The Shift Toward Commercialization: The Capitalist Co-opting of Rap

The psycho-political forces that control the messages that we consume on the airwaves have chosen to broadcast rap artist whose music feed our lower self rather than our higher self. Rap groups like a Tribe called Quest could not survive the money driven climate of the music business today. Major markets like New York City and Los Angeles require massive sales for artist to continue to be employed by their record companies. Jay Z, Diddy, Kanye, and Dr. Dre all assimilated into capitalistic ideals based on the individualistic society that they grew up in. They did betray their origins and we saw that play out with downfall of Rocafella records but in the music business that is controlled by the authors of our destruction it is bound to happen. We need about 10 Kendrick Lamars to make conscious rap more mainstream. We couldn’t expect Jay Z to continue to rap about the hustle without being indicted at some point. In today’s climate rappers are being indicted for their rap lyrics so what will they rap about after they graduate from the streets, definitely something that we won’t be able to relate to like Jay Z’s 4:44 album which boasted about fine  European artwork that many of us will never be able to buy. What we can conclude is that none of these artist made timeless music that will serve generations to come. A Rapper like Nasir Jones was able to do that because he understood the importance of music that has substance even though he was often ridiculed for rapping about God and consciousness. His discography will live on because of his ability to eloquently tell us stories about the ghetto that were often laden with funk and soul samples from artist like James Brown, also engaging us with songs that quench our thirst for knowledge, and songs that inspire younger generations to be great.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvVfgvHucRY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWp2yY966BA

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