The God of Money

‘I see corporate hands up in foreign lands’
Public Enemy

When you look at the state that [rap] is in, it’s very corporate and that’s what takes away from a lot of the purity of it…1

What happens when a writer has the opportunity to show their art in a gallery and maybe sell it? Or when an artist signs a record contract with a ‘big time’ record company? Is this when some would say these artists aren’t ‘keeping it real’ – that they have ‘sold out’ for money?

Keepin’ it real' means not disassociating [disconnecting] oneself from the community from which one came – the street. Moreover, it means emphasising one’s ties to the community.2

Many Hip Hop artists want (and need) to get paid so badly that they are reluctant to push against what record companies ask of them – even though Hip Hop’s origins, as an ‘authentic’ voice, made their success possible in the first place. It is so-called gangsta rap that gets most roundly criticised for this - made to order for a mass audience whose interest is in image, style and a sense of daring – rather than traditional Hip Hop values. However, to many in the Hip Hop scene, gangsta rap is not even a valid label anymore. For more on gangsta rap take a look at Theme B: topic five.

Gangsta rappers went through crises reconciling their newfound wealth with their ‘hood’ and ‘street’ affiliations. The new breed of hustla, however, can parade their mansion on ‘Cribs’ with no accompanying identity crisis – times have changed.3

Whatever its label, this more hard core rap has been colonised by the media for its own purposes. In the case of radio stations, there’s nothing like an uproar to lift the ratings… and an incident involving New York’s Hot974 gives a perfect snap-shot of the kind of tactics that have been allowed to develop.5

The New York Daily News accused the Hip Hop playing radio station of ‘a reliance on music that glorifies violence and contempt for women’.6 ‘This is the company where a man was shot…while the station happily broadcast on-air taunts between two crack dealers-turned ‘artists’, 50 Cent and The Game… the same address where in 2001 a machine-gun-toting member of rapper Lil’ Kim’s entourage shot a man in a rival rapper’s group – a crime for which the shooter is serving 12 years in prison.’

‘Smackfest’ and Other Storms

Hot 97 is also, reportedly, to blame for an earlier promotion called a ‘Smackfest’, which encouraged female contestants to ‘slap one another in the face, with a cash prize to the one producing the loudest sound and/or causing the greatest injury’.7

What topped this off for many was the airing of a song that mocked victims of the Boxing Day 2004 Asian Tsunami - with phrases like ‘screaming chinks’ and ‘drowning Africans’- and a Korean-American staff member who complained of being told by the on-air DJ ‘I’m gonna start shooting some Asians’.8

As fall-out from this, nearly 200 people braved the New York winter to ‘rage against the influence of the corporate media machine’.9 Organised by a group called the Hip Hop Coalition (including artists like Afrika Bambaataa, M1 of Dead Prez, Kuttin Kandi and Roxanne Shante) they claimed the corporate entertainment industry has twisted Hip Hop’s original message of peace and unity of all races.10

The Hip Hop Coalition are anxious about Hip Hop’s bad reputation - a concern at the distortion of values reflected in the kind of corporate marketing seen overseas as well. An example of corporate marketing leading the way and setting the agenda is found in Japan - where Hip Hop arrived in the late 80s via nightclubs whose audience was mainly a mix of Black US military personnel, Jamaicans and Africans studying or working in Tokyo.11 When, around 1995, Japanese Hip Hop artists started to emerge, they were sometimes booed off stage. ‘But they kept at it and … developed a Japanese style… that combined various genres but drew most of its inspiration from the United States.’12

It wasn't until late in 2000, when Universal Records launched a Japanese branch of their Def Jam label, that Japanese Hip Hop band (Rip Slyme) sold more than a million copies of their album Tokyo Classic. Japan's young people have now taken 'ownership' of Hip Hop, as it ‘allows them to express themselves in a way that traditional Japanese culture doesn’t do… it allows them to be emotional’.13

There are claims, though, that marketing uses stereotypes of ‘black culture’ – and depicts African-Americans in ways that would be seen as racist in the US. ‘They use images that depict aggression, violence and hyper-sexuality’.14 And it’s also pointed out that, whereas ‘authentic’ Hip Hop developed on the streets, Japanese Hip Hop was developed through professional performers, being pushed by record companies.

…So if your message ain’t shit, fuck the records you sold / ’Cause if you go platinum, / It’s nothing to do with luck / It just means that a million people are stupid as fuck…
Immortal Technique - ‘Industrial Revolution’ from 'Revolutionary Vol.2'

History Holds the Key

But it’s looking increasingly possible that the tide has turned. There is a call from the ‘old guard’ – those like Chuck D of Public Enemy and his comrades – to move back to the more socially conscious rap of earlier days. There is one aspect of Hip Hop culture that the corporations can’t get their hands on, and that’s its history. Like any other culture struggling to retain its identity, history holds the key.15

For one to be able to make a claim of authenticity, one has to know the culture from which Hip Hop comes. Thus by identifying the old school and back in the day as a period when a pure Hip Hop culture existed, Hip Hop community members invoke an authentic past that stabilises the present.16

We don’t need flatscreen TV’s and DVD’s/We need more knowledge of who we be…
Saigon – ‘Shok TV’

Test your knowledge

  • Why would an artist be reluctant to push against what record companies ask them?
  • What were the violent incidents claimed to have been provoked by New York’s Hot97 radio station?
  • Name some of the members of the ‘Hip Hop Coalition’.
  • What reason is given for the rise in popularity of Hip Hop in Japan?
  • What are some of the criticisms about the marketing of Hip Hop in Japan?
  • What holds the key to Hip Hop’s true identity?

Extend your thinking

Do you think it’s important for Hip Hop to stick to its traditional roots – to ‘keep it real’? Or is it better to let Hip Hop grow and change? How do you feel about the media using the violence and outrage generated by some Hip Hop to increase their ratings? Is it a case of ‘anything goes’? Where would you draw the line between exploitation and good business sense?

1 Common – quoted by Dawkins, W. ‘Is Hip Hop Dead?’ (flipping the script resource).

2 McLeod, K. Autumn 1999 ‘Authenticity within Hip Hop and Other Cultures Threatened By Assimilation’ Journal of Communication, Vol 49, Issue 4.

3 April Henderson – Lecturer, Pacific Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, 'Personal communication'.

4 According to New York Hot97’s owner, Emmis Communications, ‘the premier hip hop radio station in America,’ has a market revenue said to be $808.2 million.

5 Murphy, J. ‘Thug Radio’ http://www.villagevoice.com .

6 March 8th 2005 ‘Shame on Hot 97’ New York Daily News March 8th 2005.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Lee, C. March 8 2005 ‘A Healthy Tune-Out’ http://www.villagevoice.com .

10 Margolis, D. 03/03/05 ‘Hot 97 struggle starts social justice campaign’ People’s Weekly World Newspaper.

11 McKenzie, A. ‘Japan: Hip-hop’s new home’ from ‘Flipping the Script’ resource http://www.flippingthescript.net .

12 Ibid.

13 Kyle Cleveland, lecturer in sociology, Temple University of Japan, (from resource above).

14 Ibid.

15 Waiti, D. ‘Spotlight On: Angles on Global Hip Hop Culture’, in ‘The Next – an Impression of Hip Hop Expression’. p102.

16 McLeod, K. Autumn 1999 ‘Authenticity within Hip Hop and Other Cultures Threatened with Assimilation,’ Journal of Communication, Vol 49, Issue 4, p 142.