If you've been listening to hip-hop for the past decade, then you've lived through one of the genre's strangest periods: The Ringtone Rap Era. It was a time loosely defined by a series of one-hit wonders, songs that seemingly popped up weekly with excellent beats, catchy hooks...and not much else. What made ringtones so frustratingly disposable was that they were seemingly created with the sole purpose of capitalizing on the then-emerging popularity of ringtones—it didn't matter if the songs were good in their entirety, since they only needed to bump for the 10-30 seconds that your phone rang. Although a number of artists were able to begin real careers as ringtone rappers, the genre was notorious for creating stars who made one Top 40 hit and then faded into oblivion.
Ringtone sales began rising in 2004, peaked in 2007 (when they brought in $881 million dollars), and have been declining ever since. Even if people recently realized that we were just fine when our phones rang like well, phones, and not jukeboxes, there's no denying there was something noteworthy about those four years. That why we put together A History of Ringtone Rap One-Hit Wonders, so you can reminisce about the hits...because we're pretty sure the artists themselves didn't leave much of an impression.
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J-Kwon "Tipsy" (Feburary 2004)
Ringtones sold:
Produced by:
Complex says:Hood Hop
Smitty "Diamonds On My Neck" (July 2005)
Ringtones sold:
Produced by:
Complex says:
D4L "Laffy Taffy" (October 2005)
Ringtones sold:Three million
Produced by:
Complex says:Units in the City
Young Dro "Shoulder Lean" (June 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:Two million
Complex says:
Jibbs "Chain Hang Low" (June 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:One million
Complex says:Turkey In The StrawPrussian Blue
DJ Webstar ft. Young B "Chicken Noodle Soup" (June 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:335,000
Complex says:
Rich Boy f/ Polow da Don "Throw Some D's" (August 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:One million
Complex says:
Huey "Pop, Lock, & Drop It" (September 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:One million
Complex says:
The Pack "Vans" (December 2006)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:
Baby Boy Da Prince
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:
Foxx f/ Lil Webbie & Lil Boosie
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:The Wiggles
Playaz Circle f/ Lil Wayne
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:Tha Carter III
Shop Boyz
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:Three million
Complex says:three million ringtones
Pop It Off Boys
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:Myspace post
Rocko
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:874,000
Complex says:
Self Made
2 Pistols f/ T-Pain "She Got It" (February 2008)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:
V.I.C. f/ Soulja Boy
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:
Complex says:Beast
Hot Stylz f/ Yung Joc "Lookin' Boy" (May 2008)
Produced by:
Ringtones sold:One million
Complex says: claimedYo Momma Got A Mustachelocked upMac Lethal
BONUS: Suprise Not One-Hit Wonders
