Progressive rap

Unlike the genre's more commercially-dominant counterpart gangsta rap, prog-rap artists typically disavow intracultural violence and economic materialism in favor of constructive and educational responses such as consciousness, uplift, heritage, humor, and activism.

[5] Petchaur, drawing from her experiences teaching high school, adds that the music frequently makes connections to critical consciousness that can variously shape the intellectual sensibilities of young students who are "deeply invested in hip hop".

[6] However, it typically avoids gangsta rap's documentarian qualities in favor of actively constructive and educational responses to issues afflicting society, particularly black people, resulting in narratives that promote their history, culture, political involvement, and intrinsic value.

[4] In Pinn's words, it "seeks to address these concerns without intracommunal aggression and in terms of political and cultural education, providing an interpretation of American society and a constructive agenda (e.g. self respect, knowledge, pride, and unity) for the uplift of Black America".

[14] At the turn of the 1990s, groups such as De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Brand Nubian emerged with works that "defined the term progressive hip-hop", according to Greg Kot, who credits them with "setting the standards for thematic genius in the idiom".

[17] While highly successful with critics, the progressive rap music of this period failed to capture a sizable audience within hip hop's traditionalist base of artists and fans, who gravitated more toward hardcore stylings in the genre.

[18] As hardcore and gangsta rap forms progressively dominated commercial hip hop in the 1990s, groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, and the eclectic Afrocentric[19] Arrested Development continued to offer a marketable alternative.

[20] A Tribe Called Quest's early-1990s albums The Low End Theory (1991) and Midnight Marauders (1993) were especially influential in their fusion of abstract lyrics with music samples based in jazz, inspiring subsequent works by Common, The Roots, and Fugees.

Seeking to restore a sense of musicality they believed had been lost among the Black underclass, the trio incorporated soulful melodies, harmonic refrains, and live instrumentation (bass, keyboard, drums, and guitar) that drew on reggae, doo-wop, and Latin influences, while performing tough-minded raps about socially conscious and urban realist ideas.

Reporting on their impact for the Times, Coker said the trio occupy a unique space that avoids contemporary rap's pointless braggadocio, overused "P-Funk" samples, misogynistic attitudes, and luxury fantasies, while remaining distinct from "critically acclaimed but commercially cold [alternative] acts" such as Arrested Development, P.M.

"[24] In the early 2000s, some progressive-rap acts achieved mainstream success with records that "ruminated on hip-hop's post-millennial direction" and that were produced "in an avant-garde vein purposely intended to evolve the [genre]", as Miles Marshall Lewis chronicles.

Inspired as well by the radical spoken-word group the Last Poets, he performed teasing and playfully boastful raps around themes of life, the music industry, cultural quirks, and relationships, with the latter explored through "The Light"'s advocacy for respecting women and denunciation of the word "bitch".

Avoiding tributes to crime or violence, Big Boi touched on themes of single-parent life, organized religion, post-9/11 infringement of civil liberties, prostitution, and social fashion, with raps set to austere techno beats, funk grooves, and multitracked soul vocals.

[12] Highsnobiety writer Shahzaib Hussain recognizes West's opening trilogy of education-themed albums, including Late Registration (2005) and Graduation (2007), as "a triumvirate of uber-successful records that cemented his role as a progressive rap progenitor".

[31] Toward the end of the 2000s, while suffering losses in his personal life, West began to alienate the pop-culture audience with notorious on-air incidents and a polarizing departure in the downbeat and Auto-Tune-processed sounds of 808s & Heartbreak (2008), although that album too proved commercially successful and influential on the stylistic direction of hip hop.

[31] In 2010, West returned from an elaborate recording process with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which set the rapper's egocentric meditations on his fame against an instrumentally varied and layered maximalist production that utilized samples, rhythm tracks, keyboards, guitars, orchestral arrangements, and a host of additional vocalists.

[11][nb 3] During the 2010s, a progressive hip-hop and electronic music scene emerged along the US West Coast centering on musicians such as rapper Kendrick Lamar, producer-DJs Flying Lotus and the Gaslamp Killer, bassist Thundercat, and rap duo Shabazz Palaces.

[35] Mello Music Group, another independent label based in Tucson, has hosted a community of progressive-rap acts, including veteran artists Kool Keith, Pete Rock, and O.C., alongside younger musicians like Open Mike Eagle, Oddisee, Apollo Brown, and L'Orange.

According to Vinti, it is being "driven by fresh minds like Gaika, Kojey Radical and Sub Luna City, who are working deliberately outside the confines of grime and traditional UK hip hop to create genuinely progressive rap that rivals the US for creativity, urgency, and importance, and portrays a much broader Black British music landscape than you hear on the radio.