Recent Comments
Re: “Late-night magic at MJQ: An oral history, Part I”
Man how y'all gonna cut this off you evil, evil bastards?
Re: “Bare butts bruised by Ping-Pong paddles.
Mommy-inspired erections.
The lighter side of sexual asphyxiation.”
It's one of my favorite shows. No doubt about that.
Re: “The imminent decline of Southern rap”
Is this a question of region or of the industry? We all know the industry's old guard is in trouble, closing ranks and getting more conservative.
Record sales are down. The beast is dying. Even while this is true we still have to recognize that radio and the major label machine is best for getting and keeping an artist into the pop music zeitgiest--for now.
Fine.
As we are witnessing fewer and fewer 100,000 copy selling records let alone 1 million copies we have to ask ourselves what will the mainstream metric be in 5, 10 years and how will artists get into that mainstream?
Will it even exist?
If we're asking these questions then we might as well ask another: even if the old world of music industry remains, in some ways, newsworthy why are we reporting about it as if it's the entire picture?
It isn't. Album sales and radio spins never were. They are only an indicator of successful market penetration.
Artists like Yelawolf and K.R.I.T, Curren$y, Odd Future, etc even while signed to labels represent the new avenue to success: The Internet.
On the internet every voice with intelligent branding can be heard. Tech N9ne will never reach radio or the billboard charts and there are artists on both that truly envy his situation.
That kind of brand loyalty and the commerce that comes along with it isn't being talked about and it a story way more common than outlier myth.
Re: “The imminent decline of Southern rap”
I don’t know that I buy into this. Are there a large amount of compelling albums out there? Probably not. But there are some really good mixtapes in the ether. The author mentions it him/herself. Don’t confuse the music industry’s issues with that of so-called “Southern Rap.”
I’m not certain what poor promotion has to do with the Big Boi’s last album being fantastic, or Yelawolf’s Trunk Muzik or K.R.I.T’s work being as compelling as any rap I’ve heard over the past few years.
Playboy Tre’s mix-tapes are of a higher quality level than some artists’ LPs.
The dig at Flocka wasn’t necessary either. Club music is club music, right? I’m not looking to solve existential dilemmas or listen to War and Peace on the dance-floor.
The key strength about Southern Hip Hop/Rap is that it can’t easily be put in a box. Like many of the mid western cats, we listen to EVERYTHING down here.
There is no self limiting artificial Hip Hop box to keep MCs from exploring ideas and sounds. I don’t think the West Coast’s G-rap stagnation can apply to the southern situation.
Is it possible to place Curren$y in the same box as a Lil Wayne, Fiend, Nesby Phips or a Jay Electronica? They’re all from New Orleans.
How about Rittz, Playboy Tre, B.o.B, Donnis, Gucci, Future, Spree Wilson, Pill, P.Dukes and Alley Boy? They’re all from Atlanta.
Exactly.
Re: “Atlanta natives EarthGang sound nothing like stereotypical Atlanta (c)rap”
This is the worst title to an article I've seen in years.
Re: “Time and Place: Dog for sale”
Awesome stuff