Hip Hop Renaissance

Hip Hop's "renaissance age" is the name given to mainstream hip hop during a period of the mid 2010s to the 2020s. The period was characterized by the popularization of poetic hip hop in which the importance of lyrical content made a return. The renaissance age was centered around hip hop artists attempting to express themselves while producing quality music. In this time period rapping about fantasies of money and woman (a well recognized stereotype of hip hop music) was considered taboo.

Timeline
The renaissance era of hip hop was thought to have begun with the release of rapper Stonebrook's debut single "What I Feel Like" which was written completely in metaphors. When interviewed about the song Stonebrook replied "I was trying to bring back the literature in hip hop" a comment which earned mixed responses from hip hop fans everywhere.

Stonebrook's song and comments inspired many other artist to step up to a lyrical challenge. The careers of less lyrical rappers became lost as they were overshadowed by other artists who had become lyricist. The release of rapper Big Tyler G's song "On The Next Day" brought back the art of story telling in hip hop.

Many artist began to rise during the renaissance era and the main goal of artists during this time period was to outdo one another. Many feuds between rappers began to circulate as the result of many rivalries between artist. During this time period two major hip hop record labels, Lightning Star Records and Diabolical Entertainment were prominent.

Many mainstream artist of the era were signed to either Lightning Star Records or Diabolical Entertainment and there was a bitter rivalry between the two labels due to their massive size. Eventually a feud known as the Continental hip hop rivalry begun with rappers from the two major lables and lesser allied labels attacking one another through a variety of diss records. The Continental hip hop rivalry (credited with being worse than the East Coast - West Coast hip hop rivalry) lasted from the 2020s to the early 2030s when the hip hop renaissance came to an end.