Look, I’m gonna be real with you right from the jump—are people done with mainstream rap these days? Everybody has been whispering it in 2025 and the truth is that, both Drake and Eminem are in the 80s and 70s million monthly listeners on spotify, and Kendrick just killed the Super Bowl halftime show. But simultaneously, there is a feeling of something different. Like, really different.
The mood is changed, and assuming you have been following what is actually trending on Tik Tok, Instagram reels or simply scrolling through your feed, you have likely noticed it as well. The names that are making people jump are not necessarily as you would imagine.
The Numbers Don’t Lie (But They Don’t Tell the Whole Story Either)
Here’s the thing—when you look at raw streaming data, mainstream rappers like Drake and Eminem are still absolutely crushing it. Drake ended November 2024 as the leader in terms of monthly listeners on Spotify with 81.1 million. Eminem’s at 72 million. Kendrick Lamar has almost 71 million following the release of his album GNX and the viral diss track, Not Like Us, with which he basically broke the internet.
Technically, therefore, people are not totally over with mainstream rap. The large boxers continue to receive their plays. However, here is where it becomes interesting- the vitality surrounding these artists is not the same. It is not so much about excitement but… routine? Similar to yes, Drake released another track, nice. Eminem is still technically good, all right. However, where is that sense of something new?
Underground Is Having Its Main Character Moment
Meanwhile, in the underground, the situation is exploding. Artists such as Nettspend, OsamaSon, ian, 2hollis and Yeat are making their mainstream inroads at a pace that was unachievable five years ago. We are talking about rappers who are totally unknown and within a short period of twelve months, they are not only performing at Rolling Loud but they are also not yet twenty years old.
The reason? TikTok changed everything. These underground musicians do not require the support of major labels any more. They drop bits, the algorithm runs its course and in seconds they have 30 million monthly listeners. It’s wild. And the music they’re making? Quite experimental, quite bizarre, quite engaging as compared to what is emerging through the conventional pipeline of the mainstream.
The Mainstream Fatigue Is Real
This is what I observed–and it is verified by research–there is actual mainstream fatigue that is going on at the moment. Once all the Drake tracks are blended with the ones that could have been on any Drake album of the last five years, people begin to seek alternatives. Once mainstream rap turns into this tried and true formula of cash, cars, designer, the trap beats, it becomes monotonous within a short period of time.
Another recent article literally defined it as mainstream fatigue when discussing the rap scene of 2025. Playboi Carti released an album of 30 songs named Music that was scattered across the floor so much that it almost hit the floor. Joey Bada$ needed to make beef only to achieve headlines. It was even done by Central Cee, who set a record on Spotify, with what critics referred to as a risk-averse formula.
Therein lies the trouble. Are people done with mainstream rap these days becomes a valid question when mainstream rap itself seems done with taking risks.
What Makes Underground Different (And Why It Matters)
In 2025, underground rap is a symbol of everything mainstream has forgotten about the way, authenticity. These musicians do not care about airplay or whether their music is going to be used in a Super Bowl advertisement. They are creating weird, experimental things a mix of hyperpop and rap, or a revival of Y2K aesthetic, or anything that they think will sound cool.
Other artists such as Che released an album dubbed as Sayso Says which critics termed as genre defining. This mad-cap blend of hyperpop and rap was released twice in a year through two mixtapes by Pretti Fun. The virality of Rich Amiri and his work ONE CALL was due to its sound being different and distorted. These are not accidental, this is what artists can do when they are not under the neck of corporate bodies.
And you know what? People are responding. The underground scene of 2024 was described as one of the greatest years of 2021. That tells you something.
Drake vs Kendrick: The Beef That Proved The Point
The Drake and Kendrick situation was fascinating because it basically illustrated everything wrong with mainstream rap right now. Kendrick released Not Like Us- a real diss track that is full of substance and creativity and commentary. It has received almost a billion streams on Spotify.
Drake’s response? Crickets. Instead, his reaction was to continue with what Drake does, which is smooth, safe, commercial music. Meanwhile, Kendrick was playing at the Super Bowl with this message-rich, multi-layered performance which made people discuss all the details weeks after it. There is one artist who is risking and stretching limits. The other is playing it safe.
Which one can you even imagine is more essential in 2026?
The Global Picture Is Changing Too
This is something significant- hip-hop is still huge worldwide. It is estimated that 26% of the entire world music audience listens to rap and hip-hop. In certain nations such as South Africa, it is 59 percent of the digital music consumption. The genre as such is not dying.
However, the location of where people are finding their rap is changing. It is no longer radio, or even Spotify playlists. It is the algorithms of Tik Tok that give you 15 seconds of a song by an artist who has 50,000 followers and is creating the most innovative thing you have heard in the whole year.
Why The Old Guard Still Matters (Sometimes)
I do not mean that Eminem or Drake are irrelevant. In 2024, Eminem literally became the most-searched artist on Google over Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson. That’s insane. He remains unrivaled in terms of technical ability and his list of albums keeps attracting new followers.
But here’s the thing: are people done with mainstream rap these days is not really whether the old legends can still rap. It concerns the question of whether or not the exciting stuff still takes place in mainstream rap as a system. And more and more the answer is no.
The TikTok Effect Changed Everything
We should discuss the fact that now underground artists are blowing up. In the days of SoundCloud (seems like a distant forever ago), it has been years to grow a following. Now? An artist seeds a clip on Tik Tok, it becomes part of a dance craze or a meme and bam the following month they are already on tour.
Artists such as ian started as a producer, then switched to rapper in 2022, achieved momentum at the start of 2024, and by the year-end appeared at the large festivals with Lil Yachty. That timeline is insane. And it is entirely circumventing the conventional mainstream system through which Drake and Eminem rose.
What 2026 Actually Looks Like
So what does this portend us to go by 2026? The fact is that we are in this bizarre transitory. Mainstream is not necessarily dead but it is on life support. Drake and Eminem will continue to receive their streams as they have developed a career of over a decade and have large catalogs. Kendrick will remain Kendrick being boundary-pushing and somehow being close to the mainstream.
But the energy in rap? That’s underground now. It is there that the innovation is taking place. That is where the artists are risking it, experimenting with sound and making things that you really do not know when you hear them.
The Real Answer (It’s Complicated, Obviously)
So are people done with mainstream rap these days? Kind of, but also not really. More so, it seems that people are tired of formulaic mainstream rap. They have tired of artists playing it safe. They repeat the same themes with the same music with the same raps.
However, they are by no means through with good rap. They are not over with musicians who want to say something. They are not over with innovation, experimentation, and originality. They are now only discovering those things elsewhere.
The popular musicians who will remain in the next 2026 and beyond? They will be the ones that will recall what has made them unique in the first place. The ones who are ready to make risks even when they need not. The ones who realize that being a radio with 80 million monthly listeners does not mean that you can ride forever.
Where We Go From Here
The hip-hop is not leaving, it is still the most powerful music style in the world. However, the center of gravity is changing. This is making the underground the new mainstream and the former mainstream like, background music into a car commercial.
Are people done with mainstream rap these days? Perhaps not entirely, but at least they are seeking out elsewhere the artists who will characterize the next generation, the next epoch. And honestly? It is likely to be the healthiest thing that can befall the genre. Competition brings about innovation and the underground is currently compelling the rest of the world to raise their game.
Those artists who adapt will prosper. The ones who don’t? They shall not lose their legacy streams, however. Yet the culture discourse? That’s moving on without them.
