Strategy & Rhyme

 A LOOK AT COMMON STRATEGY & RHYME IN HIP HOP

 By Brian Salkowski
In 2003, billboard and sound scan collaborated to research what genre was selling the most records of the time. You guessed it..Hip Hop and R&B. With that being said, the market was flooded with solo rappers, rap groups, Female Femme Fatalle Rappers, and your R&B/Rapper Solo Male artists. With a saturated Market comes the question of what is real and what is not?
  The question of authenticity is often paramount in hip-hop. “Are you who you say you are?” seems to be the recurring question. Any advice is to take note of this and use it to your advantage. Infuse your music with authenticity, talk about your real experiences, and show who you really are. Don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself, or reveal weakness. Such honesty will make your music resonate in a way that pure bragging won’t. You’ll also gain credibility as a real artist, which is important in hip-hop.   
Conscious vs Commercial Content 
 While there are an infinite number of topics available to a rapper, content has traditionally been defined along the Conscious vs Commercial axis. Conscious hip-hop is usually characterized as socially progressive, positive, thoughtful, spiritual, reflective, political, and critical of society at large. Examples of conscious rappers are said to include Common, Talib Kweli, Nas, The Roots, Yasiin Bey, Dead Prez, Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, and KRS-One.
Commercial hip-hop is harder to define. It runs the gamut from pop rap (such as Nelly, Black Eyed Peas, Will Smith, LMFAO, and Nicki Minaj) to gangsta rap (such as 50 Cent, Game, Dr Dre, and Rick Ross). Topics vary from partying, to fashion, to popular culture, to money, to jewelry, to cars, to violence, to drug dealing, and to sex.  In my opinion the whole Conscious vs Commercial axis is played out. Most rappers go back and forth between the two roles. There are very few rappers preforming without any expectation of profit or who don’t enjoy a hedonistic escape. Likewise there are only a handful of rappers who don’t care at all about improving the world around them and elevating consciousness. Many rappers sit right in the middle and make definition difficult.  For example, is Kanye West a Conscious or a Commercial rapper? Well he made “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down,” “Crack Music,” and “Gorgeous” right? He must be Conscious. But wait a minute, didn’t he also make “Get Em High,” “Gold Digger,” “Stronger,” “Drunk and Hot Girls,” “Hell of a Life,” and “Clique”? When we try to categorize a rapper such as Kanye we see how ridiculous the whole Conscious vs Commercial axis is.
Even individual songs, and lines within songs, defy the definition. Look at Nas’ “I Can.” The hook, the beat, and Nas’ flow are obviously geared toward a mass, for profit audience. And yet on the third verse he gives an historical overview of the ancient African Kingdom of Kush.  My advice to you is to ignore Conscious or Commercial definitions and just do you. If you like to party, then fuck it, write about partying. If you’re concerned about poverty and climate change, then write about that. If you come from the streets and have lived a tough life, then why wouldn’t you communicate that perspective? The most interesting artists are the ones who can tackle many complex subjects and show various contradictory sides of their own psyche. They write what’s on their mind at a given time. Human nature is by definition positive and negative, light and dark, responsible and hedonistic. Give yourself permission not to be confined by categories or arbitrary labels. Or as Redman says “do what you feel and never follow.”
And then we get to the obligatory diss track. Diss tracks have been overt and subliminal since hip hop started. It took on a whole new meaning and culture shift in 2001.
Case study: nas vs jay-z 
 A good strategy is to draw your opponent in. open with a warning verse that has a few carefully placed barbs, but save your best ammunition and strike with full force at the optimal moment. this is what nas did with jay-z. he responded to jay’s invitation to battle with the “stillmatic freestyle.” it was a one verse opening salvo that dissed jay generally, but saved the most scathing specifics. jay took the bait and released the full version of “takeover,” a hard hitting diss that bruised nas but didn’t knock him out. nas responded with “ether,” a well-researched, emotionally infused masterpiece that went after jay’s deepest insecurities. the song hit like a tsunami and completely threw jay off balance. jay panicked. he made the fatal flaw of going below the belt with his response song “super ugly.” the track was too personal, it referenced nas’ seven year old daughter in a derogatory way. As a result, Jay appeared tasteless and desperate and a lyrical overreach. In New York City [a live broadcast on Hot 97 was playing both diss tracks giving the city the decision to decide who won] the general consensus was Nas won! 
It is now 2021. The Hip Hop landscape has drastically changed just like any musical genre. In conclusion the question of what is real and what is not really comes down to surprisingly not the artist but the audience. After all there would be no Hip Hop with no audience. 
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