UnderGround Theory: Keeping it Real vs. Keeping it Profitable, The Compramise.

- To the left – Morale, Maggz and L. Tido have chosen the compromise in search of fame, riches and diamond rings.

Since the inception of hip hop culture into the mainstream corporate market, artists have been forced to compromise their style of music to fit audiences that major record labels target as majority investors. Labels identify the trends in urban culture and propose the idea of making music which appeals to urban youths following that trend. What results from this is a compromise in style that is made by the artist to achieve high financial returns.

Evidence of this compromise is very visible in the United States hip hop market, with artists like Chingy, Plies, Soulja Boy etc, and has recently infiltrated South Africa, where artists have become tired of preserving real hip hop for minimal financial compensation. Between 2006 to now, a new style of hip hop has emerged in SA. A style that incorporates the commercial aspects of urban culture in order to make hip hop culture more appealing to modern day teens who are no longer interested in the metaphors, similes and the conscious material of artists of the past.

A new breed of MCs, dancers and DJs who have no problem with conforming to the ideologies of corporate giants was subsequently born and have since stepped onto the forefront as the new image of hip hop culture in South Africa. i.e. Da Les, L.Tido etc. Though artists like Zuluboy, ProVerb, Pro, Reason, Zubz and others continue to work hard to preserve ‘original’ hip hop by presenting it to the youth from new innovative and fresh angles, the simplicity and swagger filled lifestyle presented by these new ambassadors of hip hop is still chosen as the most popular style of music by high school kids and other impressionable youths.

Now the question is raised: Is this new perception of hip hop culture in SA a natural progression for our movement? And, will artists like Hymphatic Thabs, Ben Sharpa, Last Days Fam, Katz and others be forced to subject themselves to the compromise offered by the corporate world, in order to make being a hip hop artist living in contemporary SA financially viable?

Either way, the progression of hip hop in South Africa can only be determined by those who support the culture, and if heads come together to speak out against useless lyrics, capitalist views and first world corporate ideologies being pushed as hip hop in South Africa, the sense in our culture may well return. Until then, the artists on the strings of their puppet masters sing along and encourage urban youths to disregard reality, education, the dismantling of poverty, and to rather get those new Air Yeezy sneaks and get on your Tippy Toes.

Keep it Real, Profitable and Alive.

HIP HOP LIVES!!!!!!!!

[Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of The UnderGround Angle and heads who share our stream of thinking.]