Blogger love is gonna getcha

Mar 16, 2007

Blogger love is gonna getcha · by Sach O

Look out! White fanbase!

So Devin the Dude is (finally) going to be embraced by a wider audience. Not the kind of radio listening fanbase that’ll propel him to superstardom, but if the taste-making white blogger crowd doesn’t grab onto Waiting to Inhale something is truly wrong with the world. Pop savvy, clever and perfectly executed, the album is easily Devin’s most inviting work yet and I foresee more than one jaded writer rocking out to it over his monthly bong hit. Personal taste aside (and I’m a longtime fan), the album is more unified and polished than his last attempt and the SXSW crowd should eat up the relationship songs and Quiet Storm vibe. It doesn’t even compromise The Dude’s style, it’s just a natural progression.

The problem is, this kind of acceptance seems to be the kiss of death for creative rappers. It seems that whenever the white/alternative media get a hold of a veteran emcee that’s been developing his style out of the limelight, he becomes self-conscious about the quirks that make him so distinct, leading him to focus solely on those aspects to the point of self parody. I’d like to think Devin is immune to this type of BS (shit, I don’t think anything could phase the Dude) but it does make me think about the internet-darlings of years past. Now before the talkback crowd starts bitching and moaning, I’m still a fan of all of these guys, but deep down you know that the extra-attention didn’t quite lead to their best work. Some of these guys took it to the next level, some of these guys fell off, one thing’s for certain though, cranky internet journalists ultimately contributed to their fate.

And yes I’m aware of the irony that comes with discussing the negative effects of blogger attention in a blog. Damn it feels good to be a cancer.

Ghostface Killah
Album he was “noticed”: The Pretty Toney LP
Fall Off via blogger attention? Not quite…but almost.
Explain: We called out the internet on overrating Ghost late last year seeing as people were gushing about Fishscale when it barely registered on the man’s top5 list of achievements but really the shift came one album earlier on Pretty Toney. Overly reliant on soul samples and Ghost’s exuberant personality, the aggressive thugishness he displayed on BPW was absent and the whole vibe was more friendly than it had been a few years earlier when GFK was one of the most streetwise and intimidating emcees out there. He’s still a favorite but clearly the attention didn’t do him any favors. I still say Theodore Unit could have been Dipset if Ghost made like…

Cam’ron
Album he got “noticed”: Diplomatic Immunity Vol 1
Fall Off via blogger attention? He got rid of the hipsters before it got to him. Too damn street for the internet.
Explain: Cam could have become a blogger-media darling if he wasn’t so damn hood. At the height of the Diplomats’ apex the net was going crazy over whether or not Cam was being “ironic” with his silly delivery and his over-exaggerated rhyme schemes and being a Dipset fan was a good way to separate yourself from the omnipresent backpackers then ruining the net. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Cam wasn’t playing games: he wasn’t being ironic, just juvenile and his beats weren’t “minimalist”, they were cheap. After a while people got bored and moved on some next shit. He’s still rocking his own style, never compromised it and is still getting mainstream play. He may not be quite as dope as others on his list, but he can sleep comfortably at night. Too bad his last album STILL sucked.

Sean Price
Album he got “noticed”: Monkey Bars
Fall Off via blogger attention? So they say.
Explain: I like Jesus Price Superstar. I really do. It seems like the rest of the internet is sick of Sean’s yo mama jokes though and just wish he’d go back to his old Heltah Skeltah style. If anything Sean Price’s case is a perfect example of catch 22 in Hip Hop: hit em with a low key lyrical style and they’ll ignore you. Act a fool and they’ll complain. I guess people just wanted to hear from him when he was broke. Hopefully enough underground heads care about 9th Wonder production so that we get another album out of him. Thanks for nothin ya bastids.

MF Doom
Album he got “noticed”: Madvillain
Fall Off via blogger attention? Dangerdoom was a terrible idea.
Explain: When you’re rapping to a cartoon milkshake, you’ve probably made a bad career move. At his best (from Doomsday until Mm Food) MF Doom mixed witty pop culture references with harder New York street slang in a variety of interesting ways. Whether he was referencing his old cell block or describing a robbery gone wrong, the man was a nerdy emcee describing very un-nerdy events. Unfortunately the press caught up with him in 2004 and a year later he was shilling for a TBS affiliate. Get back to where you once belonged Doom. Producing for Ghost is a good start assuming you both balance out the comic book references with that Yetti ghetto slang.

Kanye West
Album he got “noticed”: That mixtape he dropped pre College Drop-out.
Fall Off via blogger attention? He plain blew up and went pop…then got annoying.
Explain: There was a nice little buzz surrounding Kanye West in late 2003. The internet was whispering about how this Blueprint producer was half-backpacker and half mainstream. MTV was going on about a car accident. Next thing you know, he’s on a Twista single and rapping about his broken jaw before selling millions of albums off of his ego tripping. The ultimate science experiment gone wrong, Kanye got far bigger than anyone had planned ultimately squashing whatever blogger fanbase he had in the first place thanks to his new Diva persona. On the other hand, Late Registration was a damn well produced album.

Comments for "Blogger love is gonna getcha"

totally dead-on about ghostface, not sure i’d totally agree about sean price: his new one may not be 100% great, and 9th’s beats are getting a little tiring, but sean’s hypnotically good for a large chunk of “jesus price supastar.”

i might add juelz to that list: remember reading a ton of “new savior of hip-hop” articles a while back, and he was definitely getting some vice/fader/blogger love…. then what the hell has he done since?

— np Mar 16, 11:26 AM
You forgot about the Clipse. They didn’t fall off though, although they certainly changed directions a bit

— brownstone pat Mar 16, 12:49 PM
Lil’ Wayne?

— Enigmatik Mar 16, 01:58 PM
The Devin album is pretty great and yeah, I’m sure this will lead to more acclaim from people like me and other bloggers, but I’m just not buying the thesis.

I just don’t believe that rappers factor the Internet in their music decisions. Maybe I’m just being naive, but I’d like to believe that the artists you listed above are just that, artists. And their albums are the result of their own artistic vision, not what some 21-year old white kid thinks in his dorm room in Des Moines.

I mean take Ghost for instance, even if he was completely ignored, there’s just no way he would’ve ever made a better album than Supreme. But personally, I think Fishscale was and remains great. More Fish is still hot too and criminally slept-on. Holding him up to an impossible standard does no one good. Shouldn’t we be focusing on the fact that in his late 30s, he’s still making great music? Which is practically unprecedented for an MC.

As for Cam, Killa Season didn’t suck because his head got too big from blogger attn. Killa Season sucked because it was poorly conceived and poorly executed.

I see your point and of course it’s always irritating when a long-time favorite becomes accepted by more people. By nature, he ceases to be one of “your favorites” and becomes “everyone else’s.”

However, I think people should be happy to see dudes like Devin finally get some love after years of being slept on. Someone had to do it and you know the mainstream journalists weren’t about to. So yeah, it’s annoying and as usual, your points are very valid. But when push comes to shove, this is a good thing and not a bad one.

But

— Jeff Mar 16, 02:10 PM
Hmm…the only ones I really agree with are Doom (mainly because his last project WAS that Dangerdoom album) and probably Ghostface (although I still like Ghost a lot). Sean P’s still got it, Cam’ron got lazy, and Kanye didn’t really change his direction because of the internet.

— Train Mar 16, 02:20 PM
this is the kind of feature/blogpost i care for—rap world synthesis got my ‘puter ‘puting

— extra peacock Mar 16, 04:59 PM
I thought Devin already had acceptance from the “white blogger crowd” due to houstonsoreal’s cosigning him?

— fresh Mar 16, 05:20 PM
Cosign on the Clipse. Better example than any you list: Blogger attention via the got it 4 cheap series resulting in Hell Hath no Fury, the only second album I can think of at the moment with a smaller scope than the album that preceeded it. I’m curious if anyone actually feels HHNF more than Lord Willin. On a side note I thought your last post was one of your best. Be a fan not a critic, the internet has enough white blogging tastemakers and its a much better look for what I feel this site is about.

— Abe Beame Mar 16, 07:48 PM
“I’m curious if anyone actually feels HHNF more than Lord Willin.”

I do. But unlike the you-know-whos, I don’t think HHNF is anywhere near classic.

I agree that HHNF’s scope is smaller, but that’s a big improvement IMO. Lord Willin had some ill songs. The 1st half of the album (minus the Faith joint) is nuts; the rest of the album (save “I’m Not You”) is bunk because they have wack beats and/or represent lame crossover attempts. Because of this, Lord WIllin is basically 2 albums: a great Clipse EP, and a terrible EP of un-Clipse-like Clipse songs.

At least the suspect songs on HHNF (“Mr Me Too,” “Trill,” “Aint Ya” “Dirty Money” and “Nightmares”) make sense in the context of the album, making HHNF more focused and cohesive.

Interesting post overall, Sach, but I agree with a lot of what Jeff said.

— eauhellzgnaw Mar 16, 08:57 PM
I’d just like to add that in spite of the fact that this album is very very good, next week when the hipster reviews come in, I imagine it is going to be very very eye-roll inducing for everyone involved. It’s times like this when I miss The Source being the Dark overlords and last word of hip-hop criticism.

— Jeff Mar 18, 08:56 PM
Pretty Toney is a dope album. He went R&B and it was dope, maybe his most personal record, most hipsters think fishscale is better (which is nuts) bcuz hipsters hate R&B.

unless its by a dude on warp records

— Mark Mar 19, 11:16 AM
Danger Doom was not a mistake. It was an admittedly obscure joke you would only get if you watched the [adult swim] lineup, but the beats were rugged and Doom was at his bugged best. Before you hate flip “Vats of Urine” and see if you really think it was all that whack.

— DJ Flash Mar 19, 03:45 PM
Those beats were anything but rugged, particularly by Doom standards. And I’m a big Dangermouse fan most of the time.

— Sach Mar 19, 04:15 PM
Well different strokes for different folks. If we agreed on everything what fun would reading OhWord blog feedback be? Case in point – I hated the DangerMouse mash-up of the Beatles with Jay-Z even though all of the bloggers out there raved about what a great concept it was. Grey Album left me feeling “grey” alright, like nauseous after an all night bender.

— DJ Flash Mar 21, 05:55 AM