Podcast Summary: Something Wrong With The Podcast

Episode: SWWP #42 — Is Hip-Hop Over?, Another Drake Lawsuit, & AI Charting Artists
Host: Julian Delgado
Date: November 4, 2025

Episode Overview

In this lively, candid, and often hilarious episode, Julian Delgado dissects pressing questions hovering over music and culture:

• Is hip-hop really in decline because of its short absence from Billboard’s top 40?
• Is Drake unfairly targeted in the latest streaming fraud lawsuit?
• What does the rise of AI “artists” mean for real musicians and the industry at large?

Delgado blends musical history, cultural critique, and industry insight, while never shying away from voicing strong opinions and offering laughs along the way.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Is Hip-Hop Over? — The Billboard Hot 100 Controversy

Timestamps: 00:30–09:21, 09:51–14:30

• Billboard Hot 100 Ousts Rap: For the first time since 1990, no rap song appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 following Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” being removed due to updated chart rules.

  • “This... caused a stir online and led a bunch of people to have this very, I think, ludicrous — no rap pun intended — discourse that is it over for hip hop?” (01:20)

• Hip-Hop’s Genre Evolution:

  • Delgado provides a rapid-fire, decade-by-decade history of US popular music, tracking the dominance—from 60s rock, to 70s disco/funk, 80s synthpop, to the 90s alt-rock/hip-hop overlap, and hip-hop's supremacy from the 2000s onward.
  • Explains how American hip-hop’s influence blended into UK drill, Afrobeats, and global pop.

• Genre Blending and Globalization:

  • Highlights the 2010s as a period of intense genre blending (trap, EDM, pop).
  • Notes the global rise of Latin and Afrobeats in the 2020s, citing artists like Bad Bunny, Burna Boy, and the cultural fusion at Super Bowl shows.

• What’s Really Behind the “Lull”:

  • Credits a temporary leveling-out to a new wave of young pop artists (Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX) challenging hip-hop’s Billboard dominance.

• Historical Perspective:

  • Rejects the notion hip-hop is waning, referencing its adaptability and cross-genre collaborations.
  • “To say hip hop’s over, I think is egregious and very hip hop in nature.” (12:53)

• Rebuttal: Hip-Hop is Back Already:

  • Megan Thee Stallion’s “Lover Girl” debuts on the Hot 100 after a mere two-week drought.
  • Calls out media and fans for overreacting to short-term trends.

2. Drake & The Spotify Lawsuit

Timestamps: 14:30–19:15

• The Lawsuit:

  • Details a new class-action suit against Spotify, claiming billions of Drake’s streams were fraudulent, thus devaluing payouts to smaller artists.
  • Plaintiff: RBX, cousin of Snoop Dogg.

• Industry Practice, Not Individual Malice:

  • Delgado calls out the absurdity of targeting Drake personally, given that paid/boosted streams are an industry-wide reality orchestrated by labels and marketers, not artists.
  • “To refer to Drake as anything other than legitimate is ridiculous.” (15:48)
  • “If you’re here to critique the system, then critique the system. Don’t come at the one person.” (16:35)
  • "It's like saying the NYPD is corrupt — so let's attack one cop. That's not addressing the problem." (paraphrased, 16:43)

• Lawsuits in Hip-Hop:

  • Mocks the rise in lawsuits in the genre as “loosey goosey and corny.”
  • Urges listeners to see the systemic issues, not scapegoat individual stars.

3. Drake vs. Kendrick, World Series Memes, and Online Culture

Timestamps: 19:15–21:45

• Cultural Residue:
  • Comments on how any LA-vs-Toronto news (like the World Series) gets recast as Kendrick vs Drake fodder by online culture.
  • “There could be a flash flood in Toronto, and some guy would put Kendrick behind it with music being like, ‘Got him!’… It's not going away anytime soon.” (20:49)

4. AI Artists on the Charts: Zinnia Monet & The AI Hype

Timestamps: 21:45–29:15

• Billboard “AI Artist” Milestone:

  • Critiques the manufactured hype around Zinnia Monet, the first AI-powered “artist” to appear on multiple Billboard “airplay” charts.
  • Challenges the notion that this represents a real cultural shift.
  • "You're not sharing news, you're creating the news by creating the lie... You're making a movement out of something that didn't exist." (22:26)

• Industry Manipulation:

  • Argues that headlines about AI artists are publicity stunts orchestrated between companies and media with little genuine impact or fan interest.
  • “Followers don’t mean shit. Like, this stuff isn’t real. These are vanity metrics... for a person that does not exist.” (26:58)

• Advice for Real Artists:

  • Tells living, breathing artists not to be discouraged by AI fads:
  • “If you are an artist and this is discouraging, just continue to make music, continue to be a real person and continue to tell real stories. Don’t let this dumb gospel AI bitch talk about God is good—let go and God—shut up. You’re not human. You don’t know shit about dick.” (28:03)

• Summary:

  • Predicts the AI artist trend is a flash-in-the-pan “pump and dump,” akin to NFTs/crypto.
  • Urges listeners to focus on authenticity and intrinsic value in their art.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “To say hip hop’s over, I think is egregious and very hip hop in nature. To speak so definitively and irrationally in a space where this genre has worked so hard to evolve and adapt... so much so that other genres want to become into our space and experiment and get a fun feature and work with Hip Hop artists.” (12:53)

• On the AI “artist” Zinnia Monet:

  • “No one knows who this artist is. No one knows what this song is... What the fuck is an airplay chart? Like, none of this stuff exists.” (22:18)

• On the Drake lawsuit:

  • “To try to pin this on one person, it’s like… If you’re here to critique the system, then critique the system. Don’t come at the one person.” (16:35)

• Encouragement for real artists:

  • “If you are an artist and this is discouraging you, just continue to make music, continue to be a real person and continue to tell real stories.” (28:03)

• On short-term hip-hop “absence”:

  • “This whole uproar and crises lasted a matter of two weeks. I think it’s crazy to think that hip hop is slipping.” (11:41)

• Dismissing AI industry hype:

  • “Nobody wants this shit. It’s not a bidding war, it’s a bullshit war.” (28:22)

Important Timestamps

• 00:30: Start of episode, cultural commentary on voting and democracy.
• 01:20: The Billboard Hot 100 controversy — “No rap in the top 40.”
• 04:45: Decade-by-decade breakdown of US pop/hip-hop history.
• 09:51: The return of hip-hop to the charts with Megan Thee Stallion.
• 14:30: Breakdown of Drake/Spotify lawsuit and industry streaming practices.
• 19:15: World Series, culture wars, and online Drake/Kendrick memes.
• 21:45: AI “artist” Zinnia Monet and the manufactured chart milestone.
• 24:30–28:30: Rant on AI industry, authenticity, and reassuring living artists.

Tone & Takeaways

• Julian’s Tone: Candid, comedic, passionate, sometimes profane; blends sharp industry knowledge with relatable analogies and heartfelt advice.
• Main Takeaway:
  • The brief absence of rap on the charts isn’t an existential threat — it’s a blip.
  • Don’t buy into lawsuits or AI hype designed to distract or scare real artists; the soul and connectivity of music remains in real, human creativity.
  • The game is bigger than any one setback or trend — keep making real art and don’t let culture vultures or plastic trends shake your purpose.

For listeners who missed it:
This episode is an irreverent but enlightening journey through modern music, fandom, and digital folly — equal parts culture defense, industry critique, and motivational pep talk for anyone who cares about where music is really headed.