When a lot of people think of hip hop, they think of rappers with flashy designer clothing, flaunting gold watches, in the latest sports car spilling bottles of expensive champagne. This would be an accurate analysis of a lot of modern rap videos. They glorify materialism. Most people often think this is a modern trend in Hip-Hop but it has been a re-occurring theme. A question that stands is there anything wrong with this? We live in a capitalist society so why are we complaining about materialiasim when clearly it goes hand in hand with capitalism. Another question that could be posed is do we simply not understand the culture. If we really think about it there could be some depth into why these rappers are materialistic. Just like a painter needs brushes, paints and a canvas to create his masterpiece, these materialistic items to rappers may just be a way to express themselves. If people at the country club can indulge in five star dining and bet millions of dollars on horse races why don’t we criticize them? Aren’t they in a sense expressing their lifestyle in a similar over top way but instead it’s not in the public eye as much.
An excerpt from bayexpress.com stated “In modern hip hop culture in order to be seen as a hot shot you have to have a fancy car, designer clothes, designer jewelry This trend isn't even a new one; back in the old-school days, Grandmaster Melle Mel exclaimed, it's all about the money/ain't a damn thing funny, Jimmy Spicer shouted out, "dollar bill, y'all," and Trouble Funk succinctly stated, "I need some money."
Clearly we see that this materialistic trend has been a long on going one. This shows us how it really could be part of the culture. Another thing that we need to remember is that music is a business. Rappers are businessmen. So even though flashing all these objects around may seem pointless it is very smart marketing.
Clyde Smith, webmaster of Pro hiphop.com, who's been documenting advertising and marketing trends in urban street culture since 2004. According to Smith, "Marketing's always been a part of hip-hop ... as soon as they started doing shows in the clubs, marketing became a normal part of business, as it does in all fields."
Rappers have always been good marketers from the days of Phase 2 fliers promoting Kool Herc's block parties to 50 Cent's rumored $300 million deal with MySpace. Hip-hop's economic development has been a gradual process. Flashpoints along the way include Run-DMC's endorsement deal with Adidas, Ice Cube's St. Ides commercials, KRS-One's Sprite and Nike ads, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' gangsta rap soundtrack, Fitty's link-up with Vitamin Water, and Jay-Z's role as pitchman for Hewlett-Packard.
Hip-hop has be come more main stream and marketers have been taking advantage of this. For us to really understand why having all this materialistic stuff means to the hip hop culture more has to be uncovered about the culture and lifestyle.
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