Hard Work Pays Off The popularity of Dutch hip-hop/rap in the 21st Century Master’s Thesis Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam Student name: Renee Pothof Student number: 474678 Course number: CC4150 Thesis supervisor: Dr. Hans Abbing Second reader: Sophie Jacobs (PhD) 12-06-2018 Hard Work Pays Off Abstract Dutch hip-hop/rap (Nederhop) seems to have become more popular in the Netherlands in the recent years. However, no scientific research about whether Nederhop indeed became more popular and successful and what the reasons behind this popularity and success are has been conducted yet. To fill up on this gap, this research examines if Nederhop indeed became more popular in the Netherlands in recent years and what the reason or reasons are that Nederhop has become this important in the Dutch music industry and this omnipresent in the Dutch music charts. The research methods are threefold and consist of a chart analysis of three yearly music charts from 1989 onwards, semi-structured interviews with N = 3 people working in the Nederhop music industry, and a survey distributed to N = 254 consumers of (Dutch) hip-hop/rap. Data from the music charts, data from the interviews, and data from the survey show that indeed Dutch hip-hop/rap has become more popular in the Netherlands over the last few years. The research shows that there are five possible explanations for this popularity and success: the ability to distribute music more easily because of technological changes, the availability of information about the genre, positive and negative media attention to the genre, changes in the Dutch culture, and internal changes of the music. Through the semi-structured interviews and the survey explanations for the recent popularity and success of the genre are found. The research found that all in all, a combination of the ability to distribute music more easily, the availability of information about the genre, and media attention to the genre has contributed to the recent popularity and success of Nederhop. The popularity comes from a sequence of chance events in which every event reinforces the impact of the event and other events and aspects and Nederhop can thus be seen as a Superstar within the different music genres in the Netherlands. There was not enough conclusive evidence that observed that changes in the external environment and/or changes in the internal aspects of the music have played part in the recent popularity and success of the Nederhop genre. Keywords: Nederhop, hip-hop, rap, music, genre, popularity, music charts Table of Contents 1. Introduction: Wat wil je doen ................................................................................................. 1 2. Theory and background: Ik neem je mee ................................................................................ 3 2.1 Understanding the concepts: Alaka .................................................................................. 3 2.1.1 Genre ......................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2 Legitimacy ................................................................................................................. 5 2.1.3 Success ...................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.4 Popularity .................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 The emergence of other genres: Ik ben niet te stoppe .................................................... 10 2.2.1 Jazz .......................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Rock ‘n’ roll ............................................................................................................ 13 2.2.3 Electronic dance music ............................................................................................ 15 2.3 The case of Nederhop: Het land van .............................................................................. 16 2.3.1 The history of hip-hop ............................................................................................. 17 2.3.2 Characteristics of hip-hop/rap music ....................................................................... 19 2.3.3 The history and emergence of Nederhop ................................................................ 21 2.3.4 Characteristics of Nederhop .................................................................................... 27 2.4 The music landscape in the Netherlands and the market of Nederhop: In het veld ....... 29 2.5 Introduction sub questions: Zoveel vragen ..................................................................... 33 3. Method: De manier .............................................................................................................. 36 3.1 Introduction research methods: Doe je research ............................................................ 36 3.1.1 Chart analysis .......................................................................................................... 37 3.1.2 Interviews ................................................................................................................ 39 3.1.3 Survey ...................................................................................................................... 42 4. Data and results: Slapeloze nachten ..................................................................................... 47 4.1 Music Charts: Succes ..................................................................................................... 47 4.2 Interviews: Spraakwater ................................................................................................ 51 4.3 Survey: Vraag & antwoord ............................................................................................ 52 5. Findings: Watskeburt ............................................................................................................ 54 5.1 Sub question 1: Zegevieren ............................................................................................ 54 5.2 Sub question 2: Kickstart ............................................................................................... 58 5.3 Sub question 3: Zoveel ................................................................................................... 62 5.4 Sub question 4: Kan er niet omheen ............................................................................... 65 5.5 Sub question 5: Nieuwe dag ........................................................................................... 69 5.6 Sub question 6: Op zoek naar de symfonie .................................................................... 71 6. Conclusion: Doag ................................................................................................................. 74 7. References: Catch up ........................................................................................................... 79 Appendix A: Overview of the interview respondents .............................................................. 85 Appendix B: Interview protocol Koos Groenendijk ................................................................ 86 Appendix C: Interview protocol Gaétan van de Sande ............................................................ 89 Appendix D: Interview protocol Bas Kaspers .......................................................................... 93 Appendix E: Survey ................................................................................................................. 97 Appendix F: Frequency tables survey .................................................................................... 109 Appendix G: Nederhop songs in the dutchcharts.nl Single Top 100 ..................................... 117 Appendix H: Nederhop songs in the top40.nl Top 100 Year Overview ................................ 121 Appendix I: Nederhop albums in the dutchcharts.nl Album Top 100 ................................... 125 Appendix J: Contingency tables ............................................................................................. 129 1. Introduction: Wat wil je doen Title: Wat Wil Je Doen [What do you want to do] Artist: The Partysquad Album: De bazen van de club [The bosses of the club] Year: 2006 Nowadays Dutch hip-hop/rap, or Nederhop as it is sometimes called, is a substantial part of the Dutch music industry, whereas it has been partly ignored by a large part of this industry, such as radio stations, for a long time (Van Stapele, 2017, June 2). Recently, more and more people seem to start listening to Nederhop. ‘Hard Work Pays Off II’, an album by Dutch rap group Broederliefde (2016), was the first Dutch album to be on the first spot of the album chart in the Netherlands for thirteen consecutive weeks. At this moment (June 12, 2018) this album is still present in the Album Top 100 at the 61st spot, being in the chart for 110 weeks already. Over thirty other Nederhop albums are also present in the Album Top 100 right now (June 12, 2018), eleven of which are amongst the 25 most popular albums. Next to the popularity of Nederhop in the Dutch music charts, another example of the popularity of Dutch hip-hop/rap can be found. At the end of 2017 the streaming platform Spotify revealed the top ten most streamed artists