On Mon, 5 May 2003, Darren Longton (Marketing) wrote: > ooooo....don't think that'll go over well with the heads in detroit. > Don't want to get into the whole elitism thing again, but....guess heads > will have to except that our "underground scene" will eventually be a > POP-MTV-CEO controlled genre....if it becomes the next hip hop. I > mean...I LOVE hiphop...but it's getting a little too...well...MTV!!
I think what Kent is referring to is the mass support that hiphop receives on the radio, on tours, on television, and the like. > Personally, I think that keeping things the way they are is one way to > keep some quality control on things. After all...a lot of hiphop is > ABOUT the $$...can't think of any techno that is....well...MAYBE > GhettoTek....but that's more about THAT ASS!!! haha This is where the comparisons end, largely because much of techno is instrumental. Delivery, Flow, Rhythmic complexity, all have undoubtedly improved in rap music...and part of that is because more people listen and participate in it. The thing that has dried up is content. Rap played on popular radio stations isn't really saying much. I attribute this to the political economy of popular music. Because the emphasis in techno is not on lyrics--again MOST of techno is instrumental--I think that if techno did become as strong as hiphop in the states we'd get all of the benefits (as far as growth of the artform) without the detriments (content that is arguably vulgar and spirit-killing). I'd make the same argument for house, even though there is a strong lyrical component to it. You just can't sing about Benzes the way you can about unrequited love, or about worship. lks
