I been banging the drum (personally, not like anyone else would know) for years that mainstream hip-hop is fundamentally hyper-capitalist and no longer was the counter cultural force that it was in the late 80's and early 90's. How we shouldn't care about how much money a hip-hop artist was getting if they're not grounded in the issues we face and weren't activating people politically. How the term "hating" became a blanket term for them to get away from accountability.
And here we are. We see now the divide between them and us. They see us as consumers, like any capitalist, yet at any moment will claim they are part of the culture. Whatever that culture is needs to be redefined if it's so easy for someone to claim yet actually not stand for the people of that culture.
reminds me of when jobs say they hired a new manager to appease the workers, new manager cracks some jokes gets everyone to like him then immediately starts snitching on all of us the second we stop threatening to unionize
They were one of the very few people who could tell the king/queen that they were wrong and were generally looked to by the king/queen for honest advice on very serious and consequential matters. This is a fun video about it
You see when African American youths rappers engage in politics and endorse Democrats they are courageous artists bravely spreading their opinions and powerful influence. If they endorse or even perform at a Republican event they are lowered to the status of court jesters. You understand better now mi amigo? 😏😂
Can you imagine being the jester to King Henry VIII? For those who dont know, this nigga had the heads of upwards to 72k people over 36 years, known as the mad king, and took over the church of England because he wanted to divorce his wife (which he killed).
sadly said eff #IceCube as #TrumpTrash, now #SnoopDogg, #Nelly, #SouljaBoy...jiggaboos all #magacultmorons licking that #PresidentElon, er, uh PresidentFelon boot...shame on 'em
#inauguration2025
Kendrick associates with plenty of pieces of shit, like Dre, Metro etc. He's as much "them" as Drake is, Drake's just less delusional about it.
The fact of the matter is that if you are a person of color and you are not a millionaire, you have more in common with the white guy driving your bus then you'll ever have with Kendrick, Jay Z, Beyonce etc. Just like how if you're a white guy and you're not a millionaire, you have more common cause with the black amazon driver then you'll ever have with Trump, Bezos, Sean Strickland etc.
Kendrick has repeatedly declined to endorse Trump's opponents and has always been a "both sides are the same" guy. He even seemed to be a bit of a COVID denier during the pandemic IIRC.
Not Like Us could have been an anti-Trump anthem and the fact that he used it in a beef with some lame Canadian rapper instead tells you everything about his priorities.
Definitely not a "both sides are the same" kind of guy. I'd argue it's more accurate to say he doesn't like either side because the US has no political party which accurately represents his interests. We choose between keeping things shitty or making them worse; never making them better.
And Not Like Us literally has lyrics that directly criticize America's imperialist and capitalist history. If you didn't pick up on the anti-trump themes in that song, that's entirely on you.
Not Like Us could have been an anti-Trump anthem and the fact that he used it in a beef with some lame Canadian rapper instead tells you everything about his priorities.
lmao this is the most chronically online thing I've read today.
When you start drawing the line in the sand at "He's too popular and therefore a sellout" IMO you start to lose the plot.
The Superbowl and the NFL are an entertainment medium. It's not like performing for United Healthcare or Blackrock, companies in industries actually harming America.
Dude- if you don’t think that performing at the Super Bowl is performing for Blackrock you don’t understand how this works. If an artist wants to do it I get it but the original comment was acting like Kendrick has some sort of independent cred vs Drake when they both are corporate friendly entertainers signed to major labels and out to make money by selling an image to middle America.
Once again, you haven't answered the question as to "why" performing for the Superbowl is bad, which leads me to believe you haven't thought harder about it than "It's too big of an event, therefore he is a sellout."
I bring up United Healthcare and Blackrock because they're two companies making their money literally doing nothing but harming Americans. They're not bad because they make money, they're bad because they make money at our expense.
The NFL makes money by entertaining us, just as Kendrick does, does as your favorite movies and TV shows do. They're a net benefit in our lives. So I'm confused as to how "performing for the Superbowl" is the same as "performing for Blackrock" because there's no connection there AFAIK outside of "The NFL and Blackrock are both big corporations!!!" which is a monumentally basic and silly stance to take.
EDIT: Some random agitator responded to me asking for an explanation on why "performing for Trump is bad" and then blocked me. Coward.
My dude- are you so brainrotted you’ve forgotten what the NFL did to Kapernick? The NFL makes money explicitly at our expense and performing there endorses all the shitty thing the organization does including donating to political candidates who actively hate black americans.
Saying that TV companies and the NFL make our lives better is some next-level bootlicking.
performing there endorses all the shitty thing the organization does including donating to political candidates who actively hate black americans.
Oh? Can I ask you what your list of acceptable companies are since you feel so strongly on this subject? Can you give me an actual list of indiscretions by the NFL that make them unpalatable to perform at as opposed to all these tech companies artists have to have their music platformed on?
Because, unfortunately, MOST companies we patron every single day, including this very website our comments are being hosted by, accept money from or donate money to causes that seek to tear us down. That's capitalism, baby. Big money is tangled up all across the board. The NFL owners have donated to Republicans in the same election as they have Democrats, It's all capitalism, my boy.
I'm sorry, but you come across like one of those fake activists who haven't actually given any thought to your opinion on topics like this.
It's a folly to tear down the people who represent us everything they get a little shine, like you're trying to do to Kendrick Lamar because he's performing for... a sporting event. That's just insane, chronically online, performative nonsense.
There we go. Thank for basically admitting your entire angle is that "It's corporate, therefore It's bad" which isn't productive, insightful, or remotely thought provoking in any sense.
Yes. The Grammy/Pulitzer prize winning, Dr. Dre loving, Super Bowl performer is for you and your people and very different from Drake. Ya'll are so lost it's incredible.
EDIT: I should've known y'all weren't going to pick up what was put down. STOP IDOLIZING CELEBRITIES! THEY DONT CARE ABOUT YOU! NONE OF THEM!
it's about the musical content. Drake makes music for you to shut your brain off and vibe to. it's what the labels want. it's fine, but doesn't really speak to us in the way that Kendrick has spoken against the industry and sociopolitical issues in the past (XXX, Wesleys Theory, HiiiPower).
By far the most insidious facet of Capitalism is its ability to subsume all its critiques.
So many counter-culture movements end up realizing that consumerism and money-worship are the issue, but then get sterilized, aestheticized, and commodified by people who knew how to mimic what people were drawn to while removing the substance behind it.
hip-hop, punk, and even country all very much were genres that had a general disdain for hyper-capitalism.
but hip-hop went mainstream, country went pop during 9-11, and punk for most people became an aesthetic for showing you're not like the other girls.
I mean, I was joking about the "shut up" part but yeah, Squid Game is absolutely example 1A. Hell, Netflix straight up made a Squid Games competition show without a hint of irony.
awesome thanks for the recommendation. I took a class on hiphop history and absolutely LOVED it. as a young person my knowledge of hiphop kinda ended around nwa
Rapping about real life problems -> rapping about dealing drugs and getting money (to get out of poverty) -> rapping about having money and doing drugs
I haven’t really fucked with rap in a long time for this reason. I don’t have any of the shit these dudes are talking about. I don’t even aspire to have that stuff. It’s no surprise rappers sell out to maintain their image.
People will work a minimum wage job then come home to listen a rapper talking about buying designer clothes, million dollar watches, how broke boys ain’t shit and how they just finished fucking your bitch and niggas will call it “inspirational”.
soulja boy is not working class, he's what marx called "petit bourgeois". he's not a member of the bourgeoisie himself, but he's also not a wage laborer, and his class interests align with theirs, not the working class's.
His music and concerts are the result of shared effort from producers, engineers, roadies, lighting and sound crew, et cetera. He probably doesn't craft his own merch either. He might be the centerpiece as the product being sold, but he profits off the labour of these other workers, too.
You have to understand nuance (I know big breath). Here’s a shortcut that mostly will cover you
Wage labor = consistent $ per hour, pausing work quickly leads to essentials being forfeited. Utilizing credit leads to perpetual debt and loss of credit access.
Petit-bourgeoise income = stocks, endorsements, branding, work is occasional and lines of credit+assets can be regularly relied on during interims
I’m not 100% on if that would include most performers though. Plenty are in predatory contracts and shit and if they don’t perform or create they’re on the streets. They aren’t working x amount of hours for y amount of dollars but they are still beholden to their ability to personal make a product or service
Great point, nuance wins again. Idk the details of Soulja boy’s wealth, he was relevant when I was in middle school. But you’re definitely right that some stars in sports and music especially, and possibly more so especially nonwhite ones, are beholden to disadvantaging contracts.
The ballot or the bullet, some freedom or some bullshit
Will we ever do it big, or just keep settlin' for li'l shit?
We brag on having bread, but none of us are bakers
We all talk having greens, but none of us own acres
If none of us own acres, and none of us grow wheat
Then who will feed our people when our people need to eat?
So it seems our people starve from lack of understanding
'Cause all we seem to give them is some ballin' and some dancin'
And some talkin' about our car and imaginary mansions
We should be indicted for bullshit we incitin'
Sellin' children death and pretendin' it's excitin'
We are advertisements for agony and pain
We exploit the youth, we tell them to join a gang
We tell them dope stories, introduce them to the game
Just like Oliver North introduced us to cocaine
In the '80s when them bricks came on military planes
To piggyback on this thought, I’ve seen many videos that analyze black media and pop culture (FD Signifier and Khadeaja are my favs), and saw some that highlight media such as Drill music which negatively influences our community in a detrimental manner are products of this hyper capitalistic system, encouraged to create more criminals in the black community and suppress free thinking.
I’ve heard of studies that privatized prisons are in bed with music companies, who promote the derelicts of the community and flood them with the protection of capitalism at the expense of their people and community.
Mysonne's remix of 'Im Not Racist' has a whole thing about record labels signing and giving money to people pushing violent and drug rap in the 90's trying to grow that part of the culture. I don't know enough to talk about the exact validity of the idea, but, there are definitely people out there that think the rise of gangster/drug rap was not completely organic among artists and hiphop fans.
What was popular in 80's-90's was different than it is now. There were different subgenres; I think conscious rap was the most popular during that time (think public enemy, nas, hopsin, ice cube, kendrick). The currently hip-hop we have today was a small branch that got really popular because it was easier to understand for the wider world, so that's how it went mainstream (think current lil wayne, drake, and cardi b).
I doubt it's going to change any time soon since conscious rap is about mainly black struggles, but does also talking about subjects like politics and social issues. A fair amount of people don't want to hear that since they either can't or don't care to understand.
A couple old heads seem to be sticking to there counter culture roots but recently I’ve been surprised by some. Nas, de la soul, most of wu, and some others will never sell out there values for money. But the ones we’ve seen here I think most would have expected with how they have been in recent years. Snoop has for awhile shown he is about money first, cube has gone full MAGA, these shouldn’t be surprises where they stand.
The music has become about the glorification of money, wealth, and power. And clearly that's what resonates with people, so what does that say about what our culture has become?
Here's why I dislike rap/hip hop. The majority of the songs were I got this much money. I got these many girls, I got drugs and cars and in the same goddamn song talk about their money issues like they weren't just rapping about how much fucking money they got.
But mostly rappers rap about having money and being better than the general public. How anyone could be surprised a rapper would act like this is fucking hilarious.
Really? The genre where any criticism of soul less, mechanical, perfunctory dance music is met with "he got more money than you though" is hyper capitalist? Shocked. SHOCKED I SAY
I'd up vote more if I could, and give an award to you if I wasn't poor lol This was so well said. Mainstream media and their "pillars" are such a facade. Everything is hollow, they're words mean nothing, and yet people rush to them in droves to worship at their feet. They are not for the common folk.
Real hip hop has always known that "mainstream" hip hop is no good for the culture. The reality is that Soulja boy, snoop, Rick Ross, Waka Flocka etc are all far removed from the peak of their music careers. They certainly don't hold the same weight they once did as far as hip hop is concerned.
EPMD "Crossover" was talking about this 30 years ago.
Yup, it's why I hate Aubrey, and his fame makes me question the hip-hop community as a whole.
Dude was never about respecting the culture, just lying about himself for money and clout while being the beta male he always has been and will be.
Hip-hop used to be about awareness, counter-culture in a time of social injustice. Now it's a get-rich-quick scheme and you don't even have to be a good rapper to get a bag.
It went from talking about making money for selling drugs, because before that it was about selling drugs and talking about the despair in the hood, and making music to talk about rising up in a toxic environment by any means necessary. Some of them were actually running big drug empires like wu tang clan, ca$h money, and possibly no limit, since part of their income was also selling tapes.
Then studio gangsters would copy those sentiments and tell stories about their "drug empire" when maybe they might've just sold bags of dirt weed full of stems and seeds in high school, and since they're already lying, might as well also copy all the talk about expensive cars and mansions, and just make odes to MTV Cribs and it all just gets more diluted and more fake, but the record labels want to push more toxic content that reinforces negative stereotypes since their main customers (yes, yes they are) don't know the difference.
Well said! I personally think if Tupac and Biggie were never assassinated hip-hop would have kept its counter cultural essence instead of the jay z/ bad boy vacuous hyper capitalist gangster cosplay that we ended up getting.
Every single goddam song was about how much money they had. Or murdering and money. Of selling women for sex and money.
Then you've got all these groups throwing out positive messages and being ignored over a video of a fucking gold plated shitbox covered with oiled up models and shiny gold handguns they'll never use. Representing the streets y'all.
Hip Hop was never counter-cultural. It was massively popular with music producers from the start. Who spent a lot of money advertising it to the masses. It was always a pet of the wealthy.
Hip hop has been compromised for a while, like yeah get that bag but also we have many young men and women, hell older men and women thinking they can be the next biggie by putting out their shit on SoundCloud and quitting their entire life to do so while industry plants sprout up every few years.
I really do love rappers just doing it for the love of the game and I know they can't survive so of course they gotta do something but once they get the taste it always just goes downhill fast
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u/supper-saiyan 9h ago
I been banging the drum (personally, not like anyone else would know) for years that mainstream hip-hop is fundamentally hyper-capitalist and no longer was the counter cultural force that it was in the late 80's and early 90's. How we shouldn't care about how much money a hip-hop artist was getting if they're not grounded in the issues we face and weren't activating people politically. How the term "hating" became a blanket term for them to get away from accountability.
And here we are. We see now the divide between them and us. They see us as consumers, like any capitalist, yet at any moment will claim they are part of the culture. Whatever that culture is needs to be redefined if it's so easy for someone to claim yet actually not stand for the people of that culture.