According to Forbes hip-hop "generates over $10 billion per year and has moved beyond its musical roots, transforming into a dominant and increasingly lucrative lifestyle." For mainstream hip-hop, money is a huge influence. Rappers are becoming less of artist and more of walking billboards. "Rich as Fuck" by Lil Wayne and 2Chainz is great example of bragging about money. Music videos allow for the listener to view the lifestyle these artist are expressing. Product placement is very prevalent in these videos, brands names are both shown explicitly and in a less noticeable way. Cars, sunglasses, clothes, jewelry, and alcohol seem to be a constant theme of this product placement.
And why not? These "artist" are getting paid by all these sponsors and making a very comfortable living. Yet, do they lose their style? Their originality? What are the drawbacks of selling-out? Well, once under a certain label, a performer is expected to project a distinct lifestyle. Wiz Khalifa is commonly criticized for selling-out, yet he has many fans who claims he has not. Wiz got famous pretty quickly, with this fame came wealth, and money can change anybody. The web series "Day Today" is essentially a camera following Wiz Khalifa as he goes about his daily life. The newer videos are quite popular, but many do not know that these videos started before Wiz was famous at all. To see the difference in lifestyle between the first video compared to the latest is incredible. Obviously he has more money now, but has that monetary gain changed his personality and style too? In the first video he is working on one of his first mixtapes Flight School and in second video he is on his latest tour, The 2050 tour.
Mainstream media has become a huge influence in the new digital age. Rap can be heard through many different outlets and spread to may new audiences. Corporations are taking notice of this and the growing popularity of hip-hop and using it to market. This is the reason why so much money is coming into the hip-hop industry. Other than shows and album sales, these artist make their money off of corporate endorsements. A recent example of this is the partnership between Mountain Dew and Lil Wayne. According to Forbes it is a
"multi-million dollar deal, and that the pact is for one year with an option for more. Jackson also said that the option provides for the possibility of Pepsi and Mountain Dew bankrolling an original film with Lil Wayne. The deal is the biggest in Mountain Dew’s history, and the executives on hand last night in Austin were gushing about their new star."
Wayne is famous for his style which made him famous. The classic auto-tuned Wayne with his notorious language and style was a creation of his producers and label. Lil Wayne seems to change this style however, almost evolving, in hopes to stay current and fresh whilst entertaining his old fans also.
The first video is "Go DJ" released in 2004. Notice Wayne's clothing, a simple tank top, bandanna, and baggy pants with very little to no product placement. Some would say this is before Lil Wayne "sold-out"
In this video, "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, you can see how the budget and production quality for the video has obviously gone up. This song was released four years after the "Go DJ" and there is a noticeable change in style. Also, he is seen wearing a suit, designer sunglasses, and riding in a limo.
"On Fire" by Lil Wayne is an example of another style change. Wayne went through a somewhat weird "Rocker" stage, where many of his songs including dark tones, electric guitar, and a live drum kit. This was genius although, because it related Wayne to a different genre and brought in a new fan base and of course, money. Notice his clothing also, this is when skinny jeans were first coming in as a fad, he is wearing dark clothes and attempting to look almost like a punk rocker.
The final example is "My Homies Still" by Lil Wayne. This is one of his more recent songs, that is paired with a music video that could easily cause an epileptic seizure. His lyrics and the video show Wayne's new ''skater" style. The new style is paired with his brand Trukfit which is market toward his fans but also skateboarding fans.
Mainstream hip-hop is a result of money and incentives for the artist. That is why it is not uncommon for an artist to change their style. In the end, it is their job, and for some the goal is money and fame as a rap artist. There is hope for artist who do not want to sell out however. The growing popularity of online free mixtapes allows artist to gain a fan base without a large label signing them. This allows for creative freedom and keeps the art in hip-hop.
This topic relates alot to what I wrote my most recent essay on, artists are puppets to corporate america and only produce music that sells, not music with any integrity anymore!! it's a reminder that this is a business after all but hopefully hip-hop will return to its roots someday.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kaley. It sucks that to make music go so mainstream that it has to break away from the roots of traditional hip-hop just to make all of this money. The music is now just a business and like you said it's just their job and they're doing what it takes to make the money which is why wayne continued to change his styles to keep his career going and to make the money keep flowing.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great blog post. You provided many examples as to how/why people sell out. Someone else who has recently come up under heat for being a possible sell out would Macklemore. He has been around since 2005 but he only recently became mainstream. Because of this many of his early fan were upset when he decided to team up with the NBA and remix one of his songs for the opening of the 2013 All - Star Game
ReplyDeleteTNT's 2013 NBA All Star Intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geafDAUPMag
Macklemore then went on a defensive end stating that he didnt understand why people though he was selling out and how what he was doing was a "no- brainier"
All in all, i dont think that in Macklemores case that "selling out" was bad but in the case of Wiz, it was. It all depends on the person and how they are affected by money
I dom't see how becoming successful makes one want to show off and brag. Non Hip Hop artists don't brag in their videos or songs. It seems childish that someone would want to brag and belittle someone else because they have a lot of sex, do a lot of drugs, and promote violence and the degradation of women.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think the internet is what's keeping some real hip-hop alive in this age of total mainstream domination. A lot of artists do have huge online fan bases, such as MF DOOM, or one of his many aliases.
ReplyDeleteI loved this! You made some good points about artists going mainstream. I feel like going mainstream is all about the money, but at the same time in anything you do you want to grow right? Everything changes eventually and if you didn't have money before and you have it now why wouldn't you flaunt it? I think it all comes down to this: A majority of Hip-Hop artists come from nothing, and in the Black community becoming a rapper or basketball player or football player is the only way for them to achieve the wealth of someone like Bill Gates or Donald Trump so once they get it they may have to change in order to maintain it. That is not to say that they aren't still passionate about what they do it's just that Money Talks and well... you know the rest.
ReplyDeletei JUST NOTICED I SAID "I FEEL" AHHHH -__-
ReplyDeletei do agree with you that mainstream does change the incentives of the rappers but i do not believe that it always changes them. for example, when you brought up wiz, yeah his lifestyle has changed since the first video but his life itself has changed also. he now is rich, has a wife, has a kid, has an awesome tour and it is al because he worked his way up. but his music itself hasn't changed, he still sings about his favorite thing since the beginning, weed. i do believe that mainstream can change the writers style though because some artists are paid to sing certain things that the record company wants them to because it will be a hit. its a sticky subject and can be looked at in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteYESSSSSS!!! I am so glad you made this post!! This is almost the exact topic of the essay I just turned in. The money-centric culture of mainstream hip hop really really pisses me off, as it glorifies talentless ass-clowns who brag about their ostentatious possessions, and lie about their "hood " background that doesn't really exist(see Rick Ross..who used to be a cop). Record labels use these artists to make money, by manufacturing catchy singles designed to sell albums. This trend tends to undermine the raw talent of underground artist such as Mos Def, Madlib, MF Doom, Kool Keith, and J-Dilla, to name only a few.
ReplyDeleteI love your post Oscar! Mainstream hip hop definitely has a lot of product placement in videos and even the lyrics. All of these artist are starting to make music that sounds alike and talk about the same thing. Artist to me seem more authentic on mix tapes than when their signed to a record label. I believe that record labels have a lot to do with the sound and production of what goes out into the mainstream. They take away some of the artist creativity just to make money
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, you have great examples! The chronological change in Lil' Wayne's career is definitely one of the most obvious examples of how the mainstream changes artist. At the end of the day, the mainstream is both good and evil. There's has to be a sense of marketing and management involved on behalf of the label to create a successful and profitable product AKA the artist. Unfortunately the authenticity of an artist gets lost in translation when money becomes involved but that's not to say there aren't people who do it for the love of it. Like many before me have mentioned, everybody wants to come up... some people are comfortable where they are but no matter what you do in life, a majority of those around you have high hopes and dreams and well, sometimes people get light-headed and stupid when they're at the top.
ReplyDelete"If you ain't in this rap game for the motherfucking cash, mane
ReplyDeleteThen what is your motherfucking purpose?"
If Common or Talib wanted to save the youth then they are in the wrong lane.
I really liked your post! Its crazy to see how much artists have changed over time. I completely agree that Hip Hop today is a lot about the money and showing off which is why Hip Hop has turned into what it is today. Artists end up selling out because they think they need to to stay relevant. You had some really good examples in your blog posts about Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne. Im glad that there are some artists that are trying to prevent mainstream from killing Hip Hop and staying true the style.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the pictures you posted are super awesome too
ReplyDelete