![]() ![]() ![]() I’m going to highlight 20 essential indie/underground Hip Hop projects that defined this divide and influenced an entire generation that followed. Think of them kind of like Earth 1 & Earth 2 from DC Comics. As the Rap world went from having the underground be a farm system for the major label/mainstream Rap industry they soon became two separate but unequal Rap industries existing simultaneously in some odd Rap Apartheid/Jim Crow system. In addition, many acts that were gaining rabid followings in the underground released their first wave of highly influential independent Rap projects. The end result was a return to college radio and many acts that were once on major labels went the independent route. At the same time, the harder, more sample based, traditional sounding Rap that once had a foothold began to be pushed more and more to the margins. ![]() The song’s breakout success marked a sea change in the sound of the mainstream Rap that was going to be increasingly more prominent as the year progressed. The official rise of the Jiggy Era in mainstream Rap was cemented by the rise in popularity of Puff Daddy & Mase’s “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” in the very first week of January 1997. Prologueġ997 was yet another transition year for Rap following the close of the 2nd Golden Era which spanned from 1992 to 1996. What happened next was the formation of a Rebel Alliance forced to eek out spaces in the shadow of the Galactic Empire. While the Jiggy Era had taken over the mainstream Rap world and commercial radio, the kind of music that once thrived on major labels was forced underground like the Morlocks. Independent As Fuck: 20 Essential Underground Hip Hop Releases From 1997 ![]()
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