I looked up Jay Rock while posting that NYC to LA song he’s featured on. Coincidentally, the Watts based rapper has just started doing one of those releasing 30 songs in 30 days things. I learned that via a few hip-hop blogs and YouTube videos but there’s at this moment no mention of it or his new video for fans checking his MySpace page or official website, suggesting the relevant ducks here might not all be in a row.
That brings to mind this recent post by Seth Godin about not letting tactics drown out strategy. Putting out 30 songs in 30 days to get posted on some blogs is a tactic. Serving your existing fans well to grow a loyal base is a strategy.
I’m not sure that the trend of rappers flooding the internets with throw-away tracks ever pays off for the artists. As a brand new potential fan of Jay Rock, I’m happy about goodness like the video below that he put out for “No Mask On” (according to Nah Right, he’ll be putting out ten videos during these 30 days) but in an attention economy, signal to noise ratio matters for gaining an audience. And knowing what works and what doesn’t is the secret difference between greatness and everyone else.
The “No Mask On” video works. The beat knocks and the video directed by James Curtis has a real distinct look and feel to it. Give my props to the shooter.
I have to link you to the director’s youtube page instead of the url displayed at the opening of the video because there’s no site at the domain there. More ducks.
“South Beach, M.I.A.
Higher than a paper plane
Wavin’ at my fans
I’m the man
What you tellin’ god?
I don’t rap in booths
I rap in synagogues”
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@rafikam JayRock. Yawnnnnnn. More disposable music FTL.
This was an awesome read, because so few people consider the other side of the tactical hype.
In terms of recorded tracks, finished songs, I think I’m overall batting @ 20-30% — that is, 1/5th to 1/3 of my work is actually good enough to release and “push” at strangers. Alllllll sorts of music biz bloggers would cheerfully encourage me to “RELEASE IT ALL!” but, ah, no. There’s tracks floating around from before I was such a perfectionist and I know for a fact people have heard some of my shit-work and THAT was their intro to my work. I ain’t cool with that, no sane artists should be.
So the beat here is from Rich Boy’s “Drop” a single released earlier this year. This is interesting for a few reasons.
1) It was the musical element that most grabbed you. Who knows whether Jay Rock expects his listeners to be well-versed in minor southern hits from a few months ago, but he sure isn’t making the connection explicit, I think he said the word ‘drop’ once.
2) The fact that he made a video for it. ‘Drop’ still doesn’t have an official video, and the fact that he got someone with an aesthetic vision to make his freestyle over another rapper’s beat feel more legitimate. While I can’t think of another example off the top of my head, this feels like it’s part of a recent trend. (I know this isn’t new, but it feels different than the legitimacy of say “N 2 Deep” having the same beat as “Another Execution,” more like “Roth Boys” or something)
3) The fact that it sounds kinda like an A Millie freestyle. When “Drop” first dropped, it was criticized as being an A Millie ripoff, pretty fairly I’d say. But that criticism was about the beat and structure more than anything Rich Boy did on the mic, his flow wasn’t particularly Weezy-influenced. With Jay Rock there’s a point @2:13 where he references Wayne’s “Millie” flow, particularly that “tell the coppers ha ha ha” part. It’s this weird bypassing of his source material to reference his source material’s influence, like if someone jacked Posdnous’ flow over a Little Brother beat.
4) There are references to Rich Boy but they’re kinda subtle. The video has the washed out film stock and documentary style of Boy Looka Here, while the shot of Jay Rock standing alone in the middle of a road recalls the most memorable shot of the Throw Some Ds video. And the lyrical reference to M.I.A’s Paper Planes works as an oblique reference to Rich Boy’s work on the song’s official remix before it became every rapper’s favorite indie-club hit.
Justin,
Thanks for the remark, and an artists perspective on what music is deemed suitable for listeners ears. I think the supposed experts push that release it all approach because it feels radical to embrace the web’s big game changer: no significant barrier to cost to distributing one’s music. And it’s true the stunt does get artists on to popular blogs.
Of course, there is a cost and the cost is to one’s reputation if you don’t have 30 days of quality output. And how many unsigned artists do?
The value of being featured in the daily content cycle of popular rap blogs, even (especially?) for thirty consecutive days, is also debatable.
Jordan,
Lots to chew on…
Yeah, the Rich Boy beat-jack was pointed out to me on Twitter by Andy Hutchins (@RockabyeReview) as well. I remember hearing the original now, but it never made personal rotation and I’d forgotten all about it. I’m trying to make a deliberate attempt to overcome my east coast bias but clearly I need to further diversify my funds.
The news was a bit of a bummer because the beat does stand out as the best thing about the track. And you’re right it’s pretty odd to create a video over the beat of someone else’s single without drawing a clear line to what you’re doing.
But I think the connections between “No Mask On” and the Rich Boy videos (your #4 point) are even beyond subtle. They don’t look or feel the same at all to me. The tropes you mention – music video presenting itself as documentary, a guy rapping in the middle of a street – are such generic ideas in rap videos that they are not enough to make me thing one is referencing or taking from the other.
To me the approaches are a world apart. Rich Boy is being depicted as this ghetto superstar – he’s playing Vegas, he’s picking up fat rolls of cash. Everywhere he goes, he has a crew of fans. Jay Rock is the opposite, everywhere he goes there’s just his crew. I buy the MIA line as an arcane reference though. Nice catch.
hah I wrote that comment w/o rewatching those Rich Boy videos, for whatever reason the video reminded of them, but you’re right, they’re extremely different. The weird thing is while writing that comment I thought I was on point w/the visuals and really stretching with the M.I.A reference. Oh well.
This is interesting, Rafi.
Maybe Jay Rock expects his good songs to float to the the top of blogs, while the garbage will be quickly forgotten.
Frustrating for bloggers, yes. But not for people who read blogs and use them to filter what they should pay attention to.
great commentary, and i wish i could drop some more thoughts, but i’m headed out the door.
all i can say is that freeway’s month of madness mixtape was the sole reason for me picking him back up as an artist i’m interested in: now i’m strongly considering copping that new jake one/free tape whenever it drops (on rhymesayers, which is a whole ‘nother discussion in itself: who would have ever thought that a member of the Roc/Def Jam would ever drop on Atmosphere’s in-house label??)
Placing yourself under-the-gun (perceived or otherwise) to churn out songs in this quantity for a one time campaign probably has some benefits – you clear your notebook out, try some of the things you’ve been meaning to do, etc.
But imagine the 30 song/day tactic works to lure fans and that the artist actually releases 30 “keepers.” He’s now implicitly creating the impression that he’ll be able to feed fans at this rate.
In order to sustain that rate of output he’ll have to creatively tread-water, meaning stay-in-place, but technically remain moving. At this pace he’s more than likely unable to process feedback or even have time to contemplate what improvements he can make much less identify areas in which he can grow as an artist. All of which are at the root of most complaints in hip-hop listening/critical circles.
In general creating “good” music is a daunting task that is part of larger process which takes time to nurture. To willingly put yourself on an assembly line, while potentially buzzworthy, in my mind, brings diminishing returns. Especially if you’re trying to continually grow your fanbase.
At the same time I really dig the idea of “lighting several fires. [as per HERD Ad Map]“
So here I am all hyped for this fresh hiphop with the cool vid and what I find is MC ‘anyyankbornafter88′ over the most disturbingly lofi, preset-sample-using, generic, slow-tempo-so-the-rapper-don’t-fall-off-beat, mixed?what mixing? production. Mad dissappointed!!
So, then I’m thinking, why the interest? how bad is the other ish that arguably shouldn’t be posted? essentially, what’s difference to the 99million other kids doin the same thing?
For me the interest here is the visual aspect. Everyones got pro-tools but who’s got a 16mm camera (or knows how to use one)? It’s amazing how the visuals can create the authenicity, disguise the wackness and distract the viewer from performing the task it is meant to perform – to promote the audio. For me, despite the cliched ‘Boyz (still) in da Hood’ imagery and the uncomfortably voyeuristic, anthropological ‘look at the poor black savage’ undercurrent, there is a beauty and mystery in the organic and natural reactions of light through glass recorded on plastic that is still magical to me (even when the subject matter is so ideologically and creatively poor).
I’m glad I saw this clip, but no thanks to JayRock…
less is less but more ain’t always more.
peaCe
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