British hip hop

British hip hop is a musical genre and culture that covers a variety of styles of rap music made in the United Kingdom. The early scene was very much influenced by the hip hop scene in New York City, at first being very much in awe of the American innovators (with British rappers often adopting cod American accents in the early years) before gaining the confidence to adopt and adapt American styles for their own uses.

Related Topics:
Rap music - United Kingdom - Hip hop - New York City - Rappers

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Hip hop in the UK never achieved the same kind of cultural impact as it did in the US, with homegrown UK acts struggling to reach the levels of success that even imported American acts managed in the UK. The scene began to make a virtue out of this, equating commercial success with "selling out" and championing the ideal of the British underdog struggling financially but staying true to the dream. Following an initial flurry of interest from major record labels in the 1980s, by the early 1990s the scene had moved underground after the record companies pulled back from the genre, disappointed by its inability to cross-over to make vital sales in the US market. However, in the mid-1990s a new generation of British rappers were beginning to emerge who had the ability and the confidence to take on the American superstars. Hip Hop in the UK started to experiment and diversify - often mutating into different genres entirely, such as Trip Hop, Garage or Drum n Bass - and crucially (from the record companies' point of view) starting to make inroads into the US market.

Related Topics:
1980s - 1990s - Trip Hop - Garage - Drum n Bass

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Nowadays, British hip hop is enjoying its second coming - managing to be popular without "selling out" and innovative without being off-putting. Although still not as popular worldwide as its American forebearer, the UK scene's popularity is growing at home and UK rappers and DJs are earning respect from American artists and fans.

Related Topics:
Rappers - DJs

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