Hip Hop Made the Internet its Bitch!

About a year back me and a friend were having a conversation about music specifically the way people are making it into the industry nowadays.  He said nowadays you have to make the internet your bitch.  He was right.  The internet is creating opportunities for artists who otherwise would probably never get the chance.  The more connected and social media savvy you are the better.  The genre that seems to be benefitting from this the most is Hip Hop.  I know plenty of people would argue exactly the opposite but stay with me.

There are a couple reasons that the Hip Hop game has benefitted from current internet trends.  On the production level Hip Hop is like basketball you dont need much to play.  It used to be you needed to purchase studio time for you to even create a mixtape.  Those days are LONG gone.  Nowadays all you need is a computer a drum pad and a mic and you can produce and record your own music right outta your closet.  Oh, and now you can upload your music directly to a website that you dont have to build yourself, just use your Tumblr page that youve already been posting on. BOOM youve put major record labels outta work. Plus with a strong Facebook and Twitter following, you've have created your own fan base and demographic.  The internet has transformed the genre and created indie rap.  Not to be confused with underground hip hop indie rap relys heavily the internet community and those who break through seem do so overnight.

I had a real problem with this at first.  I felt that the music that came from these overnight successes didnt warrant the attention they were enjoying.   I felt that the musicians that were some how finding a way to rise to the top didn't have the same appreciation for the music as their predecessors.  My own interpretation of hip hop had previously been a little less progressive but I have since changed my tune. While some would say that Hip Hop has strayed away from its roots.  I would say that in many ways its returned in grand fashion.

Hip Hop can not only be enjoyed by everyone,  anyone can participate in it for any reason and at least in the indie sub genre, its up to the fans and (the hip music blogosphere) not the music executive big wigs who make the decisions on who becomes successful.  These musicians have absolutely no need for a major label, and some are able to organize world tours without being signed.  Does this hurt the genre? Not at all.  Does it mean everything that comes out is good? Not at all. For example, when has liking rock mean that you like all rock?  Rock has been around long enough to evolve and spawn dozens of subgenres.  Naturally hip hop would follow suit and the internet was the perfect catalyst to bring about this change.  The task of pushing the genre forward has been placed in the hands of the artist and the consumer where it should be in my opinion.  There's rap for damn near anyone nowadays.  Also The artists seem to care less about others affiliations.  You've got young lyrical prodigies doing features with swag rappers and demented provocateurs on tour with comics turned rappers who hang with the druggie hip hoppers.

It's a strange but refreshing and exciting time for Hip Hop I'd say.  I would go on record and say that the internet has helped Hip Hop more than any other genre but I will never make a blanket statement like that.  The only media outlet that may hold a candle may be television.  Netflix has proved this with the successful original series House of Cards and this weeks return of cult classic television series Arrested Development (which I reupped my subscription specifically to watch when I heard the news) .  Youtube channels are hosting original premium television monetized by advertising in much the same way traditional TV does.  Television is quickly making the internet its bitch as well.  The proliferation of web based media is the wave of the future and theres no stopping it.  I'm just glad that my beloved hip hop is thriving in the midst of it.

God bless the internet

All right I will be honest with you, I originally had a really good blog post in the works but I started watching The Blues Brothers and sort of ran out of time. But do not worry; instead I decided to post my personal favorite YouTube videos. You have probably seen a lot of these before but they are still good for a laugh. Just as a heads up some of them contain foul language so you may want to turn down the volume if you are at work.

I’m the Juggernaut Bitch: This one is a classic. I fondly remember watching this my sophomore year of college in the fraternity house. We laugh for hours upon hours until we woke up everyone else in the house. This one hasn’t aged very well and some people may not get it but I still love it.

“Cooking by the Book” a little bigger remix: This one I stumbled upon not too long ago, and has found it’s way into my favorites. I love it because it takes a very innocent children’s program and dubs over some very explicit lil’ John lyrics. What ensues is absolute magic as two disparate sources come together perfectly to make a classic.

Mahvel Baybe: This one comes from the world of videogames and shit talking, two things that go great together. I love this video because everybody has that friend who likes talking trash while playing videogames or perhaps you are that person. In this clip our man takes it to a new extreme spouting phrases that don’t any sense and pairs them to wonderful subtitles.

It’s So Cold in the D: This is one a good friend put me on to this one about a year ago. I am sure it is one you have already seen but its always good to take another look. Where to start with this one, it has some of the worst singing I have heard, terrible writing, and the hilarious background dancing. Most of all is this is a cringe-worthy video as it makes me slightly be embarrassed as a black person to see another black person acting so foolishly on the internet.

Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama: This one is a classic of the internet and probably set black folk back another 10 years. This one is bad because well… just watch it if you have not seen it before. It’s the best yet guiltiest laugh you will have in a while.

What the internet has taught me

My friends are sitting around talking; they are deeply offended, disgusted and disappointed in their peers. I meanwhile sit in the back of the room; I am unaffected, unsurprised, and unconcerned. Why is this?

About a year ago there was a little site which you may have heard of: Juicy Campus. Juicy Campus allowed users on college campuses to post rumors and gossip completely anonymously. The site expanded and grew and soon it became hot issue on our campus. One of the golden rules of the internet states that if you give someone the ability to be anonymous and have an audience, they become a massive idiot. Juicy Campus was the place to find all things terrible, from discussions of which girls were most promiscuous to which fraternity’s had the most jerks. No one was safe, people would log on with both a sense of interest and fear. People were interested to see whose good name would be slandered each day but were fearful that said good name would be theirs.

It didn’t take long for Juicy Campus to grow even more offensive and disgusting. Soon the internet reared its bad side and racist threads began to show up. Threads posted talking about how much they hated Niggers, coons and blacks in general. This truly shocked people, a lot of people were disgusted by this, and they were amazed that they were going to school with racists. I was not shocked or disgusted.

It’s the internet.

When you boil it down the internet is mainly a place for people to look at porn and offend people. It’s what God and Al Gore intended when they built it back in the 90s. Occasionally people use the internet for other activities such as buying merchandise and keeping in touch with friends. I pretty much grew up with the internet, and have found out a few things about it.

1. Normal people become idiots on the internet. As I alluded to earlier something about being relatively anonymous makes people a lot bolder and braver. They are more willing to express their opinions and their thoughts. Unfortunately most people are idiots and most of their thoughts are best kept to themselves.

2. No one can kick your ass via the internet, yet. The internet is great for the passive aggressive types. Afraid to talk trash to someone’s face? Worried about expressing your opinions for fear of physical repercussions? The internet has all of your problems sorted. Say whatever you like no matter how racist or offensive it is. It’s easy to be a tough guy on the internet.

3. Offending people is apparently fun. There are some people in this world who love to watch people get upset. These people are called trolls, they enjoy going into forums, and internet communities and posting comments for the simple purpose of upsetting people and getting a reaction. The more people respond to what a troll posts, the more satisfied the troll is.

4. The internet is home to the most shocking, horrifying and depraved content in the world. Tub girl, goatse, and Two Girls One Cup are just a few of the things I encourage you NOT to Google or seek out more information on (Honestly do not). Just when you thought you have seen the most terrible and disturbing things in your life the internet is here to show you that there is worse. If you spend enough time on the internet you will find content which truly shocks you regardless of if you seek it out or not. Eventually the threshold of what you find truly disturbing gets raised as the internet shows you more and more of what it has to offer.

In all honesty I could go on much longer about what the internet has taught me, but it’s clear to see why I was not shocked by the racist threads on Juicy Campus. As a user of the internet I had come to expect the sort of content which Juicy Campus contained, it was simply the way things are on the internet.

Typing that however makes me sad, and feel slightly empty. Perhaps my time on the internet has simply pulled the wool over my eyes and masked what was a troll or someone who truly hated black people. I can only take comfort in knowing that regardless of the internet that racists will still be racists, and people will still have opinions that differ from my own. The whole Juicy Campus situation did expose however how far the internet had raised my ability to not be shocked in comparison to my peers. My only advice to you dear reader is to tread lightly as there is fucked up stuff in this world, and the easiest way to find it is sitting right in front of you.