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Simply Good Taste or Audio Snobbery?

Common

The Audio Snob by Lucas DiGia, 6/15/07

I don’t know when my brother got into the underground scene, but it was probably around the same time he started locking his door and telling girls that he loved them. I’m sure he told me all about the unpopular artists he had discovered, and his suggestions were rebuffed with the likely comment, “I’ve never heard of that.” Not until my freshman (and his senior) year in high school had I been forced to sit down and listen to his music. Car rides to school were perfect opportunities. In 30-minute snippets I listened to all that his indie rock and underground hip hop had to offer. I felt like I had been given the key to some secret vault where all the good music was kept from the masses. As if I held some secret truth only available to a select few…Sounds similar to a religious experience. It was certainly an epiphany - the very moment when my perception of hip hop changed. I’m not religious, but it was really just like that. It not only flipped my perception of what music was really good, but also how I looked for music. I had so many questions. Why isn’t this music popular? Why isn’t this music on the radio? Why is it that I can’t find any of these CD’s at the mall? When I first became familiar with independent labels like Stone’s Throw Records and Definitive Jux, I began to question the hip hop sensibility of anyone that trusted the contemporary rap icons backed by the major corporate labels. Using consensus to decide what was good no longer applied to music. Rule number one was turn off the radio.

The state of the hip hop record industry only exists in relation to consumer demand for its content. When I gave options to the few friends dissatisfied with popular hip hop I was welcomed with open arms. However, the majority of hip hop consumers I spoke to were satisfied with mainstream music. That’s why they still buy it. That’s why record companies sell it. Which comes first? It’s a classic chicken and egg scenario, but it doesn’t matter. The fact is that the majority of people aren’t looking for anything better. There is only a small demand for something better and the supply reflects that.

This realization is what created the audiosnob in me. I questioned anyone that bought mainstream hip hop albums. I became apathetic to the dumbing down of hip hop by the mainstream music machine. My views on popular music changed completely and I formed assumptions about music that shaped and narrowed my selection. I had stopped listening to radio and completely ignored all mainstream artists. Underground artists that sold out were the worst, as they joined large record companies that undoubtedly washed the substance out of the music leaving mindless mainstream poop.

The most recent heart-breaking sell-out I saw was Common joining up with Kanye. I saw them together on Chappelles’ Show in his kitchen where they recorded “The Food”. Well shit, the song was catchy but popular music is supposed to be right? All I could think was that Kanye was mainstream and that Common was about to be, and “Be” was exactly that. As far as Common’s album “Be” is concerned, all he did was ‘be’ common. It was flat and had no significance to me. Sure enough, “Be” sold over 800,000 copies and became Common’s fastest selling album. It got rave reviews from several publications mainstream and underground alike. It even won the Grammy for best rap album of the year! All this, however, was not enough for me to give it my approval. A search of the album on wikipedia yielded “Be” as Common’s safest album in its description as “not being too ambitious.” This analysis is a bit sugar coated, so here’s MY healthy version: Kanye washed it out. I expect a lot more from Common considering what his influence means to me as an aspiring artist myself. How do I reconcile his relationship with a man that got on stage at the MTV Europe awards to complain about losing best video?

I lived comfortably inside these notions until close friends and hip hop heads vigorously disagreed with my blunt analysis. Had they all succumb to the machine too?!? How could I be all alone in my convictions? If you Google “common be album review” you’ll find a hip hop blog with an indictment of the Common album worse than mine, but the overwhelming consensus was positive, even warranting a rarely given ‘XXL’ album rating from XXL Magazine. I stand by my opinion still, but am I poisoned by my perception? In writing this editorial I took a step back and looked for some insight from my brother. “At least for one moment, consider the possibility that public perception is a perfectly valid method for determining what is good.” At first I was stunted, stunned, and pissed, saying in response, “Yes! Of course I did! Back when my mind was controlled by radio-station lackey’s following the orders of evil men in high-rise building corner offices!” But then I understood his point and let go of the whole idea of “what’s really good.” I realized that I’m not trying to tell everyone what hip hop is really good. I’m trying to say what hip hop is really good for. Strong opinion’s on music are not easily changed through arguing, I’ve come to that conclusion - and decided that my real beef against the narrow scope of mainstream hip hop isn’t the artists themselves. I don’t want to invalidate popular hip hop, but validate the widely unknown community of underground artists along side the already recognized individuals.

It is not that when I hear Common’s “Go” playing at the club that I don’t bob my head. I Do, but each downbeat is a painful reminder of the obvious lack of a world-wide understanding of how dynamic and well rounded our genre has become. I believe the majority of listeners only experience hip hop from a distance. That is, from so far away that only the most powerfully promoted hip hop is readily available. To finish my thoughts on the subject, I invite all y’all whose only album purchase of 2006 was Yung Joc to take a closer look at what’s out there. Go farther than to simply press the preprogrammed radio dial. Use the tools at your disposal. Google that shit! If you don’t have internet access in your home, go to the local library. My number one rule of “turn off the radio” may be little more than a cliché these days, because the internet is a level playing field for underground musicians and more people are using it to find what they like each and every day. Online music retailers are able to provide music from independent labels that mall stores cant. Sites like broadjam.com and garageband.com already allow underground and emerging artists from all over the world to publish without the money and means that used to be necessary. It’s up to us listeners to jump in and find out how people all over the world love and create hip hop in their own way.

I have to end this with a personal apology. Dear Denise, (whose name has been changed to prevent her from enjoying my admonition of guilt) I’m sorry for throwing the Fifty Cent album out your car window on 696 last summer. It was mean, vindictive, and likely not safe for any of the drivers behind you. I know that all you wanted to do was shake your righteous ass to the albeit entertaining repetitive beats and ridiculously simple rhymes. I promise not to judge you for movin’ to mainstream music. Why don’t you give me a call? If you’re looking to go up to the club and shake the six inches of thong-crossed butt-crack hangin’ out the back of your pants - any piece-of-shit Fifty Cent song will do. By no means will I try to stop you.