The 37th Chamber 11.19.08: Blame The Fans!

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 11.19.2008

Hip-hop is on life support and who's to blame? The fans, the artists, the record labels, or the inventor of the ringtone sale? Plus: A new New Year's Resolution list

Talk about a serious friggin' spanner in the works…

I mentioned at work that I was still deciding what to do next year, and my boss in all seriousness suggested I consider actually doing Pharmacy at University. It's a damn lucrative business, and there's a need for Pharmacists at the moment, but it pretty much wasn't anywhere on the radar until now.

Of course, the necessary soul searching that should have taken place in deciding what I want to do was interrupted by the arrival of Guitar Hero: World Tour in the mail on Thursday night. That WAS a pleasant surprise and really the only thing, well not the ONLY thing (more on that another time maybe) that kept me going through the 11-hour shift. After that Thursday, 8.5 hours on Friday and a further five on Saturday, combined with two parties on Saturday after three, my feet really didn't want to do anything. They actually protested Sunday, in that when I tried to get out of bed and stand up, they gave out and I fell over and hit my head on the computer chair.

This could also be attributed to my inherent moments of severe un-coordination however.

Anyway, I'm actually listening to something NOT hip-hop, which comprises 99.5% of my iTunes library, so I don't know how that's happened.

Reader Feedback
(May be edited for spelling or grammar etc.)

"I can't even add on so I'll just ask:

Is it a Cam'Ron reference?" - Joe

Yes. Yes it is.

"Found this link, has a bunch of wrestling references in hip-hop:

http://board.deathvalleydriver.com/index.php?act=Print&client=prin
ter&f=16&t=3602"

Damn, Ric Flair and Jim Duggan really get love from the hip-hop community. You guys have convinced me to check into this in depth now. See how many references I can pull out, maybe make a list of the best ones etc.

"Also there is some good Christian hip-hop out there. These cats do make references to Jesus and God but don't beat you over the head about it. I would suggest:
Theory Hazit "Extra Credit"
Surreal and the Sound Providers "True Indeed"
Strange Fruit Project "The Healing"
I'm not Christian, pretty far from it, but this is good hip-hop, Christian or not."

In regards to the first bit of your comment, I'm not sure if you checked back or not, but I had left a word out of the sentence. It meant to say "In a –theoretical- market". Basically, a market where artists such as De La Soul, Little Brother, Outkast etc., guys making hip-hop for parties and fun without the need of a goofy catchphrase or dance, are dominating the charts, someone coming with a politically charged album may have a hard time finding an audience. Little Brother's work I wouldn't really call politically charged as much, although there is a message of social commentary in some of their work, it's often cushioned by "this is what's going on…" kind of tone. A lot of political rap you get the feeling that "THE WORLD'S GOING TO END RUN FOR THE HILLS". When you back a message in a tone that doesn't scare the listener or berate them, it becomes more relaxed. A track like "Good Clothes" is a good example.

I'll give their records a go. I did find one group on the weekend that I thought toned down the Christianity message in their raps, and generally just made rap that was entertaining called Grits. On their album, Redemption, they've actually got a track with Canibus which I'm going to check out once this weird play list ends.

"More hip-hop/wrestling references for ya. On that new Heltah Skeltah "D.I.R.T.(Da Incredible Rap Team)" there are a few wrestling references and the beat for the song "That's Incredible" is Goldust's old theme.

The wrestling reference on "Hell's Kitchen" is even better than the JMT one from last week. Sean Price aka Ruck raps "My gun game crazy / When my 5th spit I / Kill man, woman, and child ala Chris Benoit." I had to rewind that about 5 times the first time I heard it." - Jeremy

Damn, I kind of hope Benoit doesn't become a running theme like ho's and Jim Duggan have in hip-hop. It makes me uneasy thinking about what he did given he was one of my favorite wrestlers. Though I suppose Jedi Mind Tricks do have some pretty intense songs, but I can see it being used in gangsta rap in place of say, a Scarface reference. And, on an ‘oh shit' note, they released an album last week that I had no knowledge of until five minutes ago. Shame on me, I need to get my head out of the Florida rap scene fast.

"Speaking of wrestling references Talib Kweli makes 2 of them I can think of in the Eardrum CD which is pretty recent.

And now that I think about it I've heard A LOT of wrestling references. Listen to Luda's verse on The Game's LAX CD. "Whip more ass then Lex Luger" and the list goes on. Though it doesn't surprise me Wu-Tang members reference wrestling as I think it was Method Man who said he liked it in some interview a while ago" - Colin

They seem to pop up once you're aware of the fact that they might be there. If that makes sense. It's like when someone says, "hey, have you ever seen a purple Land Rover before?" and then suddenly you see three of them in a week. I hope that nobody has actually seen a purple Land Rover before, that would just be odd.

In the forum from the link Jeremy posted earlier, someone mentioned that the Clan was in the crowd at Wrestlemania XV, can anyone confirm that for next week? It wouldn't surprise me either if they were dedicated fans as in an interview I read with RZA, he said that he and GZA used to watch it when they were younger. He didn't really elaborate beyond that, so I was never sure if they kept watching or not.

"Fuck Plies and Fuck Lil Wayne he isn't even best rapper on Cash Money" - Ramirez

I dunno, I think he kind of wins by default given the only other rappers I can think of on Cash Money are Birdman and…uh, well I don't know anybody else on Cash Money that has put out an album yet. Wikipedia isn't helping, and neither is their homepage given it's got some kind of flash plugin and my Mozilla ANNIHILATES all flash presence. I need to tone that program down I think.

"Wow Plies future of hip-hop? Really? Plies? The only person in the world with a more annoying voice the Lil Wayne future of hip-hop? No fuckin way!

If I knew I would one day be called the future of a musical genre by calling a girl "wet-wet" (seriously how do women eat this up?) then I would have been rapping years ago."

It took me ages to tolerate Plies voice, especially because it gives him the subtlety of brick when it comes to songs for the ladies, including the aforementioned catchphrase of "wet-wet". This is disturbingly popular even here in Sydney as I've seen people's emails, MySpace and Facebook names, references to it in forums and yes, even in real life at a club. There are ladies out there that indeed, eat it up and I cannot explain why.

Now if it was T.I. saying stuff like that, he has the charisma and voice to pull it off. Also, because every single girl I know has a crush on T.I. Even the ones that don't like hip-hop.

"I don't know about anyone else but I personally hate complaining but when I see shit like Lil Wayne's extremely mediocre and overrated ass being crowned rapper of the world and Plies of all people being called future of hip-hop I can't help but to at least leave a comment on why that's bullshit. And for those of you who want to see someone like Lupe make it big please for the love of God buy their albums. Think about it if more lyrical rappers sell then maybe just maybe we'll stop being force fed the bullshit. I mean did you know there's actually a song called "Do the stanky leg"? Don't know the real title but heard half of the song once and almost broke my radio (thank God I got a CD player in the car now)"

OH MY GOD I thought I was the only person unfortunate enough to come across that "Stanky Leg" track! If you're wondering whom to kill, it's a group (or guy, I have no idea, nor do I feel like trying to find out) called G-Spot. Subtle like a BRICK. Having listened to the song just a moment ago again, it's a sad, sad day when you're ripping off D4L and Dem Franchize Boyz (not one word spelt correctly…) flow's. It's also a sad and troublesome day when "Crank That" has more artistic merit and a better associated dance name. I can see people getting down to "Crank That" on a dance floor in say, 40 years (it'll be retro, just watch), but people doing ‘the stanky leg'? Nope.

Actually, just on Plies being named the future of hip-hop, I figured they would have gone with someone like Young Jeezy as the future, given before "Bust It Baby Pt. 2" he was easily the more high profile artist. Though, credit where it's due, Plies did have very strong first week sales for both his albums, so I suppose they're expecting his next album to sell well. I thought we'd learned our lesson about more than one album in a year. It inevitably ends up being like a watered-down version of the first album, or the rapper has run out of things to say.

And yes, thank God for CD players. You can tell someone who doesn't have a CD player in their car, because they're always asking you to put the radio on instead of a CD.

"Seriously people don't just sit there an let this bullshit continue. If you complain, do something about it, hell I have bought a hell of a lot of CDs this year alone just to show the slightest bit of support."

I love buying CDs now. My bank account doesn't, but I do. There's a definite satisfaction of opening up a CD from the shrink-wrap, flicking through the liner notes etc. Plus, if I ever get busted for the multitude of other songs, I can at least say that I've bought SOME CDs and I'm not totally evil.

"Also Patrick do you know anything about guys like Blu & Exile and Kid Cudi. Those are future hip-hop artist in my book, give them a record deal pronto (is that a word?)

Rant over sorry for the bitching I'm just getting sick and tired of this shit in hip-hop peace" - Colin

No need to apologize for ranting, it certainly feels good to get a long rant off the chest every now and then. I used to use the blog on MySpace heaps for that purpose, especially after a particularly crappy day at work. I think it's kind of healthy cause if I didn't have that outlet, I probably would have started choking customers for their sheer stupidity.

Anyway, Blu & Exile I listened to earlier this year as part of my New Year's Resolution* to listen to hip-hop from '07 that I missed and I loved the album. I thought that some of Exile's production was VERY reminisce of DJ Premier, in a flattering way, and Blu's rapping was outstanding. "So(ul) Amazin' " was probably my favorite track, it's one of those tracks I throw on when I've had a long day and need to relax and cheer up.

Blu's since been involved in other projects, The Piece Talks with Ta'Raach as part of a group called C.R.A.C. Knuckles (the album was a little disjointed, and some of the tracks were singing and not really rap, so it might not appeal to everyone). Also, an album called Johnson & Johnson with a producer called Mainframe. I tried to download the album, but couldn't even find one to get so I haven't listened to it yet.

I actually picked up a physical copy of Below The Heavens about half way through the year, it was damn hard to track down and when I FINALLY found one, the inside bit which holds the CD in place had cracked. Thankfully, the people working knew me (I'm in there at least once a week – 10 days) and offered to change the jewel case, which was nice of them.

According to Wikipedia, Blu actually turned down record deals with Interscope and Death Row, which in retrospect is probably a good thing, given the former is a rapper eater, and the latter collapsed along with Suge Knight on the pavement. He's currently signed to an underground label called Sound In Color. I kind of hope he can sign to a more prominent Independent label like Koch in the future though. A bigger budget is always nice.

I've not heard of Kid Cudi before, so I'll go search some tracks down soon.

Pronto is a word I've used before, but uh, Wikipedia lists it as a brand of condom so we'll have to take our collective words for its legitimacy.

"To me, the future of hip-hop is Wale. Look him up." - Guest#6911

Arg, alright I am listening to Wale's mixtape The Mixtape About Nothing RIGHT NOW because I'm annoying myself. People keep mentioning Wale, but I never get around to listening to him. Determined face is ON.

Well, so far I'm loving names they've selected for the tracks ("The Cliché Lil Wayne Feature [It's The Remix Baby!]" – classic) and the production is pretty good too. More later.

*In terms of the New Year's Resolution, if you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, basically I made a list of artists who had hype, or a strongly rated album out in 2007 and forced myself to listen to the album. Not in the sense that it was against my will, but I have a tendency to put things off or forget these things. Anyway, given 2008 is almost over, I'd like to give that activity a go again, so if you can think of anything that's been released this year, mainly under the radar stuff, but not necessarily underground as if it's pretty mainstream, chances are I've listened to it. For example, I think I listened to The-Dream's Love / Hate album and T-Pain's Epiphany as well as Blu & Exile's Below The Heavens.

So an all round selection really. Leave your suggestions and for the first few months or so next year I'll be listening to them.

The Rant

"They say hip-hop's dead, I believe it's just the fans. It's the plan"
- Wale "The Perfect Plan"

Ouch.

Sharp criticism coming from someone who, being a fairly unknown still, is relying on the fans to support him as an artist.

Really though, does he have a point?

To be honest, and it pains me to say so, I think he does.

Ever since Nas started stirring people claiming that hip-hop was dead, there has been a whirlwind of commotion in the hip-hop game. You have people who agreed with him, claiming that as a genre, it's on its last legs and while it will never go completely, it surely isn't the same as it used to be.

Then you had people from the new breed of rappers such as Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy and some others whose names escape me, claiming that it wasn't dead, it was alive and well and that THEY were keeping it alive with their sales talk and ringtone sales.

Personally, I've never for a second believed that hip-hop is dead, because if you know where to look, you'll find it alive and well. Many artists out there embody the original spirit of hip-hop from the early 90s, the Golden Era for us if you will. You could easily make a case that mainstream hip-hop is dead, given that rappers are coming in, making a splash in the ringtone market and singles chart, and then failing horribly when it comes to actual CD sales. Yes, rapper's careers are dead in that sense as the average longevity of an artist is however long their single stays in the Top 10.

When DID the ringtone era begin? I can't honestly remember, except for the fact that suddenly, artists were boasting about selling two hundred thousand ringtones in one week like it was an incredible achievement. If everyone used the program I use, you wouldn't actually need to buy any ringtones, I make my own for FREE. Take THAT Soulja Boy!

The thing is though, as Wale says, we as fans are partially to blame.

The combinations of I feel, the Internet, and a general complacency with the introduction of the Shiny Suit era in the late 90s (and thus a swing from lyricism to image) began the downfall of hip-hop as we knew it.

Sure, it took a while to get where it is today, but so does something like arthritis, it takes years, but the end result sucks all the same. I think that at some point between being blinded by Diddy and deafened by Master P, we just accepted hip-hop's fate as partially doomed and began looking elsewhere for music. I know many people who have stopped listening to hip-hop in the last few years, because they just get fed up with the artists out there in the mainstream eye today.

As Colin said, we need to DO SOMETHING about the situation. If you know someone who is actually buying those God awful ringtone albums, STOP THEM! Use an iron rake if necessary and in the most creative way possible too. If you know someone who ONLY downloads albums, even by artists they claim to love, STOP THEM! Use the same iron rake if necessary, complete with the gory entrails of the previous victim. Mmmm…gore.

You want to know whom the sole person we can attribute the downfall of hip-hop too though?

The person or persons who decided that it would be cool to sell ringtones to us, the consumer.

Think about it. Before ringtones became such a selling point for an artist, they usually tried to sell albums, because you know, they're a musician and that's the point of being a musician. After said ‘genius' decided to market ringtones as a commodity, nobody tried making albums anymore, it all came down to the lead single and how long you could stay in the Top 10.

We as fans need to stop accepting things the way they are, and try to make a change. I'm not saying go out and buy every album after you've downloaded it, but if you REALLY like an album, or you like the artist, why wouldn't you?

If you buy ringtones, for the love of God STOP. Send me an email, and I'll see if I can't get that program I use to you. It takes about 2 minutes to make a ringtone, and if you have a cable to upload stuff to and from your PC and phone, it takes a further 30 seconds to transfer it. If you don't have those capabilities, become friends with someone who does, and get them to Bluetooth anything they make to you. Failing the presence of a friend who has Bluetooth, then yeah, go ahead and buy some ringtones.

If you're someone who doesn't want to buy an album, there are always a couple of issues with that, and it's not from the RIAA or the artist either. If you get a virus on your PC that eats everything in it's path (yes, that has happened to me), BANG, albums are gone. You're running out of space on the hard drive? Ripping a CD from iTunes usually saves me, for a standard 15 album track, about 30mb of space. Doesn't sound like much, but when you've been trying to juggle 200mb like I was last year…oh it's heaven.

The hip-hop game is much like a political campaign. We can make a change, if enough of us want to.

Song Of The Week

I'm in the middle of searching for a track, and I discover that Kevin Rudd has his own YouTube account. That's awesome.

Wiz Khalifa – Say Yeah



"Say what?" some of you might be saying. Well, pretty much the only memory I have of 1999 was Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone" being played every single time I turned on the TV, so when I heard this, it took me back to a time just before I got into hip-hop. Pretty typical club affair, but it's the only thing that has thus far managed to dislodge that Akon / Flo Rida song from a couple of weeks back. And for that, I am extremely thankful.

Before We Go…

That's it for another week folks. Remember, in the weeks leading up to New Year's Eve, I'm going to be compiling my list for the New Year's Resolution, so if you've got anything from this year that you think I should listen to, drop a comment.

Catch you tomorrow in the news!