Hip-Hop's Slump: A Blip or a Trend?

[AKA2D '91]

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

POP MUSIC
Hip-Hop's Slump: A Blip or a Trend?

By GEOFF BOUCHER, Times Staff Writer

With Eminem prowling the top of the sales charts and Nelly waiting in the wings with a highly anticipated new release, it would seem that rap is as potent as ever at music stores. And there's no doubt that hip-hop has become inseparably woven into the whole cloth of American youth culture.

So why is there a murmur of discontent beneath the beats?

Sales of hip-hop albums in the first quarter of 2002 were down an eye-opening 26% from the same period last year, by far the largest drop among major pop genres, and longtime observers on the scene have been grumbling that innovation and star power are on the wane.

There are other challenges too: Rap concerts have never matured to rival the genre's record sales, and the music's young fans are so enamored with fresh sounds that it has been nearly impossible for artists to create long-term relevancy.

The youth of its fans also makes hip-hop one of the ripest targets for online music theft--no other age group is as active on the Internet or as likely to feel it's acceptable to pilfer music via downloadable files.

"I would say the health of hip-hop is down, but I would say the health of traditional prerecorded label music is down too," said Violet Brown, the lead urban music buyer for the Wherehouse chain.

"There is a lot of burning [of homemade CDs] in hip-hop and a lot of bootlegging.... A friend of mine teaches and says flat out that 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade kids do not buy prerecorded music; they only gets 'boots' that are leaked early on the [Internet] sites."

"The Eminem Show," the blockbuster release that will on its own buoy the genre's second-quarter sales, was abruptly moved up on the release schedule last month after Interscope, the rapper's record label, cited rampant trafficking of the music online and on street corners.

But even with all that, the sharp decline in first-quarter rap sales charted by the Nielsen SoundScan tracking service may have more deeply rooted causes.

"Business has been bad overall, but a lot of the rock releases are doing extremely well," Brown said. "That's part of what's going on. The same customers who buy rock-rap buy rap. They are definitely sharing the same consumer."

Consumer surveys show that the majority of rap album buyers are suburban white males in their teens. And a significant chunk of that base has turned in the past few years to guitar-driven bands that tap into hip-hop beats and rap-style vocals, often with an aggressive sonic presence. Rage Against the Machine may have made the template for the sound, but Limp Bizkit and Korn were the bands that made it an MTV-friendly music sensation.

Hip-hop is no afterthought, of course. The Recording Industry Assn. of America's survey of 2001 sales showed that rap and hip-hop accounted for 11.4% of all U.S. music releases shipped by the industry in 2001, its second-highest percentage in a decade and trailing only rock releases (24.4% of all shipments) and pop (12.1%).

No one expects rap or hip-hop to disappear, but is it in danger of losing the vibrancy that has made it the most exciting real estate on the pop music landscape in the past 20 years? The sharp first-quarter sales decline might be explained away by a lack of high-profile releases, but some observers say the genre may also have a drought of true superstars.

Eminem has ascended to a stratum of his own, Jay-Z remains a powerhouse (the disappointing sales of his recent "Best of Both Worlds" seem due to the controversy surrounding his collaborator on the album, R&B singer R. Kelly) and OutKast has been able to meld critical acclaim with platinum sales, but after that there are questions about the longevity and heft of the genre's other young artists.

"I don't see the new stars pushing things forward, not like the generations before them," esteemed rap video director Hype Williams said. "I wish I did."

Some observers point to the deaths of superstars such as 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G., but others blame the genre's culture of cash competition and the narrow thematic focus of hard-core street rap; the former pushes toward the predictable mainstream where wide audiences can be found, while the latter creates a repetitious revisiting of topics that rarely feels fresh or edgy anymore.

Lyor Cohen, chairman of Island Def Jam Recordings, has been a player in the rap world since its 1980s growth from sidewalk sensation to pop-culture force. He sees the first-quarter sales decline as a statistical blip on the screen, but he does sense that hip-hop is doing some soul-searching.

Just as rock 'n' roll went from an unpredictable, grass-roots sensation in the 1950s to a political force in the '60s to a corporate-informed existence in the '70s, hip-hop finds itself two decades old and feeling the tugs of art and commerce.

"The barrier for rap music is starting to become much smaller, there is access now to pop culture media that wasn't there before and that has changed the art itself," Cohen said. "The controversial becomes a different type of controversial....

"Now all the gatekeepers that once said rap was vulgar and not musical, their kids want Jay-Z's autograph and Ja Rule's autograph. So now the gatekeepers give hip-hop access and the entrepreneurial rappers are on the inside, not the outside.

"Hip-hop has to figure out how to handle that. And I have no doubt that it will."


Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times

Points/Questions of interest:
1. Who is buying rap/hip-hop
2. Bootlegging/burning does affect record sales
3. Tupac/Biggie's death
4. Is hip hop loosing its luster?
5. Do you see any other artists (other than those mentioned in the article) that will have longevity in the business?

The concern I have is why are these artists not more CREATIVE? I am tired of hearing OLD BEATS laced with new lyrics. Please, learn some notes, bass clef, treble clef. WRITE the melodies/beats. The sad thing is, these artists are not really SAMPLING anymore, they are using the ENTIRE song.

[Honeykiss1974]

while the latter creates a repetitious revisiting of topics that rarely feels fresh or edgy anymore.


AMEN!!! I really get tired of hearing about how much money you got, how many ho's you got, how many Rolexs, Bentleys, etc. that you got. And all this over sampled songs. I blame Puffy, P. Ditty, Puff the Magic dragon, or whatever he calls himself this week.
I also don't think the deaths of Biggie and Tupac was the cause or contributed to it either. I think as rap itself started to try and appeal to "THE MASSES" it gradually gave in and gave the audience what they wanted....a ministrel show, shuckin' and jiven'. Opps, I should save that for another thread.

[neicy81]

Points/Questions of interest:
1. Who is buying rap/hip-hop

It was reported that whites make up a majority of most of the sales.With that being said, I guess they want to appeal to the ones who do the most buying. I guess this would account for Nelly's and Ja Rule's "singing".


2. Bootlegging/burning does affect record sales

I think it does. Mostly because I'm guilty of burning music myself.If artists would put out quality music, there would be no need for me to burn 2 or 3 songs because the others are garbage.

3. Tupac/Biggie's death

I don't think so. They were great lyricists but there were many before and after them.



4. Is hip hop loosing its luster?

Yes!Creativity lacks badly.

5. Do you see any other artists (other than those mentioned in the article) that will have longevity in the business?


I'll have to think on that one

[lovelyivy84]

As to the bootlegging issue I think the new Eminem cd is a case inpoint- that album was available bootleg AND on the net for weeks before its release. It still hit number one it's first week and actually sold approx. 300,000 copies in 2 days.

This only happened because he is an album oriented artist- Eminem might have a catchy single, but his ALBUMS are always high in quality as a whole- I would buy the real copy because you just can't get the same feel for it downloading it song by song off of Kazaaa or Morpheus.

I am with Neicy though. I will be damned if I am going to shell out 15 bucks for a cd that has two good songs on it.

Hip hop just isn't edgy OR original anymore- all the popular artists are soo boring and rehash the same themes repeatedly. I mean that new Bug Tymers song really makes me want to scream every time I hear it! It's so unoriginal! I honestly thought it was a joke song, like No Sex in The Champagne Room or something!

Hip hop is not about black people or black culture, it's about appealing to the fantasies of teenage white boys who want to be thugs. I have no allegiance to an art form that views me as a gold digging ho, or as a wife to wait patiently at home while my husbands roams the streets sexing anything with breasts, even Khia with her non-singing self. Note: this is my real beef with hip hop- it is used to objectify US, and degrade our sexuality in so many ways. It reinforces so many stereotypes about black women and our bodies that it literally makes me ill.

I have no love for hip hop, and haven't had any for a LONG time. The last cd I bought was Mos Def, and until he releases another one (or The Roots, or Common) I will be saving my money.

[librasoul22]

1. Who is buying rap/hip-hop

The white kids (majority), like everyone else has said. I used to work in music retail and believe me it is obvious.


2. Bootlegging/burning does affect record sales

To an extent, but it is no excuse. I agree with lovelyivy84, if the record is hot, you will move it. If you got 3 bangers on there, it is gonna collect dust, point blank. Most times I have a record months before it is released. But if it is fire, I will purchase it the day it comes out. If artists stop putting out the 3 hit rubbish and start coming with some substantial music, maybe things will change. I hate that the industry has began using the p2p sites as a crutch to explain away laggin record sales. The fact is that they need to check themselves...A&R, Marketing, promotions-wise. You can only use SO many cardboard cut-outs as far as artist's images go. Some of these artists have REAL talent, but you would never know because their management forces them into this image that they know will sell to the public. Although this trend may produce a temporary spike in sales, it is NOT conducive to longevity.


3. Tupac/Biggie's death

I think that this may be a valid issue. It goes deeper than lyricism. Tupac and Biggie had an UNDENIABLE appeal that included content, charisma, delievery, AND lyricism. Both were masters at straddling the line betwen street cred and mainstream acceptance. Jay Z is the only artist I can think of that does it now, but he is definitely lacking the spirit that Pac and Biggie had. If Jay Z is to be hip hop's new legacy, we are in trouble.

4. Is hip hop loosing its luster?

In its current form (mainstream that is)..yep.

5. Do you see any other artists (other than those mentioned in the article) that will have longevity in the business?

Hip hop wise? I really wish that the public embraced the concious movement like they embrace Murder Inc. Artists like Talib Kweli, the Roots, Common, Mystic, have SO much more to say, and so much more to offer the airwaves. People are just not ready. Sigh.

R&B has a better chance. Whether you hate her or not, Alicia Keys has staying power. I heard the chick 4 months before she came out (and before she had Clive Davis boosting her up), and knew she was for real. She writes, produces, and arranges her own material. Nowadays, that is almost unheard of. Until you can be behind a production board, you will never know exactly what kind of task that truly is. That is why, while I do not appreciate Destiny's Child image-wise, I do appreciate the fact that Beyonce has taken it upon herself to produce. It is not as easy as it appears!

Sorry this is so long, but music is my heart and soul, lol.

[Blackwatch]

Great responses to this topic!!!

As long as the white teen male is the target audience of record companies, artists like Mos Def, Common, and Talib Kweli better find other ways to express themselves and make a living, because their consciousness will not sell to white teens who fantasize fetishistically about the "ghetto youth hunting each other down and searching for sexual conquests"
On VH-1 about a week ago, they ran a show about the making of the "Raising Hell" album by Run-DMC. One of the producers was a Jew named Rick Rubin. He purposely placed heavy metal guitar rifs in Run-DMC's songs (King of Rock, Rockbox, etc.) so as to appeal to white teens, because he knew, even back in the early stages of hip-hop, that if whites didn't like it, then there would never be any "real money" in hip-hop. Raising Hell was the first hip-hop album to go platinum, not because of the songs like "MY Adidas" and "Peter-Piper" which many black folks liked, but because of "Walk this Way" a song that most black folks fast forwarded through (we only had tapes) and even the group itself didn't want to do, but was persuaded by Rubin to do. White folks ate it up, and now this album is a classic? I do not think so.

Even on the west coast, White Jew Jerry Heller convinced a young DJ named Andre' Young and an ex-drug dealer Eric Wright to express the west coast ghetto lifestyle on wax to appeal to white suburban male fantasies about a lifestyle too dangerous for them to actually experience, but too "intriguing" for them not to be fascinated by. What Young and Wright (BKA Dr. Dre and Easy E respectively) came up with was NWA. Every since then, authenticity in hip-hop has been about "ghetto passes" and sexual prowess.
Now the future of rap is being described in increasing circles as limp bizkit, Eminem, Kid Rock, amd Korn. While the black hip-hop-ers are being relegated to side shows and minstrels still trying to cash in on an image that is fetishized by whites, rather than create new and innovative hip-hop art. Years ago, when I heard people say that rap was a fad, I laughed. And now when I hear people say that rap will go the ways of Jazz, Blues, and Rock and Roll, I believe it. In 5 years, we will not be able to recognize hip-hop anymore, it's sound, content, and image will only appeal to whites, and people will be saying that it is hard to believe that black folks came up with this, just like our generation looks at rock and roll.
Blackwatch!!!!