Trending in Culture: Current Marketing Trends in Hip-Hop Culture (Q1 '26)
- DeJuan Wright
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
True hip-hop fans, especially those who of us that are fans of 90s hip-hop, know that the lyrics, I've been through mad different phases, like mazes, to find my way, and now I know that happy days are not far away—are from the late rapper DMX’ song Slippin’.
Which was featured on his sophomore album, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. And although X wrote those lyrics to describe his life, they could also explain the state that hip-hop—not just as an artform, but as a culture overall—is experiencing at the moment.
For over 50 years now, hip-hop has certainly gone through its share of different phases. And like getting through a maze—it has always found a way to come out better for it. But after a peculiar 2025, many fans (especially Gen X and Millennials), are now questioning the direction the culture is going in. And just how it’ll survive going forward.
Yet through it all, hip-hop is, and for the foreseeable future—will remain the most influential culture around the world for today’s youth. Which means that if your brand wants to appeal to today’s youth—your brand must be congruent with the culture. Our quarterly series, Trending in Culture, was created to help your brand do just that.
So without further ado, these are the hottest artists, brands, podcasts, television shows, and trends in the culture for Q1 2026.
Hottest artists
In October of 2025, hip-hop history was made. Unfortunately, for hip-hop artists who are still actively recording and distributing music and their respective record labels—the history that was made isn’t something worthy of celebration at all.
That’s because according to Billboard, for the first time since 1990, there were no hip-hop representation in the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (which is part of the reason why 2025 was such an odd year). Down year on the Billboard charts, notwithstanding; plenty of artists still entered 2026 flourishing in album sales, popularity, and especially influence.
These are currently the hottest artists in the culture at the moment:
21 Savage: Ebbs and flows, highs and lows. No, that isn’t my attempt at spittin’ bars, but rather a description of how certain regions in hip-hop music dominate the rap scene for a particular time period—only to see another region come into power that fans gravitate towards more.
Impressively, throughout the last 20 years or so, Georgia (the city of Atlanta in particular), has been the most dominant region in hip-hop musically by far. One of the rappers responsible for helping keep the ATL on top of hip-hop has been Zone 6 represenative—21 savage.
21’s fourth studio album, What Happened to the Streets?, was released on December 12, 2025. The album not only received overwhelmingly positive reviews from fans, it also sparked an ongoing debate surrounding hip-hop’s embracement of street activity.
Cardi B: There aren't many industries in the world where constantly being involved in drama gets rewarded. Luckily for Cardi B, hip-hop just happens to be one of those industries.
Since its release in September 2025, Cardi’s long-awaited second studio album, Am I the Drama?, has been in heavy rotation in car stereos on the streets, headphones at the gym, and especially in social media posts.
Doja Cat: Thanks in part to the success of her latest album, Vie (2025), Doja Cat has now become the first female rapper in history to have nine songs with over a billion streams each on Spotify.
In support of Vie, Doja Cat is currently headlining the Tour Ma Vie World Tour.
Kehlani: Now before you go saying the obvious, which is that Kehlani is an R&B singer and not a rapper (which is true), you must first lament the fact that everything about Kehlani’s aura; from her swag, to her tats, even down to her raunchy lyrics—screams hip-hop!
The Oakland, California, native's latest single, Folded, is currently one of the hottest songs in the country.
Pooh Shiesty: Unlike any other genre of music, in hip-hop, an artist could become a household name in the culture for years without ever having released an official debut studio album .Take Pooh Shiesty for example. The Memphis, Tennessee, native has become one of the most popular, controversial, and beloved rappers in hip-hop.
All while having yet to have officially dropped a debut studio album. Nevertheless, the music video for Pooh’s first single since his release from prison, FDO (First Day Out), has now received over 21 million views on YouTube since its release on December 11, 2025.
Sexyy Red: Once thought of to be a novelty act by some, and even worse—an industry plant, by others—Sexyy Red has proven herself to be a viable hip-hop artist over the last few years.
Aside from her catchy hood anthems, perhaps the biggest reason Sexyy has been able to remain so relevant in the culture is because of her social media prowess. But make no mistake, bops like her latest single, If You Want It, have solidified Sexyy’s spot at the top of hip-hop’s current hierarchy.
Youngboy Never Broke Again: Speaking of hip-hop hierarchy, perhaps no artist in hip-hop can make the claim that they had a better 2025 than Baton Rogue, Louisiana’s own NBA Youngboy (aka Youngboy Never Broke Again).
Youngboy’s nationwide concert tour, Make America Slime Again, which supported his eighth studio album, MASA, was one of the hottest concert tickets not just in hip-hop, but of any music genre in 2025.
Hottest platforms
It was Microsoft co-founder the late Paul Allen who once said that, “History shows that you ignore emerging platforms at your own peril, because one of them might make you irrelevant.” Paul Allen couldn’t have been more correct in his assertion.
Those that ignore emerging platforms, most definitely do so at their own peril. Thank goodness that hip-hop has always been ahead of the curve and have embraced platforms like podcasts since their inception.
These are the hottest platforms in the culture at the moment:
Club Shay Shay
Drink Champs
Joe & Jada
Million Dollaz Worth of Game
The Art of Dialogue
The Joe Budden Podcast
VladTV
Hottest fashion brands
Every 90 days. That’s around how often trends change in both fashion and hip-hop culture. Which means regardless of how dope or in vogue your wardrobe may have been last season, this season, the same style and clothing brands could be considered wack.
In order to be congruent with other aspects of what’s hot in the culture, you must certainly be aware of what’s poppin’ in the fashion game.
These are the hottest fashion brands in the culture at the moment:
Amiri
Balenciaga
Balmain
Dior
Gallery Dept.
Givenchy
Moncler
Hottest television shows
Due to the emergence of various streaming platforms, as well as media platforms like podcasts, many people believe that television is on its way out. But if you ever had the privilege of being able to look over the television advertising budgets from some of your favorite brands—you’d undoubtedly agree that television is alive and well.
These are the hottest television shows in the culture at the moment:
Baddies USA
Mayor of Kingstown
For My Man
Power Book IV: Force
Stranger Things
Hottest social media platforms
Let’s be honest, there’s a good chance that on a weekly basis, you typically devote more time towads looking at posts that appear on your social media timeline—than you do talking to your partner face to face or even over the phone (if so, you’re certainly not the only one). Most people are totally addicted to social media—especially in the culture.
These are the hottest social media platforms in the culture at the moment:
Instagram
TikTok
X
Threads
Facebook
What’s fading
Hip-hop is known to inspire people that society would deem as underdogs, to step up to the plate and achieve dreams that were once believed to be unattainable.
For hip-hop fans who were blessed enough to have experienced early 2000s hip-hop—one of the things hip-hop has influenced artists to successfully pursue that once seemed unattainable—was having the opportunity to create their own clothing line.
During the early 2000s, artists like: JAY-Z, Beanie Sigel, 50 Cent, Eminem, DMX, Eve, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, and many others all had their own clothing lines that their fans proudly supported.
Fast-forward to 2026. Sadly, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single mainstream hip-hop artist today that has their own clothing line.
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with artists opting to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors outside of founding their own clothing line; but there was just something about the era of being able to walk into department stores like Macy’s, and seeing a section in the store totally dedicated towards hip-hop artists’ clothing lines that was so dope.
Sadly, for the culture, those days are long gone. But hopefully, just hopefully, the days of hip-hop artists having successful clothing lines will return someday soon.