Where oh where are my rebellious artists at?
From a listener's standpoint...
The only industry artists I hear saying anything even remotely close to "f*** the system" right now are Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Ab-Soul and... hell I can't even think of any others off the top of my head. That's terrible.
We have gone from Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" to Molly, Swag, Turn Up. I understand Hip-Hop needs "fun" records also, but the balance is not there. The media is flooded with utter ridiculousness. I don't want to pop a damn pill, I don't give a damn about "swag" I am a grown ass man and I would rather go to a mild bar to have a couple of beers than "turn up" at some over-expensive club and make a complete ass of myself. Believe it or not, I am not the only person that feels this way.
I can feel the "hater" comments coming already -rolls eyes- ... but before you lynch me, hear me out. This is the part where I explain myself even though I shouldn't have to...
Don't you all ever get tired of hearing the same thing? There's literally HUNDREDS of songs called "Molly", THOUSANDS of songs praising "Swag", HUNDREDS of songs talking about nothing but "turning up." Why is the Hip-Hop community accepting it and not saying "hey, I want something else"? I have come to the realization that this type of "music" (if you even want to call it that) has been force fed to people so much that they have just grown accustomed to it. They've heard so much of it they are no longer annoyed by it. The people are used to it, they are not fighting it, they are making-do with whatever the media throws at them.
Here is where the problem lies, people need to speak up. We have voices. Lupe said "I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence" and I share that same sentiment. If you DON'T like something, say it! Yes, you are going to be called a "hater", yes, you are going to be vilified and looked upon as "uncool" or "not with the times" or whatever idiotic label people choose to put on you, but if you don't rebel, you may as well follow suit.
Now from an artist's standpoint...
Even as an artist myself, I have been told "you're going too far" or "you're going to get blackballed", and my response is so what? Do it! What are they going to blackball me from? A stage? A commercial? What? Are they going to spread nasty rumors about me? Say "don't work with him"? Say they are successful at the blackballing, there is hardly any money in music anyway. Blackballing an artist in this day and age is essentially accomplishing nothing at all, there's so many outlets, it's pointless. That threat holds no merit. I mean really, we wouldn't want a Record Label Executive to get mad, ball up his tie and put it in his wife's purse where he keeps his cell phone obviously because every time an up-and-comer calls they never pick up. Give me a break. Don't be afraid of these guys, show them that you are equal.
I guess asking other artists to have a similar outlook is asking a bit much. Not everyone is going to stand up to a corporation and say "y'all n***** can't control me!" like Kanye West did. I am not saying everyone should be a rebel. Hip-Hop has it's Yin and Yang. You have overly-commercialized nonsense on one end, then on the other you have music with a message. There is not enough music with a message right now, and I would completely blame the industry elites for it, but the fact of the matter is ... you have to blame a lot of artists for being scared of losing their job, and blame listeners for acting as if they are okay with it as well.
Continue to follow my blogs where there's no popcorn, just a menu of cutthroat at my personal cafe'. In the words of the legendary Mick Foley, have a nice day.
www.youtube.com/majormindsetmusic - www.twitter.com/iconokie
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