The Late 90s Era in Hip Hop

I chose to write about this era in Hip Hop because a lot of incredible music came out of it; a lot of rappers blew up and were at their peak at the time. The late 90s era is from 97-99. Jay-Z, DMX, Mase, Puffy (p.diddy),  Nas, Wyclef, Praz, Lauryn Hill, Timbaland & Magoo were at their peaks. It is just incredible that they all were selling at their peaks at this time, and they all had market for the kind of music they were making. Every rapper i mentioned above had one or more platinum selling albums between 97-99.






 DMX was all Hardcore, and he sold multi-platinum with all his releases. He released two albums in 1998, It's Dark And Hell is Hot, and Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood, and they both sold over 3 million copies individually . Although DMX's style was far different from what Mase was doing at the time, he appeared twice on Mase's debut album, Harlem World. Speaking of Mase, his dorminance was mostly during his partnering with Puffy between 97-98. I think they were an incredible duo. Puffy's No Way Out (97) and Forever (99), sold several platinums. No Way Out sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

Mase wasn't as hot with his second album, but  his first album, Harlem World was one of the best albums to drop in 1998, and it sold over 3 million copies in the U.S alone. At this same time was when Timbaland, Magoo and Missy were doing there thing. Around the same period also was when Wyclef, Praz, and Lauryn Hill were selling millions, and growing their Refugees Allstars brand. Wyclef's Carnival in 1997 sold over 5 million copies worldwide; Lauryn Hill's Miss Education of Lauryn Hill which sold over 7 million copies in the U.S alone: and Pras's debut album Ghetto Superstar, although His didn't sell like the rest of his crew members, he had a lot of hits on it.




Closing up the 90s, 99 had so many platinum selling rap albums. DMX dropped his best album in my opinion in this year. And Then There Was X is still X's best selling rap album till date, selling over 5 million copies. Nas dropped two albums in 1999, I Am and Nastradamus; and sold 2 million and 1.2 million respectively. Jay-Z was just coming off the success of 1998s Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (which sold 5 million copies), and dropped his 4th album, Vol. 3...Life and Times of S.Carter, which sold 3 million copies in the U.S.



A lot of new rap listeners don't know this, but this era (the late 90s) also saw the first rise in the Cash Money empire; but the front runners then were the Hot Boys which had Juvenile, Young Turk, B.G and Lil Wayne rolled up as a group. Of course, at the time, Juvenile was the real superstar in the group. His third album, 400 Degreez is still the highest selling rap album that Cash Money ever put out...selling over 4 million copies in the U.S alone.



The year also saw the birth of new breads like Ja Rule and Eminem; both of which, although not with similar styles, but making very different music from what people were used to. Ja Rule came with the hoarse DMX voice, but with a melodious feel to his style. And Eminem came with the story of his life, not ashamed to speak on being bullied and abused as a kid. They both saw their peaks in the early 00s, but i thought it was worth mentioning them in here. Ja Rule dropped his 2 million copies sold debut Venni Vetti Vecci in 1999, and Eminem dropped his 4 million copies sold The Slim Shady LP the same year.