2014 was a banner year for a handful of rappers and producers who were familiar to hip-hop fans - Young Money, GOOD Music, Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, etc - but their music was evolving and absorbing influences from the margins. Upstarts Fetty Wap, Rae Sremmurd, Bobby Shmurda, OT Genasis, Makonnen and Dej Loaf all scored huge hits and got cosigns from the previous generation of rap stars. DJ Mustard kept chugging along with a string of top 10 radio records in a streak which may have only been preceded by The Neptunes the decade prior. History of Hip Hop 2014 is a rich tapestry of ATL trap, West Coast gangster rap and NYC drug dealer anthems, plus a ton of styles that defy categorization (D.R.A.M. raps over a Nintendo theme, Vic Mensa sings over deep house, Mystikal does a spot-on James Brown impression and Kanye is flipping full on gospel music). We hope you enjoy listening to the mix as much as we did making it!
