Hey Fetty Wap, Don’t Forget About Trinidad James, Migos And Bobby Shmurda
On Rap And The Music Industry In 2015
For as much as rap in 2015 is a story best told by observing Drake “Hotline Bling” dance memes and hearing sold out crowds chant the hook of “Be Alright” at Kendrick Lamar’s concerts, it’s at looking at mainstream rap when the sound isn’t created by “instant legend status” artists that one can get a sense of just how perilous, absurd and completely wild the music industry has become. In contemplating Fetty Wap’s impressive sustainability so far as compared to his his 2012, 2013 and 2014 doppelgangers Trinidad James, Migos and Bobby Shmurda, we chronicle what has indeed been quite the time to be alive (and an aspiring pop-star rapper) in the music industry.
Here’s a few facts about the music industry as 2015 draws to a close. There’s only three remaining major labels. Physical album sales have dropped nearly 70% in the past decade. YouTube has emerged as a popular portal for music, and they pay three-tenths of a cent per video play to artists and labels. As well, Taylor Swift was nervous about choosing a streaming platform because Spotify pays seven-thousandths of a cent per stream. This number is so paltry that hustler-turned-socialist Jay Z attempted and failed to get everyone from Deadmau5 to Rihanna to get behind Tidal, a service that pays seven-hundredths of a cent per stream. Eventually, Taylor decided upon Apple Music, the service championed by Dr. Dre and former Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine which pays two-tenths of a cent per stream.
Thus, if you’re amazed that rap music beneath Drake and Kendrick’s dominance is a myriad of disposable one-hit wonder artists with varying levels of success and sad stories attached to their careers, that’s unfortunate. In 2015, from Empire to Instagram, hip-hop culture dominates everything. Therefore, major mainstream labels attempting to use rap as a life raft to hold on for dear life against the traditional industry-destroying pull of the digital era is occurring. In this era, the past three years have been quite telling.
In 2012, Atlanta jumped to the forefront as Trinidad James released “All Gold Everything,” a single that in celebrating sweating while taking hallucinogenic drug MDMA (“popped a molly I’m sweatin’, woo!”), solidified rave and hip-hop culture’s underground-to-mainstream dalliance. As well, in 2013, trio Migos’ (Offset, Quavo and Takeoff) single “Versace” emerged from Atlanta’s popular Magic City strip club to become a pop hit, as Drake promising to “give Halle Berry a baby and no one can stop me” on the remix anointed the trap rap trio as hitmakers.
In 2014, rap’s traditional New York stronghold joined the fray as Brooklyn-based Bobby Shmurda released “Hot N*gga.” Between a viral dance that was linked with the track, and also having a haunting synth led production, went from underground rap club anthem to pop smash. By 2015, when one-eyed Patterson, New Jersey-based rapper Fetty Wap released his eponymous debut album, he’d had two warbling sing-song singles, “Trap Queen” and “My Way,” become smashes.
Three years prior in the ATL, Trinidad James signed to Def Jam Records with the same level of Fetty Wap-style fervor. Amazingly only one year after he “began to take rap seriously,” “All Gold Everything” was officially released as a single. The moment when Pitchfork reviewed the single with the quote “If the heyday of disco had produced a rapper, it might have been Atlanta’s Trinidad James,” the idea that similar to that era, he’d be a one-hit wonder emcee should become apparent. A remix of “All Gold Everything” that featured more established Atlanta rappers T.I., Young Jeezy and 2 Chainz was added to the original song, but the track only sold 500,000 copies.
Even when those sales were added to 14 million YouTube hits and lyrics of the song being interpolated into Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ hit single “Uptown Funk,” the single likely didn’t make a return on the label’s significant investment. Is there mathematics available to prove this? No. But given that James was released from his Def Jam deal on August 1, 2014 before even releasing a full album with the label, it’s telling. As well, note James statement via Twitter that he was putting out his completed Def Jam album for free, but that the producers and rappers who contributed to the project would not be compensated because he has “no money.”
If we’re discussing rap, let’s also dive into violence, jail and jurisprudence being involved with the careers of top artists, namely 300 Entertainment’s Migos and Epic Records-signed Bobby Shmurda.
Migos are one album into their deal with former Def Jam president Lyor Cohen’s upstart 300 Entertainment label, an outfit that in theory is an “independent,” but has distribution via Atlantic Records, which is now a smaller organization under Warner Bros., one of the three remaining major labels. 300 is largely funded by Google, and only releases artists’ music, having very little to do with artist development.
300’s model is novel, but the lack of artist development shows its flaws when Migos member Offset was just released from prison after being incarcerated due to issues related to an altercation at an April concert at Georgia State University where marijuana and handguns were found in their tour van while it was parked on school property. While awaiting a court date, Offset received additional counts for inciting a prison riot and severely injuring an inmate. Given that Migos might be viral kings, they have yet to have a Billboard hit, is it possible to believe that they may not be long for the “major” label system?
While Migos’ tale is unfortunate, it pales by comparison to the tale of Epic Records-signed Ackquille “Bobby Shmurda” Pollard. Shmurda’s song “Hot N*gga” (apparently) tells vivid stories of crimes committed by his label/New York City Crips-related gang GS9. Intriguingly, when the song hit its apex of popularity, New York City police noted the similarities between “Hot N*gga”’s bars and already reported gang crimes. On December 17, 2014 New York City Police arrested Shmurda, claiming that he was the GS9 gang leader, and was suspected of shooting into public crowds and murdering a member of a rival gang. Pollard ultimately pled not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder, multiple weapons possession charges, and reckless endangerment as part of a 69-count indictment that included his brother Javese, fellow GS9 label-mate Rowdy Rebel and 13 other people.
At present, Bobby Shmurda has been denied bail a half-dozen times. However, is Epic Records concerned about their potential star rapper sitting behind bars? Shmurda’s bail has been set at $2 million, which feels like it could be a pittance for the label to pay. However, Epic boss L.A. Reid told Rolling Stone that he’s “crazy about [Shmurda] and that [he] thinks about him often,” but that in the label not “[making] the money we used to make” and being a “publicly held corporation,” the label just “[isn’t] in the same position we were in back in those days,” and can’t spring him from prison. Similar to Trinidad James’ aforementioned “All Gold Everything,” “Hot N*gga” sold 500,000 copies. As well, there was an official remix featuring better known artists like Fabolous, Chris Brown, Jadakiss, Busta Rhymes and Yo Gotti. As well, at present the video has been streamed via YouTube 36 million times. However, that’s still not enough of a return on investment to warrant getting Shmurda freed from jail.
Thus, when considering mainstream rap’s current pop star of the moment Fetty Wap, the fact that the 300 Entertainment-signed emcee has two hit singles, an album release, and is bridging into EDM via a new single with David Guetta and Sia, we could finally see a sustainable star emerging from this “music industry saving rap-as-pop songs” model. In “Trap Queen” going multi-platinum, and Fetty Wap only having a minor scrape of a motorcycle accident as his only mark against him, there could be a silver lining to what has been a very flawed, sobering and unfortunate era.
From cha-cha dancing memes and civil rights solutions to mainstream accessible teen-pop ditties, rap’s everywhere these days and showing no signs of slowing down its pop cultural dominance. Along the path of rap’s rise though, the music industry’s fallen into extreme disrepair, and there are rap artists whose promise was latched onto for instant commercial gain who now are either broke or in prison. For every Fetty Wap there’s a Bobby Shmurda, Migos or Trinidad James. In both celebrating the success of the industry giant and not forgetting the stories of the artists who have failed to truly succeed, we understand just how perilous the music industry has become.
Oh yeah. Before I go, look at my dab.
Exactly…
