FINAL Critical investigation

“Hip-hop is dead!” An investigation into the idealisation of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop music

"The modern promotion of consumerism in hip-hop culture is a far cry from hip-hop’s original intentions." 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. Artists such as Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One and RUN–DMC, to name but a few, acted as representative bodies for the communities which they came from offering the audience an insight into the struggles their particular community faced and ways in which those struggles could be overcome. However, as time progresses hip-hop has begun to carry “the stigma of an overindulgence in consumerism and materialism; severe addiction to the pursuit of money; and the pursuit of an unashamed irresponsible, careless lifestyle” promoted by newer artists in the industry such as Soulja Boy, 50 Cent and Jay-Z. This essay will explore the reasons behind why theorists such as Kaplan and Fiske suggest that hip-hop music has “in some way” been commercialized and to what extent hip-hop is being hindered and effectively is indeed ‘dead’ due to the mass exploitation of consumerism and materialism in both its lyrics and music videos alike.
Grandmaster Flash, considered to be a pioneer of the hip-hop genre, used his lyrics accompanied by a complementary music video for the 1982 hit single “The Message” to provide the audience with a realisation of how dilapidated his particular community, the South Bronx, was. The video, through mis-en-scenes occupied by high key lighting zoom shots of damaged housing projects and streets polluted with waste, represented gritty realism of the South Bronx providing the viewer with an accurate perspective of how ethnic minorities live in post colonialist western countries. The rapper referred to the borough as a “jungle” , describing his place of residence to be allegedly filled with “rats in the front room, roaches in the back, junkies in the alley with the baseball bat”. 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 these artists and consequently purchased their material as they felt that it was accurately “reflective of the political, social and economical conditions of the time”. This brings in to consideration the ‘uses and gratification’ theory which suggests that the audience are not helpless victims of the media but instead use it to attain specific gratifications.
With his controversial hit single ‘Hip-hop is dead’ released in 2006, rap artist Nasir Jones, commonly referred to as ‘Nas’, boldly declared hip-hop’s demise primarily holding consumerism and materialism responsible, claiming they had “commercialized” the genre. However, it can be argued that Jones may have overlooked rappers present in America, namely Immortal Technique, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, who do not enjoy the same amount of commercial success as most artists, though release records in relation to issues other than just “bling-bling”. For instance, Immortal Technique’s latest record, “Open your eyes”, accuses the American government claiming “they fix elections, embezzle tax money, go to war for resources and fund terrorism for their own benefit”. In this respect hip-hop is very much alive and has not been killed by consumerism and materialism since Immortal Technique is an example of an artist who raps about political issues relevant to not only the African-American community, but Americans in general at this current moment in time.
In addition, it can be said that Jones was not taking into consideration international hip-hop acts and was “referring to American hip-hop being killed by commercialisation and heartless consumerism and materialism.” This is due to the fact that artists for example Nomadic Wax, an African rap group concerned with the state of democracy in Senegal’s capital city Dakar, use hip-hop as a voice of political activism and supplementary videos to portray the obstacles which they are faced with today. For example, the video of their newest number, “Niawal”, provides viewers with the harsh reality of third world poverty through the use of a panning shot which shows a street clustered with card board boxes that some unfortunate people (including children) have to call their home.
On the other hand, American rap artists including Nelly, T.I and Beanie Sigal on BET’s (Black Entertainment Television) debate programme entitled Hip-hop versus America , defend themselves by alleging that institutions will not play their singles unless their lyrics and especially videos are inclusive of the glorification of consumerism and material possessions. "MTV seems to be a perfect example: the content it broadcasts appears to be shallow, based around commodity images with no 'message' except the injunction to buy". MTV, in turn, disputes that sales figures of records such as Soulja Boy’s “Crank Dat” , which became the “third most downloaded song in American history with over 3 million downloads” , supports the fact that it is these types of singles which sell in this day and age. His follow up single, “Turn my swag on” , peaked #5 on America’s most selected Top 100 Videos of 2009 countdown, which further gives evidence to the fact that MTV was right in its assumption. In his music video, “Turn my swag on”, a close up shot of Soulja Boy is shown in which he emphasises "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 jewelry 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 idealises his infatuation with material possessions and the idea of consumerism. Some may suggest that videos like, “Turn my swag on”, are thoroughly enjoyed by audiences as they offer vicarious living and escapism to those who wish to live a similar lifestyle. Therefore, popular rap artists, such as Soulja Boy, prove that hip-hop is dead as those who created the genre are no longer in control of the content that it produces. This enforces Karl Marx’s theory of ‘hegenomy’ which suggests that one group has leadership, dominance and control over others – in this case it is the institution who has power over the artists and what content they release.
What’s more is that non-commercial rap artists, for instance Drake, have too started to follow the trend of incorporating consumerism and materialism within their music in a bid to be recognised and break into the mainstream. Drake’s “Successful” has him wearing gold chains and driving Cadillacs whilst he expresses his desire to “want the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes”. There is the possibility that these artists may be experiencing a lack of creativity as some would say that the African-American community no longer faces as many racial issues as it did twenty years ago when hip-hop first begun. This was at a time when the civil rights movement had just finished and African-American’s were trying to attain work, suitable housing and generally breaking out of the poverty trap. America has seen a drastic change in its treatment of minority groups and now has a black president, Barack Obama. Accordingly, rap artists may not be able to talk about the struggles that the African-American community faces presently, as some may argue they are minute or self helped.
Furthermore, the idealisation of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop music has had a domino effect on international rap artists, especially in the United Kingdom. Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk and Kano are all guilty of imitating their American counterparts. Tinie Tempah’s debut single, “Pass Out” , witnesses the rapper boasting “I got so many clothes I keeps em’ in ma aunts house”. The video has the rapper parading around in a Burberry suit. By April 2010 "Pass Out" has sold over 92,000 copies and went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart , beating mainstream pop competitor Rihanna’s "Rude Boy" , which is also guilty of using consumerism and materialism within its video through a montage sequence promoting fur. Perhaps international hip-hop acts have addressed the fact that consumerism and materialism is what sells not only American hip-hop, but other music genres too, for example pop. This argument would probably represent the international hip-hop acts’ explanations for contributing to the death of hip-hop.
Moreover, as illegal downloading continues to affect sales of singles and albums, rap artists are made to think entrepreneurially and find other means to make a profit. A favoured method recently by rap artists, especially mainstream rap artists, has been to establish partnerships with commercial organisations and promote the organisation’s products via both their music and corresponding videos. Hip-hop mogul Curtis Jackson, commonly referred to as 50 Cent, has constantly used this method of promotion to endorse his partner companies’ products. In 2003, Jackson alongside Sean Carter, commonly referred to as Jay-Z, appeared in a Reebok advertisement advertising the brand’s trainers. The advertisement, through the use of a various long shots, showed Jackson and Carter sporting Reebok t-shirts, shorts, socks and most importantly trainers. Similarly, through a close up shot, Jackson endorsed Apple’s iPod in his P.I.M.P. video. “The role of artists influencing consumer choices has been a central way for musicians to advertise their products" at a time when consumers have the choice to avoid advertisements thanks to television services such as Sky Plus which allows consumers to fast-forward advertisements and radio podcasts, which do not contain advertisements. Many rap artists have a great deal of influence on members of the audience as some may consider them to be role models and thus look up to them and consequently are influenced by their actions. “There exists a spectacularly symbiotic relationship between the dictates of the street code and an energetic American consumerism." If this is the case "the ‘hypodermic needle model’ would have us believe that music with such a message (consumerism at any expense) would motivate the masses to put consumerism at the centre of their worlds." 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". "Consumerism treats the viewer or listener as a consumer, as someone who is there to buy the goods produced" and it has clearly been working through hip-hop music as sales of iPods, after having featured in 50 Cent’s P.I.M.P. video, dominated digital music player sales with a percentage of over 90% of the market. Hence, hip-hop is dead as “the genre has become commercials” and no longer serves for the purpose of acting as a political tool for the African-American community to get their views across as it once had done.
In conclusion, the majority of rap artists being preoccupied with consumerism and materialism and idealizing them in both their lyrics and video’s alike has contributed heavily to the deterioration of the genre. What once served as a political mind field for the African-American community just two decades ago has transformed into a supermarket for listeners. Artists such as Nomadic Wax, Immortal Technique, Talib Kweli and Mos Def are still prominent rap artists, though only make up a fraction of the entire hip-hop music industry and can not be relied upon to keep the genre, ‘alive’, so to speak. The rap artists, the institutions and the audience all have an equal share of responsibility for the current state of hip-hop and only they can rehabilitate it.

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Bibliography
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Moving Image text;
Crank Dat, Soulja boy.(2007),USA
Hip-hop is dead, Nas.(2006),USA
Hip-hop versus America, BET.(2008),USA
Niawal, Nomadic Wax.(2006),Senegal
Open your eyes, Immortal Technique.(2008),USA
Pass Out, Tinie Tempah.(2010),UK
P.I.M.P, 50 Cent,(2003),USA
Reebok Advert, Reebok.(2003),UK
Rude Boy, Rihanna.(2010),USA
Successful, Drake.(2010),USA
The message, Grandmaster Flash.(1982),USA
Turn my swag on, Soulja boy.(2009),USA













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