“Hip-hop is dead!”[1] An investigation into the idealization of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop music videos
"The modern promotion of consumerism in hip-hop culture is a far cry from hip-hop’s original intentions."[2] Initially, hip-hop had been formed in order to provide the African American community with a cultural identity. Hip-hop allowed artists to take their creativity and channel it into powerful expressions of political concerns, beliefs and ideologies that they had regarding their own communities.
The most popular and thus successful artists, for example Public Enemy were initially more than likely to be signed to the biggest labels which were at the time usually owned by African American entrepreneurs such as Def Jam Records which was owned by Russell Simmons. The reason for these artists’ popularity and success was that the artists signed to these labels were given ultimate freedom of speech and as a result were able to be as explicit as they wished with their lyrics due to the fact that their labels were under the control of independent African American entrepreneurs who were able to empathize and sympathize with the issues being discussed in the music. Therefore, the audience to whom hip-hop had been formed to target and satisfy, predominantly African Americans, felt more in tune and identified with the material being distributed by those labels and artists and consequently purchased their material as they felt that it would be accurately “reflective of the political, social and economical conditions of the time”.[3] This brings in to concept the ‘uses and gratification’ theory which suggests that the audience are not helpless victims of the media but use the media to get specific gratifications. Artists such as Ice-T and N.W.A, to name but a few, acted as representative bodies for the communities that they came from offering the audience an insight into the struggles their particular community faced and ways in which those struggles could be overcome. The issues discussed and the images shown in the videos of these artists presented the audience with the lifestyle that ethnic minorities live in western countries post-colonialism. During the 1980s, the decade in which hip-hop had become a phenomenon, African Americans were trying to overcome the obstacles which they faced due to the decades of racial intolerance and discrimination that they had been victims of as a result of them being used as slaves. These obstacles included residing in poverty stricken areas, lack of qualifications, the constant abuse of hard drugs and alcohol and gang violence which had conquered many neighborhoods.
A protest song which had been deemed to create a moral panic in society was KRS One's, “Sound of da police”. The music video includes shots of innocent African American civilians being beaten by the police. These shots do not last long though are constantly apparent throughout the music video in the form of black and white flash images to connote the hard hitting reality of police corruption. The song gained a considerable amount of criticism by governing bodies and faced censorship and regulation within a week of its release. Although, many people from the music world and African American society were supportive of the song as they felt that the rapper had been accurate in his portrayal of the police’s behavior towards ethnic minorities.
There is no question that since the birth of hip-hop the genre has been ever evolving from the politically conscious rap of the 1980s to the socio-economic violent rap of the 1990s. The past decade, however, has concentrated on a new wave of hip-hop– commercial rap or “ringtone rap” as referred to by some. "Let's face it: many rap songs celebrate, if not downright glorify, materialism. To signify baller status, you're encouraged to have a "Rollie" on your arm like Snoop Dogg, "cashmere thoughts" like Jay-Z, and "mustard & mayonnaise" like E-40. Otherwise, as Too $hort might say, you's a "broke biatch."[4] However, what explanation is there to justify the recent trend of the idealization of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop today?
Many rappers within hip-hop have a great deal of influence on members of the audience as some may consider rappers to be role models and therefore look up to them and as a result are influenced by their actions. “The role of singers influencing youth consumer choices has been a central way for pop musicians to differentiate their products in a very competitive market".[5] If this is the case "the ‘hypodermic needle model’ would have us believe that music with such a message (materialism at any expense) would motivate the masses to put consumerism at the centre of their worlds, with little or no regard to the rest of society. "[6] This illustrates the point that "the media industries are ideal for testing out consumer power. What the media produce is not necessities we need to consume but forms of information and entertainment we may desire to experience".[7] "Consumerism treats the viewer or listener as a consumer, as someone who is there to buy the services and goods produced".[8] However, if some are influenced by rap artists that they look up to then they automatically feel the need to purchase what the rap artist is advertising rather than realize that their desire is only a want not a need.
Furthermore, it has been said that recent hip-hop records and albums, like other genres of music, have been decreasing in sales. This is partly due to the fact that many consumers now illegally download music rather than legally purchase it. However, it has been argued that a lack of creativity in recent hip-hop records and albums has resulted in the decrease of hip-hop record and album sales. This may be true as some would say that it is this lack of creativity which encourages the idealization of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop today. They may have a lack of creativity as some would argue that the African American community no longer faces as many racial issues as it did twenty years ago when hip-hop first begun. Evidence to suggest that this statement is true would be that the United States of America now has a black president and as a result it can be said that the African American community are no longer challenged with the ‘glass ceiling’ in the workplace. Therefore, artists may not be able to talk about the struggles the African American community faces and as a result "the only topics discussed are “bling-bling”, how many guns you have, and ‘ho’s”.[9] Soulja boy, a new rising artist in hip-hop, is one such example of an artist that exploits the genre with countless content of music about materialism and consumerism. In his music video, “Turn my swag on”, a close up shot of Soulja Boy is shown in which he emphasizes "I'm gettin' money!" and then goes on to blow his nose with a couple of dollars. This leads the audience to believe that the rapper truly has no respect for money as he is happy to do such things with it. With the use of a tracking shot, the camera follows the rapper into his closet in which a very brief 2 second shot is shown of him changing into his simple clothing. On the contrary a rather prolonged 6 second close up shot illustrates the amount of jewellery Soulja Boy has as he proceeds to spoil himself with wearing 6 golden chains. This shot not only highlights the amount of money he has but idealizes his infatuation with material possessions and the idea of consumerism. The connotations of this shot suggest that the rapper regards material possessions to be of a higher importance than basic necessities.
"Back in the day, Run-DMC’s mega-hit My Adidas promoted consumerism through its music video as a form of rebellion. More recently, however, as savvy teens lose interest in traditional forms of advertising, product placement in lyrics and videos has become big, big business for manufacturers and rappers alike."[10] “There exists a spectacularly symbiotic relationship between the dictates of the street code and an energetic American consumerism."[11] Manufacturers, such as the record label companies that rap artists now belong to who are not exclusively controlled by African American entrepreneurs anymore but predominantly Caucasian American men, recognize this fact and as a result persuade the artists signed to them to implement the idealization of consumerism and materialism into their music and videos as much as they possibly can as this would help the record company to establish multi-million dollar deals with industrial organizations as well as help the artist to sell what ever product it is that they endorse or are themselves selling. These habits are supported by television institutions playing the videos such as MTV. "MTV seems to be a perfect example: the material it broadcasts appear to be shallow, based around commodity images with no 'message' except the injunction to buy".[12] Ironically, this commercialization coincides with a decline in rap sales and pressure from critics of the genre.[13]
Most debut albums of rap artists discuss issues affecting the African American ghettos and communities as that is where the rap artists are from. However, once an artist reaches his or her second album they are no longer able to discuss those issues as they are no longer affected by them. This may be another possible reason as to why consumerism and materialism is idealized within hip-hop and its videos as the artists no longer have anything meaningful that they can talk about. Alternatively, these rappers may just be happy that they are now being able to receive the consumer and material goods they once dreamed of purchasing but were never able to due to economic issues and as a result are celebrating the fact that these consumer and material goods are now available to them and so try and encourage consumers to purchase consumer and material goods as the rappers really enjoy them such as 50 Cent who glamorizes an iPod in his ‘P.I.M.P’ video.
Moreover, according to respected rapper LL Cool J, “the African American community has self-esteem issues” and in order to combat these they glorify materialism and consumerism in their music and videos to make themselves and others who may have the same concerns feel better about themselves. This may be the case of why in hip-hop videos dating back to the early 1990’s women have been portrayed as sexual objects to a masculine patriarchal society in which women’s bodies are objectified by their male counterparts. These kinds of representations enforce Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze and suggest that women are just sexual beings and have no other purpose but to serve their superior male counterparts. However, according to the theorist O’Sullivan, "Consumerism, by its very nature, is seen to encourage an anarchic individualism which runs riot with possibilities for solid and stable identities".[14] This suggests that consumerism being implemented into hip-hop actually helps the African American community to gain an identity. Although, the theorist Bernadette would disagree as she claims that “hip-hop videos bring together two cultural forms which have a history of objectifying women - television and hip-hop".[15] "My son loves hip-hop, and I can't even let him watch videos because of how the women are portrayed. I refuse to have a son who does not respect women. The other thing I can't stand is the consumerism and the lack of balance in content. Both of those bring us down as a community as opposed to building us up"[16], is what a concerned African American mother had to say regarding women in hip-hop videos.
Hip-hop was founded and established within the U.S. The U.S is known for its’ advertising. This may be the case of why consumerism and materialism is so idealized within hip-hop and hip-hop videos today. "In a fiercely competitive media environment, broadcasters and other producers desperately vie for our attention"[17] and his has become the case for hip-hop’s artists as according to writer Nelson George, “hip-hop songs and their videos have become commercials”. Therefore, it can be said that now as artists compete with one another to sell their music it is similar to the competitive media who desperately vie for the audience’s attention to sell the products they endorse of have made. "Exponents of consumer power claim that audiences pay little attention to ads and are certainly not manipulated into buying products advertised at them".[18] This is most probably why industrial organizations have decided to advertise through videos such as ‘Apple’ through 50 Cent’s, ’P.I.M.P.’ video as they recognize that consumers no longer pay much attention to advertisements but are easily influenced by rappers whom they idolize.
Overall, it can be said that hip-hop has been heavily influenced into the idealization of consumerism and materialism in its lyrical content and musical videos. It looks more and more likely that hip-hop as a musical art form has drifted away from its original intentions of political and social rap and has become a source of advertising through its videos for industrial organizations and rappers in the hip-hop music genre. However, this statement is not entirely correct for two reasons. Firstly, there are still a few rappers left in hip-hop whom actually stick to its basic principles and have every intention of making their music politically and socially reflective of the African American community such as Kanye West, Common and Talib Kwali but to name a few. Secondly, the idealization of consumerism and materialism has only affected the American hip-hop community not the global hip-hop community. Hip-hop may have been formed within the United States but it has expanded as an art form internationally and in most other countries hip-hop is respected for its original intentions of political and social music affecting a certain community. One example includes, Nomadic Wax, an African rap group whom rap about democracy in the African state of Dakkar. One thing is clear, Nas was clearly referring to Hip Hop being killed by American commercialization and heartless consumerism."[19]
Word Count: 2,330
Bibliography
Works Citied:
Books;
An Introduction To Studying Popular Culture, Strinati, Dominic, (2000), Routledge, London.
An Introduction to Television Studies , Bignell, Jonathan, (2001), Routledge, New York.
Media Studies Reader, O'Sullivan, Tim, (1997), London, Arnold
Media Studies Theories and Approaches, Laughey,Dan.(2009), Herts, Kamara Books.
The Key Concept, Casey,Bernadette, (2002), Television Studies, Routledge, London.
The Television Genre Book, Creerer, Glen, (2001), British Film Institute, London.
Internet;
Cue Online , Kriel,C.(2009)
Communication Studies , Watts,E.(1997)
East Bay Express , Arnold,E.(2008)
Films Media Group , Hamilton,N.(2004)
Live Leak, Nordinary,M.(2008)
Musicouch , Young,S.(2007)
New Comm Ave , Cook,D.(1985)
Old School Scholar , Ball,Q.(2009)
Wiretap , Thill,S. (2007)
Moving Image text;
Hip-hop is dead, Nas.(2006),USA
My adidas, RUN-DMC.(1986),USA
P.I.M.P, 50 Cent.(2003),USA
Sound of da police, KRS-ONE.(1993),USA
Turn my swag on, Soulja boy.(2009),USA
Works Consulted:
Books;
Rayner, Phillip, (2001), The Essential Introduction, Routledge, London.
Internet;
White,S.(2009), Mpelembe Network
[2]http://cue.ru.ac.za/music/2009/hip-hop-activism-consumerism.html
[3]http://www.newcommave.com/node/275
[4]http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/is-hip-hop-too-materialistic/Content?oid=1090155
[6]http://musicouch.com/musicouching/mainstream-music-effect-on-popular-culture/
[7]Laughey,D.(2009).p.46
[9]http://www.newcommave.com/node/275
[10]http://ffh.films.com/id/15116/Rhyme_Pays_Hip-Hop_and_the_Marketing_of_Cool.htm
[11]http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3669/is_199704/ai_n8760647/pg_9/?tag=content;col1
[16]http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/43305/
[17]Laughey,D.(2009).p.47
[18]ibid
[19]http://oldschoolscholar.com/real-hip-hop-in-africa-senegal-rocks-to-the-breaka-dawn/
