Why 1997?

1997 was possibly the most important year for music in the 90’s. Even through the death of the Notorious B.I.G. in March of that year, the hip-hop and R&B scene was firing on all cylinders, with tracks like I’ll Be Missing You, Mo Money Mo Problems, and Hypnotize. Collaborations between artists in these genres were plentiful, although the alternative music scene was more isolated with a lot more one-hit wonders. Elton John released an alternate version of Candle In the Wind as a tribute to Princess Diana after her death, which ended up making it No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 that year. Aqua’s smash hit Barbie Girl, which is of course notable in its own right, was also released this year.

What did it sound like?

Using data from Spotify, we can visualize different aspects of the Billboard Top 100 for the year of 1997.

Danceability: How well the track is suited for dancing. Based on tempo, rhythm stability, and beat strength.

Valence: The musical positiveness/upbeatness of the track. High valence songs will sound happy and cheerful.

Energy: The intensity and activity of the track. Based on noisiness, loudness, and general speed.

Loudness: Overall relative loudness of the track, measured in decibels.

Speechiness: How much spoken word is in the track.

Acousticness: How acoustic the track sounds.

Liveness: Detects an audience in the track.

Tempo: Measured in beats per minute

Key Signature: The key and mode of the track.

Genre

Which artists were the most important?

This network depicts a social/collaborative network of charting artists in 1997 and relevant contemporaries, and is largely skewed towards R&B/hip-hop. Using Eigenvector Centrality, which measures the transitive influence of nodes, four artists stood out the most: Lil’ Kim, Puff Daddy (or P. Diddy, Sean Combs, etc.), Da Brat, and Foxy Brown. A noticeable trait they share is that they’re all rappers, and three of them are specifically female rappers. Collaborations in mid-to-late 90s were key in solidifying a sound that would carry into the new millennia, which is demonstrated by the musical prowess exhibited by the likes of female rap. Lil’ Kim, Da Brat, and Foxy Brown were instrumental in shaping the blueprint for women who wanted to rap and have a seat at the table amongst their male counterparts, and their contributions are evident today as female rappers like Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, and Doja Cat dominate the charts, awards, and the pop scene at large.

Lil’ Kim Puff Daddy

Da Brat Foxy Brown

The mid-nineties were a vital time for R&B, hip-hop, and the plethora of collaborations between genres. A lot of the scouting, promoting, and culture-setting at the time was pioneered by big-time producers like Timbaland, Darkchild, the Neptunes, Teddy Riley, and P. Diddy. The network of collaboration in 1997 had almost instantaneous impacts, such as the legendary duets between Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, Monica and Brandy, and Aaliyah and Timbaland that took place the following year. This was also a time when musicians with more seniority also showed out with their R&B contributions, such as Keith Sweat and Babyface, speaking to the timelessness of the era and also influencing and contributing to classic contemporary pop acts of today through the ongoing resurgence of the iconic 90s sound through sampling and interpolation.