A G R E AT Y E A R I N H I P H O P

hop, it also symbolized what the commercial marketplace construed

as vital, hip, and desirable; in short, many of the things that market-

ing specialists spend millions of dollars to have associated with the

brands they promote.

Young hip hoppers from some of the poorest and richest places in

the world had at least one thing in common: the identities they took

great pride in were clad, quite literally, by the creative inspirations that fashioned hip hop’s body and soul.

. . .

Meanwhile, as the hip-hop economy continued to grow, rap’s popu-

larity only intensified during the second half of 1998. In the first week of August five rap albums, each backed by a major label, made their

debut. Writing about rap’s accomplishments that week, Datu Faison,

a Billboard rhythm and blues editor, noted that he could remember a time when releases by big-name rappers were �śfew and far between,

like treats for a nation of starving consumers. Now, years later, five

highly touted rap albums are all hitting retail during the same week.”

Just as impressive, of the nineteen albums that debuted on Billboard that week the rap titles were among Billboard’s nine highest debuts.

Starting with the Beastie Boys on August 1 and ending with Snoop

Dogg on August 29, a rap album held on to the nation’s top spot for

five consecutive weeks. Equally extraordinary, according to Bill-

board’s August 8 chart, an unprecedented ten of the nation’s top twenty albums were rap.

One of the most eagerly anticipated albums in 1998 was Lauryn

Hill’s debut as a solo artist from the Columbia imprint RuĆłhouse

Records. Even before the release of her album, Hill had earned a rep-

utation as a smart and supremely talented artist who, despite a fierce

and savvy flow, evoked an earlier and more socially conscious era in

soul music and R&B. Prominent in her solo album was the mixture

and unparalleled mastery of intelligent hip-hop lyrics, soul-soothing

ballads, foot-stomping R&B, and radio friendly grooves. The album

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