Is This the New Face of Hip Hop?

Sandra Rose March 30, 2010

The Internet is buzzing about Caucasian rapper Yelawolf who tore the roof off the SXSW Music conference last week. The Gadsden, Alabama native who now makes his home in Atlanta, was recently signed to Interscope Records.

I hope you’re paying attention because it’s no accident that major labels keep filling my Inbox with tracks recorded by white artists that they signed but haven’t dropped yet.

Urban rappers and execs have just about destroyed their own music genre with internal beefing, numerous drug busts, drug abuse, etc. Is it any wonder then that labels have decided to concentrate their efforts on marketing “safe” artists like Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Jason Derulo and Lady GaGa?

The bottom line is, major labels can’t make money if their artists are in prison or dead. So gambling on white artists is a safer bet. Can you blame them?

mirsmommy
http://facebook.com/Im2thick4u 2thick4u

Actually gambling on an artist that has a reliable fan base no matter if they end up in prison or dead is what they want!!!

Look at T.I. and Wayne both went to jail…music still playing…pockets still getting fat!!!
ohpretty1

It’s those same execs that don’t want to sign a certain type of rapper if he doesn’t come with a pre-existing rap sheet. Now they see the results of signing rappers with ‘talent’ AND street cred. They have no choice but to ‘play it safe’ now if they want to produce the same numbers (with everyone getting locked up on a regular).
LadyLew

I agree with 2thick! Any gimmick works regardless of skin color and that’s the industry has come too. Real talent is useless if u don’t have a gimmick.
The Original MsG

2thick4u, you hit it dead on the head. This topic is dead before it even started. boooooo!
Cinderella

Aint nobody checking for Yelawolf.
chase

Yawn…
LLani

Whatever, record execs been pushing white folks with our music since FOREVER! When they see a white person singing or rapping like a black person all they see is $$$$. They are more marketable.
FloridaChick813

Whatever
MOVINONUP

Does that include TI cause Sandra you know he did go to prison
qtipthecat

She would never say anything bad about TI even if it were true. She has to keep those checks coming.
http://www.twitter.com/karazinatl KaraZ

@qtip I don’t think Sandra gets checks from TI, I think she genuinely likes Tiny and him by association, so she never writes anything completely bad about them. I believe the day TI drops Tiny or Tiny ends her cordial friendship with SandraRose, it will be on and popping here.

Besides as evidenced by Kimora, even when she gets a check, she still talks slick when the opportunity presents itself.
CivilEngineer

UHHHHHH……NO (in my best Michael Kyle)
tampa813

I wish Outkast, Dr.Dre, Red and Meth or somebody who actually raps drops an album cause these artists out now suck.
pyt305

and lol @ She would never say anything bad about TI even if it were true. She has to keep those checks coming.
kwall

IDK how I feel about this. So are you saying Vanilla Ice was 20 years too early? He was “safe” but thought he had to lie to kick it…thus fabricating a hardcore background…And what about white rappers who are good…then we never hear them again (Bubba Sparxx and Paul Wall)? What was wrong with them? TOO BLACK?
LaTechGrad02

Ok…this looks like an ad for Right Guard deodorant and Dollar tree shades….who is he?
M3z

I just youtube’d him…he has a nice flow…I don’t doubt that he’s a safe bet. I can see the young folks eating it up. I mean the major consumer of hip hop are young Caucasian children…so why not target your audience. It makes dollars and $ents
qtipthecat

Maybe her an Tiny hooked up in the past then? Is that it?
http://gravatar.com/avatar/0e3dd0989333fb4dbfefdb522ee5bd4e.png aniyvwiya

1. Yela is not just white, he’s largely Native American as well not that y’all black folk pay any attention to us anyway.
2. Kid’s a beast. And original.
3. He’s fiiiiine.
KrayZKat

I cosign 100% w/Sandra on this one. We’ve given away everything near and dear to us. It started way back w/Rock and Roll and continues today. We’ve handed it over to the white execs. What else do we expect them to do?
bama_n_jersey

@tampa813…I cannot wait for Big Boi to release his album. It has gotten pushed back so many times, but I think he finally has a release date.
allwrightyden
SugarPieHoneybunn

I guess, but I really dont care. Can you say “slow news day”? #thatisall
http://dirtywhorelebrity.com/ MistressD

We’ve given away everything near and dear to us. It started way back w/Rock and Roll and continues today. We’ve handed it over to the white execs. –> CO-SIGN!!

Niggas spend too much time trying to impress Massa that they forget to watch as Massa’s aides steal our souls, ideas and common sense.
Ms.Everything

Cosign @Tampa and Krazy but I think the execs also have seen what happens when rappers become successful which is they start making their own record labels, negotiating their own deals, and if they’re smart getting top executive jobs at the labels which cuts a good portion of the white execs money. I personally think that’s why we see so many of these one hit wonders that soon disappear back to the hood. They blow through their advance money drop a hit that makes the label big money but end up owing the label more than what they’ve made (over the top videos, huge entourages, legal fees if they catch a case, production costs especially if they use a sample which a lot of artists do) and then once the album flops, they’re dropped and the label is on to the next one.
http://gravatar.com/avatar/0e3dd0989333fb4dbfefdb522ee5bd4e.png aniyvwiya

THE KID IS TALENTED CAN WE FOCUS ON THAT SHIT?
makvay

He’s actually a pretty good performer, mad energy and beats are cool. You can tell he has backing by the people he has featured. I saw him open ofr B.o.b and Goodie mob but he sounds just like lil whyte to me. A real down south, 12 years ago, feel. At least its not more young money BS.
gagirl08

Who gives a damn what color he is? Music is to be enjoyed by everyone. If a white boy can rap, he can rap. Hell, I won’t even listen to 107.9 or V103 anymore because of all the ignorant b.s. on the radio. So if he’s good then give him his props.

Sandra, did you really just list all those “safe”, white acts not knowing that Jason Derulo is black?!??? Nice.

I keep saying I’m going to get to SXSW but I think I’m really going to make the effort next year. And I’m going to enjoy music by people of all colors.

Is This the New Face of Hip Hop?

Urban Stars Who Need To Come Out of the Closet

Slow News Day – Kelis Has a New Boo?

related posts