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Ben Stokes

This document is a dissertation written by Benjamin Stokes exploring whether a protest and political hip-hop album can meaningfully address contemporary social and political issues. The dissertation provides background on the history of political music and the origins of political hip-hop. It then examines three modern social issues that could be themes for a conceptual hip-hop album: the demonization of social class, the state of mainstream hip-hop, and Islamophobia. Stokes proceeds to create such a conceptual album called "STK" that uses metaphor and storytelling to present these issues. He implements an online marketing campaign and listening session to gauge societal response to the album's message. The dissertation argues that with an effective presentation, hip-hop still has the

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! ! ! ! Can a protest and political Hip-Hop album, meaningfully address contemporary social and political issues?! ! ! SAE INSTITUTE LONDON! ! Benjamin Stokes! 17403! ABHE0115! ! In completion of the Degree! BA (Hons) Audio Production! ! Project Supervisor! Gillian McIver! ! 28th August 2015! ! Word Count! 9631 Words! ! Weighting! 70% Written / 30% Practical! ! ! ! !
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Declaration! ! I hereby declare that I wrote this written assignment on my own and without the use of any other than the cited sources and tools and all explanations that I copied directly or in their sense are marked as such, as well as that the written assignment has not yet been handed in neither in this nor in equal form at any other official commission.! ! Date, …………………. Signature, ………………….! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii
Abstract! The following project discusses the social need and benefit of political and protest music, examining its history and evolution within the genre of Hip-Hop as well as its subsequent disappearance, as commercialisation engulfs the urban culture. The dissertation progresses onto explaining three social and political issues found within modern society, as these themes form the foundational bedrock for the creation of a conceptual Hip-Hop album that proceeds to present these problems within a metaphorical scenario representing ‘broken Britain’. Through social response within the marketing campaign and a listening session party, the album proceeds to successfully interpret the social and political issues represented, as well open the possibilities for multiple interpretations, altogether forming the argument that Hip-Hop can in fact still be used as an effective musical tool to portray social injustice and oppression.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! iii
Table Of Contents! ! ! Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………1! ! Brief History of Political Music……………………………………………………………..2! ! State of Political Hip-Hop! Origins of an Urban Voice…………………..…………………………………….4! Rise of the Bling……………………………………………………………………6! ! Modern Day Societal Issues……………………..………………………………………….8! Demonisation of Social Class…………………………………………………….8! State of Mainstream Hip-Hop…………..……………………………………….10! Islamophobia………………………………………………………………..……12! ! STK………………………………..……………………………………………………..……15! The Concept & Message………………………………………………………..15! The Process………………………………………………………………………16! Connecting the Dots (Presenting the Social Issues)…………………………18! The Finished Product…..……………………………………………………….22! ! Societies’ Response! Online & Social Media Marketing…..…………………………………….……24! Interpreting the Album…..………………………………………………………25! A Future Impact……………………………………………………………….….26! ! Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………28! ! Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..….29! ! References List………………………………………………………………………………65! ! Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………….67! ! ! ! iv
Introduction! ! Look into any genre or era within music, political and social issues will consistently dominate some of the most well known records, with Brown (2008, pg.1) reiterating that, “Music is filled with political content. One only has to be a casual listener of any number of musical genres to observe this”. Their undoubtably seems to be a need and desire, from artists and consumers alike for music to be used as an emotional tool to express the social injustice within the world. Though when analysing the past 10 years of record charts, the appearance of protest music seems to of faded away (Billboard, 2014 [online]), with questions now arising as to why this is? And what genre of music will take control of the vehicle driving societies oppressed voice within the modern day?! Hip-Hop’s origins were born out of a derelict and suppressed society (Rose, 1994), so it felt appropriate that the thesis of meaningfully addressing modern social and political issues were presented in the form of a conceptual Hip-Hop album, that paid homage to the roots and authenticity of this colourful urban culture. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal’s ‘That’s The Joint’ provides the necessary foundation of support to build upon the argument of Hip-Hop’s lost political voice, with the accompanying use of modern Hip-Hop songs helping to further the conception that Hip-Hop’s once great influence among authority and society has been diminished to the core perceived image of the glamorisation of sex, money drugs and violence. This in turn lays the groundwork for the discussion of social and political issues within modern society, as Owen Jones’s ‘The Establishment’ helps link together the three chosen themes of the album, Islamophobia, state of mainstream hip-hop and demonisation of social class.! This formulation consequently leads into the fundamental aspect of the thesis, in which a conceptual Hip-Hop album is created and represented around the three social and political issues. Paralleled with an extensive marketing campaign, the Hip-Hop album looks to create a social following of support that will analyse—throughout and after the dissertation—if its possible to rejuvenate the lost political music voice within modern society.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1
Brief History of Political Music! ! Political music has always existed, whether you go back to the first politically confirmed song during the Peasants revolt in 1381 (Lynskey, pg. 686, 2010), or search through the entirety of hits in the last century, you will find there has always been political music. Ranging from attacks on organised religion in ‘The Preacher in the Sky’ by industrial labour protest singer Joe Hill (Brown, pg. 117, 2008), to the call for global warming at the world wide concert of ‘Live Earth’ (Brown, pg. 181, 2008), music has always been a huge platform for artists to express their political beliefs.! You could say that its near impossible to actually give a definitive start point for when political and protest music first originated, some will start at the classical period of Beethoven, and how his music was the first to really spread a political meaning towards the masses (Brown, pg. 12, 2008), others will point you towards the direction of Aristotle’s ‘The Politics’ and show how he explains the politics behind music being a form of liberal education (Aristotle, pg. 456, 1962). Though one similarity you will always find is that politically music has always been on a constant parallel evolution with music consumption.! Historically significant for protest music was the resurgence of folk music in the 1960s with Bob Dylan the man on everyones lips. During his few short political years of ’63 to ‘65 he charged the music industry with politically ballads such as, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ and ‘The Times They are A-Changin’. Dylan would be the first to dismiss the title of being a protest singer, announcing as he introduced one of his most famous protest songs ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, “Cause I don’t write protest songs…I’m just writing it as something to be said, for somebody, by somebody” (Lynskey, pg. 71, 2010). Though it becomes very easy to argue with him when you dive deeper into some of the layered meanings of his protest songs. Lynskey (2010, pg. 73) expresses ‘Masters of War’ as one of “the most evil-sounding protest songs” ever recorded, as Dylan goes on a raged fuelled attack on the profiters of war, sneering at them, “You ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins.” (Dylan, 1963 [Audio-CD]), While ‘Don’t Follow Leaders’ recorded in 1965 as Dylan started to take his step back from protest music, not only expressed the urge for society to not follow the political power of the government, but also to stray away from leaders such as Martin Luther King and even Bob Dylan Himself (Lynskey, pg. 83, 2010). ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, on the other hand discusses human pain and suffering, asking supposed unanswerable questions, with the answers Dylan expressing are “Blowing In The Wind” (Dylan, 1963 [Audio CD]). The song ended up being hugely popular within the Civil Rights Movement, as it became the anthem that showcased the struggle that black people faced on a daily basis, one 2
of many songs that shed light on racial equality within America, a very popular topic within protest music. ! Racism, slavery and social injustice was the background for much political American music, from the coded lyrics of gospel and blues songs, to Billie Holiday’s rendering of songwriter Abel Meeropol’s ‘Strange Fruit’,! ! “Southern tress bear a strange fruits,! Blood on the leaves and blood on the root,! Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze! Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” (Holiday, 1939 [Vinyl])! ! The thought of basing a song on lynching was absurd and thought to be career suicide, so you can imagine the shiver that travels down America’s spine when Billie Holiday started performing ‘Strange Fruit’ in small Jazz clubs around New York (Lynskey, pg. 6, 2010). Though not the first song to discuss racial issues, ‘Strange Fruit’ was so controversial it helped skyrocket the career of Holiday, while also laying bare the political meaning of racial killing in southern United States for the whole world to digest. ! Out of Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ came the birth of Black Soul Singer Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, the politically infused song that expresses the message of a revolutionary change for racial equality needed in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Though its Lynskey’s (2010, pg. 92) comparison with the equally defining ‘Mississippi Goddam’ by Nina Simone, that shows off the real change within black equality that was occurring at the time. With Cooke presenting ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ with the “Graceful Defiance of Martin Luther King”, Simone charges through ‘Mississippi Goddam’ with “the flammable rage of Malcolm X and the SNCC’s Stokely Carmichael”, showing the growing tear in black society through the diverging paths of these two songs.! After Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s deaths the divide did start to disappear, and the Civil Rights Movement has succeeded on many of its campaigns, though in the past 30 years there is a possibility to argue that out of the ghettos of the South Bronx, a new form of black movement has risen up in the fight for racial equality, helping to elevate the control and freedom that black men have always desired.! ! ! ! ! ! 3
State of Political Hip-Hop! ! Origins of an Urban Voice! Music is a political force, this is ever present when one listens to the booming bass, hard hitting drums, and slick lyricists found in Hip-Hop. Tricia Rose (1994, Pg. 2) expresses that, “rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society” and has done since its birth in the 1970s.! From the slums of South Bronx, Hip-Hop without even knowing it was born to be a political movement. From the rebellious youth tagging train cars and street corners to brand their name across New York City, to the innovating sound of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s ‘The Message’, it is clear that Hip-Hop was created to challenge the authority and social norm of white man America as Melle Mel puts food for thought in audience’s minds, describing the desolate surroundings of the ghetto, and the struggle a young black American faced within society (Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, 1982 [Vinyl]).! Boyd (2012, pg. 441) describes the origins of Hip-Hop as “the sense of self- determination, the sense of independence and freedom” growing out of the Black Power movement, expressing that the decades of music created from this cultural revolution have helped in growing a powerful voice within Black America’s fight against oppression and social injustice. The theme of this injustice can be found in many forms, though arguably the most common topic of critique for a rapper seems to be racial discrimination from the police. With songs such as L.L. Cool J.’s ‘Illegal Search’, NWA’s ‘F*ck Tha Police’, and KRS-One’s ‘Sound Of The Police’, Hip-Hop has contained the rage and aggression that has radiated from this injustice, while taking a unified stance against the oppressors.! Though it is Hip-Hop’s power of connecting with a wide variety of audiences that have really helped to progress its voice to reach the incredible heights of popularity that have moulded it into a major political force. White teenage listeners grew and grew as Hip-Hops popularity steadily rose throughout the 80’s, with a huge interest in the segregated differences found within black society, as well as their commitment to conform to the ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ black culture rising in fashion (Rose, 1994). Though the rise of political Hip-Hop group Public Enemy in the late 80’s, really helped establish a solid foundation of white supporters for this emerging genre of music. Through their thought provoking lyrics, and wickedly clever metaphors, the group surged into mainstream popularity, though as Rose (1994, pg. 101) explains, still managed to tread the tightrope of 4
the “mass-mediated spotlight on the popular cultural stage and at the same time function as a voice of social critique and criticism”. Clear examples of this can be shown in some of the groups most famous songs, such as ‘Fight The Power’, a simple, easily devoured song, delivered in an anthemic manner, the song embodies the theme of black pride, a message that was consistently reiterated by the group (Public Enemy, 1989 [Audio-CD]).! Though a question arises when one brings up the statement that Hip-Hop has become a major political force. “What has the Hip-Hop movement actually helped achieved?”. When someone first mentions the urban genre, the conventional image of gold chains, guns, drugs and sexualised woman come to mind, its obvious that Hip- Hop’s impact can be easily misconstrued for the mainstream media perception that dominates it. Boyd (2012, pg. 448) depicts Hip-Hop to be “about free expression that can be shaped and moulded to fit any community and any experience. So hip-hop gives people the opportunity to represent themselves in their own way”. One has to argue that should this not be true for essentially all genres. The core foundation of music is to be able to express an opinion and story, to build emotion and connection with an audience. The main difference with Hip-Hop is that it has given the suppressed young black American the platform to do exactly that. Bakari Kitwana (2012, pg. 455) reiterates that, ! ! “In the same way as the mainstream media established the parameters for national discussion for the nation at large, rap music sets the tone for Black youth. As the national forum for Black youth concerns and often as the impetus for discuss around those issues, rap music has done more than any one entity to help our generation forge a distinct identity”.! ! So why can it be so easy to discredit the importance of the message that is emitting from this universal genre? Kitwana (2012, pg. 453) continues to explain that, “While household-name ball players towed the generic “don’t do drugs and stay in school” party line, rappers, the emissaries of the new Black youth culture, advocated more snit- establishment slogans like “fuck the police.” Such slogans were vastly more in sync with the hard realities facing young Blacks”. This shows the social disconnection that can easily occur from Hip-Hop’s audience as rappers stray from the route of social norm, discussing oppressions that a majority of their audiences simply have never faced in their life. Though does this make their messages unimportant? The conceivable answer is no, though this does force attention towards Hip-Hop’s 5
conventional image within society and where this perception has originated from, and has this image helped open the gates for undesirable negativity being the accustomed conception of Hip-Hop?! ! Rise of the Bling! There seems to be a few problems with the state of mainstream Hip-Hop. Once considered to be a revolutionary culture that helped give a voice to the voiceless of the African American black community, has seemingly become a platform provided by major record labels, that accommodates rappers glorification of sex, money, drugs and violence. This is noticeable when comparing Billboard’s (2014 [online]) highest charting rap record (based on radio airplay, sale and streaming data) of 2014 with the year end charts of 1989. Politically conscious group ‘Stop The Violence Movement’, designed by KRS-One to shed light on violence within the Hip-Hop and African American society (Wolfe, 2007 [online]), dominated the 1989 hip-hop charts with their song ‘Self Destruction’, while 2014 saw Iggy Azalea’s pop-dance infused ’Fancy’ featuring Charlie XCX take the number one spot. Though this comparison not only displays the differences of culture and meaning of Hip-Hop—to artists, fans and the industry itself—within the modern era, it also helps represent the commercialisation of Hip-Hop that started to occur within the 90’s. Kembrew McLoed (2012, pg. 166) describes Hip-Hop’s upsurge to mainstream success as a transformation “from being an aspect of a small subculture identified with young, city-dwelling African Americans to a genre that had been adsorbed into mainstream US popular culture. Everything from soft-drink commercials to “White” pop music appropriated hip-hop music’s musical and visual style”. Though from this rise of popularity came the symmetrical decline of conscientious, free speaking artists, instead being replaced with a long queue of fame seeking individuals and money driven labels looking to cash in on the newest crazed fad, with Neal (2012, pg. 436) blaming these conformists for,! ! “Blinding post civil rights era youth to the importance of the political gains made by civil rights era activists and for eroding the value of grassroots communal civic engagement, in lieu of a focus of individual surveil and the attainment of material wealth.” ! ! Lupe Fiasco is an artist who has been more than effected by the mainstream, sales driven record labels that exist within today’s music industry. The 2011 release of his third studio album ‘Lasers’ was shrouded around label controversy as Atlantic Records refused to release Fiasco’s follow up to his critically acclaimed, mind provoking ‘The 6
Cool’, unless he conformed to their requests of ‘dumbing down’ his lyrical content, and creating “easy on the eye” records (Rodriguez, 2011 [online]). The album ended up being released on March 8th 2011 after fans protested for its distribution outside of Atlantic’s offices in New Jersey, with political gems such as ‘Words I Never Said’ and ‘State Run Radio’ striking a resembling chord with Fiasco’s loyal fan base. Though songs like these were unfortunately few and far between within the factory generated songs like ‘I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now’ that dominated the rest of the album. Dance and pop infused beats are rapped over by an unmotivated sounding Fiasco as he discusses generalised themes of love, money and positivity (Fiasco, 2011 [Audio-CD]), as Atlantic records are heard cashing in on the conforming sound of Fiasco’s best first week sales (Caulfield, 2011 [online]).! Though why are these topics and messages now considered to be the norm within mainstream hip-hop when 25 years ago protest music was dominating the urban charts? “The record industry is interested in one thing, making money. They have no other interest beyond that”, Boyd (2012, pg. 444) explains, continuing that, “they will sell whatever people will buy to make that money”. So why is it that records like Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’, T.I.’s ‘About The Money’, and Young Thug’s ‘Stoner’, songs subjugated with themes of sex, violence, drugs and money, dominate the urban charts of modern music (Billboard, 2012 [online[)? McLeod (2012, pg. 173) comments on the case of authenticity within Hip-Hop, describing it as,! ! “Staying true to yourself (by identifying oneself as both hard and black), representing the underground and the street, and remembering hip-hop’s cultural legacy, which is the old school. To be inauthentic, or fake, means being soft, following mass trends by listening to commercial rap music, and identifying oneself with white, mainstream culture that is geographically located in the suburbs.” ! ! This description helps depict a theory of mistaken identity and misunderstanding within artists of the modern hip-hop community. While many follow the mainstream “fake” lifestyle path of the commercial success of Hip-Hop, others also follow this same direction without realisation, as they conform to Hip-Hop’s perceived image, while in the process forgetting that the cultural legacy of Hip-Hop was not based around New York Media reports of “Youthful Vandals” (Castleman, 2012 pg. 16) causing unnecessary damage and destruction, but symbolises the rise of suppressed black American’s, contesting Authority, and creating a represented voice that will showcase their struggle within the white man’s power. ! 7
Modern Day Societal Issues! ! It would be naive to discuss oppression as being rooted to the confines of young African Americans, unfortunately the issue occurs across the world and within every society. Wherever there is some form of high authoritative power, there has to be an opposite existence of powerless that will surrender to political sovereignty. Owen Jones (2014, pg. 6) expresses a triangular relationship theory to describe how authoritative power is, “Cemented by financial links and a ‘revolving door’ culture: that is, powerful individuals gliding between the political, corporate and media worlds”. This theory is used to help analyse and describe the following three oppressive societal issues found within modern day.! ! Demonisation of Social Class! The great philosopher Karl Marx (1888, pg. 3) declared that, “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat”, though the question that arises is if the division has continued into the present-day? Marxist philosophy describes bourgeoisie as the ruling class within society for which the states’ affairs conform too (Marx, 1888), while Jones (2014, pg. 4) conveys a similar statement to describe the position of the wealthy upper class of modern day.! ! “Today’s establishment is made up — as it has always been — of powerful groups that need to protect their position in a democracy in which almost the entire adult population has the right to vote. The establishment represents an attempt on behalf of these groups to ‘manage’ democracy, to make sure that it does not threaten their own interests.”! ! This group maintain a good chunk of considerable power, as they enjoy the riches (Toynbee, Walker, 2015), security and comfort of being in the penthouse suite of modern British society, reaping the benefits (literally) of state subsidies, eased tax law enforcement, and business progression through political engagement (Jones, 2014). Though travel down the staircase of social class, we find a completely different picture as we approach the bottom. Both Marx (1888) and Jones (2012) describe the proletarian as the working class, who live to work and survive within the bourgeois run society, abiding by the rules governed by the authoritative power to benefit the affairs of the wealthy. Marx (1888, pg. 12) continues to explain that, “Not only are they slaves of the 8
bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself”. This is continually true within modern British culture, as the working class are entrapped within the lifestyle of barely surviving on minimum wage, raising tax costs, and continued cuts and privatisation of public services (Toynbee, Walker, 2015). ! As you reach the basement of lower society, the once distant cries of ‘scrounger’ and ‘asylum seeker’ from British tabloids start to contaminate the once clear air of demonisation that is often found at the top of Britain’s social rank system. This overpopulating class has essentially become the scapegoat of societies problems, while additionally taking benefit cuts, constant harassment of incapabilities, and reduced work opportunities (Jones, 2012). One example of the constant demonisation of the lower class is in the form of tabloids constant attack on ‘Benefit Scroungers’ who take financial aid off the government yet do not work. The majority of these cases range from single mothers, disabled citizens and the unemployed youth, though the media alternatively take the route of focusing on the 0.7% of fraud benefit claimants who receive overpayments to characterise the 99.3% who claim to help ease the financial burden of raising living expenditures (Mendoza, 2015). This helps fuel a misconstrued perception that the uninformed adopt, believing that Britain has a ‘broken benefit system’, while in the process igniting an animosity towards the lower class. The media have even gone as far as to say that this poverty stricken community was the cause of the 2008 financial crisis that hit Britain (Mendoza, 2015), yet further research will show that, although the UK loses £1.2 Billion on benefit fraud, it loses £25 billion on tax avoidance every year, with Jones (2014, pg. 203) revealing “that one in five large British businesses paid absolutely no corporation tax in the previous year, and more than half paid less than £10 million”, while Mendoza (2015, pg. 82) reiterates ironically how “only one in four of the UK’s top companies pay their taxes, while they receive tax credits to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds from public funds provided by people who did pay their tax”. ! The reason for this demonisation and hate-charged attack? Toynbee and Walker (2015, pg. 9) declare that, “Toryism ‘aims on principle to keep wealth and power for those who have them, and keep them from those who don’t”. Through this triangular connection of politics, media and business (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), the upper class is able to sneak through societies rules unnoticed as they direct hateful attention towards the bottom of society, while they accumulate the wealth and luxuries of a lavish lifestyle. Mendoza (2015, pg. 73) articulates that “our economy needs to fit the demographics it exists to serve, not the other way round”, with Marx (1888, pg.19) boldly stating that time for change is long overdue within this ageing rule of society as,! 9
! “The bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an overriding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him. Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its existence is no longer compatible with society”.! ! State of Mainstream Hip-Hop! The argument of the state of mainstream Hip-Hop was brought forward earlier, as points of authenticity, messages glorifying negativity, and record labels controlling artists’ creative freedom for profitable gain was displayed to express the growing cause for concern at the lack of political and protest music within the mainstream Hip-Hop scene. It is through the triangular relationship of politics, business and media (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), influencing upon the messages that radiate from this popular genre, that oppression upon minds start to effect its audience. The political intention of major record labels (also similar to the government) is to maximise profits within their business (Boyd, 2012), while it is the negativity of violence, drugs, sex and money, born from the derelict roots of Hip-Hop that was accustomed to the founders of this urban genre, that the media uphold, and that has now affiliated itself as the core characteristics of mainstream Hip-Hop and the artists within it. The purpose now being on glamorising these subjects to prove ‘authenticity’, instead of showcasing these problems as a need for change.! This present representation of Hip-Hop can be seen within the top ten rap songs of 2014 (Billboard, 2014 [online]), as Nicki Minaj’s sexually explicit ‘Anaconda’, along with 80% of the top ten express themes of a sexual nature. This is matched along with the discussion of money, and fame with 50% of these songs reinforcing this concept with the notion of drugs. Birdman’s ‘Young Money’ supergroup, ‘Rich Gang’, break into the chart at number ten, with the song ‘Lifestyle’ featuring Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan.! ! “Million 5 on the Visa card! Hundred bands still look like the fuckin’ Titans (football player)! Nigga servin’ great white like I’m feedin’ sharks! I won’t do nothin’ with this bitch, she can’t even get me hard” (Rich Gang, 2014 [Audio-CD])! 10
! Young Thug helps to epitomise the societal perception of what Hip-Hop stands for within the opening lines in the first verse, as he discusses the amount of money he has [on his credit card], his accounts of cocaine dealing, before trailing off into the comfortable zone of sexual misogyny.! A similar image is portrayed when listening to Kid Ink’s ‘Show Me’ featuring Chris Brown that acquired the number six spot of the top ten (Billboard, 2014 [online]), ! ! “Uh, so tell me what your name is! I don’t really care who you came with (no)! Unless you got a couple of friend look like you! My bad if my ex try to fight you! Roll up soon as I roll in” (Kid Ink, 2013 [Audio-CD]).! ! Kid Ink approaches the verses with a braggadocio attitude, as he discusses his love for the female form as a sexual being, with consistent references to being “high”, as well as his success and importance within society. ! A misconception that could be perceived from this writing is the idea of Hip-Hop never acknowledging themes that are showcased within 2014’s top ten rap songs, this is far from the objective that is trying to be suggested. The problem that is being addressed is how similar charts are found every year within Hip-Hop, with the same themes commonly being promoted within the most popular songs of that year. In fact, since the list for Billboard’s (2014 [Online]) best year-end rap songs began in 2006, there has not been one noticeable inclusion of a political or protest song. The medias’ forceful image of Hip-Hop has now got to a point of not only acceptance, but of conformity, as artist chase the bandwagon of the successful formula in order to achieve a small fraction of the luxurious lifestyle that is granted to them at the top. ! With real ‘authentic’ (based upon McLeod’s (2012, pg. 173) annotation) artists now becoming few and far between, the question arises as to what does Hip-Hop hold for the future. Nas (2006 [Audio-CD]) declared that, “Hip Hop is dead”, due to the commercialisation and business orientation that has consumed this once vibrant culture, and as this urban vehicle continues to travel down the same road, it becomes more and more difficult to disagree with him.! ! ! ! ! 11
Islamophobia! “Christmas is banned: it offends Muslims” reads the front page headline of the Daily Express, continuing with a distorted story, born from a cartoon, of how South London was forcefully conforming to Muslim culture over the festive period (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 67). You would think an absurd sounding story such as this would be a rare occurrence within todays’ society, yet unfortunately as Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 41) explains, ! ! “The volume of news coverage featuring Muslims has increased dramatically since the terrorists attacks of 2001. More recent scholarship suggested that the news media tend to position Islam as a threat to society, to ‘our way of life’ , and to reproduce ‘common sense’ ideas which position the religious and cultural values of Muslims and those of ‘mainstream’ British society in relation of conflict.”! ! Islamic ideology though is not a recent problem within the Western world. Islam and Christians have been in conflict since the early conception of organised religion began, as they both acknowledge each others existence, while also ridiculing one another, with Gottschalk and Greenberg (2008, pg. 20) informing how “the Quran was roundly attacked as a spuriously written book conceited by the devious Muhammad for his own material and political gain and/or because of his manipulation by Satan”.! This continued battle has consistently waged on throughout history as the West’s animosity towards Islam has been existent in some of the most significant moments in the past Millennium. From the Crusades and Reconquista campaigns to restore a natural Christian order of the Middle East and Europe, to America’s support of Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and their subsequent battle for oil within the Middle East (Gottschalk & Greenberg, 2008), the West have managed to continually find a way of employing a propagandistic perception among society to help keep the ignited hatred between these two enemies aflame. ! The terrorist attacks of 9/11 along with the succeeding 7/7 London bombings helped in fuelling this fiery rivalry even more, supplying an excess amount of persuasive ammunition to help turn modern western society against Islam and anyone with affiliation to Muslims. Gottschalk and Greenberg (2008, pg. 42) explain that through this promotion of Western hostility, “Muslims have become nearly synonymous” with the concept and distress of terrorism, with the Muslim character being predominately associated with the image of a ‘conventional’ terrorist, as the media continually reload and point their gun of alienation towards the Islamic community.! 12
The British media has helped in reimagining the stereotypical image of Muslims since the terrorist attacks of 2001, with Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 41) analysing “that the majority of coverage featuring Muslims in British press focuses upon global events — for example in relation to the Taliban in Afghanistan, the conflict in the Middle East or the 2003 war in Iraq”. This subsequently depicts Muslims in a violent and aggressive light, reinforcing the growing idea that conflict and Islam go hand in hand with each other. Further evidence of this is presented as Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 46) investigates the most common news headlines for stories involving British Muslims, “As we might expect from previous research, ‘terrorism’, or the ‘war on terror’ was the most conspicuous news hook, accounting for 36 per cent of stories overall”, this is matched with the most common nouns found within these articles being, “‘terrorist’, used in twenty-two per cent of stories, and ‘extremists’, used in eighteen per cent of stories” (Justin et al, 2011 pg. 54). ! October 2005 saw the Daily Express print the headline grabbing story, “Hogwash: Now the PC brigade bans piggy banks in case they upset Muslims” (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 73) as they followed with a vacuous story of how banks were eradicating the term and image of ‘piggy banks’ incase it offended people of Islamic belief. The story still managed to make the rounds in the British media even after it was revealed — by the banks themselves — that the supposed ‘abolishing’ of the image and term of ‘piggy banks’ was simply an end of a september promotional campaign, and it was the local paper that helped in conceiving this fictional story to garner attention and attraction (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 76). Though the question that arises from stories such as these, and the other examples discussed, is what effect and influence can this end up having on the reader? Muir et al (2011, pg. 75) recites a reaction from one of the readers of the ‘piggy bank’ article,! ! “Hogwash indeed! If I remember rightly a similar fate befell the harmless little golliwog. This is England. We are rightly proud of our heritage and yet we kowtow to the insane demands of people who want to live in our country but are not prepared to accept our ways. If they don’t like who we are and what we stand for, why do they stay? Could the benefits and free healthcare have anything to do with it? I for one am tired of increasingly feeling like a foreigner in my own country. I suspect I am not alone”.! ! This patriotic aggressive reaction connects back to the existing power within the triangular relationship between media, business and politics present within modern 13
society (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), as well as reinforces the earlier idea (discussed in Demonisation of Social Class) of how hate fuelled attention is consistently directed towards the lower end of society. With regular ideological reinforcement and misconstrued negativity, it is no wonder some Britons have started to feel “like a foreigner” (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 76) in the media’s fictitious United Kingdom.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 14
STK! ! Having deconstructed a few political issues that exist within modern society, I found my next challenge being to highlight these issues effectively within the marketing and resulting album, while subsequently having to resist the temptation of conform to the mainstream product and sound. My general ideology for the album was to communicate these various problems, with the optimistic hope that the album would provoke an audience into researching further upon the issues that I presented.! ! The Concept & Message! When beginning to craft this project, I found myself echoing words from Bob Dylan that ended up straying me in a certain direction for this venture. “Protest songs are difficult to write without making them come off as preachy and one-dimensional” (Dylan, 2004 pg. 54) , was resonating within my own opinion, as I concluded that making a few random protest songs discussing my chosen modern societal issues (Islamophobia, state of mainstream music and political heirachy of social class) would not be sufficient enough to attract and engage an audience’s interest. It was then my decision to instead create a story driven album, that put listeners within a derelict society that my three themes co-existed within, captivating them into a journey that would hopefully make them question certain scenarios, topics and beliefs within modern society, as well as influence certain listeners to take different approaches within their own mind when confronting some of these scenarios. This was the foundational ideology that my movement was created upon, accompanied by the following narrative brief that my album would follow.! ! Patient ST-0K3-5 has been recommitted back into The Great British Asylum from which he once escaped, where he is undergoing treatment to conform to the ‘way of society’ and become a dedicated member of the British system. Through themes of islamophobia, the state of mainstream music and the establishment and heirachy of social class, follow our patients twisted journey to rage war against authority and create a revolutionary voice for the people while subsequently battling with his own insanity and beliefs.! ! I settled on this narrative, believing that the asylum would be a brilliant metaphor to help represent ‘broken Britain’, with the idea of its patients representing the bottom of society. The contrasting view saw the asylum’s governors represented as the distorted authority at the top of Britain and major record labels, the doctors and the treatments 15
they imposed were personified as the media and its constant attack on Islam and the ‘scroungers’ of society, while the guards who uphold the institution portray the ‘corrupt’ system within Britain upon which my three themes exist. The album features two main artists (JDefianT & MoJo) whom which I present in the classic ‘good vs evil’ tale, JDefianT depicting a recommitted patient who stands against the system and authority, while MoJo impersonates the multiple social dominating characters found within the corrupt asylum. ! The whole album was born out of my love and admiration for politically conscious hip-hop, with a considerable amount of influence coming from artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, this was matched with my strong opinion on the subjects of Islamophobia, state of mainstream music, and politics. The idea was to convey my firm political left-wing stance through the album to help shed light for the uneducated, while also presenting these social problems in an interesting and thought- provoking story that helped pay homage to the genre and artists that I have deep sentimental attachment too.! ! The Process! I knew instantly that the project I had set myself was going to be a challenging one, and would require a great deal of work to complete and match the high quality standards of not only my own expectations, but also to a ‘BA Hons’ standard as well as for the general public. This lead me to creating a timetable on the wall of my working environment (shown in Appendix A.1) that I would fill with post-it notes, listed with weekly jobs and targets from major tasks such as “Record the promo video”, and “Produce 10 tracks from different styles of Hip-Hop”, to minor, more detail focussed assignments like, “Write 5 pages each of material based on the three themes of the album”, and “Meet with artists to discuss character roles and progression, concept and directions for each song as well as reference track ideas for each song”. This helped me in not only sticking to deadlines and goals, but also supported me in creating a more intimate and detailed project, allowing me to dive further into the foundation and mechanics of my album and concept, making sure that I was as knowledgable and aware of exactly what I was creating and what subjects I was discussing, something that I believe to be very important when stepping into the area of political and protest music.! After the general concept of the movement had been established, I knew that I would have to build a small working team around me to assist in creating this project and delivering it to the best possible standard. One of the first members of this team was my marketing director, Jackson Greenstreet, who facilitated in managing the marketing of the album and operating the social media of the movement (shown in 16
Appendix B). We arranged to meet every week as we proceeded to lay the groundwork of promoting the movement within the three social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) through the use of self-designed quote board images (shown in Appendix C), that helped in presenting the general themes and messages of the ‘STK’ movement, as well providing us with an effective marketing tool, that enabled an easy ‘share’ function among followers to garner more exposure. This was accompanied with the release of the promo track, ‘Encased In The Open’ featuring album artist JDefianT (Found on data disc in Appendix L.1), that was published to advertise that the movement was focused around music, as well as to introduce the partnership that would be highlighted on the upcoming album. The track subsequently had an accompanying visual (Found on data disc in Appendix L.1) that was filmed within an abandoned asylum, that helped in connecting it back to the concept of the album. Though this was seen more as a side project compared to the rest of the movement (with the track not being apart of the LP), with the central marketing material being based on a promotional trailer (Found on data disc in Appendix L.2) that teased the release of the record, that was showcased on the movement’s website (www.stkofficial.co.uk (shown in Appendix D)), enabling viewers to subscribe to the movement to receive a free copy of the album upon release.! My level for detail intensified once I reached the stages of recording the album as I started with the idea of incorporating different production styles of Hip-Hop throughout the different songs, creating a sizeable list of reference tracks ranging from sub genres such as ‘trap’, ‘old-school rap’, and ‘southern hip-hop’ upon more. This contributed to the next 8 weeks of producing that proceeded, allowing me to create various instrumentals (using maschine, logic and various virtual instruments) that I felt would associate within the correct sub genre, as well as depict the correct scenario of the narrative. Throughout this time I was also contacting several different artists with the intention being to get multiple different rappers on the album, each playing separate characters within the narration, with one artists taking the reins of the lead character, ‘patient ST-0K3-5’. Unfortunately due to commitment issues, and unmotivated individuals, I ended up acquiring the services of only two rappers (JDefianT and MoJo) who helped bolster the ‘STK’ team with their contrasting rapping styles and lyrical content, with singer-songwriter Yasmin Chadwick also enlisting for the use of additional vocals. As a team we then progressed to write and record the album, myself feeding information of the characters, concept and narrative of each song (shown in Appendix E), making sure that the artists were comfortable and educated on the material discussed on every record, as well as the scenario it was presented within. This culminated in many verse rewrites and experimentation of different song directions, before finalising and recording the album vocals in a final twelve hour studio session (studio session plans 17
shown in Appendix F). Followed was a race against time, as I spent two solid weeks (out of the three left until the deadline) completing the skits, editing the vocals and mixing and mastering the album, with the final product coming through an online release via the website.! I always expected obstacles to emerge when undertaking a complex project such as this, and the common problems such as clashing of egos and lack of creativity arose on many separate occasions throughout the production timeline. Though one frequent issue that I was not expecting was the lack of commitment and detached work ethic that I received from some of the members of the team, matched with empty promises from self-professed ‘ambitious’ and ‘hard-working’ individuals. I strongly believed that I was not the only one that could benefit from par-taking within this project, championing the idea that, ‘you reap what you sow’. I also believed I was giving members of the team a great platform to show off their passion and skill set, with their only requirement being to show up and prove their worth. This unfortunately was not met with two members of the team, Jackson Greenstreet (marketing director) and JDefianT (artist), who repeatedly let me down through poor motivation, uninspiring dedication to work, and general disinterest and disrespect for the project. It was a difficult challenge for myself at times to simply put in so much effort, time and money to benefit not only the project, but also the opportunities that it generated for the team involved in the project (through free marketing, free professional recording, free instrumentals, free exposure, ect) and yet receive so little effort back from individuals who insisted they were passionate about getting into the music industry. The seemingly shared mentality between the two members of the team was the belief that they were doing me a favour, instead of being involved in a collective movement that would benefit us all. My approach to this problem was to attack it with a persistent mindset of ‘do it yourself’, adopting a big chunk of the job roles associated with the marketing director, as I revelled in the ironic similarities that radiated from these unsubstantial team members compared to the modern societal problem that exists within mainstream Hip-Hop.! ! Connecting the Dots (Presenting the Social Issues)! The foundation of my album was designed within the narrative groundwork that I originally laid out at the start of the project (presented in ‘STK - The Concept & Message’), upon this I started to integrate my main themes (first presented in ‘Modern Societal Issues’), that looked into Islamophobia, state of mainstream Hip-Hop and the hierarchy of social class and political power.! ‘Society’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) opens the album with a cinematic scene-setting introduction that presents our main character as he travels down a suburban street, 18
with sounds of societies ‘popular’ Hip-Hop music polluting the air. This transitions into the first song of the album, ‘The Fast Food Stuff’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M), as themes related to the state of mainstream Hip-Hop music are discussed using a surface- layered metaphor that links the subject matter with a negative view on the consumption of ‘fast food’. ! ! “Just read the menu, you don’t need to know the recipe,! But once you finished you won’t be impressed with me,! A half empty plate ain’t gonna fill your space,! But it doesn’t matter you’ve already paid” (Appendix G.1).! ! JDefianT raps over an ironic commercial sounding chorus, as he discusses the lack of substance within mainstream music, while also connecting it back into Boyd’s (2012, pg. 444) statement that, “the record industry is interested in one thing, making money”. The concept of the song helps in depicting the modern societal issue that considers the lack of a positive message within mainstream Hip-Hop, shedding light on the growing issue of artist’s desire to conform to the perceived image of sex, money, drugs and violence that consumes the majority of Hip-Hop that reaches the charts today (Billboard, 2014 [online]).! The next skit ‘Servants’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) continues the narration, as the main character is transferred back into the asylum he once escaped. In the distance, MoJo is heard screaming at the guards to “drag” the patient indoors, as the piano- driven instrumental for ‘Welcome To The Great British Asylum’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) proceeds to fill the speakers.! ! “The food we give you is good,! And what we tell is the truth,! And what you need is our help! To climb up the ladder you choose” (Appendix G.2). ! ! MoJo takes on the persona of the governor of the asylum, as he states the importance of the lower class—represented through the patient—following the ‘rules of the system’ and obeying to higher society. Yasmin Chadwick provides a thought-provoking chorus that helps link the song back to the narration of our patient being welcomed back into the asylum, before MoJo continues onto verse 2 as he makes the relation of his character to the authority and power that exists within modern society.! ! 19
“Sometimes I wear a wig and quote from books like I’m a pastor,! Other times I put my badge on, shoot and ask questions after.! Other times I’m the guy across the desk you wanna impress,! With your CD and dreams of being in planes that are chartered” (Appendix G.2).! ! Judges, police, religious leaders, politicians, music executives and general authority are used as metaphors to comprise the conception of MoJo’s character within this existing society, as the classic power abusive movie villain is created as an antagonist for the main character.! A series of Fox news audio clips interrupt the listener next, as reports and interviews on the connection between terrorist activity and Islam introduce the JDefianT leading, politically infused song, ‘TERROR, TERROR, TERROR’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) regarding Muslim perception within the western world.! ! “Born in Britain but he look like a foreigner,! Bet he send the whole carriage to the coroner,! Bet he’s one of Bin Laden’s followers,! Eating halal and plotting to start bombing us” (Appendix G.3).! ! Islamophobia is presented within the song through the two verses in which JDefianT portrays various fictitious characters with outspoken and misguided opinions on Islamic religion and the Muslims that embrace it. This is reinforced through an interview with an EDL member about the ‘Muslim law’ that occupies the chorus, as the treatment the patient undergoes to indoctrinate him into detesting muslims, strikes a resembling chord to the media’s influence upon societies opinion on Islam. The song’s instrumental attacks the audience’s ears as a hectic and aggressive setting is created that continues the narration of an innocent man being conformed to a broken society.! Through the patients unwillingness to accept the asylum’s treatment in the last song, ‘Syndicates’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) finds the lead character being thrown into solitary confinement as his weakened mind contemplates the idea of conforming to society. What follows is a ‘Riot In The Mind’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) as MoJo, representing the idea of conformity, and JDefianT, depicting his resistance, do battle with words inside of our patient’s head.! ! ! ! 20
JDefiant! “They cut the jobs, decrease the wage and still remain in power,! It’s bloody sick like standing bashing at your baby shower,! when we ain’t got food in our belly, we put food in our mouth,! Then they have us on lockdown for 23 hours.”! ! MoJo! “Yeah but, why worry,! If you don’t break the rules, you’ll never go hungry,! Why walk around hot headed like sonny,! When you can have a nice big house in the country” (Appendix G.4)! ! The two artists proceed to trade four bars between one another as MoJo’s character tries to persuade our patient to conform to the lavish lifestyle that he will experience through his obedience to society, while JDefianT resists the temptation, instead launching a verbal attack of facts and figures that are used to plant the idea in audience’s minds that they should also consider following the views and opinions discussed by our patient. ! The sound of MoJo’s Judge hammering his gavel, ordering for his courtroom to be “quiet” commences the final section of the album as ‘State’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) finds our patient being ordered to plead for his case as a sample of ‘Bring me my shotgun’ by Lightning Hopkins drives at the vehicle of the concluding record, ‘Mad Man Sentences’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M). ! MoJo proceeds to converse with the trailed patient about his crimes, before giving him one last opportunity to follow the ‘way of society’. This is inspiringly denied as JDefianT’s patient is branded insane as he takes control of the final verse with a touching soliloquy on his crimes compared to the distorted innocence that is perceived upon the top tier of society.! ! “Giving us a script to live by but you don’t give us life,! Doing jobs that we don’t like and getting charged to survive,! Teach our children to rebel before you teach em’ to write,! The report I read said hell is where I’m heading tonight” (Appendix G.5)! ! ! ! ! 21
The Finished Product! All three of my modern societal themes are reinforced through the social media marketing, promotional video (‘STK - The Movement’ (Data disc found in Appendix L.2)) and concept of the album, with each assisting in the general and planned perception that the album can be adopted as. Though the magnificent idea of music, is in its ability to allow multiple interpretations and generate various opinions and debates, something that I hope and believe that this album embodies.! As a whole, I’m proud of the finished product that I have managed to complete within the time frame given to me, and believe that I have been successful in illustrating and portraying the three modern societal issues that I laid out at the start of the project. I feel each track brings with it a distinct sound and message, and along with the narrative and concept of the album, I believe I have been prosperous in creating an original and thought-provoking piece of material, something that I personally believe to very important in not just political and protest records, but music in general. I feel the majority of this success comes down to efficient planning, and in-depth research, both of which helped in creating a more detailed and complete album, instead of conceiving a record that featured a few random political songs thrown together.! Though when looked upon through a scrutinised eye, I still find flaws and weaknesses that do not meet the high standards that I expect from myself. One of these glaring problems comes from the skits that are featured in the album, which I feel need more attentive detail put into them to help in immersing the audience into the correct environment that each one is trying to portray. At the moment I believe each one depicts the correct scenario and setting well, yet lacks enough interactivity and engaging power to engross its listener. Another issue I have with the album stems from the participating artists, JDefianT and MoJo, both of whom caused me several commitment issues throughout the project. As a producer and engineer, I worked with my artists to generate the best possible quality in terms of work ethic and work produced from each of them, with one strict instruction in place for the final vocal session being to learn all of their records. This prevents songs being recorded in a robotic and passionless manner as they read song lyrics from a phone or piece of paper, instead giving the artists the option of adding more character and emotion to their raps, subsequently enhancing their own work and the project. Unfortunately this advice fell upon deaf ears as the two artists proceeded to dismiss my instructions, as the vocals for the album were recorded in a hectic, unprepared 9 hour studio session. I believe I’ve salvaged the best takes and still created a polished and high quality sounding Hip-Hop album, but still believe in a critical view, that it can be better and include more of an emotive delivery from both artists to help the audience engage and 22
connect with the characters, an imperative trait to have when involved in any story- driven project.! My marketing campaign ended up being the biggest obstacle and challenge within the entire project, causing multiple issues ranging from ineffective material to unmotivated responses. I feel these issues derive from my own lack of experience within the marketing world, along with the uninspiring effort that my marketing director, Jackson Greenstreet, put into the project. His main role within this venture was to take control of the social media marketing, and to generate as much interest within the album as possible, no doubt a tough task due to my near-unrecognised existence in the music industry prior to the project. Due to the scale of the task, I was appreciative of any effort that was put in by any of the individuals that contributed towards the project, having deep gratitude in the idea of someone actually taking their own time to further this record. Though what entailed with Jackson was a consistent return of empty-promises followed with insincere excuses as to why no work was being completed on his side. This subsequently laid the work onto myself, in which I desperately tried to restore regular attention upon the project, while at the same time balancing the work load of creating a high quality album that surpassed the expectations that I was advertising.! Though even from the lack of effort I received, I do not blame Jackson or any other contributing individuals for the issues and failures of the project. I believe due to it being my album, all blame should be focused on myself, with the downfalls sprouting from my poor judge of working character, and sympathetic attitude towards these individuals. Though in hindsight, these problems have also contributed to the learning curve that has accompanied this project, with my most challenging problem, becoming my biggest gain, with a strong belief that I now have a better understanding of the marketing process that coexists within the music industry, with clearer ideas on how I should market myself as a freelance engineer and producer within the competitive work field that awaits me.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23
Societies’ Response! ! Online & Social Media Marketing! At the start of the project, my marketing director and myself came up with a brief marketing campaign for the project that consisted of continually updated social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Soundcloud (Appendix B), a promotional song that introduced the partnership of myself with one of the album artists (‘Encased In The Open’ found on data disc in Appendix L.1), and a promotional trailer for the album (STK - The Movement found on data disc in Appendix L.2) that would direct viewers towards the project’s website (www.stkofficial.co.uk (Appendix D)). Upon reaching the site, individuals would then be able to subscribe, in order to receive a free copy of the album upon release as well as details on a free listening session party, where I planned to receive the majority of my social feedback for the album. We believed that this would tackle a number of targets within the build up to the album, including solidifying with our audience the themes and issues that I wanted to present, relating the movement to music and finally engaging our audience through an original and mysterious visage. ! Unfortunately the response I received was not great, with the majority of my feedback coming in the form of Instagram likes (Appendix H.3) and brief reply’s within a music forum (Appendix H.1) that featured no real substance on the subject matter or critical view of the promotional song and/or video. This was a disheartening outcome for myself, due to the amount or effort that I had employed into the project, but also understood that the industry is completely over saturated with different music, and it is very difficult to generate a large interest in a new, completely unknown artist.! I believe this was one of the main reasons for my poor response, yet considered the possibility of multiple factors being in play for the project's social downfall. These ranged from a poor subject choice, that could have been non-relatable to a wide audience, poor and ineffective delivery in my marketing and social media posts, to poor management of the entire campaign in itself. I believe each of one these factors came in to play in some form throughout the project, but settled on the fact that unfortunately my response for the album did not match the expectations that I set for myself at the start of the project, concluding that the only cause for this can be down to an overall poor marketing campaign. ! ! ! ! ! 24
Interpreting the Album! Unfortunately my poor marketing campaign subsequently showed off its failure within my planned listening session party, as I was only able to persuade seven people to attend the event, meaning the feedback I received for the album was very limited. I did not let this affect me, instead taking it in my stride as I proceeded to play the album for my small congregated audience, in turn analysing their feedback and reaction to the record that consequently determined whether I was successful in addressing my contemporary social and political issues.! I evaluated these responses through a simple questionnaire (Appendix I), devised to find out the audiences interpretations for each song, before asking an optional question of what their overall opinion of the album was. As touched on earlier, I had a planned perception of what I wanted the audience to think about and what issues I wanted them to regard when listening to each of the songs, but also strongly believed that the album could create multiple representations from various listeners, and was therefore very intrigued by the response I received from my accommodating audience. ! The general conception from the feedback (Appendix J) very much matched with the planned perception that I set out for the album, with everyone managing to grasp the general themes and issues I wanted to be identified. What I did find interesting however were some of the interpretations individuals formed for certain songs, with answers received from question two, that asked for the subject matter of ‘Welcome To The Great British Asylum’ being the most personally surprising of all in which over 50% of the audience believed the song featured a relation to immigration within the UK.! ! “Seems to be a direct relationship and play of words between immigrating to the UK and being committed to a mental asylum. One strong message seems to be the fact that people are seemingly forced into working in jobs etc, which they may not necessarily want to and are punished for wanting to do their own thing. Government restrictions seem to be a very heavy topic, also police brutality. Potentially racism towards immigrants and unfair treatment. Very restricting of public opinion and conformity” (Appendix J.2).! ! Upon reflection I completely understand the connections that can be made within the song to conclude these sort of interpretations, though this was not the conscious perception that I was trying to manufacture for the song. Only a brief section of my research covered asylum seekers and immigration within the UK, with the central 25
theme of the song being to describe the metaphorical relationship between the asylum and ‘broken Britain’ which was only picked up by 2 members of the audience.! Another similar situation played out with the debatable meaning of ‘Mad Man Sentences’ in which multiple representations were being formed from the various members of the audience. One member conceived the song to interpret, “The struggle to break conformity” (Appendix J.1), while the majority of the subjects believed I had subconsciously planted the issue of demonisation of social class within the song, with over 40% of the audience making a connection to social discriminatory suffering.! Upon review, even though I failed in creating enough interest for the album to generate a sufficient amount of feedback, I do believe I have successfully started to achieve my thesis in ‘meaningfully addressing contemporary social and political issues within a protest and political hip-hop album’, reaching this conclusion through the positive response I received from my small amount of subjects, whom equally enjoyed the album, and were successful in collectively understanding the key themes and issues that were presented throughout the record.! ! A Future Impact! I completely understood that the response that I was to receive within the timeframe of my dissertation would not be sufficient enough in deciding whether I was completely successful in answering my thesis, with the main bulk of my response awaiting in the next year following consistent promotion and marketing to obtain the appropriate social impact that I want from the venture.! One takeaway that I did want when starting this project, was to create something that not only benefited my educational degree, but also challenged and furthered my skill set as a producer and engineer, while acquiring myself with a portfolio of material that would assist me in starting my career within the music industry. This album has enabled me to continually further the project after the completion of my degree, with the opportunity to reassess my marketing campaign and conceive fresh ideas that will hopefully garner more of an interest. One idea that was planned to take place for the degree, but will now subsequently take place after, are wall projections of the project’s promotional video (STK - The Movement (Found on data disc in Appendix L.2)) around lively areas of London. The intention is to present the movement as a rebellious action against authority, shrouded in controversy and mystery that would hopefully spark an intrigue within viewers minds to research into the project. This will be accompanied by continued social media updates and plugging of the album across the internet, contacting stations and blogs to assist in the general promotion of the album to a wider audience. ! 26
One issue that I know I will continue to face will be the struggle to effectively reach a large audience with my music, of whom will actually give me the time and appreciation that my dedication and effort deserves. This will be down to a number of factors, from poor marketing to my anonymity within the music industry, though I believe the main determinant that will cause this problem will be in form of my chosen music, and my decision to not conform to the popular sound and message radiating from mainstream Hip-Hop. The music market is already over saturated with millions of songs available to the consumer at a small monthly fixed price (depending on your preferred streaming service), so the chances of my music managing to reach a large audience, along with the added component of my refusal of conformity, are undoubtably very low. A subject within my listening session party managed to perfectly summarise my reasoning for this challenging lifestyle, as they explained, through their interpretation of ‘Mad Man Sentences’, that,! ! “Perhaps out of fear or self preservation, we rarely want to do anything that might make us vulnerable. This song addressed that, a message of - yes challenging society is difficult, even dangerous, and with no guarantee of reward, but the alternative is a dull meaningless life where we have little impact” (Appendix J.7).! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 27
Conclusion! Though issues such as slavery, lynching, and equal black rights have slowly faded away from accepted societal behaviour and consequently the contemporary music discussing these topics, one has to wonder what form of music will establish itself within the mainstream market to become the voice of modern societal issues. Tricia Rose (1994, pg.1) agrees that Hip-Hop has become, “Gravely ill” through its commercialisation and distorted perception within society, with the indication showing that the roots and authenticity of this once vibrant lifestyle, have slowly sunk into the murky, obscure waters of popular culture, re-emerging as a profit-making structure that has abandoned political characteristics that once made it the voice of the suppressed young black american.! The thesis of this particular project asked whether it was possible to rejuvenate Hip- Hop’s lost voice for the oppressed, in turn researching whether it was possible to create a conceptual Hip-Hop album that meaningfully discussed modern social and political issues. Jones’s triangular relationship theory between politics, media and businesses (Jones, 2014) was the foundational bedrock for the issues of Islamophobia, state of mainstream music and demonisation of social class that were subsequently presented within the narrative journey of the album. The objective then was to highlight these issues through emotive and thought-provoking records that would consequently spur the listener on to research further and form their own opinions on the subject matter.! My own personal obstacles arose throughout the production of this project, as I balanced my skill set to deal with uncommitted and unmotivated team members while also tackling the problem of addressing these social obstacles in a meaningful and compelling manner, consequently traveling on a learning curve to efficient story-telling, effective people management and developed musical ability.! The album proceeded to adopt the theme of ‘broken Britain’ as it successfully proved that a beneficial heart is still beating at the core of Hip-Hop, and although surrounded by the pollution of commercialised air, one has to believe that with the example of my own album and with artists such as Lupe Fiasco and Kendrick Lamar, there is still hope that Hip-Hop can be salvaged.! The idea of Hip-Hop re-surfacing as music’s political mainstream voice does seem like a nonsensical dream, as the profit-driven vehicle has continued to lead the race within popular music for the past 20 years. Though with the faint rumble of a more politicised society re-emerging, one has to hope that Hip-Hop can rediscover its vibrant urban roots that once made it a revolutionary voice, and once again take a protesting stance against the injustice within modern society.! 28
Appendices! Appendix A! Photo of my ‘Final Major Project Timetable’ on the wall of my working environment.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 29
Appendix B (Photos of social media pages)! B.1! Facebook - /officialstk! ! B.2! Twitter - @OfficialSTK_! ! ! ! ! ! 30
B.3! Instagram - @officialstkmusic! ! B.4! Soundcloud - /officialstk! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 31
B.5! Youtube - Official: STK! ! ! Appendix C (Social media quote boards for promotion)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 32
! ! ! ! 33
! ! ! 34
Appendix D (Photos of website - www.stkofficial.co.uk)! D.1! First Page (Home Page)! ! D.2! Second Page (Follow & Subscribe Page)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 35
D.3! Third Page (Comment Page)! ! D.4! Video Page (Plays Promo Video)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 36
D.5! Subscribe Pop Up Box (Appears after 10 seconds of browsing)! Appendix E (Production Song notes for each artist)! E.1! Song 1 (The Fast Food Stuff)! 37
E.2! Song 2 (Welcome To The Great British Asylum)! 38
E.3! Song 3 (TERROR, TERROR, TERROR)! E.4! Song 4 (Riot In The Mind)! 39
E.5! Song 5 (Mad Man Sentences)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 40
Appendix F (Studio session plans)! F.1! Studio Session 1, 30/05/15! F.2! Studio Session 2, 10/08/15! 41
Appendix G (Song Lyrics)! G.1! Song 1 Lyrics (The Fast Food Stuff)! 42
G.2! Song 2 Lyrics (Welcome To The Great British Asylum)! 43
G.3! Song 3 Lyrics (TERROR, TERROR, TERROR)! 44
G.4! Song 4 Lyrics (Riot In The Mind)! 45
46
G.5! Song 5 Lyrics (Mad Man Sentences)! ! ! 47
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 48
Appendix H (Marketing Response)! H.1! Pictures of feedback from a thread on the KanyeToThe.com forum! ! 49
! ! ! 50
H.2! Occupy London’s page share on Facebook! ! ! ! 51
H.3! Instagram Response! 52
53
54
Appendix I (Sample of Questionnaire)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 55
! ! ! ! ! 56
Appendix J (Questionnaire Responses)! J.1! Subject 1! 57
J.2! Subject 2! ! ! ! 58
J.3! Subject 3! J.4! Subject 4! 59
J.5! Subject 5! J.6! Subject 6! ! 60
J.7! Subject 7! 61
Appendix K (Marketing Postcard)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 62
Appendix L (Data Discs)! L.1 Data Disc! Contains the following:! - ‘Encased In The Open’ - JDefianT X STK (Official Visual) (MP4)! - ‘Encased In The Open’ - JDefianT X STK (MP3)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! L.2 Data Disc! Contains the following:! - ‘STK - The Movement’ - Promotional Trailer (MP4)! - ‘Streetwise Live’ FM Radio Interview (MP3)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 63
Appendix M (STK Album)! *A prototype of the artwork and design, with plans in place for a CD jewel case and Digipak versions.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 64
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Stokes_Benjamin_MP

  • 1. ! ! ! ! Can a protest and political Hip-Hop album, meaningfully address contemporary social and political issues?! ! ! SAE INSTITUTE LONDON! ! Benjamin Stokes! 17403! ABHE0115! ! In completion of the Degree! BA (Hons) Audio Production! ! Project Supervisor! Gillian McIver! ! 28th August 2015! ! Word Count! 9631 Words! ! Weighting! 70% Written / 30% Practical! ! ! ! !
  • 2. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Declaration! ! I hereby declare that I wrote this written assignment on my own and without the use of any other than the cited sources and tools and all explanations that I copied directly or in their sense are marked as such, as well as that the written assignment has not yet been handed in neither in this nor in equal form at any other official commission.! ! Date, …………………. Signature, ………………….! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ii
  • 3. Abstract! The following project discusses the social need and benefit of political and protest music, examining its history and evolution within the genre of Hip-Hop as well as its subsequent disappearance, as commercialisation engulfs the urban culture. The dissertation progresses onto explaining three social and political issues found within modern society, as these themes form the foundational bedrock for the creation of a conceptual Hip-Hop album that proceeds to present these problems within a metaphorical scenario representing ‘broken Britain’. Through social response within the marketing campaign and a listening session party, the album proceeds to successfully interpret the social and political issues represented, as well open the possibilities for multiple interpretations, altogether forming the argument that Hip-Hop can in fact still be used as an effective musical tool to portray social injustice and oppression.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! iii
  • 4. Table Of Contents! ! ! Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………1! ! Brief History of Political Music……………………………………………………………..2! ! State of Political Hip-Hop! Origins of an Urban Voice…………………..…………………………………….4! Rise of the Bling……………………………………………………………………6! ! Modern Day Societal Issues……………………..………………………………………….8! Demonisation of Social Class…………………………………………………….8! State of Mainstream Hip-Hop…………..……………………………………….10! Islamophobia………………………………………………………………..……12! ! STK………………………………..……………………………………………………..……15! The Concept & Message………………………………………………………..15! The Process………………………………………………………………………16! Connecting the Dots (Presenting the Social Issues)…………………………18! The Finished Product…..……………………………………………………….22! ! Societies’ Response! Online & Social Media Marketing…..…………………………………….……24! Interpreting the Album…..………………………………………………………25! A Future Impact……………………………………………………………….….26! ! Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………28! ! Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..….29! ! References List………………………………………………………………………………65! ! Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………….67! ! ! ! iv
  • 5. Introduction! ! Look into any genre or era within music, political and social issues will consistently dominate some of the most well known records, with Brown (2008, pg.1) reiterating that, “Music is filled with political content. One only has to be a casual listener of any number of musical genres to observe this”. Their undoubtably seems to be a need and desire, from artists and consumers alike for music to be used as an emotional tool to express the social injustice within the world. Though when analysing the past 10 years of record charts, the appearance of protest music seems to of faded away (Billboard, 2014 [online]), with questions now arising as to why this is? And what genre of music will take control of the vehicle driving societies oppressed voice within the modern day?! Hip-Hop’s origins were born out of a derelict and suppressed society (Rose, 1994), so it felt appropriate that the thesis of meaningfully addressing modern social and political issues were presented in the form of a conceptual Hip-Hop album, that paid homage to the roots and authenticity of this colourful urban culture. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal’s ‘That’s The Joint’ provides the necessary foundation of support to build upon the argument of Hip-Hop’s lost political voice, with the accompanying use of modern Hip-Hop songs helping to further the conception that Hip-Hop’s once great influence among authority and society has been diminished to the core perceived image of the glamorisation of sex, money drugs and violence. This in turn lays the groundwork for the discussion of social and political issues within modern society, as Owen Jones’s ‘The Establishment’ helps link together the three chosen themes of the album, Islamophobia, state of mainstream hip-hop and demonisation of social class.! This formulation consequently leads into the fundamental aspect of the thesis, in which a conceptual Hip-Hop album is created and represented around the three social and political issues. Paralleled with an extensive marketing campaign, the Hip-Hop album looks to create a social following of support that will analyse—throughout and after the dissertation—if its possible to rejuvenate the lost political music voice within modern society.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 1
  • 6. Brief History of Political Music! ! Political music has always existed, whether you go back to the first politically confirmed song during the Peasants revolt in 1381 (Lynskey, pg. 686, 2010), or search through the entirety of hits in the last century, you will find there has always been political music. Ranging from attacks on organised religion in ‘The Preacher in the Sky’ by industrial labour protest singer Joe Hill (Brown, pg. 117, 2008), to the call for global warming at the world wide concert of ‘Live Earth’ (Brown, pg. 181, 2008), music has always been a huge platform for artists to express their political beliefs.! You could say that its near impossible to actually give a definitive start point for when political and protest music first originated, some will start at the classical period of Beethoven, and how his music was the first to really spread a political meaning towards the masses (Brown, pg. 12, 2008), others will point you towards the direction of Aristotle’s ‘The Politics’ and show how he explains the politics behind music being a form of liberal education (Aristotle, pg. 456, 1962). Though one similarity you will always find is that politically music has always been on a constant parallel evolution with music consumption.! Historically significant for protest music was the resurgence of folk music in the 1960s with Bob Dylan the man on everyones lips. During his few short political years of ’63 to ‘65 he charged the music industry with politically ballads such as, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ and ‘The Times They are A-Changin’. Dylan would be the first to dismiss the title of being a protest singer, announcing as he introduced one of his most famous protest songs ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, “Cause I don’t write protest songs…I’m just writing it as something to be said, for somebody, by somebody” (Lynskey, pg. 71, 2010). Though it becomes very easy to argue with him when you dive deeper into some of the layered meanings of his protest songs. Lynskey (2010, pg. 73) expresses ‘Masters of War’ as one of “the most evil-sounding protest songs” ever recorded, as Dylan goes on a raged fuelled attack on the profiters of war, sneering at them, “You ain’t worth the blood that runs in your veins.” (Dylan, 1963 [Audio-CD]), While ‘Don’t Follow Leaders’ recorded in 1965 as Dylan started to take his step back from protest music, not only expressed the urge for society to not follow the political power of the government, but also to stray away from leaders such as Martin Luther King and even Bob Dylan Himself (Lynskey, pg. 83, 2010). ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, on the other hand discusses human pain and suffering, asking supposed unanswerable questions, with the answers Dylan expressing are “Blowing In The Wind” (Dylan, 1963 [Audio CD]). The song ended up being hugely popular within the Civil Rights Movement, as it became the anthem that showcased the struggle that black people faced on a daily basis, one 2
  • 7. of many songs that shed light on racial equality within America, a very popular topic within protest music. ! Racism, slavery and social injustice was the background for much political American music, from the coded lyrics of gospel and blues songs, to Billie Holiday’s rendering of songwriter Abel Meeropol’s ‘Strange Fruit’,! ! “Southern tress bear a strange fruits,! Blood on the leaves and blood on the root,! Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze! Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” (Holiday, 1939 [Vinyl])! ! The thought of basing a song on lynching was absurd and thought to be career suicide, so you can imagine the shiver that travels down America’s spine when Billie Holiday started performing ‘Strange Fruit’ in small Jazz clubs around New York (Lynskey, pg. 6, 2010). Though not the first song to discuss racial issues, ‘Strange Fruit’ was so controversial it helped skyrocket the career of Holiday, while also laying bare the political meaning of racial killing in southern United States for the whole world to digest. ! Out of Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ came the birth of Black Soul Singer Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, the politically infused song that expresses the message of a revolutionary change for racial equality needed in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Though its Lynskey’s (2010, pg. 92) comparison with the equally defining ‘Mississippi Goddam’ by Nina Simone, that shows off the real change within black equality that was occurring at the time. With Cooke presenting ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ with the “Graceful Defiance of Martin Luther King”, Simone charges through ‘Mississippi Goddam’ with “the flammable rage of Malcolm X and the SNCC’s Stokely Carmichael”, showing the growing tear in black society through the diverging paths of these two songs.! After Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King’s deaths the divide did start to disappear, and the Civil Rights Movement has succeeded on many of its campaigns, though in the past 30 years there is a possibility to argue that out of the ghettos of the South Bronx, a new form of black movement has risen up in the fight for racial equality, helping to elevate the control and freedom that black men have always desired.! ! ! ! ! ! 3
  • 8. State of Political Hip-Hop! ! Origins of an Urban Voice! Music is a political force, this is ever present when one listens to the booming bass, hard hitting drums, and slick lyricists found in Hip-Hop. Tricia Rose (1994, Pg. 2) expresses that, “rap music brings together a tangle of some of the most complex social, cultural, and political issues in contemporary American society” and has done since its birth in the 1970s.! From the slums of South Bronx, Hip-Hop without even knowing it was born to be a political movement. From the rebellious youth tagging train cars and street corners to brand their name across New York City, to the innovating sound of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s ‘The Message’, it is clear that Hip-Hop was created to challenge the authority and social norm of white man America as Melle Mel puts food for thought in audience’s minds, describing the desolate surroundings of the ghetto, and the struggle a young black American faced within society (Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, 1982 [Vinyl]).! Boyd (2012, pg. 441) describes the origins of Hip-Hop as “the sense of self- determination, the sense of independence and freedom” growing out of the Black Power movement, expressing that the decades of music created from this cultural revolution have helped in growing a powerful voice within Black America’s fight against oppression and social injustice. The theme of this injustice can be found in many forms, though arguably the most common topic of critique for a rapper seems to be racial discrimination from the police. With songs such as L.L. Cool J.’s ‘Illegal Search’, NWA’s ‘F*ck Tha Police’, and KRS-One’s ‘Sound Of The Police’, Hip-Hop has contained the rage and aggression that has radiated from this injustice, while taking a unified stance against the oppressors.! Though it is Hip-Hop’s power of connecting with a wide variety of audiences that have really helped to progress its voice to reach the incredible heights of popularity that have moulded it into a major political force. White teenage listeners grew and grew as Hip-Hops popularity steadily rose throughout the 80’s, with a huge interest in the segregated differences found within black society, as well as their commitment to conform to the ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ black culture rising in fashion (Rose, 1994). Though the rise of political Hip-Hop group Public Enemy in the late 80’s, really helped establish a solid foundation of white supporters for this emerging genre of music. Through their thought provoking lyrics, and wickedly clever metaphors, the group surged into mainstream popularity, though as Rose (1994, pg. 101) explains, still managed to tread the tightrope of 4
  • 9. the “mass-mediated spotlight on the popular cultural stage and at the same time function as a voice of social critique and criticism”. Clear examples of this can be shown in some of the groups most famous songs, such as ‘Fight The Power’, a simple, easily devoured song, delivered in an anthemic manner, the song embodies the theme of black pride, a message that was consistently reiterated by the group (Public Enemy, 1989 [Audio-CD]).! Though a question arises when one brings up the statement that Hip-Hop has become a major political force. “What has the Hip-Hop movement actually helped achieved?”. When someone first mentions the urban genre, the conventional image of gold chains, guns, drugs and sexualised woman come to mind, its obvious that Hip- Hop’s impact can be easily misconstrued for the mainstream media perception that dominates it. Boyd (2012, pg. 448) depicts Hip-Hop to be “about free expression that can be shaped and moulded to fit any community and any experience. So hip-hop gives people the opportunity to represent themselves in their own way”. One has to argue that should this not be true for essentially all genres. The core foundation of music is to be able to express an opinion and story, to build emotion and connection with an audience. The main difference with Hip-Hop is that it has given the suppressed young black American the platform to do exactly that. Bakari Kitwana (2012, pg. 455) reiterates that, ! ! “In the same way as the mainstream media established the parameters for national discussion for the nation at large, rap music sets the tone for Black youth. As the national forum for Black youth concerns and often as the impetus for discuss around those issues, rap music has done more than any one entity to help our generation forge a distinct identity”.! ! So why can it be so easy to discredit the importance of the message that is emitting from this universal genre? Kitwana (2012, pg. 453) continues to explain that, “While household-name ball players towed the generic “don’t do drugs and stay in school” party line, rappers, the emissaries of the new Black youth culture, advocated more snit- establishment slogans like “fuck the police.” Such slogans were vastly more in sync with the hard realities facing young Blacks”. This shows the social disconnection that can easily occur from Hip-Hop’s audience as rappers stray from the route of social norm, discussing oppressions that a majority of their audiences simply have never faced in their life. Though does this make their messages unimportant? The conceivable answer is no, though this does force attention towards Hip-Hop’s 5
  • 10. conventional image within society and where this perception has originated from, and has this image helped open the gates for undesirable negativity being the accustomed conception of Hip-Hop?! ! Rise of the Bling! There seems to be a few problems with the state of mainstream Hip-Hop. Once considered to be a revolutionary culture that helped give a voice to the voiceless of the African American black community, has seemingly become a platform provided by major record labels, that accommodates rappers glorification of sex, money, drugs and violence. This is noticeable when comparing Billboard’s (2014 [online]) highest charting rap record (based on radio airplay, sale and streaming data) of 2014 with the year end charts of 1989. Politically conscious group ‘Stop The Violence Movement’, designed by KRS-One to shed light on violence within the Hip-Hop and African American society (Wolfe, 2007 [online]), dominated the 1989 hip-hop charts with their song ‘Self Destruction’, while 2014 saw Iggy Azalea’s pop-dance infused ’Fancy’ featuring Charlie XCX take the number one spot. Though this comparison not only displays the differences of culture and meaning of Hip-Hop—to artists, fans and the industry itself—within the modern era, it also helps represent the commercialisation of Hip-Hop that started to occur within the 90’s. Kembrew McLoed (2012, pg. 166) describes Hip-Hop’s upsurge to mainstream success as a transformation “from being an aspect of a small subculture identified with young, city-dwelling African Americans to a genre that had been adsorbed into mainstream US popular culture. Everything from soft-drink commercials to “White” pop music appropriated hip-hop music’s musical and visual style”. Though from this rise of popularity came the symmetrical decline of conscientious, free speaking artists, instead being replaced with a long queue of fame seeking individuals and money driven labels looking to cash in on the newest crazed fad, with Neal (2012, pg. 436) blaming these conformists for,! ! “Blinding post civil rights era youth to the importance of the political gains made by civil rights era activists and for eroding the value of grassroots communal civic engagement, in lieu of a focus of individual surveil and the attainment of material wealth.” ! ! Lupe Fiasco is an artist who has been more than effected by the mainstream, sales driven record labels that exist within today’s music industry. The 2011 release of his third studio album ‘Lasers’ was shrouded around label controversy as Atlantic Records refused to release Fiasco’s follow up to his critically acclaimed, mind provoking ‘The 6
  • 11. Cool’, unless he conformed to their requests of ‘dumbing down’ his lyrical content, and creating “easy on the eye” records (Rodriguez, 2011 [online]). The album ended up being released on March 8th 2011 after fans protested for its distribution outside of Atlantic’s offices in New Jersey, with political gems such as ‘Words I Never Said’ and ‘State Run Radio’ striking a resembling chord with Fiasco’s loyal fan base. Though songs like these were unfortunately few and far between within the factory generated songs like ‘I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now’ that dominated the rest of the album. Dance and pop infused beats are rapped over by an unmotivated sounding Fiasco as he discusses generalised themes of love, money and positivity (Fiasco, 2011 [Audio-CD]), as Atlantic records are heard cashing in on the conforming sound of Fiasco’s best first week sales (Caulfield, 2011 [online]).! Though why are these topics and messages now considered to be the norm within mainstream hip-hop when 25 years ago protest music was dominating the urban charts? “The record industry is interested in one thing, making money. They have no other interest beyond that”, Boyd (2012, pg. 444) explains, continuing that, “they will sell whatever people will buy to make that money”. So why is it that records like Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’, T.I.’s ‘About The Money’, and Young Thug’s ‘Stoner’, songs subjugated with themes of sex, violence, drugs and money, dominate the urban charts of modern music (Billboard, 2012 [online[)? McLeod (2012, pg. 173) comments on the case of authenticity within Hip-Hop, describing it as,! ! “Staying true to yourself (by identifying oneself as both hard and black), representing the underground and the street, and remembering hip-hop’s cultural legacy, which is the old school. To be inauthentic, or fake, means being soft, following mass trends by listening to commercial rap music, and identifying oneself with white, mainstream culture that is geographically located in the suburbs.” ! ! This description helps depict a theory of mistaken identity and misunderstanding within artists of the modern hip-hop community. While many follow the mainstream “fake” lifestyle path of the commercial success of Hip-Hop, others also follow this same direction without realisation, as they conform to Hip-Hop’s perceived image, while in the process forgetting that the cultural legacy of Hip-Hop was not based around New York Media reports of “Youthful Vandals” (Castleman, 2012 pg. 16) causing unnecessary damage and destruction, but symbolises the rise of suppressed black American’s, contesting Authority, and creating a represented voice that will showcase their struggle within the white man’s power. ! 7
  • 12. Modern Day Societal Issues! ! It would be naive to discuss oppression as being rooted to the confines of young African Americans, unfortunately the issue occurs across the world and within every society. Wherever there is some form of high authoritative power, there has to be an opposite existence of powerless that will surrender to political sovereignty. Owen Jones (2014, pg. 6) expresses a triangular relationship theory to describe how authoritative power is, “Cemented by financial links and a ‘revolving door’ culture: that is, powerful individuals gliding between the political, corporate and media worlds”. This theory is used to help analyse and describe the following three oppressive societal issues found within modern day.! ! Demonisation of Social Class! The great philosopher Karl Marx (1888, pg. 3) declared that, “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat”, though the question that arises is if the division has continued into the present-day? Marxist philosophy describes bourgeoisie as the ruling class within society for which the states’ affairs conform too (Marx, 1888), while Jones (2014, pg. 4) conveys a similar statement to describe the position of the wealthy upper class of modern day.! ! “Today’s establishment is made up — as it has always been — of powerful groups that need to protect their position in a democracy in which almost the entire adult population has the right to vote. The establishment represents an attempt on behalf of these groups to ‘manage’ democracy, to make sure that it does not threaten their own interests.”! ! This group maintain a good chunk of considerable power, as they enjoy the riches (Toynbee, Walker, 2015), security and comfort of being in the penthouse suite of modern British society, reaping the benefits (literally) of state subsidies, eased tax law enforcement, and business progression through political engagement (Jones, 2014). Though travel down the staircase of social class, we find a completely different picture as we approach the bottom. Both Marx (1888) and Jones (2012) describe the proletarian as the working class, who live to work and survive within the bourgeois run society, abiding by the rules governed by the authoritative power to benefit the affairs of the wealthy. Marx (1888, pg. 12) continues to explain that, “Not only are they slaves of the 8
  • 13. bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois state; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself”. This is continually true within modern British culture, as the working class are entrapped within the lifestyle of barely surviving on minimum wage, raising tax costs, and continued cuts and privatisation of public services (Toynbee, Walker, 2015). ! As you reach the basement of lower society, the once distant cries of ‘scrounger’ and ‘asylum seeker’ from British tabloids start to contaminate the once clear air of demonisation that is often found at the top of Britain’s social rank system. This overpopulating class has essentially become the scapegoat of societies problems, while additionally taking benefit cuts, constant harassment of incapabilities, and reduced work opportunities (Jones, 2012). One example of the constant demonisation of the lower class is in the form of tabloids constant attack on ‘Benefit Scroungers’ who take financial aid off the government yet do not work. The majority of these cases range from single mothers, disabled citizens and the unemployed youth, though the media alternatively take the route of focusing on the 0.7% of fraud benefit claimants who receive overpayments to characterise the 99.3% who claim to help ease the financial burden of raising living expenditures (Mendoza, 2015). This helps fuel a misconstrued perception that the uninformed adopt, believing that Britain has a ‘broken benefit system’, while in the process igniting an animosity towards the lower class. The media have even gone as far as to say that this poverty stricken community was the cause of the 2008 financial crisis that hit Britain (Mendoza, 2015), yet further research will show that, although the UK loses £1.2 Billion on benefit fraud, it loses £25 billion on tax avoidance every year, with Jones (2014, pg. 203) revealing “that one in five large British businesses paid absolutely no corporation tax in the previous year, and more than half paid less than £10 million”, while Mendoza (2015, pg. 82) reiterates ironically how “only one in four of the UK’s top companies pay their taxes, while they receive tax credits to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds from public funds provided by people who did pay their tax”. ! The reason for this demonisation and hate-charged attack? Toynbee and Walker (2015, pg. 9) declare that, “Toryism ‘aims on principle to keep wealth and power for those who have them, and keep them from those who don’t”. Through this triangular connection of politics, media and business (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), the upper class is able to sneak through societies rules unnoticed as they direct hateful attention towards the bottom of society, while they accumulate the wealth and luxuries of a lavish lifestyle. Mendoza (2015, pg. 73) articulates that “our economy needs to fit the demographics it exists to serve, not the other way round”, with Marx (1888, pg.19) boldly stating that time for change is long overdue within this ageing rule of society as,! 9
  • 14. ! “The bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an overriding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead of being fed by him. Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie, in other words, its existence is no longer compatible with society”.! ! State of Mainstream Hip-Hop! The argument of the state of mainstream Hip-Hop was brought forward earlier, as points of authenticity, messages glorifying negativity, and record labels controlling artists’ creative freedom for profitable gain was displayed to express the growing cause for concern at the lack of political and protest music within the mainstream Hip-Hop scene. It is through the triangular relationship of politics, business and media (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), influencing upon the messages that radiate from this popular genre, that oppression upon minds start to effect its audience. The political intention of major record labels (also similar to the government) is to maximise profits within their business (Boyd, 2012), while it is the negativity of violence, drugs, sex and money, born from the derelict roots of Hip-Hop that was accustomed to the founders of this urban genre, that the media uphold, and that has now affiliated itself as the core characteristics of mainstream Hip-Hop and the artists within it. The purpose now being on glamorising these subjects to prove ‘authenticity’, instead of showcasing these problems as a need for change.! This present representation of Hip-Hop can be seen within the top ten rap songs of 2014 (Billboard, 2014 [online]), as Nicki Minaj’s sexually explicit ‘Anaconda’, along with 80% of the top ten express themes of a sexual nature. This is matched along with the discussion of money, and fame with 50% of these songs reinforcing this concept with the notion of drugs. Birdman’s ‘Young Money’ supergroup, ‘Rich Gang’, break into the chart at number ten, with the song ‘Lifestyle’ featuring Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan.! ! “Million 5 on the Visa card! Hundred bands still look like the fuckin’ Titans (football player)! Nigga servin’ great white like I’m feedin’ sharks! I won’t do nothin’ with this bitch, she can’t even get me hard” (Rich Gang, 2014 [Audio-CD])! 10
  • 15. ! Young Thug helps to epitomise the societal perception of what Hip-Hop stands for within the opening lines in the first verse, as he discusses the amount of money he has [on his credit card], his accounts of cocaine dealing, before trailing off into the comfortable zone of sexual misogyny.! A similar image is portrayed when listening to Kid Ink’s ‘Show Me’ featuring Chris Brown that acquired the number six spot of the top ten (Billboard, 2014 [online]), ! ! “Uh, so tell me what your name is! I don’t really care who you came with (no)! Unless you got a couple of friend look like you! My bad if my ex try to fight you! Roll up soon as I roll in” (Kid Ink, 2013 [Audio-CD]).! ! Kid Ink approaches the verses with a braggadocio attitude, as he discusses his love for the female form as a sexual being, with consistent references to being “high”, as well as his success and importance within society. ! A misconception that could be perceived from this writing is the idea of Hip-Hop never acknowledging themes that are showcased within 2014’s top ten rap songs, this is far from the objective that is trying to be suggested. The problem that is being addressed is how similar charts are found every year within Hip-Hop, with the same themes commonly being promoted within the most popular songs of that year. In fact, since the list for Billboard’s (2014 [Online]) best year-end rap songs began in 2006, there has not been one noticeable inclusion of a political or protest song. The medias’ forceful image of Hip-Hop has now got to a point of not only acceptance, but of conformity, as artist chase the bandwagon of the successful formula in order to achieve a small fraction of the luxurious lifestyle that is granted to them at the top. ! With real ‘authentic’ (based upon McLeod’s (2012, pg. 173) annotation) artists now becoming few and far between, the question arises as to what does Hip-Hop hold for the future. Nas (2006 [Audio-CD]) declared that, “Hip Hop is dead”, due to the commercialisation and business orientation that has consumed this once vibrant culture, and as this urban vehicle continues to travel down the same road, it becomes more and more difficult to disagree with him.! ! ! ! ! 11
  • 16. Islamophobia! “Christmas is banned: it offends Muslims” reads the front page headline of the Daily Express, continuing with a distorted story, born from a cartoon, of how South London was forcefully conforming to Muslim culture over the festive period (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 67). You would think an absurd sounding story such as this would be a rare occurrence within todays’ society, yet unfortunately as Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 41) explains, ! ! “The volume of news coverage featuring Muslims has increased dramatically since the terrorists attacks of 2001. More recent scholarship suggested that the news media tend to position Islam as a threat to society, to ‘our way of life’ , and to reproduce ‘common sense’ ideas which position the religious and cultural values of Muslims and those of ‘mainstream’ British society in relation of conflict.”! ! Islamic ideology though is not a recent problem within the Western world. Islam and Christians have been in conflict since the early conception of organised religion began, as they both acknowledge each others existence, while also ridiculing one another, with Gottschalk and Greenberg (2008, pg. 20) informing how “the Quran was roundly attacked as a spuriously written book conceited by the devious Muhammad for his own material and political gain and/or because of his manipulation by Satan”.! This continued battle has consistently waged on throughout history as the West’s animosity towards Islam has been existent in some of the most significant moments in the past Millennium. From the Crusades and Reconquista campaigns to restore a natural Christian order of the Middle East and Europe, to America’s support of Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and their subsequent battle for oil within the Middle East (Gottschalk & Greenberg, 2008), the West have managed to continually find a way of employing a propagandistic perception among society to help keep the ignited hatred between these two enemies aflame. ! The terrorist attacks of 9/11 along with the succeeding 7/7 London bombings helped in fuelling this fiery rivalry even more, supplying an excess amount of persuasive ammunition to help turn modern western society against Islam and anyone with affiliation to Muslims. Gottschalk and Greenberg (2008, pg. 42) explain that through this promotion of Western hostility, “Muslims have become nearly synonymous” with the concept and distress of terrorism, with the Muslim character being predominately associated with the image of a ‘conventional’ terrorist, as the media continually reload and point their gun of alienation towards the Islamic community.! 12
  • 17. The British media has helped in reimagining the stereotypical image of Muslims since the terrorist attacks of 2001, with Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 41) analysing “that the majority of coverage featuring Muslims in British press focuses upon global events — for example in relation to the Taliban in Afghanistan, the conflict in the Middle East or the 2003 war in Iraq”. This subsequently depicts Muslims in a violent and aggressive light, reinforcing the growing idea that conflict and Islam go hand in hand with each other. Further evidence of this is presented as Justin Lewis et al (2011, pg. 46) investigates the most common news headlines for stories involving British Muslims, “As we might expect from previous research, ‘terrorism’, or the ‘war on terror’ was the most conspicuous news hook, accounting for 36 per cent of stories overall”, this is matched with the most common nouns found within these articles being, “‘terrorist’, used in twenty-two per cent of stories, and ‘extremists’, used in eighteen per cent of stories” (Justin et al, 2011 pg. 54). ! October 2005 saw the Daily Express print the headline grabbing story, “Hogwash: Now the PC brigade bans piggy banks in case they upset Muslims” (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 73) as they followed with a vacuous story of how banks were eradicating the term and image of ‘piggy banks’ incase it offended people of Islamic belief. The story still managed to make the rounds in the British media even after it was revealed — by the banks themselves — that the supposed ‘abolishing’ of the image and term of ‘piggy banks’ was simply an end of a september promotional campaign, and it was the local paper that helped in conceiving this fictional story to garner attention and attraction (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 76). Though the question that arises from stories such as these, and the other examples discussed, is what effect and influence can this end up having on the reader? Muir et al (2011, pg. 75) recites a reaction from one of the readers of the ‘piggy bank’ article,! ! “Hogwash indeed! If I remember rightly a similar fate befell the harmless little golliwog. This is England. We are rightly proud of our heritage and yet we kowtow to the insane demands of people who want to live in our country but are not prepared to accept our ways. If they don’t like who we are and what we stand for, why do they stay? Could the benefits and free healthcare have anything to do with it? I for one am tired of increasingly feeling like a foreigner in my own country. I suspect I am not alone”.! ! This patriotic aggressive reaction connects back to the existing power within the triangular relationship between media, business and politics present within modern 13
  • 18. society (Jones, 2014 pg. 6), as well as reinforces the earlier idea (discussed in Demonisation of Social Class) of how hate fuelled attention is consistently directed towards the lower end of society. With regular ideological reinforcement and misconstrued negativity, it is no wonder some Britons have started to feel “like a foreigner” (Muir et al, 2011 pg. 76) in the media’s fictitious United Kingdom.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 14
  • 19. STK! ! Having deconstructed a few political issues that exist within modern society, I found my next challenge being to highlight these issues effectively within the marketing and resulting album, while subsequently having to resist the temptation of conform to the mainstream product and sound. My general ideology for the album was to communicate these various problems, with the optimistic hope that the album would provoke an audience into researching further upon the issues that I presented.! ! The Concept & Message! When beginning to craft this project, I found myself echoing words from Bob Dylan that ended up straying me in a certain direction for this venture. “Protest songs are difficult to write without making them come off as preachy and one-dimensional” (Dylan, 2004 pg. 54) , was resonating within my own opinion, as I concluded that making a few random protest songs discussing my chosen modern societal issues (Islamophobia, state of mainstream music and political heirachy of social class) would not be sufficient enough to attract and engage an audience’s interest. It was then my decision to instead create a story driven album, that put listeners within a derelict society that my three themes co-existed within, captivating them into a journey that would hopefully make them question certain scenarios, topics and beliefs within modern society, as well as influence certain listeners to take different approaches within their own mind when confronting some of these scenarios. This was the foundational ideology that my movement was created upon, accompanied by the following narrative brief that my album would follow.! ! Patient ST-0K3-5 has been recommitted back into The Great British Asylum from which he once escaped, where he is undergoing treatment to conform to the ‘way of society’ and become a dedicated member of the British system. Through themes of islamophobia, the state of mainstream music and the establishment and heirachy of social class, follow our patients twisted journey to rage war against authority and create a revolutionary voice for the people while subsequently battling with his own insanity and beliefs.! ! I settled on this narrative, believing that the asylum would be a brilliant metaphor to help represent ‘broken Britain’, with the idea of its patients representing the bottom of society. The contrasting view saw the asylum’s governors represented as the distorted authority at the top of Britain and major record labels, the doctors and the treatments 15
  • 20. they imposed were personified as the media and its constant attack on Islam and the ‘scroungers’ of society, while the guards who uphold the institution portray the ‘corrupt’ system within Britain upon which my three themes exist. The album features two main artists (JDefianT & MoJo) whom which I present in the classic ‘good vs evil’ tale, JDefianT depicting a recommitted patient who stands against the system and authority, while MoJo impersonates the multiple social dominating characters found within the corrupt asylum. ! The whole album was born out of my love and admiration for politically conscious hip-hop, with a considerable amount of influence coming from artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, this was matched with my strong opinion on the subjects of Islamophobia, state of mainstream music, and politics. The idea was to convey my firm political left-wing stance through the album to help shed light for the uneducated, while also presenting these social problems in an interesting and thought- provoking story that helped pay homage to the genre and artists that I have deep sentimental attachment too.! ! The Process! I knew instantly that the project I had set myself was going to be a challenging one, and would require a great deal of work to complete and match the high quality standards of not only my own expectations, but also to a ‘BA Hons’ standard as well as for the general public. This lead me to creating a timetable on the wall of my working environment (shown in Appendix A.1) that I would fill with post-it notes, listed with weekly jobs and targets from major tasks such as “Record the promo video”, and “Produce 10 tracks from different styles of Hip-Hop”, to minor, more detail focussed assignments like, “Write 5 pages each of material based on the three themes of the album”, and “Meet with artists to discuss character roles and progression, concept and directions for each song as well as reference track ideas for each song”. This helped me in not only sticking to deadlines and goals, but also supported me in creating a more intimate and detailed project, allowing me to dive further into the foundation and mechanics of my album and concept, making sure that I was as knowledgable and aware of exactly what I was creating and what subjects I was discussing, something that I believe to be very important when stepping into the area of political and protest music.! After the general concept of the movement had been established, I knew that I would have to build a small working team around me to assist in creating this project and delivering it to the best possible standard. One of the first members of this team was my marketing director, Jackson Greenstreet, who facilitated in managing the marketing of the album and operating the social media of the movement (shown in 16
  • 21. Appendix B). We arranged to meet every week as we proceeded to lay the groundwork of promoting the movement within the three social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) through the use of self-designed quote board images (shown in Appendix C), that helped in presenting the general themes and messages of the ‘STK’ movement, as well providing us with an effective marketing tool, that enabled an easy ‘share’ function among followers to garner more exposure. This was accompanied with the release of the promo track, ‘Encased In The Open’ featuring album artist JDefianT (Found on data disc in Appendix L.1), that was published to advertise that the movement was focused around music, as well as to introduce the partnership that would be highlighted on the upcoming album. The track subsequently had an accompanying visual (Found on data disc in Appendix L.1) that was filmed within an abandoned asylum, that helped in connecting it back to the concept of the album. Though this was seen more as a side project compared to the rest of the movement (with the track not being apart of the LP), with the central marketing material being based on a promotional trailer (Found on data disc in Appendix L.2) that teased the release of the record, that was showcased on the movement’s website (www.stkofficial.co.uk (shown in Appendix D)), enabling viewers to subscribe to the movement to receive a free copy of the album upon release.! My level for detail intensified once I reached the stages of recording the album as I started with the idea of incorporating different production styles of Hip-Hop throughout the different songs, creating a sizeable list of reference tracks ranging from sub genres such as ‘trap’, ‘old-school rap’, and ‘southern hip-hop’ upon more. This contributed to the next 8 weeks of producing that proceeded, allowing me to create various instrumentals (using maschine, logic and various virtual instruments) that I felt would associate within the correct sub genre, as well as depict the correct scenario of the narrative. Throughout this time I was also contacting several different artists with the intention being to get multiple different rappers on the album, each playing separate characters within the narration, with one artists taking the reins of the lead character, ‘patient ST-0K3-5’. Unfortunately due to commitment issues, and unmotivated individuals, I ended up acquiring the services of only two rappers (JDefianT and MoJo) who helped bolster the ‘STK’ team with their contrasting rapping styles and lyrical content, with singer-songwriter Yasmin Chadwick also enlisting for the use of additional vocals. As a team we then progressed to write and record the album, myself feeding information of the characters, concept and narrative of each song (shown in Appendix E), making sure that the artists were comfortable and educated on the material discussed on every record, as well as the scenario it was presented within. This culminated in many verse rewrites and experimentation of different song directions, before finalising and recording the album vocals in a final twelve hour studio session (studio session plans 17
  • 22. shown in Appendix F). Followed was a race against time, as I spent two solid weeks (out of the three left until the deadline) completing the skits, editing the vocals and mixing and mastering the album, with the final product coming through an online release via the website.! I always expected obstacles to emerge when undertaking a complex project such as this, and the common problems such as clashing of egos and lack of creativity arose on many separate occasions throughout the production timeline. Though one frequent issue that I was not expecting was the lack of commitment and detached work ethic that I received from some of the members of the team, matched with empty promises from self-professed ‘ambitious’ and ‘hard-working’ individuals. I strongly believed that I was not the only one that could benefit from par-taking within this project, championing the idea that, ‘you reap what you sow’. I also believed I was giving members of the team a great platform to show off their passion and skill set, with their only requirement being to show up and prove their worth. This unfortunately was not met with two members of the team, Jackson Greenstreet (marketing director) and JDefianT (artist), who repeatedly let me down through poor motivation, uninspiring dedication to work, and general disinterest and disrespect for the project. It was a difficult challenge for myself at times to simply put in so much effort, time and money to benefit not only the project, but also the opportunities that it generated for the team involved in the project (through free marketing, free professional recording, free instrumentals, free exposure, ect) and yet receive so little effort back from individuals who insisted they were passionate about getting into the music industry. The seemingly shared mentality between the two members of the team was the belief that they were doing me a favour, instead of being involved in a collective movement that would benefit us all. My approach to this problem was to attack it with a persistent mindset of ‘do it yourself’, adopting a big chunk of the job roles associated with the marketing director, as I revelled in the ironic similarities that radiated from these unsubstantial team members compared to the modern societal problem that exists within mainstream Hip-Hop.! ! Connecting the Dots (Presenting the Social Issues)! The foundation of my album was designed within the narrative groundwork that I originally laid out at the start of the project (presented in ‘STK - The Concept & Message’), upon this I started to integrate my main themes (first presented in ‘Modern Societal Issues’), that looked into Islamophobia, state of mainstream Hip-Hop and the hierarchy of social class and political power.! ‘Society’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) opens the album with a cinematic scene-setting introduction that presents our main character as he travels down a suburban street, 18
  • 23. with sounds of societies ‘popular’ Hip-Hop music polluting the air. This transitions into the first song of the album, ‘The Fast Food Stuff’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M), as themes related to the state of mainstream Hip-Hop music are discussed using a surface- layered metaphor that links the subject matter with a negative view on the consumption of ‘fast food’. ! ! “Just read the menu, you don’t need to know the recipe,! But once you finished you won’t be impressed with me,! A half empty plate ain’t gonna fill your space,! But it doesn’t matter you’ve already paid” (Appendix G.1).! ! JDefianT raps over an ironic commercial sounding chorus, as he discusses the lack of substance within mainstream music, while also connecting it back into Boyd’s (2012, pg. 444) statement that, “the record industry is interested in one thing, making money”. The concept of the song helps in depicting the modern societal issue that considers the lack of a positive message within mainstream Hip-Hop, shedding light on the growing issue of artist’s desire to conform to the perceived image of sex, money, drugs and violence that consumes the majority of Hip-Hop that reaches the charts today (Billboard, 2014 [online]).! The next skit ‘Servants’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) continues the narration, as the main character is transferred back into the asylum he once escaped. In the distance, MoJo is heard screaming at the guards to “drag” the patient indoors, as the piano- driven instrumental for ‘Welcome To The Great British Asylum’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) proceeds to fill the speakers.! ! “The food we give you is good,! And what we tell is the truth,! And what you need is our help! To climb up the ladder you choose” (Appendix G.2). ! ! MoJo takes on the persona of the governor of the asylum, as he states the importance of the lower class—represented through the patient—following the ‘rules of the system’ and obeying to higher society. Yasmin Chadwick provides a thought-provoking chorus that helps link the song back to the narration of our patient being welcomed back into the asylum, before MoJo continues onto verse 2 as he makes the relation of his character to the authority and power that exists within modern society.! ! 19
  • 24. “Sometimes I wear a wig and quote from books like I’m a pastor,! Other times I put my badge on, shoot and ask questions after.! Other times I’m the guy across the desk you wanna impress,! With your CD and dreams of being in planes that are chartered” (Appendix G.2).! ! Judges, police, religious leaders, politicians, music executives and general authority are used as metaphors to comprise the conception of MoJo’s character within this existing society, as the classic power abusive movie villain is created as an antagonist for the main character.! A series of Fox news audio clips interrupt the listener next, as reports and interviews on the connection between terrorist activity and Islam introduce the JDefianT leading, politically infused song, ‘TERROR, TERROR, TERROR’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) regarding Muslim perception within the western world.! ! “Born in Britain but he look like a foreigner,! Bet he send the whole carriage to the coroner,! Bet he’s one of Bin Laden’s followers,! Eating halal and plotting to start bombing us” (Appendix G.3).! ! Islamophobia is presented within the song through the two verses in which JDefianT portrays various fictitious characters with outspoken and misguided opinions on Islamic religion and the Muslims that embrace it. This is reinforced through an interview with an EDL member about the ‘Muslim law’ that occupies the chorus, as the treatment the patient undergoes to indoctrinate him into detesting muslims, strikes a resembling chord to the media’s influence upon societies opinion on Islam. The song’s instrumental attacks the audience’s ears as a hectic and aggressive setting is created that continues the narration of an innocent man being conformed to a broken society.! Through the patients unwillingness to accept the asylum’s treatment in the last song, ‘Syndicates’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) finds the lead character being thrown into solitary confinement as his weakened mind contemplates the idea of conforming to society. What follows is a ‘Riot In The Mind’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) as MoJo, representing the idea of conformity, and JDefianT, depicting his resistance, do battle with words inside of our patient’s head.! ! ! ! 20
  • 25. JDefiant! “They cut the jobs, decrease the wage and still remain in power,! It’s bloody sick like standing bashing at your baby shower,! when we ain’t got food in our belly, we put food in our mouth,! Then they have us on lockdown for 23 hours.”! ! MoJo! “Yeah but, why worry,! If you don’t break the rules, you’ll never go hungry,! Why walk around hot headed like sonny,! When you can have a nice big house in the country” (Appendix G.4)! ! The two artists proceed to trade four bars between one another as MoJo’s character tries to persuade our patient to conform to the lavish lifestyle that he will experience through his obedience to society, while JDefianT resists the temptation, instead launching a verbal attack of facts and figures that are used to plant the idea in audience’s minds that they should also consider following the views and opinions discussed by our patient. ! The sound of MoJo’s Judge hammering his gavel, ordering for his courtroom to be “quiet” commences the final section of the album as ‘State’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M) finds our patient being ordered to plead for his case as a sample of ‘Bring me my shotgun’ by Lightning Hopkins drives at the vehicle of the concluding record, ‘Mad Man Sentences’ (Audio-CD found in Appendix M). ! MoJo proceeds to converse with the trailed patient about his crimes, before giving him one last opportunity to follow the ‘way of society’. This is inspiringly denied as JDefianT’s patient is branded insane as he takes control of the final verse with a touching soliloquy on his crimes compared to the distorted innocence that is perceived upon the top tier of society.! ! “Giving us a script to live by but you don’t give us life,! Doing jobs that we don’t like and getting charged to survive,! Teach our children to rebel before you teach em’ to write,! The report I read said hell is where I’m heading tonight” (Appendix G.5)! ! ! ! ! 21
  • 26. The Finished Product! All three of my modern societal themes are reinforced through the social media marketing, promotional video (‘STK - The Movement’ (Data disc found in Appendix L.2)) and concept of the album, with each assisting in the general and planned perception that the album can be adopted as. Though the magnificent idea of music, is in its ability to allow multiple interpretations and generate various opinions and debates, something that I hope and believe that this album embodies.! As a whole, I’m proud of the finished product that I have managed to complete within the time frame given to me, and believe that I have been successful in illustrating and portraying the three modern societal issues that I laid out at the start of the project. I feel each track brings with it a distinct sound and message, and along with the narrative and concept of the album, I believe I have been prosperous in creating an original and thought-provoking piece of material, something that I personally believe to very important in not just political and protest records, but music in general. I feel the majority of this success comes down to efficient planning, and in-depth research, both of which helped in creating a more detailed and complete album, instead of conceiving a record that featured a few random political songs thrown together.! Though when looked upon through a scrutinised eye, I still find flaws and weaknesses that do not meet the high standards that I expect from myself. One of these glaring problems comes from the skits that are featured in the album, which I feel need more attentive detail put into them to help in immersing the audience into the correct environment that each one is trying to portray. At the moment I believe each one depicts the correct scenario and setting well, yet lacks enough interactivity and engaging power to engross its listener. Another issue I have with the album stems from the participating artists, JDefianT and MoJo, both of whom caused me several commitment issues throughout the project. As a producer and engineer, I worked with my artists to generate the best possible quality in terms of work ethic and work produced from each of them, with one strict instruction in place for the final vocal session being to learn all of their records. This prevents songs being recorded in a robotic and passionless manner as they read song lyrics from a phone or piece of paper, instead giving the artists the option of adding more character and emotion to their raps, subsequently enhancing their own work and the project. Unfortunately this advice fell upon deaf ears as the two artists proceeded to dismiss my instructions, as the vocals for the album were recorded in a hectic, unprepared 9 hour studio session. I believe I’ve salvaged the best takes and still created a polished and high quality sounding Hip-Hop album, but still believe in a critical view, that it can be better and include more of an emotive delivery from both artists to help the audience engage and 22
  • 27. connect with the characters, an imperative trait to have when involved in any story- driven project.! My marketing campaign ended up being the biggest obstacle and challenge within the entire project, causing multiple issues ranging from ineffective material to unmotivated responses. I feel these issues derive from my own lack of experience within the marketing world, along with the uninspiring effort that my marketing director, Jackson Greenstreet, put into the project. His main role within this venture was to take control of the social media marketing, and to generate as much interest within the album as possible, no doubt a tough task due to my near-unrecognised existence in the music industry prior to the project. Due to the scale of the task, I was appreciative of any effort that was put in by any of the individuals that contributed towards the project, having deep gratitude in the idea of someone actually taking their own time to further this record. Though what entailed with Jackson was a consistent return of empty-promises followed with insincere excuses as to why no work was being completed on his side. This subsequently laid the work onto myself, in which I desperately tried to restore regular attention upon the project, while at the same time balancing the work load of creating a high quality album that surpassed the expectations that I was advertising.! Though even from the lack of effort I received, I do not blame Jackson or any other contributing individuals for the issues and failures of the project. I believe due to it being my album, all blame should be focused on myself, with the downfalls sprouting from my poor judge of working character, and sympathetic attitude towards these individuals. Though in hindsight, these problems have also contributed to the learning curve that has accompanied this project, with my most challenging problem, becoming my biggest gain, with a strong belief that I now have a better understanding of the marketing process that coexists within the music industry, with clearer ideas on how I should market myself as a freelance engineer and producer within the competitive work field that awaits me.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23
  • 28. Societies’ Response! ! Online & Social Media Marketing! At the start of the project, my marketing director and myself came up with a brief marketing campaign for the project that consisted of continually updated social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and Soundcloud (Appendix B), a promotional song that introduced the partnership of myself with one of the album artists (‘Encased In The Open’ found on data disc in Appendix L.1), and a promotional trailer for the album (STK - The Movement found on data disc in Appendix L.2) that would direct viewers towards the project’s website (www.stkofficial.co.uk (Appendix D)). Upon reaching the site, individuals would then be able to subscribe, in order to receive a free copy of the album upon release as well as details on a free listening session party, where I planned to receive the majority of my social feedback for the album. We believed that this would tackle a number of targets within the build up to the album, including solidifying with our audience the themes and issues that I wanted to present, relating the movement to music and finally engaging our audience through an original and mysterious visage. ! Unfortunately the response I received was not great, with the majority of my feedback coming in the form of Instagram likes (Appendix H.3) and brief reply’s within a music forum (Appendix H.1) that featured no real substance on the subject matter or critical view of the promotional song and/or video. This was a disheartening outcome for myself, due to the amount or effort that I had employed into the project, but also understood that the industry is completely over saturated with different music, and it is very difficult to generate a large interest in a new, completely unknown artist.! I believe this was one of the main reasons for my poor response, yet considered the possibility of multiple factors being in play for the project's social downfall. These ranged from a poor subject choice, that could have been non-relatable to a wide audience, poor and ineffective delivery in my marketing and social media posts, to poor management of the entire campaign in itself. I believe each of one these factors came in to play in some form throughout the project, but settled on the fact that unfortunately my response for the album did not match the expectations that I set for myself at the start of the project, concluding that the only cause for this can be down to an overall poor marketing campaign. ! ! ! ! ! 24
  • 29. Interpreting the Album! Unfortunately my poor marketing campaign subsequently showed off its failure within my planned listening session party, as I was only able to persuade seven people to attend the event, meaning the feedback I received for the album was very limited. I did not let this affect me, instead taking it in my stride as I proceeded to play the album for my small congregated audience, in turn analysing their feedback and reaction to the record that consequently determined whether I was successful in addressing my contemporary social and political issues.! I evaluated these responses through a simple questionnaire (Appendix I), devised to find out the audiences interpretations for each song, before asking an optional question of what their overall opinion of the album was. As touched on earlier, I had a planned perception of what I wanted the audience to think about and what issues I wanted them to regard when listening to each of the songs, but also strongly believed that the album could create multiple representations from various listeners, and was therefore very intrigued by the response I received from my accommodating audience. ! The general conception from the feedback (Appendix J) very much matched with the planned perception that I set out for the album, with everyone managing to grasp the general themes and issues I wanted to be identified. What I did find interesting however were some of the interpretations individuals formed for certain songs, with answers received from question two, that asked for the subject matter of ‘Welcome To The Great British Asylum’ being the most personally surprising of all in which over 50% of the audience believed the song featured a relation to immigration within the UK.! ! “Seems to be a direct relationship and play of words between immigrating to the UK and being committed to a mental asylum. One strong message seems to be the fact that people are seemingly forced into working in jobs etc, which they may not necessarily want to and are punished for wanting to do their own thing. Government restrictions seem to be a very heavy topic, also police brutality. Potentially racism towards immigrants and unfair treatment. Very restricting of public opinion and conformity” (Appendix J.2).! ! Upon reflection I completely understand the connections that can be made within the song to conclude these sort of interpretations, though this was not the conscious perception that I was trying to manufacture for the song. Only a brief section of my research covered asylum seekers and immigration within the UK, with the central 25
  • 30. theme of the song being to describe the metaphorical relationship between the asylum and ‘broken Britain’ which was only picked up by 2 members of the audience.! Another similar situation played out with the debatable meaning of ‘Mad Man Sentences’ in which multiple representations were being formed from the various members of the audience. One member conceived the song to interpret, “The struggle to break conformity” (Appendix J.1), while the majority of the subjects believed I had subconsciously planted the issue of demonisation of social class within the song, with over 40% of the audience making a connection to social discriminatory suffering.! Upon review, even though I failed in creating enough interest for the album to generate a sufficient amount of feedback, I do believe I have successfully started to achieve my thesis in ‘meaningfully addressing contemporary social and political issues within a protest and political hip-hop album’, reaching this conclusion through the positive response I received from my small amount of subjects, whom equally enjoyed the album, and were successful in collectively understanding the key themes and issues that were presented throughout the record.! ! A Future Impact! I completely understood that the response that I was to receive within the timeframe of my dissertation would not be sufficient enough in deciding whether I was completely successful in answering my thesis, with the main bulk of my response awaiting in the next year following consistent promotion and marketing to obtain the appropriate social impact that I want from the venture.! One takeaway that I did want when starting this project, was to create something that not only benefited my educational degree, but also challenged and furthered my skill set as a producer and engineer, while acquiring myself with a portfolio of material that would assist me in starting my career within the music industry. This album has enabled me to continually further the project after the completion of my degree, with the opportunity to reassess my marketing campaign and conceive fresh ideas that will hopefully garner more of an interest. One idea that was planned to take place for the degree, but will now subsequently take place after, are wall projections of the project’s promotional video (STK - The Movement (Found on data disc in Appendix L.2)) around lively areas of London. The intention is to present the movement as a rebellious action against authority, shrouded in controversy and mystery that would hopefully spark an intrigue within viewers minds to research into the project. This will be accompanied by continued social media updates and plugging of the album across the internet, contacting stations and blogs to assist in the general promotion of the album to a wider audience. ! 26
  • 31. One issue that I know I will continue to face will be the struggle to effectively reach a large audience with my music, of whom will actually give me the time and appreciation that my dedication and effort deserves. This will be down to a number of factors, from poor marketing to my anonymity within the music industry, though I believe the main determinant that will cause this problem will be in form of my chosen music, and my decision to not conform to the popular sound and message radiating from mainstream Hip-Hop. The music market is already over saturated with millions of songs available to the consumer at a small monthly fixed price (depending on your preferred streaming service), so the chances of my music managing to reach a large audience, along with the added component of my refusal of conformity, are undoubtably very low. A subject within my listening session party managed to perfectly summarise my reasoning for this challenging lifestyle, as they explained, through their interpretation of ‘Mad Man Sentences’, that,! ! “Perhaps out of fear or self preservation, we rarely want to do anything that might make us vulnerable. This song addressed that, a message of - yes challenging society is difficult, even dangerous, and with no guarantee of reward, but the alternative is a dull meaningless life where we have little impact” (Appendix J.7).! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 27
  • 32. Conclusion! Though issues such as slavery, lynching, and equal black rights have slowly faded away from accepted societal behaviour and consequently the contemporary music discussing these topics, one has to wonder what form of music will establish itself within the mainstream market to become the voice of modern societal issues. Tricia Rose (1994, pg.1) agrees that Hip-Hop has become, “Gravely ill” through its commercialisation and distorted perception within society, with the indication showing that the roots and authenticity of this once vibrant lifestyle, have slowly sunk into the murky, obscure waters of popular culture, re-emerging as a profit-making structure that has abandoned political characteristics that once made it the voice of the suppressed young black american.! The thesis of this particular project asked whether it was possible to rejuvenate Hip- Hop’s lost voice for the oppressed, in turn researching whether it was possible to create a conceptual Hip-Hop album that meaningfully discussed modern social and political issues. Jones’s triangular relationship theory between politics, media and businesses (Jones, 2014) was the foundational bedrock for the issues of Islamophobia, state of mainstream music and demonisation of social class that were subsequently presented within the narrative journey of the album. The objective then was to highlight these issues through emotive and thought-provoking records that would consequently spur the listener on to research further and form their own opinions on the subject matter.! My own personal obstacles arose throughout the production of this project, as I balanced my skill set to deal with uncommitted and unmotivated team members while also tackling the problem of addressing these social obstacles in a meaningful and compelling manner, consequently traveling on a learning curve to efficient story-telling, effective people management and developed musical ability.! The album proceeded to adopt the theme of ‘broken Britain’ as it successfully proved that a beneficial heart is still beating at the core of Hip-Hop, and although surrounded by the pollution of commercialised air, one has to believe that with the example of my own album and with artists such as Lupe Fiasco and Kendrick Lamar, there is still hope that Hip-Hop can be salvaged.! The idea of Hip-Hop re-surfacing as music’s political mainstream voice does seem like a nonsensical dream, as the profit-driven vehicle has continued to lead the race within popular music for the past 20 years. Though with the faint rumble of a more politicised society re-emerging, one has to hope that Hip-Hop can rediscover its vibrant urban roots that once made it a revolutionary voice, and once again take a protesting stance against the injustice within modern society.! 28
  • 33. Appendices! Appendix A! Photo of my ‘Final Major Project Timetable’ on the wall of my working environment.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 29
  • 34. Appendix B (Photos of social media pages)! B.1! Facebook - /officialstk! ! B.2! Twitter - @OfficialSTK_! ! ! ! ! ! 30
  • 35. B.3! Instagram - @officialstkmusic! ! B.4! Soundcloud - /officialstk! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 31
  • 36. B.5! Youtube - Official: STK! ! ! Appendix C (Social media quote boards for promotion)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 32
  • 39. Appendix D (Photos of website - www.stkofficial.co.uk)! D.1! First Page (Home Page)! ! D.2! Second Page (Follow & Subscribe Page)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 35
  • 40. D.3! Third Page (Comment Page)! ! D.4! Video Page (Plays Promo Video)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 36
  • 41. D.5! Subscribe Pop Up Box (Appears after 10 seconds of browsing)! Appendix E (Production Song notes for each artist)! E.1! Song 1 (The Fast Food Stuff)! 37
  • 42. E.2! Song 2 (Welcome To The Great British Asylum)! 38
  • 43. E.3! Song 3 (TERROR, TERROR, TERROR)! E.4! Song 4 (Riot In The Mind)! 39
  • 44. E.5! Song 5 (Mad Man Sentences)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 40
  • 45. Appendix F (Studio session plans)! F.1! Studio Session 1, 30/05/15! F.2! Studio Session 2, 10/08/15! 41
  • 46. Appendix G (Song Lyrics)! G.1! Song 1 Lyrics (The Fast Food Stuff)! 42
  • 47. G.2! Song 2 Lyrics (Welcome To The Great British Asylum)! 43
  • 48. G.3! Song 3 Lyrics (TERROR, TERROR, TERROR)! 44
  • 49. G.4! Song 4 Lyrics (Riot In The Mind)! 45
  • 50. 46
  • 51. G.5! Song 5 Lyrics (Mad Man Sentences)! ! ! 47
  • 53. Appendix H (Marketing Response)! H.1! Pictures of feedback from a thread on the KanyeToThe.com forum! ! 49
  • 55. H.2! Occupy London’s page share on Facebook! ! ! ! 51
  • 57. 53
  • 58. 54
  • 59. Appendix I (Sample of Questionnaire)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 55
  • 61. Appendix J (Questionnaire Responses)! J.1! Subject 1! 57
  • 66. Appendix K (Marketing Postcard)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 62
  • 67. Appendix L (Data Discs)! L.1 Data Disc! Contains the following:! - ‘Encased In The Open’ - JDefianT X STK (Official Visual) (MP4)! - ‘Encased In The Open’ - JDefianT X STK (MP3)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! L.2 Data Disc! Contains the following:! - ‘STK - The Movement’ - Promotional Trailer (MP4)! - ‘Streetwise Live’ FM Radio Interview (MP3)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 63
  • 68. Appendix M (STK Album)! *A prototype of the artwork and design, with plans in place for a CD jewel case and Digipak versions.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 64
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