SOCIAL MEDIA TAKING OVER HIP HOP?
I’ve noticed a proliferation in songs either mentioning or about social media like Twitter and MySpace. When Trey Songz leaked “LOL :)” my first reaction was DELETE, but then it hit the radio and kept getting requests. As much as I love Trey Songz, I was a little ashamed that he was really singing about Twitter as an arena for spittin game. The more I heard it, though, the more it grew on me. And I came to accept that this was just another example of music documenting the time. Sure, those of us in advertising would like to acknowledge more significant uses of social media, but the reality is that average users are utilizing it as an extension of everyday communication — flirting, making personal announcements, etc. — and so far, hip hop is the only genre to really embrace that.
Some may argue that songs like Sean Kingston & Sean Paul’s “Follow Me” and Mista FAB’s “Hit Me On Twitter” (posted above) are contributing to the deterioration of hip hop music. While I agree that a lot of what’s on the radio isn’t what it used to be, back when artists like A Tribe Called Quest and The Fugees were big, I will say that hip hop’s adaptation of current trends shows flexibility and is a reflection of culture, whether good or bad. I’m in no way trying to make a case that my current track list of “Twitter songs” is good music… it just is what it is; and until artists come in with more innovative allusions to the generations growing up on social media, I will semi-shamefully bop my head to Sean Paul’s dedication to all his “tweethearts.”
Aside from its mentions in particular songs, however, social media has had undeniably positive effects for a lot of hip hop artists who are using sites like Twitter as a sounding board for their personal brands. The rapper Fabolous, for example, has been responsible for a lot of seemingly nonsensical trending topics, like #lilmamais (in reference to the 2009 VMAs), that have marked him as a funny guy, outside of his music. Other artists have used social media to leak new music, b-side tracks, and full mixtapes either directly or through notable bloggers. In addition, for some artists, like Cassie who was discovered on MySpace, social media is the platform for their success. Though these methods certainly aren’t exclusive to hip hop, it’s this genre that seems to be taking a more proactive approach to social media. Why knock it if it works?
