Sunday, March 09, 2008
Corporate Takeover of Rap Music
This blog post is with regard to the class reading, From Independent to Corporate: A Political Economic Analysis of Rap Billboard Toppers.
The corporate takeover of rap music has created a division between original rap and new rap. This has led to terms such as 'old school rap' and 'new school rap', with new school rap being the subject of conformity and submission to the overpowering record companies.
Old school rap was about expressing one's self, while new school rap has abolished this self-expression and is more about creating music that fits into mainstream culture and can make maximal profits.
A good representation of this transition from old school to new school can be seen in the following youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzj_V79PGFM&feature=related
(Note: examples of new school rap don't appear until 9:05min.)
The corporate takeover of rap music has created a division between original rap and new rap. This has led to terms such as 'old school rap' and 'new school rap', with new school rap being the subject of conformity and submission to the overpowering record companies.
Old school rap was about expressing one's self, while new school rap has abolished this self-expression and is more about creating music that fits into mainstream culture and can make maximal profits.
A good representation of this transition from old school to new school can be seen in the following youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzj_V79PGFM&feature=related
(Note: examples of new school rap don't appear until 9:05min.)
# posted by Anonymous @ 6:27 PM 
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Today in class, Professor Kalmar asked how it is that hip hop has managed to dominate mainstream while still remaining an icon of resistance against it. This brings to light another important aspect of hip hop culture. As well as being about expressing oneself, as George mentioned, 'old school' rap gave a voice to underpriveleged black citizens in american cities. It spoke to them in a way they could relate to. It was a form of comiseration.
In the new school, this message survives among some artists, but has changed in two ways. Now, it speaks for the oppressed instead of to them. Its kind of an advocate, telling a global audience about the experience of the ghetto. And finally, because everyone can relate to feeling disadvantaged, undervalued, or unfairly treated in some way, the message still has a universal appeal. It can still serve as a form of comiseration for the audience, but as noted in the Meyer article, it has to be more homogenised and generalised. The significance of black sufferer experience in contemporary hip hop is getting undervalued by this trend, in order to have that universal appeal.
Which leads to the idea that Kalmar mentioned as well, that perhaps that the black identity is no longer the opposite of white. With wariness towards the arab identities on the rise post 9/11, perhaps the black sufferer experience in the US just isnt what it used to be...
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In the new school, this message survives among some artists, but has changed in two ways. Now, it speaks for the oppressed instead of to them. Its kind of an advocate, telling a global audience about the experience of the ghetto. And finally, because everyone can relate to feeling disadvantaged, undervalued, or unfairly treated in some way, the message still has a universal appeal. It can still serve as a form of comiseration for the audience, but as noted in the Meyer article, it has to be more homogenised and generalised. The significance of black sufferer experience in contemporary hip hop is getting undervalued by this trend, in order to have that universal appeal.
Which leads to the idea that Kalmar mentioned as well, that perhaps that the black identity is no longer the opposite of white. With wariness towards the arab identities on the rise post 9/11, perhaps the black sufferer experience in the US just isnt what it used to be...
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