Which city is more famous for Hip Hop: Atlanta or New York City?

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Space_League

That's a fair point. It probably wouldn't be #1 on this forum. It would probably be lower on this forum than on a random sample of the general population too. It might not even be #1 in the general pop, but I think it would definitely be higher up than it would be for NYC. There's just so much to say about NYC.

My thinking is that people who are into that kind of music will probably answer hip hop for both cities. People who aren't into hip hop might not put it for either city, but more likely to put it for Atlanta than NYC since they are less likely to have a general knowledge of other things the city is known for in modern times. I feel like the entertainment industry is an extension of the music industry in ATL more than the other way around (like LA for example)

Agreed on most points but I'd say that in Atlanta, the modern music and film/TV industries more or less rose to prominence independently of each other but converged in the middle of the first decade of this century. Film/TV was out of the gate first in the 70s with "Deliverance," "Smokey and the Bandit," "Dukes of Hazard," and Turner Studios and CNN (the world's first 24-hour news network) putting Atlanta on the map. During that era, Macon was the more prominent hub of the music industry in Georgia.

Although "Designing Women" (which ran from '86 to the early 90's) wasn't filmed in Atlanta, it was set there and gave the city more exposure too. The year 1989 saw the release of "Driving Miss Daisy" but more pivotal for the music industry that year was the founding of LaFace Records; then came So So Def a few years afterwards.

The 90s was the seminal decade for hip hop in Atlanta with Arrested Development winning Grammys in the early years of the decade and OutKast winning Best New Group at the Source Awards in '95. Dungeon Family as a whole burst on the scene and Jermaine Dupri was of course doing his thing. Monica became a star in her own right. But GA's film industry in the 90s belonged to Savannah with blockbuster hits "Forrest Gump," "Glory," and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" being filmed there.

The 2000's is when Atlanta's position as a major national hub of the modern hip hop/R&B and TV/film industries was solidified and recognized. Ludacris, Lil' John, and Usher. The movies "Drumline," "ATL," and "Idlewild" represented the convergence of both industries into an overarching entertainment industry that was rooted in the city. Atlanta began hosting the BET Hip Hop Awards in '06 which was around the same time Tyler Perry built his studios and released his first movies ("Diary of a Mad Black Woman," "Madea's Family Reunion") and TV show ("House of Payne"). Thee state tax incentives program for TV/film production was finalized in '08, and in '09 the NY Times said Atlanta had become hip hop's new center of gravity. Cue the rise of reality TV and the resounding success of "The Walking Dead" and it all leads to the present day.

The story of this current decade, which is still being written, is about the influence of Atlanta's entertainment industry on state and local politics. It will be interesting to see how things continue to unfold in that regard.