Hip-Hop's Aging Process ...

"Tradition is forever changing" is one of my many favorite sayings I use from time to time. Radio is slow to change -- unless someone else does something that proves successful, and others then jump on the bandwagon.

I frequently get asked about Hip-Hop on Urban AC stations. My answer is simple: Any listener, regardless of format, who was 15 years old in 1990, is now 42. That person is a part of the 25 - 54 demographic with the same ears from their teenage years. The music experiences of this person is not the same as someone who was 42 in 2005. In terms of Urban AC, the R&B background of the 1990's 15-year old included Hip-Hop. Therefore, it stands to reason that the listeners from the time-period do not exclude Hip-Hop from their musical tastes. In other words, yeah, I think it's kind of funny in 2017 to even be debating whether Hip-Hop should be a part of the Urban AC landscape.

It was fun talking about music with this air personality.

Jock: What do you think about the Urban AC's with the Hip-Hop flips?

Coach: It's been long overdue, but it is still Urban AC and the same target demo.

Jock: Huh?

Coach: The target demos are still the same; it's just that the people within the demo have grown older and brought along with them the music they grew up with. It is a normal thing and I suspect Sales Managers and researchers reflecting the thoughts of their clients have held this day off for years. My baseline has always been 15-year-olds when it comes to updating a music library for any contemporary adult music format. It should be a matter of common sense and simple math; if you were 15, 20 years ago; you would now be part of the 18-49/25-54 demos.

Jock: But it's hip-hop.

Coach: Yes, "old people" Hip-Hop, which has been researched for years.

Jock: How do you figure that?

Coach: I have been saying this for years to anyone who would listen. For example, in 2005 as the OM at Service Broadcasting, I had a long talk with the COO at the time, Ken Dowe, and we needed to refresh and put some distance between us and our direct competitor. I suggested we look at all our Core Research callout back in the early '90s of our mainstream K-104 and find the entire top tested Rap and Hip-Hop for women 18-24. Meanwhile, I also had all the callout from my previous station and the national monitored lists from back then. One of the other things I had done during my tenure at KPRS, I had purposely included Hip-Hop and Rap titles from the '80s into the weekly callout. It was my way around paying for an auditorium test and I thought at some point, I might be able to incorporate some of it into a weekend specialty programming idea I had in mind for the future. Little did I know the future would come years later working for another company.

My COO gave me permission to do a Classic Hip-Hop 20-minute mix for AM drive and the 5 o'clock drive home. It took three weeks before the sales manager noticed and he started complaining to the owner that we were driving away our adult listeners with Hip-Hop. The COO blamed it on miscommunications on my part, but this was our fallback all along just in case he could not make a convincing argument of why it was a good idea.

Jock: Wasn't it risky to play hip-hop?

Coach: It was never risky back then any more then it is now. People always bring along with them their memories of childhood and the music they liked. It happens with every generation.

Jock: So, you think throwback Hip-Hop will work.

Coach: Call it what you want, Throwback, Classic Hip-Hop or Boom, these are all branding names, it really will be about how the music is implemented. Like I said, it is still Urban AC. I think stations who tweak by adding it to their presentation will realize Hip-Hop was just part of the R&B experience for kids 20 to 30 years ago. I also think the stations shouldn't go further back than the '90s for the R&B and continue to play currents. Those stations who are top-heavy in playing Hip-Hop run the risk of a quick burn unless they make some adjustments. By the way, did you notice nobody referenced the word Rap? Things used to be referred to as Hip-Hop and Rap.

Jock: I never thought about it.

Coach: Realistically, it is a perception thing. I can remember people in perceptual research testing being asked if they liked Rap and the vast majority would say no. When the same people were asked about individual Rap titles, they would acknowledge a long list of acceptable songs from the genre. The term Rap has taken on the same negative connotation as the word Disco.

Jock: Hmm, but I am confused how is it still Urban AC?

Coach: In the grand scheme of things every contemporary music format falls under the heading of Rock & Roll. Urban AC is a name, not a definition of the music within it. Never get confused by the gift wrapping, pay attention to what is inside the box.

Jock: So how is this going to all work out?

Coach: If done correctly, the fallout will take nibbles from Mainstream Urban, Top 40/Rhythmic, Top 40 and Hot AC formats. To what extent will depend on the market, signal strength, station history, dial position, and the situation. You can trace the history and maturation of the Hip-Hop back to the late '80s and MTV, VHI and BET. Classic Hip-Hop is green and crosses all races and cultural landscapes. We have Jay-Z and Diddy with clothing lines, Snoop Dogg doing Chrysler TV commercials and presenting at Country music award shows, LL Cool J and Ice-T as TV detectives, Will Smith making box office movie smashes, Dr. Dre a billionaire electronics business man, Queen Latifah as a mainstream pitch person for Revlon, Common doing all sorts of mainstream projects, and Snoop Dogg co-hosting a cooking show with Martha Stewart. It becomes apparent radio has been way behind in bringing old Hip-Hop forward. Recently, I have been encouraged to see Urban AC programmers begin to incorporate Childish Gambino's "Red Bone" and Khalid's "Location." Hell, as a cultural footnote. I heard NPR reviewing the new Kendrick Lamar album in the middle of a weekday during the noon hour.

Jock: Do you think some of it might be Hot AC?

Coach: White Females 25-49, they grew up with Hip-Hop as part of the cultural backdrop. Even when it comes to White males, 39-year-old NBC/MSNBC's Willy Geist openly talks about his love of Hip-Hop and he grew up in a middle class New Jersey town.

Jock: No kidding...

Coach: Yes, and I will make a prediction: One of these Urban ACs that has tweaked or flipped to Throwback Hip-Hop will take a page out of Classic Rock and incorporate a current Hip-Hop category and use the phrase, "Here's a future Throwback Hip-Hop Classic." The station could play the Hip-Hop, which scores high with 25 -34 females on Media Monitor and or callout research. Come to think of it, some Top 40/Rhythmic and Mainstream Urban stations might also make a few adjustments and do some dayparting with an eye towards tightening the reins on some upper ended demos.

Conclusion

Time slips by quickly and culturally, it's easy to fall behind if we do not occasionally step out of our daily bubbles and pay attention to the world around us. With all the new technology and social media sources, it is hard to believe anyone could miss a cultural shift in music.