|
 Every
debate needs an entry point.
On its face, the beef between leonine gangsta rap MC Ice-T
and upstart teen phenom Soulja Boy is simply an
epithet-fueled squabble: Ice accused Soulja of
“single-handedly ruining hip-hop“, and Soulja responded with
wisecracks about Ice’s motives (he’s dropping a new album),
his age (he’s older than the Internet and Wal-Mart — does
that make him the McCain of rap?), and his mewling — “You
don’t like the way hip-hop is,” Soulja says, “then change
it.”
Ice responded — “Sorry I told you to eat a dick; your
music’s still garbage” — and super-producer/rapper/blogger
Kanye West chimed in with unfortunately typed words of
support, i.e., “Soulja Boy is fresh ass hell” — a phrase
sure to inspire t-shirts, ringtones, and at least one
scatologically punny domain purchase (FreshAssHell.com —
Dropping Knowledge on the Daily!).
But while the marquee banana-tossing has provoked
side-taking on various popularity permutations (Ice-T >
Soulja Boy, Soulja Boy > Ice-T, etc.), and discussion about
forensic strategies (i.e. the relative wisdom of provoking a
popular artist vs. responding to a pedigreed Jacobite), the
real debate re-raised by the MC beef is one of classic
hip-hop province: What does Soulja Boy’s popularity say
about the changing nature of hip-hop?
In other words, this isn’t about Ice-T’s music prefs — it’s
about what Ice-T’s prefs say about the changing music
business, which is struggling, in the face of declining
album sales and online distribution, with what it means to
be popular, successful and relevant. Those three qualifiers,
formerly inextricably linked — if you were popular, then you
were successful, and thus relevant — are now loosely joined
online. You can have an indomitable online presence
(popularity) and not make any money (success). Can you have
both popularity and success, but not be relevant?
Ice-T says yes. In his apology vid, Ice criticized Soulja
for lacking the lyrics-based, culturally-conscious MC skills
of Big Daddy Kane, Das EFX and Rakim. To Ice, Soulja’s a
talentless fluke whose success is rooted in a trite dance
hit.
But that trite dance hit was a self-produced single that
Soulja personally seeded onto P2P nets from his bedroom. He
advantaged himself of a teen-centric distribution mechanism
to circumvent the music industry’s barriers to entry. In
doing so, he was the first major example of mainstream
Internet music success.
Soulja may not be socio-politically relevant, but from a
business perspective, he is relevant. Regardless of the
quality of his music, he’s an agent of change. And it’s
never more apparent than in this beef — played out in real
time, on his online turf. Or as Ice-T said in an unfortunate
Ted Stevens-like turn of phrase, on “the YouTubes.”
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The
Game has ended his long-running feud with fellow rapper 50
Cent, insisting the "beef" between the two rap rivals is
over.
Kanye
West, who is often referred to as and even calls him the
Louis Vuitton Don, recently revealed that he will team up
with the fashion giant for a men's shoe line and other
ventures as well.