Hip-hop has been at the forefront of defining modern culture since its inception 50 years ago. While this music genre continues to evolve heading into 2026, there are quite a few surprising things that have been influenced by hip-hop over the past five decades.
Slang and fashion are two relatively well-known facets of our society that stem from hip-hop. Whether it’s a unique catchphrase or a physical, nonverbal greeting, hip-hop’s influence on how we communicate with our peers is undeniable.
Of course, fashion draws from hip-hop in a variety of different ways. No matter what style is “in fashion” during a particular season or year, hip-hop artists and their fanbase prioritize looking as clean and fresh as possible. There’s a strong sense of pride and identity tied to fashion, which even inspires the latest high-end designer brands and runway shows in other countries.
The entertainment industry also fuses hip-hop culture into most of its products. Even table games and slots available through some of the nation’s biggest online casino gaming operators have environments and themes that reference hip-hop.
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Hip-hop DJs’ manual process to form a breakbeat ushered in the first wave of this musical genre. It took elements of jazz, blues, and rock music.
Nowadays, in 2025, most hip-hop artists have a plethora of sound engineers and high-powered software programs that have carried this genre into a new sound. Autotune and a variety of heavy percussion instrumentals make original hip-hop music from the 1970s and 1980s nearly unrecognizable in comparison.
This shift in hip-hop due to technological advancements was recently analyzed in a survey between the Hollywood Reporter and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. The main topic focused on the presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it should be used within musical production and performance.
Findings concluded that 52 percent of Americans are not interested in listening to AI-generated music, and 66 percent said they would never listen to AI music. Of course, the younger generation (Z) is the most open-minded to AI’s usage at 30 percent, while also seeing a spike in learning a new instrument to play.
Ultimately, this study found that the music industry is going to become a very versatile landscape for artists and consumers to create and enjoy. The recent surge in rock music popularity is one example, with hip-hop artists inserting more electric guitar, bass, and drums into their mixes and live shows.
Hip-hop remains the focal point of pop culture, which moves downstream into politics and policies. There’s a tangible impact that hip-hop has on our society, and it’s all predicated on how the music makes an artist or listener feel.
Authenticity and swagger are a couple of the fundamental ways to describe how hip-hop has shaped our society since its inception half a century ago. It seems like its presence is felt in virtually every industry and in the majority of our daily communication.
The onset of AI has the potential to take this musical genre’s impact to new heights, especially in an interconnected and digital world. Paying homage to its roots and widespread influence will be a necessity moving into the future.