If we look at the state of rock here in the 21st century, it is no longer the main musical driver of popular culture…hip-hop is king…

This doesn’t mean it’s dead, that it doesn’t have a place in our lives, that it isn’t going to be around for decades to come…but if you’re honest, you’ll have to admit that hip-hop has extended its reach into popular culture with the strength and depth that used to belong to rock…

And it’s not like rock’s appeal shrank…it’s that other genres have exploded, hip-hop being the genre with the most growth…

Now let’s go back to the 1990s, the last decade where rock ruled everything…alt-rock was the thing…but if we dig through what happened in the 90s, we can see how hip-hop not only infiltrated alt-rock but how it was embraced, incorporated, and celebrated…

Regions of the alt-rock universe began to evolve…the beats got bigger…the rhymes got tougher and more complicated…the vibe began to change…and it was all pretty good—but not all of it worked out well…

What were hip-hop’s effects on alt-rock?...we’re going to continue with that topic on this next episode on the alternative 90s…

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