Selling out. What selling out means, can be interpreted in
several different ways. In hip hop, selling out is basically giving up what you
support in order to get more money or fame. The thing with selling out in hip
hop is that most people talk about it saying that they would never do it. But
at the same time, isn’t everybody trying to get really rich and famous and have
tons of fans?
Granted,
there are a lot of rappers who have “sold out” and stopped rapping about what
they grew up on. But at the same time, they do it to make the money that all
rappers try to make. The only difference is that they came up talking usually
about much more violent and harsh things such as drugs and alcohol, whereas
later on they start talking about more mainstream things such as dancing and
partying.
One
example that commonly gets brought up is Jay-Z. He came up hood just like most
rappers do. But now that he is very famous he talks completely different and
about different things. You can see this when listening and watching the videos
from his songs “Dead Presidents” and “Empire State of Mind”. The old song is
more gangster rap, and the new one is about being rich and famous like he is.
This is what Jay Z used to sound like, which was a much harder and "realer" sound. Now he has gotten to be rich and famous and his songs sound completely different, such as in "Empire State of Mind".
It is hard to get very big in hip hop without having people say that you sold out. Everyone is in the rap game for the same purpose, to get rich and famous, and some people change over time in order to accomplish this.
Cool blog to read after we talked a lot about rappers dissing other rappers by addressing their mainstream music that is just being produced to make them millions.
ReplyDeleteI liked the two songs you used for examples and also how you explained the transformation of Jay Z's songs. Good Blog!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because I always think of Jay Z when I think of someone changing their style when selling out.
ReplyDeleteReally good blog and great job explaining what selling out is. Great example songs too.
ReplyDeletegreat examples
ReplyDeleteThe Jay-Z example really helped to show your point about selling out. Good blog!
ReplyDeleteGood blog! I liked how you explained exactly what selling out is and the example you gave us.
ReplyDeleteLove the example and how you can really see the differences in style as his fame grew.
ReplyDeleteGood blog! Great use of examples. I can see the effort put into it because it reflects how good this blog is.
ReplyDeleteHaving just written a paper about authenticity, selling out was a major point and you covered it well, for example the duality of hustling and making money but inadvertently selling out in trying to do so.
ReplyDeleteI liked your blog. It was short and to the point, while showing a great example with Jay Z.
ReplyDeletejay-z is a good example of this nice blig
ReplyDeletethis is a great blog. you went along with what we talked about in class. you did a good jb explaining what selling out is
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, it was very concise and Jay-Z is probably one of the best examples of selling out and moving away from the roots of his rap.
ReplyDeleteGreat examples of Jay- Z and song choices to back up what you had to say
ReplyDelete