New York’s Losing the Lion’s Share

In the wake of XXL’s 10 Freshmen for ’10 cover, one question kept coming up: What happened to New York? For hip-hop’s first 25 years, the music’s birthplace created dozens of stars. From the Bronx’s KRS-One to Manhattan’s Doug E. Fresh, Brooklyn’s Notorious B.I.G., Queens’s 50 Cent and Staten Island’s Wu-Tang Clan, each borough produced its own legends. Even outlying provinces like Long Island and Yonkers got in on the act, expanding New York rap’s borders with the likes of Public Enemy and DMX.

But that was then. Over the past seven years, the well has gone dry. Since 50 Cent detonated onto the scene with his eight-million-selling megabomb Get Rich or Die Tryin’, New York newcomers have been having a hard time blowing up. In fact, since 50 made his mark in 2003 with both his solo debut and G-Unit group album (Beg For Mercy), only a handful of local rappers have managed to debut in the top 10 of Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart: Juelz Santana (2003’s From Me to U), Sheek Louch (2003’s Walk Witt Me), Loon (2003’s Loon), Lloyd Banks (2004’s The Hunger for More) Tony Yayo (2005’s Thoughts of a Predicate Felon) and Mims (2007’s Music Is My Savior). And only Lloyd Banks (2004’s “On Fire”), Mims (2007’s “This Is Why I’m Hot,”) and Lil Mama (2008’s “Lip Gloss”) have had a first single break the top 10 of the Hot 100 singles.

In XXL’s May issue, which is on stands now, we went searching the five boroughs, as well as Long Island and Yonkers, in search of some answers as to how New York fell into a hip-hop drought. But over the course of the past week and a half, we gave y’all a year-by-year breakdown of the music that came out of the Big Apple and how it stacked up against the rest of the hip-hop nation. The series concludes today with 2009.

Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t…

In 2009, 17 hip-hop albums debuted in the top 10 of Billboard’s top 200, 9 of which came from New York artists

NEW YORK ARTISTS

Pray IV Reign, Jim Jones

The Last Kiss, Jadakiss

Crime Pays, Cam'Ron

Back On My B.S., Busta Rhymes

The Ecstatic, Mos Def

Loso's Way, Fabolous

The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II, Raekwon

Before I Self-Destruct, 50 Cent

FLORIDA ARTISTS

Deeper Than Rap, Rick Ross

R.O.O.T.S. (Route Of Overcoming The Struggle), Flo Rida

Rebelution, Pitbull

TEXAS ARTISTS

UGK 4 Life, UGK

ILLINOIS ARTISTS

Category F5, Twista

GEORGIA ARTISTS

The State Vs. Radric Davis, Gucci Mane

NEW JERSEY ARTISTS

Blackout! 2, Method Man & Redman

MICHIGAN ARTISTS

Relapse, Eminem

Out of the 17 hip-hop albums to debut in the top 10 of Billboard’s top 200 in 2009, none were from new New York artists dropping their first album.

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SEE NEXT PAGE FOR 2009 SINGLES

In 2009, 14 hip-hop singles reached the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100, 3 of which came from New York artists.

NEW YORK ARTISTS

“Run This Town” – Jay-Z Featuring Kanye West & Rhianna

“Throw It In the Bag” – Fabolous Feat The Dream

“Empire State of Mind” – Jay-Z Featuring Alicia Keys

FLORIDA ARTISTS

“Right Round” – Flo-Rida

“I Know You Want Me” – Pitbull

“Hotel Room Service” - Pitbull

CANADIAN ARTISTS

“Best I Ever Had” - Drake