Music is a universal language, and without it the world would be bland. Since music is such an important thing in the world, over many decades the business of music has evolved in relation to the trends in society, especially in urban areas. The storytelling ability of rappers from urban areas has put money in the pockets of many different record executives, but not as close to the amount of money it has put into the pocket of the artist behind the music. The topic of urban music as a big business and the evolution of music distribution from CDs and cassettes to digital streaming is an important semester long research topic because a large number of rappers have experienced failure in the music industry and if upcoming rappers had the specialized …show more content…
Record companies have profited from the stories artists rap or sing about in their songs about their rough past. Without the ability to storytell, record executives would not be able to have great success due to rappers growing up in urban areas. This talent has been able to withstand the various distributive changes in the music industry whether it is to get music out through CDs, mixtapes, or streaming services. For an artist to gain prominence on a global level, he or she would have to have a music label on his or her side. Keeping up with news about the music industry, one is able to notice that the music industry is changing at a fast pace, but it is not easy to get an exact answer to the question of why this change is happening. Rappers are put in a unique position in the music business. They are put in a position of being outsmarted by many people at record labels who are experts on running record labels. Fans of music who analyze what goes on inside record labels hear endless amounts of stories about how rappers end up signing contracts where they are put in a position to lose. If rappers were exposed to the science of contracts, they would be able to agree to a contract that would put them in a position of winning in the evolving business of …show more content…
An A&R, also known as artists and repertoire, is the division within the record label that finds talent and works on the development of the artist and songwriters. It is ideal for employees in the A&R division to know the current tastes of the music market as it is their responsibility to choose artists who would be able to be commercially successful to bring money to the record label. According to Steve Albni’s 1993 article “The Problem With Music” in the magazine Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll he proves that the A&R staff is packed with musicians, music journalists, or record producers. There is much diversity in the A&R division of a record label. Dan Charnas, writer for hip-hop news site complex.com states, “You can have great talent scouts who don’t give much input on the finished product; and you have in-house A&R specialists who may not have signed the act but give crucial and timely artistic direction in the creation of an album.” One famous Hip Hop A&R is Dr. Dre, the co-founder of Death Row Records and the founder of Aftermath Records, is famous for working with Eminem, 50 Cent, and many more commercially successful
They use their music/lyrics as a means to express their feelings. When comparing rap music to other forms of music it tends to differ in many ways. Rap puts a great emphasis on words and lyrics. Rap is a form of street poetry. The emphasis on words in rap music is all due to the songs being real life
3.The paper will also talk about their contributions to the growth of the international popularity in the rap industry.
Hip hop has become one of the most commercially promoted and financially successful forms of media in recent years. But as its profits have risen it has become a scapegoat for the many of the public criticisms of young black people. These topic have been discussed in Tricia Rose’s novel “The Hip Hop Wars What We Talk About - And Why It Matters”. The state of hip hop has fallen because the trinity of commercial hip hop has become main topic and caused a lot of controversy. This book is appealing to a person who want to know how hip hop has changed in the past decade and it points out many different attitudes toward hip hop in the Unites States.
Although many hip hop and rap artists are only in it for the money and fame, others are in it for a way to get their message out, taking into account artists like Common and Lupe Fiasco. To these entertainers, money is an added incentive. I feel that many artists should have this way of view, instead of making their songs meaningless just to make money.
Even when one becomes an artist in the industry, there are many troubles that go along with the tag of being a recording artist in the urban division. One example is seen in the article, “The Business of Rap: Between the Street and the Executive Suite” by Keith Negus, where columnist, J.R. Reynolds, mentions the closing of the urban division at Capitol Records in 1996, calling it “the systematic extermination of black music at Capitol Records”, saying that it did not make any sense because the genre was doing well in the market (528). The black music division is often subject to this kind of cutting compared to others. Negus also states that “despite the influence of rap and hip hop on the aesthetics of music, video, television, film, sport, fashion, dancing and advertising, the potential of this broader cultural formation to make a contribution to music industry business practices is not encouraged” (534). The sad fact of the matter is that this is true. It is almost like the larger companies take from the smaller urban divisions in order to make themselves look better without giving credit where it is due and in turn, because those companies are not seen to be doing well in the market, they are dropped from the label. Ted Swedenburg explains this in the article “Homies in The ‘Hood: Rap’s Commodification of Insubordination”, when he states that “while the major academic rock critics usually acknowledge black musicians’ essential contributions to pop and occasionally write sympathetic a...
Rhodes, Henry A. “The Evolution of Rap Music in the United States.” Yale. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Hip hop has multiple branches of style and is a culture of these. This essay will examine Hip Hop from the point of view of the following three popular music scholars, Johnson, Jeffries and Smitherman. It will delve deeper into their understanding of what hip hop is and its relation to the different people that identify with its message and contents. It will also identify the history of Hip hop and its transition into popular music. In particular this essay will focus on what hip hop represents in the black community and how it can be used as a social movement against inequalities faced by them. This will then open up the discussion for the how this has influenced society, and the impact it has had in terms of race issues which hip hop itself often represents through music.
The first chapter deals with rap’s position in a marginalized society and rap as a cultural production. She argues, “Rap music is a black cultural expression that prioritizes black voices form the margins of urban America” (3). Rap music allows the marginalized black voices to speak and for others to hear. It is a form of storytelling. They can bring up social and cultural issues and shout-out their homes and areas that need attention, creating a space where rap music is a cultural forum where issues can be highlighted and discussed. She claims, “Rappers’ emphasis on posses and neighborhoods has brought the ghetto back into the public consciousness” (11). She also argues that the power and visualization of music videos opens up a dialogue across the nation whereas some black rap music is limited to local
SEX, HOMICIDE, MONEY, these are some controversial things rappers must rap about to get "Mad loot" (money). Its bad enough we grew up in a era where the slightiest thing could upset any one,like teaching masturbation in public schools or teaching about the creation of the world in christian point of view. We, the society are trying the screen everything, to protect are children from being harm. But its harm we are inflecting on are soon to be leaders of the world,for example tring to banned sex education from the schools,screening the TV from harmful life scaring scenes of nudity,music being edited because of the used of the word "NIGGER" "BITCH" "JEW" "HOE" etc. Now rap singers are just telling stories about drug dealing, getting beat up by police officers,gangland slaying. Poeple don't like them ,because they give people ideas or we just can't admit how bad society is becoming. Shaking are head looking the other way saying this is not hapening right now. Stories that scare the hell out of people. Rappers rap about situation that happen to them in some point of their lives. Lots of rap music performers grew up in poverty,were violence surrounded them,were violence was the solution to the problem. Rap performer just sing about songs with message that not all people live perfect lives with perfect familys. Some rap singers are actually grateful for getting off the streets , and doing something with their lives. Some don't
Beginning in the streets of New York City, hip hop music has crossed cultural boundaries and has changed the face of music worldwide. Internationally, hip-hop is the world's most popular youth culture. From countries like England, Brazil, Tokyo, India and South Africa, the impact of hip hop music on the local cu...
From its conception in the 1970's and throughout the 1980's, hip hop was a self-contained entity within the community that created it. This means that all the parameters set for the expression came from within the community and that it was meant for consumption by the community. Today, the audience is from outside of the community and doesn’t share the same experiences that drive the music. An artists’ success hinges on pleasing consumers, not the community. In today's world, it isn’t about music that rings true for those who share the artists' experiences, but instead, music that provides a dramatic illusion for those who will never share the experiences conveyed. This has radically changed the creative process of artists and the diversity of available music. Most notably, it has called in to question the future of hip hop.
Music producers have an influence on the music that today’s youth listen to that many are affected by even though the producers are unaware of it. Today there’s a lot of drug abuse, violence, and sex all on the rise even though hip hop itself is not to blame.
Music has been a part of human culture since the beginning of time, and it continues to transcend language barriers, belief systems, and remains completely open to interpretation. Music has changed drastically in the last 20 years. The main barrier breaker is credited to the Internet, which has opened an entire new world for music. Music will continue to evolve over time as the industry finds new ways to use the Internet. Major labels have found that adapting to the new ways of the industry has provided continual change for them. Musicians and labels have to continue to be open to accept the changes as time goes on to benefit the consumers as well as themselves.
Rap is becoming more popular than ever, soon most of the world will have some type of knowledge of rap music. Rachel Sullivan from the University of Connecticut stated “White respondents in this survey had difficulty naming three rap artists, which indicated that they did not have a high level of commitment to the music.” This statement was produced in 2003, also seemed to be very one dimensional. Recently, rap music has been surging through the masses no matter the race. Furthermore, rap is becoming very prevalent especially in the youth of this era. Many trends, commercials, social media, etc. are revolving around rap music.
Today 's rap music reflects its origin in the hip-hop culture of young, urban, working-class African-Americans, its roots in the African oral tradition, its function as the voice of an otherwise underrepresented group, and, as its popularity has grown,