Americans Buy Themselves Out Of A Rich Culture Part II

So, Aesop Rock, great rapper, intelligent, dynamic, pusher of lyrics that have deemed him the David Foster Wallace of hip hop. It's a wonder to me that more people over 30 don't know of him. I've introduced his music to a handful of friends in the 28 plus set and they unanimously found his shit more than favorable.

This raises interesting questions.

Who's responsible for getting meaty, challenging music out to those folks who may no longer have ears tuned to the frequency of the independent and underground scene(s)?

How is it that Americans who profess disdain for their own hyper manufactured mainstream culture fall out of touch with more authentic and genuine expression?

It seems, if memory serves, that the internet was supposed to have provided a lot of solutions that would address both of these questions.

To some extent it does, Aesop's got representation online through his label, Definitive Jux and the show here in San Francisco showed up on a couple of regional art, music, cultural listings - Flavorpill SF had a small write up and the Bay Guardian and Weekly had listings under their music sections. Not terribly surprising given that the show was at one of SF's larger, well established venues - the Fillmore.

In general, outside of tour dates, the larger regional rags are not to be depended upon for dissemination of information about new, provocative art happening outside of the regions they represent. Not until acts come rolling through town is there a cue to boast new sounds.

So what does that leave us with as far as the net goes?

iTunes, Rhapsody and whichever other online subscription application that is alive today? In the end these apps are *corporate* vehicles. No matter how sexy Apple or how indie Listen.com the creators of Rhapsody are or once were. These applications were designed to generate revenue first and foremost. Now I know for a fact that there were features created for discovery within Rhapsody I'd venture to make the same case for iTunes. However, those discovery mechanisms are still wrapped in a box that says "spend more money".

How about straight up information, free from the context of expectant and ubiquitous consumerism?

Information about what's hip or culturally relevant can be found to some degree through an alliance with a subculture through which one can acquire a sanctioned street uniform, including a do's and dont's list, pre-approved music selections and social activities. In a country like the US subcultures play an important role in the proliferation of styles of expression. The problem that occurs as a result of the dominance of a subculture as arbiter of style is the degree to which one must pledge allegiance to the subculture and it's style in order to gain entry and maintain affiliation. The loyalty required can become suppressive actually limiting one's exposure to other styles of expression. Think of it as peer pressure for grown ups.

To summarize, it seems that Americans have done a double wammy on themselves. We allow a manufactured culture to dominate our mainstream and ghettoize authentic expression allowing it to flourish in environments that are either segregated vis a via the ranks of a subculture or rife with the limitations of an artist and audience base that suffers from narrow cultural references and life experience(read: youth culture).

Aren't a people who boast a pioneer spirit above and beyond all else capable of rising above this predicament and manifesting a cultural reality that is viable, rich and more broad reaching? Yes, I know, we live in a time of Red/Blue state nonsense, family values and Bush's terrorism but perhaps given those circumstances now more than ever we need to evolve.

Americans Buy Themselves Out Of The Potential For A Rich Culture

I was at the corner of Fillmore and Geary sorting out what I was going to do with the extra ticket to the sold out Aesop Rock show I was about to attend. It was a comp ticket and I was hoping to give it away to some cool kid who was without. Ticket clutched in hand, I wandered over to a group of people hanging out on the corner and muttered 'I've got a ticket', seconds later the ticket was snatched out of my hand by a large imposing dude who proceeded to finger a wad a cash and push a twenty dollar bill in my hand. Someone from the crowd implored 'ma'ma! ...." the scalper who'd swiftly taken matters in hand was large, my frame a mere sliver to his, I decided to call it a wash and walk away.

Rattled and scattered, I walked in to the venue. The dance floor was littered with white kids wearing the variety of hats only seen at a hip hop show. The opening act hit the stage and started in. Two guys with mics, some bloke behind the turntables and a sold out crowd. The math started running through my head; I wasn't sure what kids were paying for tickets as I'd not paid to get in - in fact one might argue I'd made money off my venture out to see Aesop - but for the sake of argument let's say at least $20 a head and there's no crew for these gigs as there's next to nothing to setup. The venue, the label and hopefully the artists were going to make a killing.

I thought about how many times I'd paid $20 or more to get into a show where there was a least 5 people on stage performing music that no doubt cost more to record than your average hip hop record. Hip hop is cheap to make particularly when you throw out the need to pay for sample clearing which from what I understand is de rigor for underground djs and mcs these days.

And yet, the cost of admission of hip hop cds or live performance? Same as a 6-7 piece instrumental ensemble.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing hip-hop, no my thoughts went something like this .... not only do Americans cash in more often and faster on genuine, authentic artistic expression, which with the advent of new technology has become cheaper to create, but we do it in such a way that forms of expression and their audience have little incentive to grow and evolve together over time.

I was most likely one of the oldest members of the audience at the show last night clocking in at the ripe old age of 32. The kids on stage opening were most likely under 30 - most of the audience under 25. The openers weren't bad but there they were on stage at the Fillmore opening to a sold out crowd - their knowledge of music - I'm guessing not particularly sophisticated and how many others just like them - we're a hip hop nation with many a young mc well versed at slinging rhymes in baggy pants but what else?

As these thoughts passed through my head I thought about jazz, blues and r&b musicians who, like a fine bottle of wine, only seem to get better with time. I thought about the cultures of Cuba and Brazil and the likes of Ibrahim Ferrar of the infamous Buena Vista Social Club who has surely only cultivated subtlety of style based in long standing musical traditions over time. And then I wondered where my 30+ brethren were lurking on this fine Thursday evening. I know about Aesop and other independent hip hop artists through a long love affair with music and time spent working in the industry with other rabid music lovers who know how to find gems outside the sea of trash that is American mainstream culture. Many of my would be contemporaries do not hold these advantages and while on some level the 'specialness' of my ability and resources to employ in the process of wheat sort from chaff appeals to my ego it does nothing to unite me with people like me - those who would constitute a 'community'.

This led me back to the dollars. Many of my would be mates income requirements are starting to include mortgages and baby sundries. As those add up why wouldn't one knock off the cost of admission to watch some punk in baggy pants gesture and hollar into a mic? Makes perfect sense to me. Again, not a knock on hip-hop, but acknowledgement of a question that must be asked 'what the fuck are we paying for when we drop $20 plus on a show'?

Kids with disposable cash and little or no rent don't give a fuck, they're biggest worries may boil down to some car insurance payments and extra curricular marijuana acquisition. But those worries, or lack thereof, have a finite lifespan. Thus, the crux of the American problem, we build our culture around disposable incomes with at best a 15 year time frame at the *beginning* of our people's lives.

How rich does a music need to be if it's only ever enjoyed by an audience that's under 30? How rich can a music be if it's only ever created by artists who's culture reference points span 20-30 years of life lived when the average American lifespan in somewhere in the 70's?

Money fucks art and capitalism is no friend of culture; these things we know but do we consider how deeply they impact the psyche of ourselves as a people?