Music & Marketing: URBANIZED!

With close to 20 years in the game, Jay-Z has seen trends come and go, and he’s managed to stay ahead of his peers for most of it. How does he do it?

If you purchased Jay-Z’s Decoded app for the iPhone or iPad, you got access to this video today…

And the rest of us get to watch it for free.

Can’t knock the hustle.

Now that the Jesus of the genre has been so kind as to drop his instant classic, Thank Me Later (the obvious, hands-down winner for album of the year) it is time for the rest of the industry to step it up or face some of those harsh realities that 50 Cent once warned us about. Hip-hop, as we knew it, may be in need of a funeral service. Nas, being the prophet that he is, called it in early in 2006, but the doctors are now giving up hope and sending for the coroner. Let me tell you how I know: There was a time (specifically 2006) when things were getting so bad that Nastradamus proclaimed that it was all over. The difference was that there was someone left to dissent. And that is what we have lost.

After a while, the voices of the people who wanted to see hip-hop survive got drowned out by those who didn’t really care about the music, the culture, the people, or really anything besides the damned money. What happened to us? We used to stand for something. But the entire rap genre has somehow transformed into a corporate liaison where albums are audio commercials for brand name clothing, jewelry, alcohol, and vehicles. Concerts have become the catwalk for these airheaded clowns to parade themselves and their crews around in the items that are available for sale. Have we really gotten to the point where the stuff you hear on the radio is actually what we’re all about? Do people really pay money to see Drake perform? Is it really possible that labels are bankrolling blogs? Something is rotten, word to Hamlet.

But this morning, it hit me. That isn’t death in the true sense. In reality, the inception of hip-hop was the beginning of a movement that represented a culture of lack. This thing that we love is the auditory representation of the people that it caters to. It was the music of the “have-nots” but we have seen it bent, stretched, morphed, and disfigured to encompass the many people who wanted the style without the struggle. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Hip-hop doesn’t have to always be grimy. It doesn’t always have to be about life in the street. But what it must be, by necessity, is representative. It must embody the state of its people.

When cruising the troubled blocks of Los Angeles’ city streets listening to 2pac, one can see and feel the culture. If you happen to be on the right block, the same is true of the New Boyz as youngsters in the Fairfax district “Jerk” to their heart’s content in acid-washed skinny denim . A few years ago, looking out onto Lake Michigan and rubbing shoulders with Chicagoans, I could genuinely feel that College Dropout was truly the music of people. Sadly, I can’t say the same about much of the music by many of the artists that attempt to live under the hip-hop banner today. I would argue that the inordinate number of drug kingpins who are allegedly trafficking kilograms of cocaine daily at wholesale rates according to self-aggrandizing mixtape lore (See: Trap or Die) represent a farce that relates to hip-hop but is so far from true that the hyperbole is laughable and embarrassing (Bawse). The same is true of the non-criminal braggadocio of the highest success stories of the urban music scene. Maybe one day, rapping about international flights that garner millions of dollars in purely legitimate profits will be generalizable to this culture of ours. But that day is not today; not in the America where an oil spill was the biggest thing to hit the trap since Katrina.

In truth, the music that most call Rap or Hip-hop today is actually Pop, Top 40, or Club/Dance music. And sadly, even within that genre, it is still less representative of its people than that of Lady Gaga, The Ting-Tings, Miley Cyrus, and David Guetta; all of whom actually sing about situations that could legitimately happen to a person (if they were a sophomore in High School) and don’t aspire to do anything more than make people dance.

But don’t stop reading just yet. There is a silver lining.

The fortunate side effect of rebranding fake rappers as pop artists is the same as blowing away chaff to reveal the wheat. Hip-hop, the remainder after we divide the fake from the authentic, is alive and well. If you believe KRS-One, we will be here forever (and ever) but if you need a little more assurance than that, I have a plan. Much like the blowback against Wal-Mart when people became informed of their business practices, I think that we will find that the way to combat being force-fed the empty falsehoods of the corporate, urban music landscape is to buy local. Imagine the impact on your favorite local artist if your region had decided to spend its 13 dollars on their project rather than squandering it on a pretty package of lies from across the country. I bet his next LP would be easier to find at Best Buy.

I think that since Vh-1 loves to honor hip hop every year, it’s time that we think a little more carefully about how they might do their jobs effectively. Don’t get me wrong, much of the greatness of hip hop should be celebrated, and having such a powerful awards show gives rappers yet another chance to be on TV. The added exposure creates money-making opportunities, and I’m always down for that.

But let’s be real: Is the entire hip hop industry really worthy of being honored all the time? Should every popular artist or well-known song be celebrated, or should some be maligned? To say that every impactful group or song in the history of hip hop is worthy of an honor is like saying that we should celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday just because he was famous.

So, to help Vh-1 out on this, I thought I would come up with my own awards show. I call it the “Dr. Boyce Watkins Hip Hop Dishonor Awards,” going to every song and/or artist that has disrespected or undermined progress within the African American community. Here are the nominees:

1) NWA for the creation of gangsta rap: To show you just how much of a conflicted soul I am, NWA is actually my favorite group of all time. As a rebellious teenager, I loved what they brought to the table, and I’ve expressed that in other articles. But I must also be critical of myself by saying that my appreciation for NWA’s art is overwhelmed by the guilt I feel for the fact that this group inspired a multi-billion dollar industry that makes a profit by teaching black men to be thugs and black women to be hoochies. So, as of today, I am going to give NWA the Self-Destruction Award and disavow at least some part of my love for their music (give me some time though, it’s sort of like dismantling a bad bank).

2) Black Entertainment Television (BET): BET must be acknowledged for being the channel through which the most poisonous and ruinous forms of entertainment have been transmitted to the black community. If toxic hip hop was the dope, BET was the dope man. Bob Johnson made a billion dollars off this deal with the devil, and in the end, he completely lost his soul. The fact that Johnson’s wife, Sheila, had the audacity to go public and say that she is ashamed of what BET has become only adds insult to injury. Sorry Sheila, I don’t believe you. Give the money back and then perhaps your critique might have some credibility. That’s like robbing a bank, keeping the money and saying that you will never do it again. So, the Most Dishonorable Media Outlet in America Award goes to Black Entertainment Television.

3) Lil Wayne for Wanting to have sex with every girl in the world: Did we not learn anything from the experiences of Eazy-E and Magic Johnson? It would be my dream that for every song we write about having sex, we write another song about kids without daddies, or nasty venereal diseases. The desire to have sex is a natural part of our human lifeblood, but abusive and irresponsible sexual behavior should not be taught to our kids. I have some degree of respect for Weezy’s lyrical abilities and business acumen. I also give major props to the solid music produced by Young Money, even standing up to support Drake against criticism by my friends like Marc Lamont Hill. But I have almost no appreciation for the fact that Wayne encourages other young men to be irresponsible in their choices. I have no doubt that Lil Wayne is a genius, which is part of what frustrates me the most. The only thing worse than an unintelligent black man is a brilliant black man who is smart enough to convince us that he’s stupid. So, The Dishonorably “Ignant” Negro Award goes to Lil Wayne.

4) Hypocritical Schizophrenic of the decade award – Ice Cube: OK Cube, let me get this straight. First, you start off as 100% gangster, saying that “Life ain’t nothing but b*tches and money,” but you turn around 20 years later and have a lyric in which you complain about young rappers by saying that “All you rap about is p*ssy and money.” Then, right after leaving NWA, you suddenly become a non-pork eating, assalamu alaikum Muslim, and then years later go back to making gangsta rap where you are calling women b*tches and hoes, and bragging about shooting other black men. If that’s not enough, you then start making family movies (’Are We There Yet?’ and ‘Barber Shop’), while putting out gangsta rap albums at the same time. But again, perhaps I am as hypocritical and confused as Ice Cube, because he actually happens to be my favorite artist. Similar to the great Tupac Shakur, Cube reminds us that a great artist can also be a very complex human being. So Cube, you are the Dishonorably Conflicted Schizophrenic of this year’s show.

5) Clear Channel and all the other major media companies that are buying up urban radio stations and playing nothing but garbage all day: Most of the hip hop we hear on the radio doesn’t represent the essence of the genre. Since the telecommunications industry was deregulated during the Bush Administration, many smaller urban radio stations have been turned into little capitalist drones connected to the same musical brain. They are told to play the same crap repeatedly and to drain the station of any meaningful or intelligent dialog. In other words, the end result is a massive corporate brainwashing exercise of the entire African American community. I am hopeful that President Obama opens more doors to black-owned media and pushes the FTC to show added respect for diversity within this industry. So, the Dishonorable Media Conglomerate Award goes go Clear Channel and Big Radio.

So those are the nominees for the 2010 Dr. Boyce Watkins Hip Hop Dishonor Awards. You might have nominees of your own, and I’d love to hear them. We should certainly celebrate the greatness and cultural contributions of hip hop music, but we must also recognize the fact that we’ve got to do better. Unfortunately, I must admit that among those who need to do better, I am at the top of the list. I am personally going to try to become more positive.

An example of some of the music available for licensing on audio jungle!



You can also check out some other loops, sound effects, idents, jingles and more here... http://audiojungle.net/user/dxvid/portfolio

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