Unemployed And Back to Bloggin', Baby!: Clarification: Where the DMXs and 50 Cents of the World Came From

Lunch= done. Now let's get back to today's lesson.

I mentioned earlier that the shallow crack rappers of today's mainstream bit Tupac and Biggie, seizing their vivid crack tales but neglecting the tones with which the two approached them. That is the important disconnect that defines the shallow and the truly reflective. 'Pac and B.I.G. spit tracks like "Everyday Struggle" and "Papa's Song" along with their drug narratives; it gave their music context by providing a starting place--a reason--for why they did what they did. The rappers of today spit twisted crack tales that are completely devoid of such context and, even worse, glorify the lives that they lead as admirable. The advent of these Pac and BIG clones coincided--or even helped spur--the mass commercialization of rap as an industry; this was both good and bad. Good because, for the first time, rap was able to reach a wider audience and artists were able to profit from it. DMX, Ja Rule, Master P, and others were able to become platinum selling artists with ease. P was able to parlay his success into a record label, which at its prime gave him a net worth of over $600 million. However, it was bad because it has hurt hip-hop as a whole. While some artists were able to reap the fruits of commercialization, others did not. The phenomenon of the "well-known independent" record label faded in favor of a few large ones. As a result, hip-hop's image became less diverse. Think about it like this: you've got a street cart selling beef hot dogs that does quite well. Do you mess with a winning formula, or do you try to sling some pork and chicken hot dogs as well? This is essentialy what the record label CEOs have done: they found a winning formula, and have stuck to it. The problem is that this has had the unintended consequence of flattening people's perceptions of both hip-hop and blacks in general. Again, there have been notable exceptions, but they're just that, exceptions. Jay-Z's going from being a rapper to being a record label owner is an exception. Kanye West being one of the most creative individuals in music period is an exception. Unfortunately, wattered down lyrics and subject matter has become par for the course in a genre of music that I absolutely love.

There is a Texas Chainsaw Massacre type quality to the fact that (mainly) conservative whites have seen fit to assail hip-hop from since its inception while simultaneously ignoring the mechanisms that have allowed it to grow. It is foolish and naive to act as though rappers--many of whom have little say in the direction of their albums--are the sole cause of the so-called hip-hop problem of today. They forget how relatively obscure hip-hop was until it reached white suburbia; had hip-hop remained a "black" experience, hardly any of the artists you see today would go wood, much less Gold. They forget that hip-hop didn't begin to lose its very soul until record labels saw it as a way to make more money. More importantly, though, they forget that these same record labels refuse to expand on hip-hop as they have with other genres such as pop and rock. Pop has many different variations, whether we're talking about the Nickelodeon style pop of an Amanda Cosgrove, or the more adult-oriented stylings of a Christina Aguilera. Rock has many different subgenres, ranging from alternative, to new age, to even Christian rock. However, mainstream rap doesn't have this; it's all along the same vein, without a balancing force to oppose it. Thus, people hear Shawty Lo or Flo Rida, but don't get to hear guys like Common or Lupe Fiasco. Why? Because it's easier to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't. How would labels like Interscope and Sony look if they actually pushed someone like Cormega or Mos Def? Emcees like that go against the very image that the labels have crafted for blacks for almost two decades now.

Anyways, enough talk for now. Hip-Hop time:

The Roots- Respond/React: