kane and Heavy D.
49. P Diddy was a backing dance when Heavy D and The Boyz performed ‘You Can’t See What I Can See’ on In Living Color in 1992.
50. Tupac was also there, but he was not famous back then.
51. Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes went to school together.
52. They once battled with each other in their cafeteria.
53. Lil’ Wayne originally went by the name Shrimp Daddy.
54. The inspiration for the pseudonym coming from former Cash Money artist Pimp Daddy
55. Eminem has admitted in interviews that he often finds inspiration when in the bathroom.
56. He was on the toilet when he thought of the nickname Slim Shady.
57. The name Slim Shady referred to the fact he was skinny at the time.
58. Eazy – E signed the Black Eyes Peas.
59. Eazy-E’s Ruthless Records signed Will.i.am and apl.de.ap to thein 1992 after they caught the attention of Eazy-E manager Jerry Heller’s nephew.
60. Cee-Lo Green sang backing vocals on TLC’s ‘Waterfalls’
61. Kendrick Lamar was on the set of the video shoot for Dr. Dre and Tupac’s ‘California Love’, as the video was shot near his house
62. Nas co-wrote Will Smith’s hit single ‘Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It’.
63. They won a Grammy.
64. Nas though has never won a Grammy for his own work
65. The rap industry is estimated by Goldmann Sachs to be worth roughly 62 billion dollars.
66. Hip-hop songs that focus solely on beat-making, with no lyrics, are termed “instrumental hip-hop”.
67. Eminem only sold 1000 copies of his 1996 debut album, ‘Infinite’.
68. But if you can find one now, you’re in for around a windfall of around $130-$200.
69. Pharrell William’s first musical memory involves dancing to Kenny Rogers at a theme park.
70. An infamous rivalry between East and West Coast rappers developed during the mid-1990s.
71. It arguably began when West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur was shot by unknown assailants in 1994 at Quad Studios while East Coast rival The Notorious B.I.G. was recording an album.
72. Hip-hop music from 1973–1984 is generally termed “old-school hip-hop”.
73. “New school” is from 1984 and onward.
74. TLC recorded the theme song for Nickelodeon TV show All That.
75. Eminem has only ever read one book in full: LL Cool J’s I Make My Own Rules.
76. Jay-Z’s ’99 Problems’ samples an Ice T song released a decade earlier.
77. Pharrell Williams wrote Teddy Riley’s rap in Wreckx-N-Effect’s ‘Rump Shaker’.
78. Lil Wayne shot himself, but a police officer saved his life.
79. He shot himself in his room in New Orleans, while he was a teen.
80. Dr. Dre’s ‘Nuthin’ But a G Thang’ samples a Leon Haywood song.
81. On July 18, 2017, hip-hop officially surpassed rock and roll as the most consumed music in America.
82. Hip-hop music and culture are deeply steeped in African American racial identity, so it’s difficult for white rappers to succeed.
83. Hip-hop profits are projected to increase by more than double by 2030.
84. It is estimated at around 131 billion dollars.
85. Hip-hop music and culture have spread around the globe and have influenced culture and music in places as diverse as Egypt, Japan, and the Philippines
86. Illmatic’ was recorded by Nas when he was only 17.
87. It was eventually released when he was 21.
88. Kelis’ ‘Millionaire’ and Gwen Stefani’s ‘Long Way To Go’ were scrapped from an Andre 3000 album.
89. Drake was a member of the cast on the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation.
90. This was before he made it as a hip-hop artist.
91. New Yorker Sheri Sher and seven other women formed the first all-female hip-hop crew.
92. Its name was “The Mercedes Ladies” and it was formed in 1977.
93. They aced sexism and difficulties in their attempts to make it, with clubs booking them and then refusing to pay them for their performances.
94. Nas dropped out of school at the age in the 8th grade, shortly after his parents divorced
95. He educated himself.
96. In 2009, Coolio did a stage dive and nobody caught him.
97. Tupac was heavily influenced by Shakespeare.
98. He has even a direct quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth in one of his songs.
99. 2 Chainz and Drake’s ‘No Lie’ is a result of their appearance on Lil’ Wayne’s ‘I Am Music’ tour.
100. Notorious B.I.G. wanted to open a soul food restaurant called Big Poppa’s.