Black Music is Back On the Charts

A couple years ago, it seemed that hiphop and r&b had completely taken over the entertainment industry. You couldn't look anywhere without hearing the latest Lil Jon joint. After a while things started to settle down and bubblegum pop resurfaced and took its traditional spot in domination of the airwaves. You'd always see the obligatory hiphop or r&b track in the Billboard 200, but it'd be an apple in an orange basket filled with Hannah Montanahs, Hillary Duffs, and Britney Spears.

But in typical circle of life fashion, black music is back.

The biggest seller as of now is Rick Ross, with his latest album Deeper Than Rap which temporarily dethroned the mega star Hannah Montanah to take the number one spot last week. But Ross has a lot of company from the hiphop arena. Day26's Forever in a Day managed to reach #2 despite Diddy's constant bullshitting of the group on television.

Newcomer Asher Roth is moving units of his major debut Asleep in the Bread Aisle like crazy, as expected from all the recent media hype surrounding him. Jadakiss and Keri Hilson both drop top 20 bangers, and along with them you can find The Dream, Flo Rida, Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, UGK, T.I., and Jennifer Hudson all in the Top 50.

Also in the Billboard 200 are Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, Slim Thug, India.Arie, Ne-Yo, Bow Wow, Jim Jones, Gorilla Zoe, Musiq Soulchild, and Anthony Hamilton.

Even Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Soulja Boy can't seem to be killed as their albums are still holding their spots on the Billboard 200.

What I like most about this development is that there are actually a diverse group of acts that are topping the charts. It's not all hood rap, it's not all pop rap. You have everything from conscious acts like India.Arie and hood rap like Rick Ross to bouncy pop rap like Soulja Boy and stoner rap like Asher Roth.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of these albums could be better, but it's nice to see hip hop making moves, that opens the door for even more hot tracks to be made.