Nope, no top 10 list for you and all your friends to debate around the lunch table this week. Instead, I’ll explain why hip-hop music receives a disproportionate, though deserved, amount of coverage in this column.

For starters, hip-hop has emerged as the most popular music genre since the turn of the century. In 2001, Eminem was the face of hip-hop and defeated the singing pop stars of his era like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Today, the most successful musical artists can be found in hip-hop — with the exception of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Adele. No, seriously. The list of exceptions is that short.

What was the last rock band to really penetrate mainstream popular culture? Vampire Weekend? Maybe, but it’s easy to overestimate their popularity because so much of their fan base consists of college-aged, pseudo-indie kids — 0ne of the loudest minorities on campus.

Aside from hip-hop being the most popular musical genre, it is also the most socially significant and conscious genre.

Like rock ‘n’ roll during the mid- to late 20th century, hip-hop has given voice to the marginalized and accurately captured the mood of many Americans as acts of social injustice continue to occur.

If you don’t believe me, then take it from the front man for The Who, Roger Daltrey, who told The International Business Times, “The only people saying things that matter are the rappers, and most pop is meaningless and forgettable.”