User:Zachsilva19/sandbox

2000s–2010s: Revival

However, a resurgence came about in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the rejuvenated interest in indie music by the general public. Since the mid-90's, independent record labels such as Rawkus Records, Rhymesayers, Anticon, Stones Throw and Definitive Jux have experienced lesser mainstream success with alternative rap acts such as MF DOOM, Atmosphere, Antipop Consortium, Black Star, Doomtree, Pharoahe Monch, El-P, and Aesop Rock. It was in the 2000s that alternative hip hop reattained its place within the mainstream, due in part to the declining commercial viability of gangsta rap as well as the crossover success of artists such as OutKast, Kanye West, and Gnarls Barkley.

Not only did OutKast's fifth studio album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below receive universal acclaim from music critics and manage to appeal listeners of all ages spanning numerous musical genres but also spawned two number-one hit singles. The album eventually went on to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year—making it only the second hip hop album to win the award—and has been certified diamond by selling 11 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping more than 11 million units, becoming one of the best selling albums of all time.

Gnarls Barkley experienced a surprise hit with their debut single "Crazy". Due to high download sales, it reached number-one of the single charts in several countries, including the United Kingdom, where it became the best selling single of 2006. The song was named the best song of 2006 by both Rolling Stone and the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Rolling Stone later ranked "Crazy" as the number-one song of the entire decade. The song has since sold over two million copies in the United States alone and has been certified double platinum by RIAA. The duo were the recipient of multiple accolades, winning at the 49th Grammy Awards a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and Best Alternative Music Album.

Industry observers view the 2007 sales competition between Kanye West's Graduation and 50 Cent's Curtis as a turning point for hip hop. West emerged the victor, selling nearly a million copies in the first week alone. Ben Detrick of XXL cited the outcome of the sales competition as being responsible for altering the direction of hip hop and paving the way for new rappers who didn't follow the hardcore-gangster mold, writing, "If there was ever a watershed moment to indicate hip hop's changing direction, it may have come when 50 Cent competed with Kanye in 2007 to see whose album would claim superior sales. 50 lost handily, and it was made clear that excellent songcrafting trumped a street-life experience. Kanye led a wave of new artists—Kid Cudi, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, Kidz in the Hall, Drake—who lacked the interest or ability to create narratives about any past gunplay or drug-dealing." Similarly, in a retrospective article, Rosie Swash of The Guardian viewed the album's sales competition with 50 Cent's Curtis as a historical moment in hip hop, writing that it "highlighted the diverging facets of hip-hop in the last decade; the former was gangsta rap for the noughties, while West was the thinking man's alternative."

Several burgeoning artists and groups acknowledge being directly influenced by their 1990s predecessors in addition to alternative rock groups while their music has been noted by critics as expressing eclectic sounds, life experiences and emotions rarely seen in mainstream hip hop. "As traditional rock becomes ever less synonymous with pop music, alternative radio has been forced to expand its definition to include more left-of-center artists from other genres." According to Nielsen SoundScan, contemporary hip-hop acts who increasingly receive domestic airplay on alt-radio include Run the Jewels, Childish Gambino, Logic, BROCKHAMPTON, L.I.F.T. and nothing, nowhere. Regarding audiences, according to Jeff Regan, senior director of music programming for the Alt Nation channel on Sirius XM Radio, "This generation has maybe never even gone to a record store or CD store where there was a hip-hop section and a rock section — it has all been in front of them on a screen." Its for this reason that recording artists and groups traditionally perceived as rappers are included on his predominately rock-oriented playlists, saying, "Whether it’s Lil Peep or BROCKHAMPTON or Post Malone, we have tried records from all those artists. ... We need some depth perception in the music we're presenting. Whether it’s done on a laptop or on an amp and a guitar, I just want to find something new — that’s what alternative is supposed to be."

One of the most influential hip-hop albums ever, especially by contributing to its revival, is Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreak. It is the album that has been widely recognized for its great influence. According to Genius, the album has was the birth of the genre's superstars of today, while taking some understandable heat upon its release. "Both widely popular and misunderstood in the moment, 808s inspired a legion of artists that grew up in its wake. The album's immediate impact was felt the very next year as Drake and Kid Cudi cemented their status as newfound rap stars." It also adds that, "a full decade later, its hard to imagine acts like Trippie Redd, Post Malone, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie or even trap superheroes like Young Thug and Future, without Kanye's 2008 album." One of the most notable and influential elements of the album was the use of Auto-Tune. It was something that was widely frowned upon in the Hip-Hop community, but Kanye transformed it. He transformed it from something that his colleague Jay-Z dissed, to something that the majority of artists on the Alternative Hip-Hop scene today use in their music. "Less than a year after 808s' release, Kanye's Roc-A-Fella big brother Jay-Z would attempt to send the pitch-polishing software to an early grave with "D.O.A Death of Autotune." T-Pain advised Kanye on his path to using the vocal software, Auto-Tune. It would inspire the creation of the album. Additionally, Kanye gave credit to Phil Collins, who he said was a source of inspiration for the production of the album.