hip-hop + capitalism = <3

At this point everyone knows that top 40 hip-hop is a great vehicle for selling stuff. From Patron to cellular phones, hip hop makes stuff seem cool in the eyes of millions of tweens, teens, and 20-somethings.

A new song has me particularly nauseous,"Upgrade U" featuring Beyonce & Jay-Z. I hate this song for a few reasons:

1) It perpetuates the gender role of women playing second fiddle to their men.

"I can do for you what Martin did for the people
Ran by the man, but the women keep the tempo
It's very seldom that you're blessed to find your equal
Still play my part and let you take the lead role"...yeck! MLK is probably rolling in his grave @ the comparison.

2) It is bound to be heard on a cellular phone commercial soon enough.

3) This song has more advertising for luxury brands than an issue of Vouge.

4) It sounds like every other Beyonce song.

A rapper or singer's image is strengthened by the brands/ labels he or she consumes, especially luxury ones. In "Upgrade U" they shout out Jacob the Jeweler, Audemar Piguet watches, and Hermes briefcases, just to name a few.

Rappers these days are more like entrepreneurs than musicians. Jay-Z not only runs Rock-A-Fella records & Def Jam- he just started working with General Motors on revamping one of their SUV's. Don't get me wrong I love Jay-Z. My problem here is his attempt at "infiltrating all the corporate dudes" is not exactly conducive to my listening pleasure. There is enough advertising in the world to be sure, do we really need to hear about it in our music too?

Here is a great blog that discusses in depth (and probably more eloquently than I) this very issue: Hip Hop Marketing & Business News. Props Clyde!

Also worth reading is a BuisnessWeek article about hip-hop entrepreneurs