Perhaps legendary rapper, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, JAY-Z, put it best when he declared, “We are culture, nothing moves without us.” Now, if you are wondering which “we” that JAY was emphatically referring to, that would be none other than hip-hop culture.
Regardless of how its critics may feel about hip-hop culture today, JAY-Z’s assertion couldn’t be any more correct.
When it comes to helping brands sell products, appeal to today’s youth, and influencing overall consumer perception—nothing moves the needle more than hip-hop culture does.
If you’re new to our quarterly series, Trending In Culture, it was created from a marketing perspective to help keep brands like yours apprised of all things hot in hip-hop at the moment. From the hottest artists, fashion brands, podcasts, television shows, and even social media platforms—we’ve got you covered!
So, Happy New Year! And with no further ado, let’s explore what’s currently trending in hip-hop culture for Q1 2025!
Hottest artists
Ever since its inception, rap battles have always been instrumental in the evolution of hip-hop as an artform. Last year, hip-hop fans were fortunate enough to have witnessed what could quite possibly go down as being not only the most exciting, but also the greatest hip-hop battle of all time when Drake and Kendrick Lamar went back and forth for the honor of being declared hip-hop’s top emcee.
And while all eyes and ears were on the battle for the better part of 2024, plenty of other artists also ensured that their voices were heard as well. Many of whom have kept the spotlight on themselves heading into 2025.
These are currently the hottest artists in the culture at the moment:
Bossman Dlow: If the streets had an official vote for which hip-hop artist was 2024’s rookie of the year, Bossman Dlow would easily take home the award. Dlow, AKA “Big Za,” absolutely put on for southern hip-hop throughout the entirety of 2024.
Released on December 13th, 2024, The Port Salerno MC’s debut album, Dlow Curry, has been deemed an official bop by the streets. Positioning the Bossman as a potential mainstay on the southern hip-hop scene for years to come.
Doechii: For fans of 90s hip-hop music, one of the aspects of the artform that made the music of the decade so invigorating was the wide variety of artists with divergent styles, sounds, and personalities. One particular femcee currently restoring that feeling of the 90s is Top Dawg Entertainment artist Doechii.
Released August, 2024, the animated artist’s third mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, captured the undivided attention of both fans and critics with its eccentric sounds, assisted by her even more eccentric visuals. Receiving rave reviews across the board from both fans and critics alike, the mixtape was nominated for best rap album at 2024’s 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
The music video for the mixtape’s latest single, Denial is a River, which premiered on YouTube on January 2nd, 2025, received over 1 million views on its first day of release.
GloRilla: Without a doubt, the past year was certainly a glorious one for CMG/Interscope artist GloRilla. And it’s not just because 2024 finally saw the release of her much-anticipated debut album, aptly titled, Glorious.
Three of the summer’s hottest singles (TGIF, Hollon, Whatchu Know Bout Me featuring Sexyy Red) were penned by the Memphis, Tennessee, native.
In addition to the multiple slaps she supplied to speakers, landing endorsement deals with brands like Tommy Hilfiger, as well as being one of the most active hip-hop artists on social media has kept “Big Glo” top of mind in the culture.
J. Cole: Regardless of genre, very few solo artists today could sell out the world’s most famous arena all by themselves. But as the millions of fans who live streamed the 10th anniversary show for his album, Forest Hills Drive, on December 16th, 2024, along with the thousands in attendance could attest—J. Cole is one of those artists.
In spite of the fact that his biggest headlines of the year involved him choosing to opt out of a battle with Kendrick Lamar, Cole more than made up for it with his fans by finally releasing three of his classic mixtapes (The Come Up Mixtape Vol. 1, The Warm Up, Friday Night Lights) on major DSPs.
Kendrick Lamar: From its release date on May 4th, 2024, to today, you’d be hard-pressed to walk down any main street in a metropolitan city in the U.S. without eventually hearing someone blaring the song, Not Like Us, from their car speakers.
Simply saying that Kendrick Lamar is the hottest artist in hip-hop at the moment would be a major understatement.
Besides coming out victorious in his epic battle with Drake for total hip-hop supremacy, Kendrick also dominated 2024 by dropping the biggest hip-hop single of the year (Not Like Us). The biggest hip-hop album of the year (GNX). And it was also announced that he’ll be headlining the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
Championing the success of his sixth studio album, GNX, The Compton native will also be co-headlining The Grand National Tour with former TDE labelmate SZA beginning April 19th, 2025.
Lil Baby: Throughout the last two decades, Atlanta, Georgia, has been a hotbed for many of the most poppin’ artists in hip-hop. And although as off late, drill music has become more popular in the culture than trap music, Atlanta’s own, Lil Baby, has certainly done his part to keep the limelight on the ATL (the unofficial capital of trap rap).
The Quality Control/Motown artist’s latest album, WHAM (Who Hard As Me), which dropped on January 3rd, 2025, reportedly received 16 million views on Spotify alone on its first day of release. Providing further evidence that when it comes to the hottest rappers to come out of the ATL, it’s still his turn.
SZA: Sure, hip-hop aficionados could continue to refute the case that SZA could be considered a hip-hop artist. But make no mistake, from her style, to her features with rappers, and even the raps she drops occasionally on her own projects—SZA is hip-hop!
The multi-talented Top Dawg Entertainment artist’s latest project, SOS Deluxe: Lana, the reissue of her wildly successful album, SOS, was released on December 20th, 2024, and earned an impressive 3.32 million streams on Spotify on its first partial day of release.
Hottest hip-hop platforms
From an entertainment standpoint, there has never been a better time to be alive. That's because thanks to modern technology, we now have unlimited options to amuse us at our fingertips today.
Each day, millions of viewers and listeners within the culture tune into hip-hop-oriented vlogs, live-streams, and podcasts to get their regular entertainment fix.
These are the hottest hip-hop platforms in the culture at the moment:
Art of Dialogue
Drink Champs
It is What It Is
Joe Budden TV
Million Dollaz Worth of Game
My Expert Opinion
VladTV
Hottest fashion brands
Aside from music, one of the things that hip-hop is most known for influencing is what becomes trendy in fashion. And what’s more, the culture is also the preeminent force that determines which brands go on to be considered the “it” brands of each season.
These are the hottest fashion brands in the culture at the moment:
Amiri
Celine
Dior
Gallery Dept.
Givenchy
Goyard
Moncler
Hottest television shows
As much as people seem to enjoy bragging about “cutting the cord” these days by not not having a subscription with any cable TV providers, the vast majority of us within the culture still watch cable television on a daily basis. Albeit, maybe just not as much today as in days past.
These are the hottest television shows in the culture at the moment:
Abbott Elementary
Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta
Love & Hip Hop: Miami
Love & Hip Hop: New York
The Upshaws
Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black
Hottest social media platforms
A recent study revealed that 1 in 3 American adults believe they are addicted to social media. But let’s keep it real, the actual amount of adults in America that are addicted to social media totally surpasses that. Especially when it comes to Millenials and Gen Z.
These are the hottest social media platforms in the culture at the moment:
Instagram
TikTok
X
Facebook
Snapchat
What’s fading
During the waning moments of 2024, as millions of people tuned in to New Year’s countdown telecasts bringing in 2025 on television networks like: ABC, CNN, Fox, and NBC—many of those of us who were born, raised, and absolutely love hip-hop culture noticed something missing that was once a cornerstone of our New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Year after year, millions in the hip-hop community have spent their New Year’s Eve watching BET's 106 & Party New Year’s Eve celebration telecast. Which also featured the top 100 hip-hop and R&B music videos of the year.
Sadly, much like many other fixtures in the culture, 106 & Party is now a thing of the past.
The absence of BET's 106 & Party New Year’s Eve celebration highlighted the dissipation of traditional hip-hop bedrocks in mainstream media and the roles they have played in helping to shape culture.
Platforms like: The Source, XXL, 106 & Park, Rap City, and Word Up! Magazine, once served as pillars of hip-hop; helping to not only uplift the culture by projecting it to the masses—but also assisting in determining what would go on to be deemed either dope, wack, or absolutely unacceptable in the culture.
So, while can rejoice in the fact that thanks to modern technology, we have a plethora of platforms like podcasts at our fingertips today, hip-hop institutions that once governed the guidelines and helped structure the culture have now appeared to have lost their relevance and thus—are completely fading.
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