Posted by Kenny Smith
What is the state of Hip-Hop? Depending on who you ask, you will get different responses. Generally, responses will consist of either “it’s great, artists are making more money now than ever before,” or “it’s not how it used to be, everything sounds the same.” Well, they’re both right. My belief is that somewhere along the line as Hip-Hop evolved, it began to have data, statistics, and track records. And when it became understood that it was a multi-billion dollar industry, it took on another form.
Let’s compare Hip-Hop to a simplified Advertising Industry. In advertising, you have various different agencies geared towards selling a particular product. The ad agency’s job is to create the most effective advertisement to sell the product. In Hip-Hop, the ad agencies are the record labels, and the product is Hip-Hop music essentially. The labels’ main objective is to sell as much music (the product) by creating the most effective record (the advertisement) as possible.
In an ad agency, there is a specific department designated to create the ad that will sell effectively. This is the creative department, made up of art directors and copywriters, theoretically. The copywriter creates the words for the advertisement, and the art director makes the visual. In Hip-Hop, this would be considered the recording artist and the producer.
Now the number one objective in any ad agency is to sell, and after buying, researching and strategizing a plan, it is the creative department’s job to present an ad that will meet the client’s goal. Unfortunately, creativity is abolished and simplicity is welcomed because the main concern is SELLING the product. A copywriters integrity and craftsmanship have to be put aside, as it has been researched that simple, straight-to-the-point direct selling techniques are guaranteed winners.
And thus, you have the state of Hip-Hop; the record labels act as competing ad agency’s whose primary purpose is to reach as many people as possible, through their creative department’s ad’s. Generally, rapper’s are forced to dismiss creative intuitions and original ideas to go with what is guaranteed to sell. What is guaranteed to sell in any type of market is sex, violence, and controversy; in Hip-Hop this is the exhausted gangsta-machismo persona, the constant sexual exploitation, and the public controversy. If there is a new trend that is selling in the market (the vocoder) other labels will be sure to use it and make it their own, but it never steers too far from the main selling points. When new ways of selling the product get introduced (the iPOD, ringtones) the labels adjust accordingly, to where the product isn’t an entire record anymore but rather a single track.
The problem is that these ad’s (records) aren’t just everyday poster’s that you see as you pass by on the train, these are people’s lives, ideas and feelings recorded to music. The product isn’t just another way to make a buck; it is the music that is the representation for an entire culture. So sex and violence creating sells isn’t just looked at as “that’s just the ways to sell your product,” it becomes directly correlated to the culture that it represents. It is permeated into our thinking, our actions and our thoughts. Rappers are essentially helpless, as operating outside of this rigid formula doesn’t generate much success. They must follow the specific blueprint to sell their product, just like a copywriter. The originality, versatility, and freedom of expression of the Golden Age are either hard to find, or non-existent now because those things don’t move the product out of the stores. Labels become brands in the marketplace to the point where there are only a few brands pumping out the product. Since they’re all competing with each other, the product is the same.
So the state of Hip-Hop can be seen in different lights depending on your perspective. Is it a state of bliss (because that’s what ignorance is) or a state of emergency? Is it for better or for worse? Whatever it may be, the fact is Hip-Hop is a cash cow in the music industry and the music that it sells directly reflects this point. The bigger question is who’s to blame?
This is a serious break-down of the state of hip-hop. I’m sick of hearing “hip-hop is dead,” or “It only lives in the south,” etc. Whether you think it’s been rising or falling, or switching coasts, the reasons are because American consumerism is the underlying factor controlling its destiny.
You ask “who’s to blame?” But is there anyone to blame? Cosumers are responsible for buying the best advertised garbage out there, but isn’t it inevitable? And if it could have been prevented, then record labels are responsible for letting consumers get a sniff of the garbage in the first place. Neither record labels nor consumers may be the actual ones to blame, but instead America’s capitalist social structure that thrives off of, and encourages society’s thoughtless and excessive consumerism. No form of entertainment in this country doesn’t constantly have money in the back of its mind.
In response to Jay, all good points my man.
I personally feel that the consumer has a slightly bigger responsibilty for blame than anyone else, because if we just chose not to buy/listen/make ringtones/or tolerate the garbage music being put out, than the industry would be forced to change it’s marketing plan regardless.
But even in that sense, we all know that the target audience in Hip-Hop is either A) The Female listener or B) The kids/Young Teen (neither of whom have an avid appreciation for real, knowledgeable or street Hip-Hop (from a GENERAL STANDPOINT no disrespect to the true female Hip-Hop heads and young Hip-Hoppers) because they are the ones that actually go out and spend money). With that you get what we have today; club tracks and kiddy pop tracks.
I think what it really boils down to is that if you don’t know your past, than you can’t know your future. I know many people that I will call “Hip-Hop heads” who are biased against a partucular coast without any prior research; without taking time to actually sit down and listen to the music, past or present. So if East Coast is all they care to know, that’s all they will listen to, generally speaking. So for the youngins (females are going to listen to what they want) all they know is this kiddy garbage rap, so that’s all there is to them. The true people that know the real deal need to educate the young kids on the realness, being that the kids presumably grew up when it was on a sharp decline, or just non-existent all together. No one can really put a finger on whose to blame, but I DO KNOW that if a change is to occur WE (males enriched in the Hip-Hop culture) have to be the ones to change it.
yo, good work ,stay on your grind i can see it’s already paying off!!!!!!!!!!!