Ellen has become an unlikely hip-hop trailblazer

Variety

Hip-hop artists have been flourishing on daytime TV thanks to Ellen DeGeneres, who’s become the lead TV booster of the music genre in the mainstream thanks to the fact that she showcases so many musical acts. “Other shows put on music to fill a hole,” says co-exec producer Jonathan Norman. But the rise in hip-hop on Ellen over the past two years “stems, first and foremost, from Ellen’s love of the genre and those artists,” he adds, “hip-hop is ever-present.”