Coursework

“Hip-hop is dead!” 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." [1]1 Initially, the hip-hop music genre had been formed in order to provide the African American community with a cultural identity. The hip-hop music genre 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 were more than likely to be signed to the biggest labels which were at the time usually owned by African American entrepreneurs such ‘Def Jam Records’ and ‘Ruthless Records’. 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 African American entrepreneurs who were able to empathize with the issues being discussed in the music. Therefore, the audience to whom the hip-hop music genre had been formed to target, predominantly African Americans, felt more comfortable 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” [2].2 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 ‘Public Enemy’, ‘KRS-One’ and ‘N.W.A’, but to name a few, acted as representative bodies for the communities that they came from offering the audience an insight in to the struggles their particular community faced and ways in which those struggles could be overcome. The issues discussed in the music and the images shown in the music videos of these artists presented the audience with the lifestyle that ethnic minorities live in western countries post-colonialism. A protest song which had been deemed to create a moral panic in society was KRS One's, “Sound of da police”. 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. The music video included real life footage of the African American community facing policy brutalities in the Bronx borough of New York City. Therefore, it was accurate in its portrayal of the struggle the African American society faced at the time.
There is no question that since the birth of hip-hop music 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 the hip-hop music genre – 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." [3]3 Although, what explanation is there to justify the recent trend of the idealization of consumerism and materialism in hip-hop music today?
Many rappers within the hip-hop music genre have a great deal of influence on members of the audience as some audience members may consider rappers to be role models and therefore look up to them and as a result are influenced by their actions. 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. "[4].4 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". [5]5 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. 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 music 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 indicated 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” [6].6
"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 music videos has become big, big business for manufacturers and rappers alike." [7]7 “There exists a spectacularly symbiotic relationship between the dictates of the street code and an energetic American consumerism." [8]8 Manufacturers, such as the record label companies that rap artists now belong to who are not exclusively controlled by African American entrepreneurs but predominantly Caucasian American men, recognize this fact and as a result try persuade the artists signed to them to try and implement the idealization of consumerism and materialism into their music and music 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.
Most debut albums of rap artists discuss issues affecting the African American ghettos and communities as that is where the rap artist has arisen from. However, once an artist reaches his or her second, third, fourth and so on albums 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 music and its music 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 opt for their 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 music 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 music videos dating back to the early 1990’s women in hip-hop music videos 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 the stereotype that African American women are just sexual beings and have no other purpose but to serve their superior male counterparts. "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" [9]9, is what a concerned African American mother had to say regarding women in hip-hop music videos.
The hip-hop music genre was founded and established within the United States of America. The very country in which this musical art form was founded and established is known for its’ advertising. This may be the case of why consumerism and materialism is so idealized within hip-hop music and hip-hop music videos today. "In a fiercely competitive media environment, broadcasters and other producers desperately vie for our attention" [10]10 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". [11]11 This is most probably why industrial organizations have decided to advertise through music 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 music 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 the hip-hop music genre 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. The hip-hop music genre may have been formed within the United States of America but it has expanded as an art form internationally and in most other countries the hip-hop music genre 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 Music being killed by American commercialization and heartless consumerism."[12]12

Word Count: 1,947

By Jasprabhjot Pabla

Bibliography

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Works Consulted:

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O'Sullivan, Tim, (1997), Media Studies Reader, London, Arnold
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White,S.(2009), Mpelembe Network