Birdman, Havoc, Too $hort, Twista and more talking classic Spotify hip-hop is must-see

Could you use a little hip-hop greatness fired your way? How about getting the luxury of music icons like Birdman, Mobb Deep’s Havoc, B-Real, Too $hort and Twista - to name a few - dishing on classic hip-hop streaming on Spotify?

The presence of hip-hop on the digital streaming platform has increased dramatically over the past 36 months. Check out some details and keep scrolling to see the rap heavyweights dishing on timeless hip-hop anthems.

Without a doubt, hip-hop is one of the most dominating genres of all time, influencing culture, trends, fashion, lifestyle and more since its beginning, which showed through very clearly during this year’s halftime show at the Big Game. The halftime show’s ode to classic hip-hop mirrors the growth in consumption of catalog music in hip-hop over the last few years on Spotify – a 34% increase since 2019.  

Since the once in a lifetime performance, Spotify spent the past few weeks celebrating classic hip-hop with videos highlighting the different regions where hip-hop had its biggest moments-- West Coast ft B-Real and Too $hort, East Coast ft Havoc, South ft Birdman and Big Boi, and Midwest ft Lupe Fiasco andTwista. 

These artists sat down with Spotify to discuss the influential rappers who led the charge for their regions and truly made hip-hop what it is today. You can watch a compilation of those videos HERE. 

Classic hip-hop culture’s popularity is tangible on Spotify –  after the group of iconic hip-hop heroes came together for the halftime show in February, there were many discoveries, or first-time listeners, of the artists:  

• Dr. Dre - 9,119,214

• Eminem - 16,813,175

• Kendrick Lamar - 13,056,787

• Mary J. Blige - 7,091,803

• Snoop Dogg - 15,690,503