Last week we focused on controversy in hip-hop. We dove into talking about N.W.A and Tupac and how controversy arose through their songs.
This week the topic is the demographics in hip-hop. Some people feel that the demographics are a certain group of people. In reality, it is diverse and is listened to by many different types of people with different ages. Research gives us information that almost two-thirds of the hip-hop audience is between the ages of 18-34. This statistic shows the variety people who listen to this. It’s not just young kids who listen, but also older adults too. More than 70% of Hispanic adults say they listen to hip-hop. A study shows that 40% of the total hip-hop audience is African American which is more than double the population of the Caucasian audience per capita. However, research also says that very few people in the hip-hop demographics are above the age of 65. This statistic shows that mostly young adults and teens listen to hip-hop and that the older generation that grew up on totally different music don’t listen to this. Another strong statistic is that 24 million confirmed people between the ages of 19-34, from a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions, make up most of the core demographic.
These statistics all prove that hip-hop is a diverse genre of music listened to all over the world by different kinds of people. Different races, backgrounds, religions, age groups, etc. It’s audience is not just one kind of person that listens to this, but a variety of people.
Next week we want to focus on how hip-hop has changed over time and why it changed. Did the amount of people listening change, the before and after of hip-hop and its rise to mainstream music. Was it always like this or did it change throughout the years? We will also talk about the change hip-hop had to go through to become what it is today.
Hip-Hop and the Meanings 