TheLoop21.com

By: Brooklyne Gipson (Add to your loop)
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 00:00

There's a new kind of mixtape out.

After 30 years of growth in a genre initially written off as a passing fad, rapper Nas eulogized hip-hop with his third solo album Hip Hop is Dead in 2006. Although the title caused an uproar in the hip-hop community, especially in the south where artists like Young Jeezy believed Nas' dis was targeted directly at them, the numbers didn't lie. Hip-hop sales were in all actuality falling at an alarming rate for the first time in its history.

According to MSNBC, "Rap sales slid 21 percent from 2005 to 2006 and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year."

In the face of the reality that hip-hop's heavyweights were aging, (Jay Z is now 39 and Nas is 35) critics pondered what these numbers meant for the future of hip-hop. Had it's mainstream appeal finally backfired? Had corporate America finally completely devalued hip-hop by putting money behind unsubstantial "ringtone rappers" that hipsters and teenagers in middle America had created a demand for, instead of supporting true artists? Did the new mainstream audience bait the artists themselves to devalue their own art (or completely fabricate talent in the first place) to create a product that would sell? Most importantly, could hip-hop be saved?

The answer came in a familiar format — a mixtape.

Although not in its iconic audio cassette form, mixtapes, often regarded as a product of what some call "the other music industry," have survived the test of time. They're as old as ghetto blasters and gold rope chains and back in the days before hip hop music could be heard on the radio or read about in a magazine, they were the only way the music was bought, sold, traded or could even be heard if not at a live performance. Now, they're more popular than ever because of the technology evolution.

I'm sure rappers who spent hours (not to mention a whole lot of money) putting their music on tapes and dubbing them back in the late '80s and early '90s never imagined that their music would make it out of their hood, let alone be accessible all around the world with a simple, quick upload and a plug here and there on the right blogs. However, the advent of the internet and subsequent accessibility of file sharing on the Web has revived and revamped the mixtape like never before. They're now being used as a key component of the laissez-faire economics philosophy that intends to take hip-hop music out of the hands of greedy corporate execs and bring it back to it's rightful owners — the streets.

Laissez-faire, French for "let do," is a basic economic principle that says that businesses should be allowed to do what it does without regulation. Meaning that artists should be able to skip the middle man and get their work straight to the people without having to wait on being discovered, getting clearance with a label or worrying about being dropped from said label.

Also, an integral part of the laissez-faire economic philosophy is the belief in the subjective theory of value — that value can only be determined by a buyer and a seller, or in this case artists and consumers. Meaning that once upon a time, a CD was worth about $20 dollars, now the average retail price of a CD is somewhere around $10 because honestly, it's worth next to nothing if you can download it on the internet for free, dub a copy off a friend's computer or buy it bootleg from the man on the corner selling them two for $5 and 5 for $10.

Mixtapes have taken off (once again) and record companies are scrambling to catch up.

"Overall CD sales have plummeted sixteen percent for the year so far — and that's after seven years of near-constant erosion," Brian Hiatt and Evan Serpick wrote in Rolling Stone.

"In the face of widespread piracy, consumers' growing preference for low-profit-margin digital singles over albums, and other woes, the record business has plunged into a historic decline. The major labels are struggling to reinvent their business models, even as some wonder whether it's too late."

While record execs scramble, many artists, especially the up-and-coming are using this knowledge to their advantage.

Think about it. While a Jay-Z CD may be valueless, a Jay-Z concert ticket can garner upwards of $250 dollars, the value of the ticket being set on the celebrities star power and ability to pack a full house. So artists are using the music as a promotional tool to create buzz and instead of focusing on sales, they're hitting the stage.

And up-and-coming artists aren't the only ones taking advantage. Lil Wayne's sixth studio album, Da Carter 3 sold more than 1 million copies in its first week, but not without the help of the multiple mixtapes he released in between the studio productions to whet the appetite for his upcoming studio release.

Other major artists are trying to get out of their contracts to create their own labels/imprints because they know that a big deal is no longer necessary. If an artist is big enough they don't need a record company because people will seek them out on the internet.

The Internet has the limitless potential to catapult new artists into the limelight as well.

Just look at seemingly overnight sensation Drake who hasn't even signed a major record deal but is getting radio play on hip hop stations as well as touring across the nation. His celebrity can't be quantified because he doesn't have a studio album so no one can tell how many people brought the CD or where they're listening to it but his popularity can be felt.

As he crisscrosses the country on a whim, he's packing out venues left and right. His single Best I Ever Had is currently on Billboard's list of top 25 R&B and Hip-hop singles. A year ago, barely anyone knew who he was.

Whether this business model will continue to be successful has yet to be determined but either way, it's quickly becoming the social norm in the hip-hop industry, and if it proves to be as lucrative as its potential threatens, other genres will inevitably follow suit.

Brooklyne Gipson is a staff writer for TheLoop21.com. She writes Across the Afrosphere and Post-Race? blogs.

What should Chris Brown and Rihanna's duet be called?

"I still love you"

"I'm sorry everyone found out"

"Let's agree to disagree"

Who cares?