Quote:
Originally posted by Javan
Elaborate pls.
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Billboard's embrace of digital sales, on-demand services, and YouTube views over the past seven years has coincided with a shift on the charts away from rap and R&B. To some extent this could just be a matter of a change in zeitgeist, but the shift in favor of pop, alternative music, and viral hits suggests that the new emphasis on digital media privileges the tastes of relatively affluent white listeners who are more likely to buy mp3s from the iTunes store or spend a lot of time online. Rap critics have been particularly sore about these changes, especially as viral artists like Baauer and Psy, who are inspired by hip-hop but do not come directly from hip-hop culture - displace traditional rap artists, even on Billboard's hip-hop charts. There's a legitimate fear that black culture is being slowly marginalized in the mainstream charts, and replaced by rap and R&B-influenced music made by outsiders that is more palatable to a broad audience.
