Welcome to the very first installment of an ongoing collaborative series where we will dive into the best tweets and discoveries uncovered on HipHopNumbers Twitter Account over the last week. I promise nothing except that you will leave these articles entertained, informed, and maybe slightly frustrated, depending on how much you like Iggy Azalea.
Hip-Hop is the King of Pop
Hip Hop has spent 114 weeks at No. 1 in the Hot 100 since 2010, out of a possible 469 weeks
That’s 24.3%
In 2018, hip hop spent 35 weeks atop the charts, out of 52
That’s 67.3%!!!
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 4, 2019
Hip hop overtook pop as the dominant genre on the Billboard charts in 2017, and that dominance extended to epic proportions in 2018. Whilst a full article on this commercial trend is warranted, the bare numbers make for pretty plain conclusions.
Whilst Drake does account for 30 of those 35 weeks hip hop spent atop the Hot 100, it matters not. The Hot 100 is not traditionally a very diverse chart (only 215 artists have hit the Hot 100 Top 10 since 2010, compared to 899 artists in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200). In 2017, it was Ed Sheeran who dominated, alongside Taylor Swift and “Despacito”. Hip hop only spent 16 weeks at the pinnacle in 2017, thanks to Migos, Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar and DJ Khaled.
That number more than doubled in 2018, and amazingly, an independent rapper hit No. 1 for the first time since 2010. Xxxtentacion’s “Sad!” was the first since Macklemore & Ryan Lewis to hit the pinnacle without a major label behind him.
The march up the charts was even more prominent on the Billboard 200. Further tweets will come on this, but a staggering 68 hip hop projects charted in the Billboard 200 top 10 in 2018. That’s triple the figures of 2010 and 2011, and 24 more projects than 2017.
2018 was an epic year for hip hop
68 projects hit the Billboard 200 top 10, almost triple the amount that did in 2010 and 2011
It seems there is no such thing as over-saturation anymore in rap. Hip hop is the new pop pic.twitter.com/6bV9xCfvkS
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 7, 2019
Boosie Badazz is the Undisputed King of New Year’s Day
If you are hoping for some surprise drops on January 1
Boosie Badazz (@BOOSIEOFFICIAL) is the King of the New Years Day drop
He’s released 4 separate projects on Jan 1. In 2016, In My Feelings became the only hip hop album released on New Years Day chart on Billboard 200 (105)
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 1, 2019
Whilst surprise Christmas drops (think Run The Jewels 3, Dedication 6, and The Young OG Project) are gaining in popularity, and Halloween ensures a steady stream of music (21 Savage/Offset/Metro Boomin’s Without Warning comes immediately to mind), New Year’s Day remains almost entirely barren of big-ticket releases.
Only Boosie Badazz, formerly Lil Boosie, has thought to get the jump on his competition by dropping product on the first day of the year. He’s done it 4 times now:
- 2002 – For My Thugz (sold 90k)
- 2005 – Street Code (with Pat Lowrenzo)
- 2005 – United We Stand, Divided We Fall (with Lava House)
- 2016 – In My Feelings (Goin’ Thru It)
The 2016 release In My Feelings is the only New Year’s Day project to ever chart on Billboard. It hit 105 on the Billboard 200, and No. 11 on the US/R&B album chart.
Other major releases on New Year’s Day in the 2000’s:
- Twisted Insane – Shoot For The Face (2006)
- G-Side – The One… Cohesive (2011)
- Sakrodie – Sakrology (2014)
- Scallops Hotel – Sovereign Nose of Your Arrogant Face (2018)
2019 was only slightly different. 8Ball & MJG dropped a live album Classic Pimpin’ on January 1. It isn’t new music, but it’s a start.
Quavo Performed 49 Guest Spots in 2018
Quavo got to the money in 2018
He released 57 songs as a lead artist across 2 major projects
He performed a staggering 49 guest spots
And he rapped/crooned 31,891 words, and 3,949 bars
That’s 87 words per day, and a new track or feature every 3.4 days
More in 2019?
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 5, 2019
Quavo even managed a guest spot with The Queen, Iggy Azalea.
It’s not too surprising. Quavo has been the go-to for at least 18 months, especially for hooks. He actually performed on fewer singles in 2018 (7) than 2017 (15). This may suggest Quavo’s reign is ending, though it may also have to do with the fact he also spat 16,779 words across two projects as the lead artist: his own solo record and Migos’ Culture II. His single placements certainly performed worse in 2018. Quavo’s only top 20 or Platinum guest spot was on “No Brainer” by DJ Khaled. In 2017 he hit the top 10 four separate times, and singles he performed on sold 20.5m records!
Most of Quavo’s guest spots were still top-tier artists: Gucci Mane, French Montana, Lil Yachty, Travis Scott, YG, Young Thug, Jay-Z, Beyoncé…
It’s getting to be a bit like Lil Wayne in 2008. If you don’t have a Quavo feature on your album, are you even relevant?
Lil Wayne Had A Pussy Resurgence In 2018
Lil Wayne 2018 Pussy Watch
Wayne rapped the word Pussy 31 times in 2018
That’s slightly below his career average of 38 times per-year
Well below his avg since 2004: 54
This takes his career total to 797
2018
D6 Reloaded: 6
CV: 6
Guest spots: 19Best Pussy line in 2018? pic.twitter.com/CYsOEMPLl3
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 5, 2019
It’s been a little… barren for Weezy on the pussy front in the last few years. His career average is 38 mentions per-year, but that includes 1998-2003, when Wayne barely swore on wax out of respect for his mother. If you don’t count those years, his average is 54 mentions a year. Which makes his 2016 (11 references) and 2017 (26 references) numbers concerning.
Wayne dropped 2 major projects in 2018: Carter V and D6 Reloaded. Both projects featured just 6 pussy drops each, but luckily, he also went into beast-mode again on the feature-front. His 24 features bore fallopian fruit, and his figure of 31 mentions is a little healthier than both 2016 and 2014.
Wayne still remains the King of the Pussy drop:
“And if you let me eat the pussy, then it’s shark week”
“Eatin’ pussy at my dinner table, I been gettin’ it catered”
“Pussy smell like money when I’m down there, that’s some Nic shit”
“Oh yes I love her like Pussy, Money Weed / Pussy money weed, skating and codeine”
He isn’t quite on the level of “I’m in the ocean getting shark pussy”, but Wayne is still the King in this particular hip hop niche.
40.9% of the Words Spat by Black Thought in 2019 were Completely Unique
Black Thought has one of the most extensive vocabularies of 2018
Of the 5,193 words he raps (verses only) on his two Streams of Thought projects in 2018, 41% are different (unique).
2,126 different words
97 different words per-verse
151 different words per-song— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 4, 2019
These numbers come from the verses across Black Thought’s two major projects in 2018: Streams of Thought Vol. 1, and Streams of Thought Vol. 2. He rapped 5,193 words, and 2,126 of those were unique. A unique word is simply each different word a rapper spits. For example, in this couplet:
“Poet Laureate, swift chariot, the Maserat’
The one to watch, born the year of the ox”
16 words, 13 of which are unique. “The” appears 3 times, and is only counted as 1 unique word. Everytime “the” appears in the rest of his album, it contributes to his “total word” count but not his “different words” count. To have 40.9% of one’s words unique is an incredible feat. Here is how he stacked up against some other heavy spitters in 2019:
Compare this to:
Lupe Fiasco: 38%
Joell Ortiz: 35.1%
E-40: 33.2%
Eminem: 32.5%
JID: 30,8%
Tech N9ne: 29.1%Only Eminem spat more different words per-song, at 204, but he also rapped a LOT more words per-song (629 vs. Black Thought’s 371)
— Hip Hop By The Numbers (@HipHopNumbers) January 4, 2019
Clearly, Black Thought is on a whole other level.
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