Undermined From Within: How Hip-Hop Gives Itself Black Eyes

It's difficult for others to take you seriously when you refuse to do it.

This holds true for hip-hop as well. Last week, I wrote that many conservatives have a skewed view of hip-hop that's grounded in a form of racism; whether that racism is conscious or unconscious is for another post at another time. However, I feel that I was remiss in mentioning the role that hip-hop itself plays in this dynamic; it's a vicious cycle that involves the artists, record label CEOs, the media, and consumers, and while the outside media does a great job of consistently misinterpreting hip-hop music, the media from within the community--or at least claims to be from within-- doesn't do much better.

Why do I say this? Because of the artists that get propped up as opposed to the ones that are overlooked. This dynamic most apparently reflects the change in mindset that hip-hop itself has undergone as time has progressed; what started as a way of conveying the ills of poverty in the ghetto has transformed into a business. As such, hip-hop magazines such as The Source and XXL have gone from exposing acts like Mobb Deep and the Wu-Tang Clan to larger audiences, to supporting trendy artists in order to sell copies. After all, selling magazines is a business, and if you're covering a genre that's all about trendhopping, you'd better follow suit in order to remain relevant. That's nice, but unfortunately, it's come at the cost of hip-hop integrity. On some level, I don't blame the Bill O'Reillys of the world for their dogged distaste for it, not when magazines and television stations such as BET only show some of the worst in rap in an appeal to the lowest common denominator. On some level, it's hard for me to solely blame the conservatives who use hip-hop as a convenient scapegoat for all of society's moral shortcomings, not when Rolling Stone and Vibe refer to an emcee like Lil Wayne as the best of his generation and then compare him to Jimi Hendrix. Both parties share blame, but there's a bitter irony in seeing hip-hop's most severe wounds being inflicted by media outlets that profess to support it.

Looking at it, it's beyond shameful that things have turned out this way; there are a multitide of great artists within hip-hop who don't get the attention and press they deserve. Instead, pop-rap acts like Flo Rida, Soulja Boy, and Hurricane Chris get praise as "hip-hop's newest generation" while more talented artists are ignored. I don't mean to sound like some bitter music elitist, because I'm not; however, I do think that it shows that priorities are out of whack when guys like that get the praise over more substantive artists like Mos Def and Chamillionaire. Priorities are out of whack when Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and the rest of these so-called experts can laud Wayne's "stream of consciousness" style when those same outlets were either blasting or overlooking the very artists Wayne got his style from (MF Doom and Kool Keith among others). In short, it's unfortunate that hip-hop media, much like the music itself, has become more about image than substance.

The public isn't buying it anymore, either; in fact, they haven't for a while. Hip-hop sales have fallen every year since 2003, and while music as a whole has been suffering, hip-hop is hurting more than most. More unfortunate is the fact that record labels don't care at all about this; in fact, it seems as though the upper brass is using the technological age to its advantage in order to get away with signing untalented artists. Hence the "ringtone rapper" phenomenon, which involves making money off of a rapper's single by offering it as a ringtone, while paying little to no attention to the artist's actual album. So long as they make their money, it's ok that the album doesn't sell, right? Right.

But they shouldn't be surprised when people stop listening all together.