Changes to the musical production of hip-hop, along with growing stylistic diversity and advances in technology, led to the community-imposed concept of an old and new school. The “Old School” is associated with the period from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s. Rap gained commercial viability in 1979 with The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and later with artists like Kurtis Blow. “New School” rap was coined by the 2nd generation artist (1984) to distinguish the pop sensibilities of the first commercial generation of rap artists and ranged from the pop-oriented humorous style of the Fat Boys, for example, to the rock-oriented sounds of say, Run-D.M.C. Women rappers like Queen Latifah introduced Black women’s point of view to rap fans and proved that they were as skilled and commercially successful as the men.The chaotic sounds of Public Enemy and N.W.A became known as hardcore. The harsh lyrical content mirrored the deteriorating conditions of the inner-cities and pushed the boundaries of lyrical complexity and social commentary. also known as “conscious” rap and a sub-genre “gangsta” rap characterized by its lyrical focus on the often-violent realities of inner-city life, including crime, gang activity, and drug dealing. In the 2000s, hip-hop music was mainstream.Kanye West’s production and lyricism redirected attention away from gangsta rap and explored a range of topics including his middle-class upbringing, anti-Black racism, corporatism, and his faith presented in full ‘boasting’ style. Additionally, Eminem will become a most revered lyricist, by rap artists and rap fans alike. Encouraging white artists to Foster relationships with people of colour and follow their lead in dismantling oppressive systems. a legacy of Vanilla Ice  the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success in 1990. Musically, music-making turned away from the East Coast and the West coast and found a new home in the South. Several epicentres develop influential styles: Miami (Miami bass), New Orleans (bounce), Houston (screwed), and Atlanta (crunk and trap). By the 2010s, socially conscious rap will cross over into the mainstream as R&B and rap artists respond to tension borne from increased police and vigilante shootings of unarmed Black men, women, and children, and from advances in technology for self-production and instant sharing through social media. Key artists include Kendrick Lamar. In the 2010s we witness the rise of female MCs as producers of critically acclaimed albums. Women leading the trend include Nicky Minaj and Cardi B. By the 21st century, Rap had become a global phenomenon, influencing music, fashion, and culture worldwide. Fame in rap often comes with mainstream success and cultural impact, and few have shaped culture like Jay-Z. From his fluid rhymes about hustle and heartache to becoming a mogul in music and business, his influence spans beyond music charts to fashion and social activism.

Melissa Arnette Elliott was born on July 1, 1971, at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Portsmouth, Virginia. An only child, she grew up in an active church choir family, where singing was a normal part of her youth. Her earliest years were spent in Jacksonville, North Carolina when her father was an active Marine. When her father returned from the Marines, her parents moved back to Virginia. where they lived in extreme poverty. Elliott has talked about seeing her mother suffer domestic abuse at the hands of her father. When Elliott was 14, her mother decided to end the situation and fled with Elliott. Elliott graduated school in 1990. She later said that she occasionally speaks to her father, but has not forgiven him for abusing her mother. In 1988, Elliott formed an all-women R&B group called Fayze with friends. She was introduced to her neighbourhood friend Timothy Mosley (Timbaland) who became the group’s producer and began making demo tracks, among them included the 1991 promo “First Move”. Fayze moved to New York City and signed to Elektra Records through DeVante’s Swing Mob imprint and also renaming the group Sista. Sista’s debut song was titled “Brand New”, which was released in 1993. All 20-plus members of the Swing Mob lived in a single two-story house in New York. When Swing Mob folded and many of its members dispersed. Elliott, Timbaland, Magoo, Ginuwine, and Playa remained together and collaborated on each other’s records for the rest of the decade as the musical collective,

Block Party was the planned seventh studio album by Missy Elliott, announced around 2008 as the follow-up to The Cookbook. Although it produced the 2008 single “Best, Best” and was slated to feature artists like Jazmine Sullivan, the project was ultimately abandoned in 2009. A slowing down on her solo output in the 2010s, Elliott continued working as a producer. In June 2011, Elliott told People magazine that her absence from the music industry was due to having Graves’ disease, with which she was diagnosed after she nearly crashed her car from having severe leg spasms while driving.  She experienced severe symptoms from the condition and could not even hold a pen to write songs. After treatment, her symptoms stabilized. Her solo releases were sporadic, limited to a handful of tracks highlighted in 2015 by the platinum-certified Pharrell Williams collaboration “WTF (Where They From).”Elliott has been referred to as the “Queen of Rap”. Elliott’s experimental concepts in her music videos changed the landscape of what a hip-hop video had as themes at the time. Her catalogue of songs has included themes of feminism, gender equality, body positivity and sex positivity since the beginning of her career, being one of the first to centre on these topics among hip-hop and R&B performers. The Guardian and The Observer considered her America’s first Black female music mogul, as she gained in 2001 total control over her image and music, and the opportunity to sign artists. As of 2015, she has remained the bestselling female rap album artist in the US. ABC website editor Gab Burke expressed that Elliott “railed against the male-dominated mainstream rap scene throughout her career, constantly pushed the boundaries, and cemented a place for women in hip hop”. In 2023, she became the first female hip-hop artist to receive a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.