Apple Music has switched the names of one of its most popular playlists. “A-List: Hip-Hop” is now branded as “Rap Life,” and comes with a new show on Beats 1 radio.
The change was orchestrated by Ebro Darden, global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B at Apple Music. “Rap Life” will be promoted as a segment during Darden’s daily show on Beats 1. Apple is also launching a self-contained “Rap Life” show on Beats 1 every week.
“‘Rap Life’ will update as the culture updates. We will move at the speed of culture and some weeks that will be daily as new marquee material drops,” Darden told Billboard.
The change is apparently part of an effort to more directly compete with Spotify’s “Rap Caviar” and Amazon’s “Rap Rotation” playlists.
Apple Music focuses on hip-hop
Hip-hop has long been one of Apple Music’s main focuses. Particularly when it comes to streaming new releases, Apple Music routinely beats Spotify. Drake’s last two projects, Scorpion and More Life, both scored more streams on Apple Music than Spotify in their first few weeks. The same is true of Post Malone’s single “Rockstar.” That’s despite Spotify having a larger user base than Apple Music.
“I think for us it’s not about being one dimensional,” Darden told Billboard. “We have multiple things happening to help an artist reach an audience. I attribute it to that. We’re a very dynamic service. We have tools beyond just an app. If you are an Apple Music user and you really know the depth of it, we do a lot with Beats 1, on-demand content, artist pages, there’s a lot of stuff there. We’re still getting better. Year after year we’ll work to listen to the consumer and watch what they like about us and try to make adjustments to accommodate them.”
The change from “A-List: Hip-Hop” to “Rap Life” is already up and running on Apple Music.
