Ok here goes. Remember these are only my opinions and I dont speak for the entire hip hop community. Like Ootz said, check out the Temple of Hip hop site, you´ll learn alot there. Before I start though, I would appreciate it if you refrain from referring to Ja Rule and Nelly as hip hop, cos I the general consensus amongst people I know is that they are filth.
1. I really cant comment on this one, since I´m not in either of the two cities, but my perception is that Cape town has a much more creative and experimental approach to the art, maybe because it has been around there for so long and most of the country´s "legends" are Capetonians. Most of the Jo´burg cats I know(most not all, and I´m not saying this to start beef) sound too much alike and they seem to be trying to emulate one or another US cat. Sometimes you can tell just by their flow, which artist he had been listening to while writing the song. There are exceptions off course.
2. If I were to list all of these, I would have to get a publisher and a printing deal, because there are hundreds of things that piss me off about the way hip hop is portrayed in the media. Firstly, there is the misconception that we all speak in American accents. Then there is the misconception that we are all morons that can be mindphucked into supporting your product, just because you hip hop music playing in the background of your ad. A good example would be the Sprite ads, which all have a hip hop theme, yet try to sell the thought that image is nothing, thirst is everything. subliminally they do affect certain morons, like all the ball players I know ahppen to drink inly sprite, cos "they dont wanna follow the crowd. Another example would be the new Castle campaign. Read more about that in the thread called "Mc´s battle events".
Basically what I´m trying to say is We dont wanna be portrayed as a bunch of sheep who blindly follow trends and all look and act alike, I especially hate the gangster connotations and people who say "yo, yo".
3. I dont know, maybe I am just a paranoid phuck, but I tend not to trust any corporates. I will always have a little contempt for a corporate company, because a couple of years ago, they didn´t want anything to do with hip hop and there were calls from many to have it banned from places and people were being told not to let their kids listen to hip hop, cause it promotes gangsterism and stupid shit like that. Now that they realise the power of hip hop and that it has the ability to cross boundaries like race, cla**, and even language, they all wanna jump on the bandwagon and use it to fatten their dirty little pockets, while the guys that have been down from the start(eg. POC and Black Noise) still have to struggle and rely on sponsorships in order to do what they do. I do have respect for some though, but they all tend to be foreign companies - Adidas, for being down with hip hop since day one. Same with Puma and off course Montana paints.
4. I dont think there are specific products strictly a**ociated with HH, but there´s obviously vinyl, Adidas, Decks, mixers and spraycans. These dont need marketing as such( I know all products need marketing in some form), but the people in their various disciplines usually have what their favourites and they know whats good. Its somewhat of a trial and error process, eg, writers know which paints to use and what to stay away from and no matter what they try, brand X will not get anyone to buy their paints, even if they spend a billion rands on aPR campaign.
5. Do you mean artists in particular or kinds of artists? there are a few I could name, but my choices would me compltely different fro eg. Khoi or Milk´s.
6.Being branded sucks. It goes back to the whole stereotype thing of hip hop as a culture for this or that kind of person, eg. the gangsta or stoner perception.
If I were to be involved with a lable myself it woud have to be something like Tribal or Stay-up clothing. Or Montana paints, they are companies who refuse to adapt to what is popular at the moment, but instead do their own thing and force those around them to change their perceptions. They ultimately end up being copied by the companies that are much bigger than them. It just so happen that these companies are owned by B-boys, writers and hip hop activists.
7. Like I said, just my opinion, they can help by leaving it the phuck alone.
Hip hop got as big as it is today, through the hard work of the real heads. Not a single company would touch it back in the day and artists had to struggle to feed themselves. Others even had to leave the country, cos they weren´t as marketable as kwaito. Now they´re the next big thing, but I promise you as soon as something else comes along, they´ll forget about you and latch onto that.
As soon as companies get involved, they tend to corrupt things. In the 80´s punk rock was the big thing and it was a vehicle for change amongst the youth. Then the media got hold of it and soon punk became a joke, with everyone and their momma wearing torn pantyhose and black leather with mohawks. Punk lost its message of political and social revolution and became a poppy trend. I already see the same happening to hip hop, with people like Arthur performing in"hip hop" shows now and rapping. The media and corporations like to latch on to a culture and milk it for all it is worth and as soon as it loses the credibility it had when starting, they move on to the next fad.
Like I said at the start, these are my opinions, some of the other guys here are all for corporate involvement.
I am a graphic designer and marketing was part of my studies, which I happened to get a distinction for, so I have a little insight as to how companies operate. The heads and the MTV kids just happen to be the current hot target market for most companies out there.
[ This message was edited by: pYROKINETIX on 23-07-2004 16:52 ]
