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Market to shared values, not race
Around 1999 the advertising business sorted the world into Black, white, and Hispanic. To sell a Cadillac Escalade to Black buyers, an ad put a deep voice over the announcement. Spanish-speaking audiences got an ad that just said hola. Nobody looks at an ad and thinks it speaks to them because of their race. The better route is shared values, like the culture around skateboarding.
Music had already shown it. DMX records sold in Iowa even though the local radio station didn't play him, and Eminem records sold in Harlem. What people listened to had nothing to do with their ethnicity.
Black consumers also bought products that were never marketed to them, like L'Oreal products shown only with blonde white women on the box or in the commercial. Brands that connected authentically with where the culture was, which also reached those segments, took market share.
Why did music charts once split by race?
Record companies in the 1920s marketed recordings by Black artists as 'race records,' with their own catalogs and sales channels. Billboard's chart for these records began in 1942 as the Harlem Hit Parade and was renamed Rhythm & Blues in 1949. It has carried other names since, including Soul and Black, before settling on its current R&B and hip-hop labels.
How did SoundScan change the rap charts?
Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales at the register in May 1991, replacing the reports that stores sent to chart compilers. The first charts built on this data showed that country and rap albums sold more than the old method had suggested. N.W.A.'s Efil4zaggin reached number one on the Billboard 200 in June 1991.
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