It's A Rap: The Globalization Of Hip Hop.

In and up to 2011 there have been very few cultural phenomenas as Hip Hop. This relatively young genre of music has managed to take the world by storm. One can travel to the far corners of the planet and still see the impact a once local culture has made. True globalization has occurred, and the ramifications on such a far reaching and impactful culture can be felt across the globe. And just like the true traits of globalization, this world wide expansion has been to the benefit and simultaneous detriment of many.

The humble beginnings of hip hop started in the Bronx. On August 11th, 1973 DJ Kool Herc loaded his equipment consisting of two turn tables and a mixer into a recreation room on Sedgwick Avenue. The “break” (pardon the pun) hip hop needed literally happened when Kool Herc extended an instrumental beat to allow people to dance longer. This is widely proclaimed and accepted as the inception of hip hop in North America. Going from one record to the other at the same point allowing the beat to extend as long as needed. Little did they all know what that moment would result in 30+ years later. Tapes floated around with the audio from that night. In Can’t Stop Won’t Stop:A History Of The Hip Hop Generation Jeff Chang states “The tapes passed hand to hand in the Black and Latino neighborhoods of Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, Queens and Long Island’s Black Belt”. (Chang, 2005) This was the grass roots of something big. The beat that was extended is called “Carnival”, a classic to hip hop fans world wide. Hip Hop culture grew to encompass the 4 elements; Hip Hop music, DJ’ing, graffiti, and break dancing. Oh how I remember trying to uprock, or moon walk over and over to the detriment of my white socks! Burning holes in my nylon pants attempting to spin on my knee is another fond memory as well. The hunger for pause tapes that circulated was another aspect that can never be replaced. This was typical of the culture prior to becoming main stream. This is literally a moment and an example of the culture passing itself on to another generation. Questions like “Can I dub your tape?” were typical questions asked by hip hop fiends. The culture in its inception was very localized with small pockets throughout North America. These pockets were the early seeds of globalization.

Local radio eventually added this new genre of music to its format. Radio contributed to the culture and helped tremendously with exposure. The momentum is picking up for hip hop now. It is truly grasping the heart of the young children and stimulating people in far reaching cities to emulate the culture that they were slowly being exposed to. I vividly remember getting a copy of every and anything to do with the music. I needed this culture in my life. There was no Internet at the time, at least not in the form we know of today. We also had pause tapes made by recording radio shows and pausing once you recorded the song you wanted. Videos soon became available, and our imaginations soared. Magazines surfaced, and record labels specializing in the genre started to pop up everywhere. This didn’t matter though, as word of mouth was the strongest marketing this new genre had.

Hip hop was growing, but had not yet reached a global scale. Labels made marketing plans, and would go from region to region inundating sections of the continents at a time, while selling millions of records. Labels were gatekeepers in essence. They only allowed us to hear what they deemed was “funky” enough. Labels controlled the outlets, the sound, and the rate at which we heard the music. These corporations controlled the trading of the media or material. As the labels grew larger, and as more profits were made, the stronger the choke hold on the culture. The smaller local label could not compete. Exposure became a commodity that grew continually harder to come by.

From the perspective of the fan, they heard who had pause tapes by recording radio and initiated the trade of elusive songs via word of mouth. They had extreme limitations geographically speaking. This local trade helped us feed the unquenchable thirst for the culture, and exposed us to new sounds and burgeoning areas, however; a change was soon to come.

According to CNN in as early as 2001 “These days, hip-hop is hot, not just in the United States, but throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and even Asia.” (CNN, 2001) the culture was truly a word wide phenomena. Then what seemed like overnight, everything changed. Once the Internet was introduced, hip hop exploded even more so, and there were no longer geographical limitations in regard to the culture. Even though it was already all over the world, the culture was now being exchanged at a faster rate. For instance, I could dig for vinyl virtually. What a concept! I didn’t need to leave my home to find new 12” singles or tapes. I would simply type www.sandboxautomatic.com or www.fatbeats.com and the newest and best records were at my disposal. As Castell’s stated “The diffusion of Internet, mobile communication, digital media, and a variety of tools of social software have prompted the development of horizontal networks of interactive communication that connect local and global in chosen time.” (Castell, 2007) The local and global markets were now truly connected. Marketing for artists would change drastically as well. Billboards and magazine ads were a thing of the past. Print publications were going out of business faster than new ones were becoming available, and content became digitized. Videos became streaming media, MP3’s were downloaded. Things were more virtually focused and not so much on tangible goods. Geographic limitations were truly a thing of the past.

Allow me to put this into context for you. I have been heavily involved in hip hop for the majority of my life. I have toured North America and Europe extensively, and I have sold many records and cd’s, all while being relatively unknown on a grand scale. I have had videos in rotation on music channels, and I have been in print magazines countless times just trying to compete. As an artist I would tour overseas with my peers and sell merchandise like 12” records, t-shirts, and cd’s. From the early 90’s to 2011 the landscape drastically changed. Europe evolved from literally fiending for authentic “American” acts to having a self sustained market and culture. We use to travel abroad just to bring them “true hip hop” but eventually ended up fighting for a chance to get exposure a few years later. Their local artists went from not getting the respect or sales to the stars. Eventually as the culture became older and grew, domestic artists grew with their local hip hop culture and became relevant to hip hop as it pertained to their geographic location. As this occurred, North American underground artists became of less value. There was no need to import, because local acts began to fulfill their fans artistic needs. The flights and dates became fewer and farther apart. Eventually we were a thing of the past. In this case, globalization allowed local markets and cultures to thrive. The popularity of the domestic artists was in direct proportion to the evolution and age of the culture.

The globalization of hip hop, paired with the evolution of technology and the Internet, has given exposure of the culture to the world. Ideas and sounds are now exchanged via this medium. Record companies, clothing companies, and media in general obviously saw the potential in the culture and in the music industry given the expansion of technology. Marketing became better and more focused, and mergers began happening. Policies like the Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted bans made to ensure local markets could thrive without fear of corporate monopolies. The infrastructure for a global economy was beginning to take shape. Large conglomerates are forming, and will eventually be formed, dominating media in all formats.

The Internet also introduced the new taste makers. This use to be the job of the DJ. Whoever played the music on radio and in clubs literally dictated the sound and era of the music in that region. There was a hierarchical structure in regard to the dissemination of music to the masses. The label was on top, then the DJ’s, then the fans. This is no longer the case. The DJ is no longer relevant as a taste maker. Blogs are the new DJ. The old method was press vinyl or tapes, hire a PR person to interface with the DJ’s and print 3 months before the release date, then mail out material to the DJ’s and record pools, which would cost thousands of dollars for a song or record that was not guaranteed to be a hit. We would then have to repeat this process for every region. This obviously presents financial implications to independent artists and labels.

Fast forward to 2011 and the process is as follows. The artist does the music, uploads it to iTunes completely bypassing all taste makers and labels, hires a PR person and tries to get as many digital imprints on blogs everywhere simultaneously. The process and world has flattened as it pertains to music. The industry is truly global now. The hierarchical structure as far as dissemination of music is concerned no longer exists in its past form. The one to many concept exists in regard to dissemination of information. Information and music get to the consumer much faster, thus increasing the rate of which globalization occurs, however; this has also contributed to the homogenization of sound. Never before has the diaspora of hip hop been so bland. There is no longer a regional sound as it pertains to hip hop. Regardless of the language or region, it all typically sounds like the same production and subject matter permeating throughout the culture. The local artist now has to compete against the world in regards to marketing and sales. According to Jeffery Lyons “Both critics and advocates of media globalization agree that there is fierce competition taking place between the first and second tier corporations.” (Lyons, 2010) Everybody is battling for the same virtual space for exposure. The first tier corporations have the avenues used for exposure held tightly. This means success for the artist with the most money dedicated to marketing and exposure. This obviously is a detriment to the local performing artist attempting to expose their sound.

If one were to travel to any non-English speaking country on the planet they would notice hip hop culture in some shape or form. Germany is world renown for its progressive graffiti. Their government also takes a more liberal approach and encourages legal forms of the art form by giving zones for doing graffiti legally without facing legal ramifications. Africa has a burgeoning hip hop culture that is prevalent throughout its many countries. Japan has long been a hotbed for the culture in all of its facets. Regardless of the language barrier, sales are often high in that region. Because of the Internet sales and the lack of legal recourse for digital copying sales have plummeted world wide. The world wide market is dissipating at a rapid rate. The prime virtual destinations have advertisement for a few corporations and are inundated with limited selection of artists. Unknown, local, or regional artists find it difficult to find a virtual space for them to break through for exposure. Online advertising is cornered and prices are often too high for indie artists to compete. Even with targeted advertising a successful campaign would often be too costly for the average.

As one can see, the same complaints of cultural globalization parallel existing issues within the culture of hip hop. As hip hop grows globally, the regional or small artists find it increasingly difficult to compete against corporate Goliaths. These aspects of hip hop's globalization are constantly evolving and encompassing newer methods of global market manipulation. This is the trend, the culture and artists will have to evolve with it, and find a way to compete on a global scale.

Errol Henry

Works Cited

Lyons K. Jeffery “Media Globalization and its Effect upon International Communities: Seeking a Communication Theory Perspective” Global Media Journal. 2010. Accessed February 28, 2011.http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa05/gmj-fa05-lyons.htm

Nix, Nathan. "Clear Channel Monopoly Coverage." World Internet News. N.p., 10 Apr. 2004. Web. 16 May 2011.

Castell Manuel “Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society” . Annenberg School for Communication University of Southern California. Accessed on February 24, 2011. http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/46/35

Chang, Jeff "DJ Kool Herc (2005). Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation". Macmillan. ISBN 031230143

"CNN.com - WorldBeat - Hip-hop music goes global - January 15, 2001." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2011.