People act like hip-hop has become this major sales strategy all of a sudden, but honestly as long as the genre has been in existence there has been some sort of pitch involved.
It goes all the way back to “My Adidas” – we love putting people up on stuff and not making money off of it. There’s always going to be that glorification of branding; it’s ingrained in our culture.
These days things have become much bigger than rappers hipping us to the “new new” by name dropping clothes, cars and shoes.
What’s different is that hip-hop is being used to sell everything from soda to cereal. The undeniable influence is now intertwined with pop culture. And that’s not a bad thing.
This new paradigm has given birth to the hip-hop mogul. They make money and further their tastemaker status from power moves and collaborations with corporations as much as (and in some cases more than) record deals with major labels and guest verses on the track of the flavor of the month rapper.
Now as far as “I’m selling this…” I think you will see more of it.
Is it good for the brand of hip-hop? Who knows? I think it’s all about how genuine the artist is. The difference between building a brand and being a sellout lies in what you present to your audience through your craft. Jay Z actually talks about that.
We always say “Well, Jay Z made another million dollars,” when he lands another big deal or partnership. But we don’t look at him differently as far as his music. Why? Well, it’s all about the trust you build with the listeners.
Let it be another artist – it’s like “they must really need the money.”
MC Hammer petered out, of course, because people he didn’t have that trust.
Before Jay Z became this big business man, he was giving core hip-hop a great staple of art.
He provided this rap ecosystem that seemed to be for the people and by the people. We still talk about the Roc-A-Fella era all these years later.
When you come up like that, it’s easy to take a big Samsung deal and not be considered a sellout.
The bottom line is the relationship that the artist has with the people and the music they’ve given their fans. I just think that it’s a case-by-case situation.
If the general perception is that you care about the art form first – and you’re not just whoring yourself out, it will be considered acceptable.
Hip-hop has been based on free promo for big designers and big shoe companies just because we want to be associated with luxury. We want the finer things. Will that aspect go away? No, we’re too far gone as a culture.
That’s not to say that there won’t be more people like an Odd Future coming along where they are so counter culture – or even now like Lorde’s “Royals.” She’s a 16 year old from New Zealand shunning everything that radio is talking about right now. We’re playing it on Hot (104.1) right now because it’s one of those songs that transcends genres and speaks directly to the people.
But then at the same time you have a “Tom Ford.”
The truth is, rappers can’t be 100 percent independent and reach the height they want to go to – there has to be a successful marriage between art and commerce.
A-Plus is the nighttime personality for Hot 104.1 FM (7 p.m. – midnight weekdays). Follow him on Twitter at @a_plus.
