Need a hit song- Nah Just a Catch Phrase
So I've come to the conclusion that you no longer need to actually come up with a good song in order to get 'over' as it would be. In hip-hop today, all you need is to add some new vernacular to the urban lexicon. Put it simply, come up with a catch phrase and milk that joint until the wheels fall off. While this isn't completely a new phenomenon, it has gotten much larger in the past two years or so. Not only is it dumbed down lyrics, but dumb it down to two or three words and you will rake in money hand over fist for at least six months.
Last year, Kanye West and Jay-z dropped 'Watch The Throne' and while it was very anticipated and was a good album overall, one thing has stood out since last year, "That Shit Cray". Just check your facebook and see how many of your friends are saying something is "cray". While plenty of people have sort of debated where and how it originated, one is for certain it is used as a synonym for crazy and I predicted that this would happen as soon as I heard it on the song. now you may not be convinced because after all Jay-z and Kanye are icons.
Let's talk about last year's flash in the pan YC and his "Racks on Racks". Before this song the term "racks" was rarely used, because I know someone is going to tell me they've been saying it for years, but after the song blew up, you couldn't get away from the phrase. Let's look at this week's "worse Rapper Alive" Future whose new single "At the Same Damn Time" is spawning almost daily hashtags (#) of the phrase as people talk about any random thing they do together.
Want to reach back slightly farther, Jim Jones took the term "Balling" to the next level and Soulja Boy made 'swag' into a household term. All benefited greatly from using the phrase which was then incorporated into popular culture. Its not really anything wrong with it, just something i noticed as I wondered why people keep lisetning to this future character. It becomes such a mockery that it then mistakenly becomes part of the everyday speech we have and the artist (used loosely) benefits greatly.
Last year, Kanye West and Jay-z dropped 'Watch The Throne' and while it was very anticipated and was a good album overall, one thing has stood out since last year, "That Shit Cray". Just check your facebook and see how many of your friends are saying something is "cray". While plenty of people have sort of debated where and how it originated, one is for certain it is used as a synonym for crazy and I predicted that this would happen as soon as I heard it on the song. now you may not be convinced because after all Jay-z and Kanye are icons.
Let's talk about last year's flash in the pan YC and his "Racks on Racks". Before this song the term "racks" was rarely used, because I know someone is going to tell me they've been saying it for years, but after the song blew up, you couldn't get away from the phrase. Let's look at this week's "worse Rapper Alive" Future whose new single "At the Same Damn Time" is spawning almost daily hashtags (#) of the phrase as people talk about any random thing they do together.
Want to reach back slightly farther, Jim Jones took the term "Balling" to the next level and Soulja Boy made 'swag' into a household term. All benefited greatly from using the phrase which was then incorporated into popular culture. Its not really anything wrong with it, just something i noticed as I wondered why people keep lisetning to this future character. It becomes such a mockery that it then mistakenly becomes part of the everyday speech we have and the artist (used loosely) benefits greatly.
Don't forget YOLO, which a friend of mine said "You Obviously lack originality"
ReplyDeleteOh yes I plan to address that very soon too
ReplyDelete