Power 30 Recap: Top 5 Industry, Radio and Digital Leaders

Much ink has been spilled about the many triumphs Funkmaster Flex has experienced over his lengthy career, one that forever shaped and changed what we know to be Radio DJ culture. His ability to still remain relevant, even as the content paradigm shifted towards digital output, has been instrumental in maintaining Hot 97’s place in Hip-Hop’s hierarchy. For those saying radio doesn’t matter anymore? When Flex said he had Drake’s reference tracks, the entire world tuned in. Drake himself admitted he gathered his woes and tuned in. How’s that for power.

The prank-call pioneer is a longstanding affecter of Hip-Hop culture, whether it’s his starring roles in Hip-Hop classics like Friday After Next or First Sunday, or his beginnings on Def Comedy Jam or BET’s Comic View. Today, as one of Atlanta’s Hot 107.9 frontmen, Smiley is a multi-faceted ambassador of Hip-Hop culture, be it through his philanthropic efforts, or his critique of major Hip-Hop culture issues, like Amber Rose’s “Slutwalk” campaign, or new music from Big Boi.

While some criticized Ebro’s move from Hot 97 VP of Programming to morning show host, one of the most powerful voices in Hip-Hop radio has thrived. He has rejuvenated Hot 97’s talk show programming with thoughtful, knowledgeable insight—along Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez—on his daily Ebro In The Morning outpost, and reaches 100 countries as one of the three lead anchors on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio.

Sway’s resume is serious, whether it’s his days at The Wake Up Show, or MTV, but there’s certainly something to be said about his current tenure at Sirius XM with Sway In The Morning, one of the best morning shows in Hip-Hop. From legendary moments—the Kanye interview, Robin Thicke’s Paula chat—to guest diversity—his website sports interviews with Gladys Knight and Kevin Gates—Sway’s influence and reach has continuously grown and continued to impact Hip-Hop and pop culture.

Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee and DJ Envy are full blown radio stars now, and their Breakfast Club morning show reflects it. The show, which is the #1 nationally syndicated Hip-Hop morning show in America, is viewed by hun- dreds of thousands of people on YouTube per month, and attracts marquee guests from all facets of Hip-Hop, whether it’s Jay Z, Louis Farrakhan or Sanaa Lathan. Their partnership with Revolt has only helped to raise their popularity, and Charlamagne has become a spectacle all his own–folks come prepared to have to deal with his line of questioning. As their popularity grows, their influence on the pulse of “what’s hot” in Hip-Hop will grow, and it will be interesting to see what they do with that power going forward.

With sales and charts being such a major point of contention, Billboard is the go-to place for all the statistics.

Mass producing quality original content on a daily basis is no easy feat, yet Complex does it in their sleep.

The best musical offerings Hip-Hop has to offer on a daily basis, all in one place. HotNewHipHop misses nothing.

Where else can you find exclusive videos, vines, best vine compilations and ratchet entertainment but WSHH? Got ‘eeeem!

Genius, formerly Rap Genius, initially separated itself from the pack as a platform where one of Hip-Hop’s important aspects, lyricism, can be dissected. Users from all over the world gave their interpretations of often disputed lyrics. Since then, Hip-Hop icons such as Nas, Eminem and seeral others have collaborated with Genius to give firsthand exegesis of some of your favorite lines. Now, re-branded, the platform looks to “annotate the world,” as they will now be givng insight into other entities outside of users and visitors, as well as major additions to their staff, Genius is without a doubt one of the most important platforms to the culture of Hip-Hop.