The hip-hop blog is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand- it’s an exciting new medium, where new ideas and topics and areas of discussion can be addressed. No longer is the field of hip-hop journalism and critique regulated to a select few, now anyone can critique and analyze hip-hop, opening the field up to new areas of discussion. This is an advantage over traditional art writing where only the elite are allowed to discuss what is/what isn’t considered great art. However this also serves as a problem, the fact that literally anyone can write about hip hop when blogging also leads to problematic areas, these people are not academically trained, as there is no academic training for hip-hop, and thus the open nature of the hip-hop blog can also be interpreted as negative, as we may have people who are not experienced enough to make informed decisions about the hip-hop genre dictating what is and what isn’t worth value. Another problem with the hip-hop blog is that it tends to sensationalize certain aspects of the culture, such as conflict between rappers, which in hip-hop circles is most typically known as beef. I’m going to explore the hip-hop blog by using case studies of artists, by doing so I hope to explore how various blog sites interpret important events in the artist’s lives, and how they are reported on/critiqued. The tone I will use for this blog will not be academic in nature, as most blog postings are written in an informal tone. What I am attempting to prove with this blog posting is that hip hop blogs mold the public perception of rappers. In all of the case studies examined you will find one thing that threads everything together.

T.I

The most important rapper of 2008 both commercially and critically is T.I, there is no dispute, while some might argue that Lil Wayne was the biggest success story of the year, there is no question that T.I’s album ‘paper trail; is leagues ahead of Lil Wayne’s album ‘Tha Carter III’ While ‘Paper Trail’ was a stirring narrative about a man’s inner turmoil and struggles before having to serve a one year prison term, ‘Tha Carter III’ was a collection of half assed punch lines and bizarre ass concepts- seriously, listen to the Wayne track ‘A Millie’ and tell me if you can make any sense of it. While you’re doing that, I’ll get back to talking about T.I. No other rapper has had as much press as T.I either, unfortunately most of that press has been negative, and most of the press T.I has received has come in the form of postings on blog sites. In a unique combination of journalism and critique.

Arrest

In 2007 before T.I was able to attend B.E.T’s second annual hip hop award show, he was detained by police. What’s that? A rapper being accosted by the police? MADNESS! (*sarcasm) What was T.I arrested for? One might think it was a result of one of the many vices of your average rapper, like possession of weed, pills, or any other kind of illicit narcotic, but no, T.I or Clifford Harris (T.I’s government name) was arrested for gun possession. I know what you’re thinking- rappers with guns are nothing new, they go together like warm butter and fresh bread, well T.I wasn’t just carrying one gun… or two guns, no- T.I had enough artillery for a militia group, we’re talking machine guns, shotguns, the kind of things most people only experience through an Xbox gaming console. What is interesting about this situation in regards to the subject being discussed is how fast the news spread to the blogosphere after T.I’s arrest. Here’s an example from the blog site NAHRIGHT.

This was posted hours after T.I’s initial arrest. It’s insane to think that in this globalized age how fast news can travel. Whereas in a pre-internet age, these stories would be broken in mediums like television or the radio with limited amounts of information available, the advent of the blog has allowed for fast and detailed descriptions on the trails and tribulations of your favorite rappers life. The blog has also brought a level of community interaction to news stories, meaning people can comment on the news story that occurs in a feedback section located on the bottom of the blog posting, such comments include:

“i like that shiney revolver with the black pistol grip. but i prefer the desert eagle of the hand gun variety. it just pops louder”

“DUMBASS!!!
WTF was he thinkn, oh wait, he wasn’t, hes 5′9, hes gonna get raped in jail”

Thanks to the blog, anyone can add their two cents in about any news story in the hip hop world, whether these opinions are well informed or worth writing are not important in the world of community generated content i.e. the blog.

T.I actually addresses why he bought enough guns to arm a terrorist cell in the track ‘Ready for whatever’

Lyrics:

I’m a man I ain’t perfect I admit I’m guilty
But understand feel me
I will ride filthy
Cause niggas out there plotting to rob me and kill me
Five hundred thousand every year spent on security
My future looked bright but now it getting blurry
Niggas in a hurry to find me and bury me
For surely god will deliver
Me I’m about it I’m a fighter to the heart I’ll forever be about it
I’m a father to my sons asset to my community
Look all that I have done my good outweigh the negativity
Mentally I was focused on not letting history
Repeat itself that’s why heat was kept in that vacinity
Guess eventually I’m gon be known but no meliciously
Through all of the publicity was anyone considering
My position and the logic heading my decision
But they caught me with em and hauled me off to prison
PERIOD. (Source)

T.I is not completely baseless for buying all those guns. A year prior to this incident, assailants opened fire on T.I and his entourage, killing one of his closest friends, T.I believed that the bullets that killed his best friend were intended for him. For better or for worse, the incident lead to jail time for T.I, he will serve a one year sentence some time in 2009. Again, as mentioned time and time again all of this information was first spread among hip hop blogs.

Shawty Lo Beef

Unfortunately for T.I, but fortunately for bloggers eager to get hits for their fledging sites, things don’t get better for T.I as the year 2008 progressed. As T.I was dealing with impending prison time, upstart rapper Shawty Lo, began to question T.I’s street credibility, claiming that T.I was a fraud and did not come from the rough Atlanta neighborhood Bankhead, as T.I would claim throughout his career.At first T.I dismissed all claims by Shawty Lo, stating that the only reason he was being targeted was because Shawty Lo was trying to gain some kind of publicity, and T.I was chosen as a target because of the legal trouble he was in at the time, making him an easy target as he was not in the state mentally to enter into a conflict with another rapper. In fact T.I literally laughs at the notion that Shawty Lo might in some way be considered any type of competition. After a while T.I was forced to address the claims made by Shawty Lo. T.I’s method was quite ingenious actually, he shot a video for a diss record (that’s a song where someone insults another rapper, for those who are unaware of hip hop vernacular) in Shawty Lo’s neighborhood, the Bowden homes projects, in an attempt to not only prove T.I had street credential, but to embarrass Shawty Lo by shooting the video in his territory. The blogosphere loved this move, and general consensus among bloggers and the users who visit these blogs, was that T.I was the winner in the battle.The war between T.I and Shawty Lo was not over however, as Shawty Lo and T.I’s entourages would engage in a physical scuffle at the 2008 dirty awards, an award show designed specifically for southern rap. All of this was reported on first, by the hip hop blog scene. Most blog sites made humorous commentary about T.I’s associate rapper Alfamega knocking out a member of Shawty Lo’s entourage. Here we see the hip hop blog both as a source of journalism and as a source of critique and commentary. The hip hop blog is neither exclusively a news source nor is it exclusively an editorial, instead the hip hop blog is a sort of hybrid between both concepts.

Dirty Awards 2008 Battle Between T.I. and Shawty Lo from Gyant on Vimeo.

Snitch talk

In the world of hip hop, there is truly nothing worse than being perceived as a snitch that is- someone who cooperates with the police in order to help them solve a crime. After T.I was caught with a horde of guns, many in the hip hop community felt that this was the last we would see of the Atlanta rapper, however much to the surprise of many, T.I was only sentenced to one year in prison. Many claimed that the only way T.I could have gotten such a short sentence was because he cut a deal with the police testifying in the case of his friend who was murdered a year earlier. While this would be considered normal behaviour for the average individual in the realm of hip hop many would consider this to be unsavory behaviour on T.I’s part with many believing that by working with the police T.I was snitching. Hip hop blogs were rife with discussion about whether or not T.I’s activity could be considered snitching. The dialogue was well documented in the world of the hip hop blog, with many in the users in the community debating whether or not T.I was a snitch. Here is a video where unsigned producer Mysonne discusses T.I and considers him to be a snitch.

Many hip hop fans were as disappointed and as outraged as Mysonne was, comments included:

This nigga sayin the truth tho when u get caught u cant switch sides..you cant have one foot over the gate either u snitching or u gonna hold it down’

‘I dont fuck my wit mysonne and I fuck wit T.I. heavy but, mysonne is 100% right!’

*Commentary provided from Worldstarhiphop.com

It is interesting to note how the hip hop blog has managed to take the social ideal of not snitching, and translating that discussion into a new medium. The actual cooperation of T.I with the police was documented by the blog sites, when T.I’s full testimony in the trial for those accused of murdering his friend were made available online.

Summary

T.I has gone through more in one year, than most people go through in their whole lives, what’s worse, is that this terrible year for T.I was chronicled on hip hop blog sites; from his arrest, to his conflict with rapper Shawty lo, to claims of being a snitch T.I’s life has been presented to a wide audience on hip hop blog sites. T.I himself addresses the use of his life as a way to promote blog sites on several tracks on his newest album ‘Paper Trail’ with tracks like:

My Life your entertainment

-Notable lines:

You’ve seen it all before, guys know how the story goes

It’s like 2Pac never died, sit back, enjoy the show

Here T.i makes allusions to murdered rapper Tupac Shakur, who many believed was murdered partly because of the hip-hop media exaggerating an east coast vs west coast rap war. The sensationalizing of the hip-hop beef on the online hip-hop blog is similar to the glamorization of violence found in hip-hop print media in the mid to late nineties.

(Source)

No Matter what

You let the blog sites and the magazines tell it/I’m show’ ta’ be in jail until 2027

(Source)

Lil Wayne

The other most popular rapper of 2008 is undoubtedly Lil Wayne, Wayne’s relationship with the hip hop blog is no way as arduous and sad as T.I’s relationship to the new medium, however, Wayne is still a good candidate to explore the effects of hip hop blog journalism, and the way in which crafts a public conception of a particular artist.

Homophobia in Hip hop

For years there had been rumors that questionable behavior was occurring between Lil Wayne and CEO of Cash Money records/Lil Wayne’s adoptive father Birdman. There had been reports by many, long before the proliferation of the hip hop blog that upon greeting one another Lil Wayne and Birdman would kiss each other on the lips, behavior that is most definitely a taboo in the homophobic world of hip hop. Last year, a photo of Lil Wayne and Birdman kissing leaked onto blogs, and the online hip hop community exploded with discussion about the sexual orientation of Lil Wayne.

Image found here

After the leak of the photos online many in the hip hop community were both outraged and disgusted, rappers themselves would comment on the behavior, including Pusha T from the Clipse, who have had conflict with Lil Wayne in the past. Lil Wayne himself openly admitted later on that he does in fact kiss his adoptive father Birdman a.k.a Baby on the lips on a verse on the song ‘We Takin Ova’

Wayne rhymes:

‘…damn right I kissed my daddy I think they pissed at how rich my daddy is’

Source here

What is amazing is that in a genre where we can have misogyny and violence homophobia is frowned upon. The commentary and reporting style of the hip hop blog only proliferates these outdated and antiquated morals. It is not entirely the fault of the hip hop blogger, as the user generated content is open to all types of posts and is generally unmediated.

This is not the only time that the rap group The Clipse diss Lil Wayne on a record, on the Clipse’s mixtape ‘We Got it 4 cheap Vol 3’ Clipse member Pusha T once again verbally insults Wayne on the track

“Sorry, but I don’t respect who You applaudin’/Lil Nigga flow but His metaphors borin/Don’t make me turn Daddy’s Little Girl to orphan/That would mean I’d have to kill Baby like abortion”

*Transcribed by me

On this track Pusha T is clearly referencing Lil Wayne and his adopted father Birdman a.k.a Baby. The mixtape where this track came from was first leaked on hip hop blog sites, in fact, The Clipse created their own blog to distribute the mixtape. So here we see the hip hop blog being used as a tool for self promotion. This self promotion sets the blog apart from other forms of journalistic media, in that instead of simply buying ad space on another blog, artists and record labels are now encouraged to create their own blog sites in order to reach a commercial market that is increasingly using blogs as their main source of news and media for hip-hop.

The Clipse aren’t the only artists to use the hip hop blog as a method to diss Lil Wayne, another artist named Gillie Da Kidd, who claims to have ghostwritten lyrics for Lil Wayne in the best used the blog as a means to insult Lil Wayne much in the same sense that Shawty Lo dissed T.I. The difference between the methods of Shawty Lo and Gillie Da Kidd, is Gillie’s use of the video blog in order to spread his ideas to a global hip hop audience. Here Gillie breaks down Lil Wayne’s character on a video posted on the popular hip hop video blog site worldstarhiphop.com.

In the modern hip hop world, these videos have become commonplace. Literally almost every day a new video in the vein of the above video is being posted; many artists use these videos as a method of self promotion. Gillie is able to gain some notoriety by insulting Lil Wayne, one of if not the most popular rappers on the planet today. Gillie challenges Lil Wayne’s street credibility and manhood, things typically held in high regard in hip hop culture. Gillie similarly to Pusha T from the Clipse brings up Lil Wayne’s kissing his adoptive father Birdman, in order to link Lil Wayne to homosexual behavior, and as a result hurt Lil Wayne’s credibility as a hip hop artist. The ability to use the medium of video is an advantage the hip-hop blog has over traditional forms of print media, and provides another method for rappers to engage in activity traditional to the genre i.e dissing, only in a new unique way.

The Blog as a Career Ender

The blog has the ability to ruin the careers of rappers by revealing information that is in contrast to the persona a particular rapper is trying to convey. For example, earlier this year a conversation between rappers 50 cent and Young Buck was leaked to blog sites. In the phone call Young Buck breaks down into tears, something most hip-hop fans would not expect from Young Buck who always had a type of ‘tough as nails’ persona. By revealing this different side of Young Buck’s personality to the hip-hop blog world, unrepairable damage has been done to Young Buck’s career. What is interesting to note, is the catalyst for this event occurred when Young Buck shouted ‘Fuck G-unit’ at a concert, G-unit was Young Buck’s label at the time, and the owner of G-unit records 50 cent most likely felt pressure to retaliate, as the footage was leaked to blog sites in the hip-hop community. It is here that we again see the power of the blog and its ability to sway public opinion, as well as its influence on major figures in the rap world. As a result of coverage from hip-hop blogs Young Buck’s public perception went from this:

*Note: Yes this is an actual photo of Young Buck

To this:

*Note: This is not an actual photo of Young Buck

Another rapper that benefited negatively because of rap blogs would be the artist Rick Ross. Ross used to have a persona of a gritty cocaine dealer, but earlier this year when it was uncovered on blog sites that Ross used to be a corrections officer in Miami, his image was forever tarnished, and Ross could no longer act like a hardened drug dealer, and has since had to re-craft his image as a type of goofball like character. Again we see the importance of the blog, and the influence it has over major artists in the genre.

The Blog as a method of promotion

I may have been a bit harsh on the medium of blogs as a whole, while there are negative sensationalistic aspects of the hip hop blog that I could do without there are positive effects of the medium as well. The most positive aspect of the hip hop blog is its ability to break artists that otherwise would never have gotten any exposure had hip hop blogs never existed.

Curren$y

The rapper Curren$y has used the hip hop blog to his benefit. For a period of time in the middle of 2008, the rapper would release a new mixtape every year. Curren$y did this following the model of Lil Wayne, who himself would release mixtapes very often. It seems that the current trend in hip hop is the value of quantity over quality, with artists releasing more material over a shorter span of time. The reason for this increased output of material from artists is due to the constant nature of new material being posted on hip-hop blogs, in order for a new artist to have any type of promotion in this atmosphere one must continually release new product. Again we see how the advent of the hip-hop blog has changed the rap music industry. This is a relatively new model that can only exist since the advent of the hip hop blog, as before the hip hop blogs inception there was no real way to ensure that the product being released would be able to reach a large enough audience to warrant the material being recorded in the first place

Charles Hamilton

Rapper Charles Hamilton was able to secure a lucrative recording contract with Interscope records, mostly due to the excitement he was able to generate from posting his recordings on blog sites on the internet. Hamilton himself has noted several times, that without the hip-hop blog medium, he most likely would have never gotten the amount of success that he is currently having in the music industry.

Summary:

The advent of the hip hop blog is both a positive and a negative in current writing practices about hip hop. While it does tend to lend itself on reporting on the sensationalized aspects of the artists involved in the genre. It is also a breeding ground for new and cutting edge artists in the genre that would not have been able to gain notoriety if the hip-hop blog had never existed