The 1990s was arguably the best decade to listen to Hip Hop and Rap, of course Hip Hop had been around since the '80s but artist like 2pac, Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, Nas and Hip Hop groups like NWA, Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Public Enemy made the genre very popular, especially among the teens of this era.
The top selling album of this decade was The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death. One of the main reasons this album sold so much is because B.I.G. was murdered 2 weeks before this album was released, which is chilling considering the name of the album.
The most influential artist of this era has to be 2pac and The Notorious B.I.G. and the reason they are most influential is because these two sparked a whole East Coast vs West Coast rivalry, mainly California vs New York. Millions across the globe tuned in to listen to these two go at it on the microphone, so when 2pac was shot and killed in Las Vegas, and The Notorious B.I.G. was shot in Los Angeles, millions of their fans were devastated. Their deaths are definitely a decade defining moment for many Hip Hop fans.
Also in the '90s a new type of Hip Hop burst onto the main stage, New Jack Swing. New Jack Swing is a technology of music, the hip-hop/R&B fusion, the music you dance to in the club . New Jack Swing begins with independent songwriter-producer Teddy Riley, who created the electric “new jack swing” style. This producer came of age during the days of the older genres rhythm & blues, soul and funk and during the developing years of rap/hip-hop. Drawing from this musical diversity, Teddy Riley developed a unique “new jack swing” style. His inspiration, he explains, came through a dream: “I had this dream of seeing James Brown and Michael Jackson doing a song together. . . I had a dream of mixing groups together that I wanted to hear. "