For me, pop as a distinct genre happens when all the elements of a kind of music are manufactured outside of their natural habitat.
Lupe Fiasco and B.O.B.'s early stuff is unquestionably hip-hop. "The Show Goes On" and "Airplanes," songs whose existence was clearly ordered from on high, are pop. Are they hip-hop? The same way that a Cadillac EXT is a truck, I guess.
But then, how do we treat something like Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" or Outkast's "Ms. Jackson"? They're major parts of the pop landscape, but no A&R or major label exec could have invented them. What about the entire existence of Drake?
And that's why clique discussions are stupid.
