Over the past year there’s been a rise in the support of bullshit music like never before. From viral sensations and human memes inking major record deals, to the ever-growing list of Lil *Insert Household product* SoundCloud rappers. Garbage music has been around forever, but it’s the level of support that it’s receiving that has become a concern. From respected media outlets covering their releases, doing interviews and even mini-documentaries, to producers remixing it or DJs rinsing it out. It’s as though bullshit is being thrown at us from every direction. With that said, I felt it was due time to bring the attention to this issue, explore why it’s happening and underscore why it’s a bigger concern than you may have initially thought.
Post a meme turned “recording artist” with the caption “this is surprisingly dope” and watch the comments erupt and angry shares go up. While this is great for the publication, it’s harmful to other more talented artists and the industry as a whole…
Let’s start with the why. Depending on the medium and who’s supporting it, the exact reasons differ slightly. For media outlets in many cases they’ve gone from writing about quality music and focusing on breaking new talent to posting whatever will drive the most traffic and advertising dollars. It’s a well known fact that strong emotional reactions drive the most traffic and engagement online, so posting a controversial or sure to be hated artist is a great way to achieve these goals. Post a meme turned “recording artist” with the caption “this is surprisingly dope” and watch the comments erupt and angry shares go up. While this is great for the publication, it’s harmful to other more talented artists and the industry as a whole (more on that later).
For producers the motivation isn’t that different. Long gone are the days when producers would actually choose to remix songs they loved, no matter how obscure. The race for plays and quick viral hits has many producers combing the SoundCloud and Billboard charts in an effort to piggyback off the hottest new record. The mantra has shifted to, “Fuck if it’s good or not, it’s hot.” Not only does this lead to the original piece of trash getting more shine and plays than it should, it causes other artists to hop on the train, making this an issue of exponential proportion. When it comes to DJing it’s more or less the same. Whether it’s playing out the aforementioned remixes or the original, DJs have taken to latching onto whatever is trending rather than breaking new records.
This starts a snowball of hype with dangerous consequences. People see a song being featured across multiple platforms and figure that it has to be good. But it isn’t.
The three facets of support above are painful enough on their own but the world doesn’t function in silos. Each of these aspects come together to expand the reach of said bullshit. For example a major publication may cover a garbage artist saying “they’re next up”. Other publications and blogs see this cosign and think “damn why aren’t we up on this? We better run an article.” This starts a snowball of hype with dangerous consequences. People see a song being featured across multiple platforms and figure that it has to be good. But it isn’t. But a hungry bedroom producer is sure to drop remix anyways. We’ve come to a place where hype and plays are all that seems to matter. This is especially dangerous in a time when hype and plays are easily purchased and fabricated.
What may be the most concerning of this all isn’t just the fact that bullshit is readily being supported through different avenues but that it’s taking the place of quality music.
What may be the most concerning of this all isn’t just the fact that bullshit is readily being supported through different avenues but that it’s taking the place of quality music. Instead of assigning a writer to do a profile on someone actually talented, publications are putting their resources towards Lil Soda Can or whatever “artist” has the hottest meme or pulled the craziest social media stunt. For producers instead of remixing something cool and unique or working on an original, they’re flipping whatever bullshit is trending. Either way there’s a ton of incredible music that’s either going unlistened to or uncreated. We work hard at FUXWITHIT to ensure we’re not a part of this issue, but we’re one small blog. We’d love to see other blogs, major publications, producers, DJs and fans take a stand with us. If you’re fed up with the bullshit share this post and let everyone know. Stop clicking and commenting on bullshit articles. If you’re a producer, stop remixing wack shit. If you’re a DJ, don’t play it. On the Black Star classic, ‘Hater Players’ Talib Kweli raps, “Reverse psychology got em scared to say when shit is whack/out of fear of being called a hater, imagine that/we ain’t havin’ that.” We ain’t havin’ it either, stop supporting bullshit.
