Current major label rap is just another form of pop. Its connection to any sort grass-roots Hip-Hop culture is tenuous at best and I’m not talking about KRS-ONE’s mystical-religious pseudo-Jedi geek KULTCHA either: acts like Rick Ross and Game are polished entertainers supported by a major label system. They exist in more or less the same sphere as say, Usher. Once you accept that, it becomes far easier to take their newest singles for what they really are: well-crafted pop-music that’s ABOUT the streets without having any real connection to the day-to-day struggles of the people living in them.
Take Super-High: it’s an insidious blend of Reasonable Doubt era Roca-funk and UGK style southern rider music courtesy of Jay-Z’s then-backer Clark Kent. Throw in a little R&B gloss to reel-in the women turned-off by Ross’ ginormous belly and you’ve got a summertime single that aspires to the work of HDH and Brian Wilson rather than say, Rakim or Raekwon. In other words, it’s a calculated swing at the pop-charts but at least it’s a well-calculated swing at the pop charts. As for Ross himself, he’s there to provide swag and swag alone; at this point is persona is half-kingpin half-Barry White and while he doesn’t have an iota of White’s musical talent, at least he realizes that Barry’s records were fun because they were inherently goofy. And when you’ve got Universal buying you top of the line beats, goofy’s really all you need.
Game’s street single “Must Be Me” seems tougher on the surface, but really it’s just as deliberate: a little Ice Cube, a little Pac, a little Pharell, a couple of 808’s and an imitation G-funk beat as viewed through the Neptunes sheen and voila! Instant banger. It works too, providing a solid gangster rap fix for people who don’t feel like wading through Gucci’s mush-mouth flow and shitty beats or The Clipse’s awkward attempts at club records. All fun aside though, I don’t believe a word of what either of these guys says on their records, at least no more than I believe Robert Downey Junior is secretly Ghostface’s alter-ego. Commercialized gangster rap is still a necessary commodity in America same as hard rock and will probably remain so for quite some time. The faster you accept that these guys have zero authenticity and connection to any organic form of the art they practice, the faster you’ll learn to stop worrying about it and laugh at Rick Ross’ ridiculous girth.
Download: (Via Nahright)
MP3: Rick Ross – Super High
MP3: Game ft Pharell – Must Be Me
14 comments
August says:
April 16, 2010 at 8:24 pm (UTC -7)
Or, the faster one realizes they make good music regardless of eschewed authenticity, the faster we can get back to celebrating the current era of renewed creativity in rap. If anything damaged the progression of hip-hop, it was the “keep it real” mantra. It’s an inherently conservative notion (unabashedly reactionary) that stifled musical creativity. DJ Premier keeps it real, but he hasn’t made a truly great beat in years. Can you imagine an artist being able to jump styles like Ice-T did in the mid 80′s? Only now is that ability returning to hip-hop.
It’s important to note that some of the greatest musicians in history lacked a high level of authenticity. Led Zeppelin were far detached from the bluesmen they emulated, but even though I love Elroy James, I’m more likely to throw on a Zeppelin LP. And depending on my mood, I may prefer Rick Ross over Raekwon (let’s not forget that Cuban Link Raekwon is a fabricated character).
Maggie says:
April 16, 2010 at 8:39 pm (UTC -7)
I’m not sure what mood would compell me to listen to Ross over Raekwon. Just sayin’.
b says:
April 16, 2010 at 10:04 pm (UTC -7)
A welcome back to form, Sach!
-those nicki minaj comments really pissed me off. thank god you found your way from the darkside.
Personally, I feel that while MCs follow the many pitfalls you mention, Producers keep getting better and better. madlib, blaze, 9th, primo, ant are what I look for in track more so than MC on it.
The properties of the internet age have boosted one side hip hop so high(production) that to even debate an interesting rhyme-scheme is almost irrelevant. Cut an paste lyrics are norm. insert fast tempo here, rhythm style here; when dj gives me an beat drop, insert ‘your momma’ simile. But people seem to like that.
-take that recent J cole song. Common drum line. irrelevant lyrics dysfunctional style then at one drop he says ‘like your girl…she aint came yet.’ and everybody goes dogshit.
What did you think was going to happen post-jay z era? kids growing up on singles and punchlines. I can only name one classic Jay-z album and yet number upon numbers of singles.
this is THE hip hop of today.
Persona =qualifying lyrics.
Dont hate it though. I feel hip hop is its 80′s rock mode. feeling over content. frizzy hair and shit.
sooner or later people are going to ask for more
plawz says:
April 17, 2010 at 10:31 am (UTC -7)
that might be one of the best written hip-hop analyses i’ve read since greg tate’s “hip-hop pt. 1″
Sach says:
April 17, 2010 at 2:12 pm (UTC -7)
Pissing people off (for legitimate reasons rather than shock blogging) is something that I should strive to do more often. Nothing worse than writing to confirm already established opinions. I’d rather tell folks to listen to something they might hate instead of something I know they’ll like and probably already have anyways.
But I do agree that emcees as artists aren’t particularly relevant at this point in time and aren’t the ones pushing the art forward in any significant way. Don’t think Hip-Hop producers are making any particularly great strides at the moment either though outside of a select few.
But then, I don’t feel like I have a huge stake in Hip-Hop’s future these days one way or another. Which is probably why I can sit back and enjoy these records.
Shapey Fiend says:
April 17, 2010 at 6:40 pm (UTC -7)
I really despise authenticity. That’s why any music I make (despite it being largely shit) is done in a tongue in cheek manner. Not giving a fuck is the only authenticity there is. Gangster rap, and realness was just a corporate construct designed by white major label executives to shock white middle class parents. Now we’ve grown up and are parents ourselves. We’ve all see two girls one cup (or something equivalent) so we’re shock rap immune. That’s why rap in the 00′s eschewed shock value and just got wierd. Whatever about raps golden era I enjoyed the 2000′s a lot more. And I’m going to stop this entry now before I sound anymore like a professors thesus.
Tray says:
April 18, 2010 at 10:28 am (UTC -7)
I don’t entirely get the pop-rap/authenticity/”believing a word they say” connection. Like Snoop’s claims to have done x, y, and z probably deserve way more credence than, say, Prodigy’s, but Snoop made pop records from pretty much his first album on and Prodigy never has. And some of the things you say about the actual songs are a little weird too, as in, Super High is a pop record that aspires to HDH and Brian Wilson… because it appropriates the sound of Reasonable Doubt and UGK, two things that still aren’t quite pop to this day? Like of course, rappers deliberately make music that sounds like other rappers’ music, but to me that would seem to put them inside a “grass-roots Hip-Hop culture,” not in the “same sphere as, say, usher.”
Trey Stone says:
April 20, 2010 at 12:12 pm (UTC -7)
man Pharrell still generally blows when he isn’t producing for one of his own artists. that beat’s nails on the chalkboard status. it’s cool though, long as he balances the sporadic shyte with another dope N.E.R.D. album (or Hugo on another dope Kenna album) i’ll be good
actually enjoyed the Clipse’s last album a lot, even the club ish. thought they made the transition from angry coke rap to wisened ex-dealers (or whatever the fuck) pretty well, in an unpretentious way. plus “Door Man” flattens all in any case
Trey Stone says:
April 20, 2010 at 12:18 pm (UTC -7)
shout out to calling out Gucci’s garbage-ass synth beats and flow by the way. don’t know how people were trying to claim Zaytoven’s shit as progressive when those beats obviously takes seconds to make. oh, but it’s “populist…” yeah, mmmmk.
maybe if dude had a different voice i’d hear what others were hearing in his lyrics, but as is his verses just sound like one giant boring run-on sentence where no particular point’s emphasized
Sach says:
April 21, 2010 at 5:01 am (UTC -7)
I was addicted to Flying Lotus’s remix of Photoshoots for a while and downloaded The burrprint 3D off the strength. I’d probably really like the guy if he rapped over beats like say, Tical or some BCC shit. But yeah, in my case his normal beats are non-starters all the way. That style of production never interested me.
August says:
April 21, 2010 at 10:36 pm (UTC -7)
You don’t have to like the beats, but just so you know, they take a lot longer to make than sample-based productions.
Sach says:
April 22, 2010 at 4:39 am (UTC -7)
Has nothing to do with samples. I spend most of my time listening to synth based stuff these days, just not synth based stuff made with Atlanta rappers in mind.
August says:
April 22, 2010 at 10:53 am (UTC -7)
For sure, I was talking to the above guy who claims the beats take seconds to make. That’s patently false.
Trey Stone says:
April 23, 2010 at 9:10 pm (UTC -7)
i mean sure, not disputing that. just a phrase. “cheap” would probably be a better way to put it.