Tuesday, March 22, 2011

FUCK NO: Commercial Trap


MP3: Wiz Khalifa - No Sleep

I still find it a strange phenomenon when, once an emcee signs with a major label, they most likely proceed to release an album of party rap—each song purposefully purports itself to be an anthem. Hooks and cheese (and not the money colloquialism) are turned up to eleven, lyrical content tends to focus on simplistic themes and dire rhyme schemes, and the beats are always danceable to some extent. I guess I'm just more surprised that there's such a minimal effort to counter the trend. It's mostly likely purely a marketing move, but Wiz Khalifa has easily succumbed to that even more on his awful new album "Rolling Papers"; one can hope he can earn a living from the singles this record produces, because he surely has no integrity left for subsistence.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

You think they spend long hours in the studio, promoting themselves, shooting videos etc, to NOT earn a living? There is a maturation that they have to go through before they can get back to what you think they should be. That comes when they have bought all that they want to buy. This is rap music.

Unknown said...

Agreement with Stainy. It takes a devoted soul to stay true to your humble roots when staring down a paycheck and hordes of industry people telling you what could "make it better". Any counter movement would have to come from the label, not the artist. It's a shame how quickly the good ones turn over, but it is only human nature.

Matthew Giordano said...

True. My comment was more on the fact that, within the mainstream rock industry, there are just carbon copy bands waiting and they don't bother ruining the good ones. However in rap, in addition to the element that just makes music of the lowest common denominator, the industry still strives to bastardize those emcees that have gained "street cred" in order to falsely connect with the audience, masking the pure financial driven aspects of the business.

Millsy F. Baby said...

really? The Wizard of Khalifa has grinded his ass off giving out FREE music to his fans up until now: classic FREE mixtapes, dope songs for FREE just because...and then he makes a party album that will sell records and ringtones to keep his label happy and his pockets full, and you're not gonna let him cook?? When he turns right around and keep giving his fans the music they wanna hear again for free a month from now, don't download it since he "sold out"

Joey Gantner said...

Isn't changing your style purely for profit the very definition of "selling out"?

I doubt he was hurting so much financially that he needed to make his label happy in order to what - make a shit ton of money as opposed to merely a ton of it? Please.

Biscayne Bully said...

i understand the pressure that these guys get from their labels to make albums that will appeal to the masses. But what's disappointing about Wiz is that he has so much hype behind him that he could have stayed true to his roots and the album would still go platinum.

zsh said...

We live in a capitalistic economy. You gotta get that loot before you go back to here is all began. Make that money, then you can do whatever you want, cause you have the resources to do so. But this song, he sounds like he is out of it. Like shit, get this over. Maybe its cause he doesn't want this, other than the money. Or cause he's sooo high.

Juice Springstein said...

MAC MILLER AND LUPE IS MUCH BETTER THAN THIS BULLSHIT. THIS IS THE STUFF MEANT FOR RETARDS.

Anonymous said...

I don't know how you can criticize Wiz except that his songs got catchier, attracting a more mainstream audience. Also, they're not entirely, solely devoted to how high he is at every moment. Call it what you will.

Unknown said...

Whatever. Shut the fuck up and have fun. It's Summer.