Hip Hop headlines were a carnival in 2014. We had millionaires scuffle in elevators after black tie events and billions of dollars worth of mergers and acquisitions take center stage. Actually, they had to. No one at all went platinum until Taylor Swift dropped 1989 and made her move to Manhattan, and no one (in Hip Hop anyway) went Gold until J. Cole dropped his everyman tale of rags to soulless riches with 2014 Forest Hills Drive.
So, instead, Lil Wayne voicing his opinion after Tha Carter V got pushed back and things like Hip Hop taking part in activism (most notably of the social media kind) got pushed to the front of the line. At this we are not angry at all, as it gave us an opportunity to tell more varied stores surrounding our favorite Rap denizens. So, then, these eleven headline trends were what shook us the most over the course of last year.
Beats By Dre Sells To Apple; Dr. Dre Becomes Billionaire
Arguably the biggest Hip Hop headline of the year was Dr. Dre becoming a sort-of billionaire after the sale of Beats By Dre to Apple. It was one that no layman saw coming at all. Beats was humming along and it was set for another outstanding year as it had become almost ubiquitous. It’s viral marketing campaigns were not selling sound or headphones. They were literally selling cool by proxy. Sharpening to perfection a technique Nike has used ever since MJ first laced ‘em up. But the crux of the matter was probably the impressive rollout of Beats’ recent streaming service Beats Music and the failure of Apple’s own streaming/radio platform to really pick up steam. Here, Apple saw an opportunity to capitalize on both the cool that made Beats’ everyone’s go-to headphones and Beats Music streaming services.
Through this, Dre´ became filthy rich, and the first Hip Hop person to jump into nine figure territory, even if it was only by gross. While the net is something different, he eradicated the Forbes Cash Kings list, dusting all other challengers as all of the other moguls on the list did not come close to the amount Dre´ made in 2014, combined. Now, finally, maybe we’ll get Detox.
AD LOADING...
Solange Breaks The Ice On Jay Z & Beyonce’s Teflon Image
Of all the people you thought were going to get the best of Jay Z, we think Solange was not even a b-side entrant on that list. But it was her, nonetheless, that managed to ruffle the carefully toned image of Jay Z and Beyonce´’s marriage and of Jay and Bey themselves. It all happened in an elevator after the Met Gala (an event for the upscale of the upscale) with Solange hitting Jigga with a barrage of kicks and punches. It was so awkward to see Hov’ in that position. He has become so kept in his image. It was also really strange to see Bey in that position, too, especially with all the rumors of her being so fiercely protective of Jay Z and yet she appeared to do nothing.
The rumors went into overdrive, then, as well as the memes as the world suddenly became familiar with terms like “shade” and “black Twitter.” A few days later the Knowles-Carters released a joint statement that read like it was written by Hallmark. Then the Olivia Pope-ing began. Their On The Run tour was happening and appearances had to return to normalcy as soon as possible. Was it a ploy to sell tickets? Anything is possible with the King and Queen of Entertainment, but it sure was fun to watch.
AD LOADING...
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Win Rap’s Grammy Award
It’s been repeated ad nauseum that the Grammy voters have no idea what they’re doing when it comes to Hip Hop. We all knew that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album The Heist (such an unfortunate name in hindsight) would win the unholy hell out of the Rap category at the awards and it did. It dominated the thing. Winning in the Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song categories between The Heist and Thrift Shop respectively.
Of course, there was an uproar in the Hip Hop community with thick lines drawn between the stark differences in argument on both sides. Was it a matter of the Grammy voters? Or was it a matter of Macklemore being white? Macklemore, ever aware and sensitive to social conditions ( a reason we can think of for why The Heist is actually not a bad album) sent a text to Kendrick Lamar apologizing for winning his Grammy despiteGKMC being the superior Rap album. The only problem was he screenshotted the text and put it on Instagram. This was the genesis of the misappropriation debate, mind you. At least this version of it. And the chances that Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic will win this year are astronomically high, though it does not have a clear cut foe that is a superior work of art like Mack did. That won’t stop the presses from pressing, though. And it won’t stop The Grammy’s from getting it wrong, again.
AD LOADING...
Social Media Activism
From Childish Gambino to The New Republic, everyone feels a way about Social Media Activism. It’s often used to be trite and condescending: a way of claiming that someone or something has only one foot in the water instead of jumping in with their clothes on. But hashtags got real in 2014. There was #GamerGate and #BlackLivesMatter and #mansplaining and the list goes on and on. And what was often missed is that these are group social movements of “ideas” and not necessarily of action. The free movement of ideas is the point of the web, and it is in trouble, and one of the most infuriating conduits of that energy is social media. Right now it’s Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, and tomorrow it will be something else, begun by someone else, highlighting some other thing. And it will continue to be glorious because the web allows light to be shed on multiple ideas at the same time.
Such was the case in 2014, when all sorts of institutions — desperate to close ranks, crush the rebellion and get on with it — were forced to confront the inherent illogic of their own hierarchies. We saw police captains marching arm-in-arm with protesters and hardcore militia’s standing up or being batshit crazy (depending on who you ask) to government officials at #BundyRanch. It is needed more than ever, now, with the events in NYC spiralling into a maelstrom and #policebrutality continuing to be a pressing issue. And it was, of course, #ICantBreathe that topped it all. Sending out into the world a wail that turned into a call to action. In Hong Kong and the UK, and across the U.S., social media activism showed both the good, the bad, and the ugly of not only the forces that were looked at as undermining liberty, but of the protesters themselves.
AD LOADING...
Wu-Tang’s Million Dollar Album & A Better Tomorrow
Wu-Tang Clan still “ain’t nothin’ to fuck wit’.” And the merry band of really serious emcees came back with a vengeance in 2014, although a beleaguered one. Rampant with infighting, payscales, and general discontent, RZA sought to wrangle the crew for one more group effort before their secret $1 Million dollar art-project Once Upon A Time In Shaolin went out for auction to wealthy collectors of rare things and oddities. The lead up was… just about insane. They needed a place for the project to live (that ended up being Warner). They needed to figure out how Raekwon was going to be involved since he was working on F.I.L.A and in general not happy with the RZA at the time. Then came the issues surrounding who was most important, and was Cappadonna even an official Wu’ member?
All of these eventually got sorted and the album came out to much fervor. Hope always rings eternal, right? The reception was mixed. Critics came to the conclusion that the album belonged somewhere in the middle between Iron Flag and Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers. Often, A Better Tomorrow felt, well, preachy and forced. Ghostface Killah released 36 Seasons just one month later to a much better reception, and RZA said he lost somewhere around $5 Milli’ on the whole deal. But all in all, we were just glad to see the crew all in one place again. And while A Better Tomorrow was mostly devoid of the true belief that allowed these Staten Islanders to combine their comic book-shaolin-kung fu fantasies with the absurdities of their reality to create 36 Chambers, there’s no doubt Wu’ was everywhere in 2014.
AD LOADING...
Snoop vs Iggy
In the sometimes hilarious, sometimes cringe-worthy exchange between the resident father-figure of Hip Hop and Iggy Azalea, everything that you could want was packed into like seven Instagram posts. But of all of them, we’re guessing the one that stung the most was the White Chicks reference. The Marlon’s oft-forgotten satire on the topsy-turvy cross cultural exchanges that actually underwrite social and financial success was top heavy and brilliant. It was also almost universally panned by critics and a soaring financial success, earning some $100 Million worldwide. But lost amid the dress-in-drag and appropriation of women’s culture, was the idea that interlopers in a space often fared better than natives in that same culture. It’s why the term carpetbagger ever came into existence, and at it’s core it’s simple: it’s a repackaging of culture for profit without contribution.
Of course, Iggy Azalea was completely tone-deaf about the whole thing. From the original Iggy-Azalea-as-an-albino-black-person reference (which, we mean, is so problematic anyway), to the White Chicks one, she completely missed the subtle invitation Snoop was giving her to make fun of herself, gently take her hazing and have everyone leave her alone. Instead, she pouted, and T.I. had to step in on her behalf. Think pieces were written, and many, many people ate off her perceived ribbing. Kudos to her, though, for finally getting it and showing up as the “White Chick” to that Halloween party, though much, much too late to stop the misappropriation debate she inadvertently riled up.
AD LOADING...
Lil Wayne Wants to leave Cash Money
Disgruntled artists on Cash Money have become as common as dogs chasing their own tail. As then label mainstays including Juvenile, B.G. and Mannie Fresh left due to contract issues, one person who stayed the course without complaint was Dwayne Carter. Lil Wayne’s decision to stay around 2005 — as he was being courted by then Def Jam president Jay Z — couldn’t have appeared more foolish to many. Sticking by father figure and Cash Money head Baby, Weezy turned things around and eventually evolved into an icon within Hip Hop. The bond between the two even lead to one of the most underrated albums in the label’s catalogue, Like Father Like Son. As Wayne began to cultivate Drake, Nicki Minaj and Tyga through his YMCMB imprint, his relationship with Baby felt indestructible.
Then Wayne sent a series of tweets regarding his much delayed album, Tha Carter V, causing a quite a stir. From the YMCMB boss’ perspective, him and his creative body of work were being held captive. On the parent company side of things at Cash Money, Dr. Carter hasn’t been able to cultivate a proper single in years. It would have been financially irresponsible to release an album that presumably wasn’t ready for public consumption. Will CV make its way to retail? There are too many factors to even determine an answer.
AD LOADING...
The White Rap/R&B Takeover
America’s most divisive issue is still race. Becoming a microcosm of that issue were changes in urban music. While some call it cultural smudging or cultural appropriation, some welcoming outsiders in hopes of finding racial common ground. R&B in the modern sense had been “whitewashed” a year prior due to the allegedly ill gotten success of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Justin Timberlake’s acclaimed 20/20 Experience. Ironically, both artists have been cultivated by black producers who clearly reap the financial reward sales wise.
The argument reared its face twice in 2014 twice in ways caused further divide for Hip Hop. Things kicked off when Macklemore & Ryan Lewis got three out of four Rap categories during The Grammy’s, ousting then sure winner Kendrick Lamar earlier in the year. With the protesting and rioting in Ferguson and New York over police brutality against unarmed black men, having Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” as the number-one Hip Hop song in the country ruffled more than a few feathers. Arch-enemy Azealia Banks fueled those flames even further through tweets and one particular radio interview. Mos Def said during his classic Black On Both Sides intro by asking; “You know what’s gonna happen with Hip-Hop? Whatever’s happening with us.” Those words couldn’t be anymore truer at the moment.
AD LOADING...
G-Unit Reunites
50 Cent is a businessman and like any successful company owner, understands the market well enough to restrategize when necessary. Following his separation with Shady/Aftermath/Interscope, Fiddy decided to the go the independent route. The result; a terribly underwhelming project in Animal Ambition. Outside of being his lowest selling album to date, it didn’t fare well critically either. What’s the best way to recover? That’s right, a G-Unit reunion.
Bringing together Yayo, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck while replacing his “Sworn Enemy” Game with New Orleans protege Kidd Kidd seemed to be the best idea. While some were hesitant with the newer addition, the rapper more known for his guest appearance on Lil Wayne’s “Mrs. Officer” fit pretty well. The plan worked; The Beauty of Independence felt like a return to form. While Curtis Jackson manages his multiple ventures, he finally reminded Hip Hop that he still has it.
AD LOADING...
Killer Mike’s Activism
Since 2012, the union of Killer Mike and El P has given the world some of the best Hip Hop albumsonewill hear. Alongside El’s spastic production, Killer Mike brought the culture back to a time where rappers with his type of platform weren’t afraid to make extremely bold statements that scared the establishment. The former Dungeon Family member put his rhymes to reality in 2014 as he wholesomely became Hip Hop’s face for civil injustice that took over news through the police deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Lets not forget this heartfelt speech.
Being his intelligent and articulate self, Mike found a way to essentially speak for a people who felt oppressed. As the son of a police officer, he even had interesting ideas of ending police brutality that felt nuanced. There was a time where Hip Hop found ways to lend the middle finger to respectable politics, now it embraces it enough to be mute. This is what makes Mike Bigga so important to Hip Hop; as rappers are called out left and right for not joining a cause of social importance, the Atlanta native dives straight into what he feels is right.
AD LOADING...
Suge Knight Shenanigans
For someone years removed from the music aspect of the industry, Suge Knight still finds various ways to make headlines. The former Death Row head nearly had a news story for every month of 2014. It all began when he was issued an arrest warrant for missing a court date in January. The following month, Knight allegedly threatened the owner of a marijuana dispensary along with managing to talk reckless about Kendrick Lamar and Game. Sometime later in April, the former security guard for MC Hammer took that shit talking up another notch by claiming Dr. Dre wasn’t in control of his own label.
Considering Knight was driving the vehicle Tupac was murdered in, he said the iconic rapper was still alive before throwing shots at Diddy in May. In something almost as bizarre as it is ridiculous, Knight was shot multiple times outside of a Hollywood nightclub and didn’t cooperate with authorities. And finally, the most notorious figure alive in Hip Hop allegedly threatened a photographer in November with troubled comedian Katt Williams. If Knight can keep up more antics throughout the new year, 2015 should be pretty entertaining.
