Music Execs Silent On The Future Of Rap
Posted May 12, 2007 — in Music News
Hip Hop is under fire and the music execs don’t like it. Hip Hop CD sales continue to tank as it faces sever criticism of sexicism and depraved lyrics. Top music executives planned a private meeting on the future of hip hop but the meeting was canceled and the music gatekeepers have been silent.
Execs are scared to death of censorship as it could severely damage sales in the already plummeting hip hop world that is facing a backlash from consumers. Plus, CD sales are being gobbled up by digital downloads. This is the PERFECT STORM.
“They want this whole thing to go away and keep doing what they’ve been doing, which is selling records,” said Don Gorder, chair of the Music Business/Management Department at the Berklee College of Music.
Although many music execs are silent others are listening to consumers and taking action:
Ebony magazine pulled the rapper Ludacris from its June cover. Verizon dropped Akon after the underage sex scandal. Hip hop magazine ‘The Source’ has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Warner Music Group vice president Kevin Lilies appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s show and acknowledged “there’s a problem.”
Still, most music executives have turned down requests to openly discuss the future of hip hop and its depraved content. Sony, chairman Andrew Lack and chief executive Rolph Schmidt-Holtz have turned down all requests for interviews. Eric Nicoli, head of EMI declined to talk about the matter.
The absolute truth is that ‘Executives’ bonuses are tied to sales and they don’t want to destroy this market. Unfortunately denial doesn’t change reality.
The bottom line is that the population got bored with hip hop/rap and have moved onto something else.
People haven’t just started hating rap. It’s just that rap has sounded the same for the past couple of years. This will all blow over when a new artist comes out and changes up the sounds and styles of hip-hop. It happened with rock. The executives should be silent. This isn’t as big of an issue as the media makes it. There will be controversial music lyrics for the rest of our lifetimes and people will always try to make it into a big deal. The media wants to scare everybody into thinking if you let your kids listen to this, they’ll end up doing drugs, going to jail, etc. It’s just like a big promotion for Radio Disney.
Wait a couple of years, and this situation will happen again. and again. and again. The more it happens, the less likely it is you’re going to sell this music to parents. And the more likely you’ll sell it to the kids. But in this situation, the kids have already heard it before, so they don’t care.
Comment by annie — May 12, 2007 @ 6:28 pm
I’m thinking the public has grown bored of the same ole “I got bitches and bling” in todays hip hop.Just think of the controversy if the general public new what “Skeet Skeet” meant? LOL
Comment by Full Devil Jacket — May 12, 2007 @ 7:10 pm
First of all it’s been a while since the Source has been relevant in hip-hop, that magazine had to stir up controversy to keep its name alive. Popular rap music ends up targeting those of the internet generation and not magazine readers.
I can’t wait for the new T.I., Raekwon, Kanye, and Common albums. A guy who shares a name with currency and the guy who signed him will have albums coming out eventually also. It’s easy to think about the past month but there is a great year ahead. Hip-hop is very involved in culture and sure there are some artists getting in trouble but if rap sales are down, aren’t other genres also?
There are artists in every genre that attempt to give their music a good name. If mainstream rap styles and mainstream listeners change then it was never for them anyway.
Hip-hop still rules club pa systems.
Comment by A2daC — May 13, 2007 @ 12:31 am
This is the Artist that will inovate hip hop and bring it back with quality. His name is Reign The Italian. Check him out at http://www.myspace.com/reigntheitalianmusic
Comment by Nathan Wright — May 14, 2007 @ 11:23 am
well here’s an interesting and legit question:
What will happen to new rap artists who embrace the current formula and produce hits?
Comment by cheesuscrust — May 14, 2007 @ 4:47 pm
I posted this same comment to another article:
I’m a thirty year old black female and I was there when hip hop started to gain ground in NYC. I believe that the innovators of rap and hip hop had plans on rap bringing us as a people up to a higher level through expressing talents that may not have been “the norm”. Let’s not forget that our music had been stolen right out from under us and renamed for years in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Rap was hard to duplicate because it was telling a story. A specific story of a whole lifestlye. I feel that the reason it’s sales have been going down is because of the fact that those of us who were there in the beginning are all grown up now. We have children and realize that the turn that the music of hip hop has taken is not necessariy in a positive direction. So we don’t buy it. We don’t allow our kids to listen to it because a lot of it is deragatory and senseless and glorifies illegal activity. However, the ones who don’t have children or simply don’t care what their children are exposed to are the ones who will buy one copy and make copies to sell. So one one level there are sales. Huge sales. Trust me, I live in an area where it is very hard to find a person who has purchased a CD the right way. The problem is that since hustling has been glorified in such a negative light, the artists in the industry are being hustled themselves. So in the end, the artists and the street hustlers will lose because they are pimping each other. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that not all hip hop artists are negative; however, one rotten apple can indeed spoil the bunch. I still love old school hip hop, and concious rap. We need more positive artists, both famous and underground, to step up to the plate and take over their craft. Change the message and change the way you are perceived!
Comment by Lady J — June 5, 2007 @ 10:40 am