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An Interview With a Hip Hop Industry Guru
Published by: TheHyphyMovement.com
If the Media Portrayed Hip Hop As Well as Clyde Smith does, the already booming rap industry would double overnight in fan interest alone. As the owner of ProHipHop.com, a detailed blog focusing on Hip Hop marketing, Smith has been providing his own unique views and insights of the industry since 2004.
His insight into the world of Hip Hop marketing has allowed ProHipHop.com to establish itself as one of the premier Hip Hop blogs for timely news and information on the industry. It is also a must read for emerging rap artists looking to market themselves.
Like an encyclopedia for all things Hip Hop related, ProHipHop.com serves as an excellent resource with over three years of daily news coverage at your fingertips. However, this reference blog also has some bite. Smith is not afraid to point out flaws and inaccuracies in the media's interpretation of Hip Hop news. Armed with a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Ohio State, Smith provides a more realistic and accurate point of view of the Hip Hop culture and loves to set the record straight.
The Bay Area Hyphy Movement recently interviewed Clyde Smith and discussed whether the industry has turned a cold shoulder to Bay Area rap, the effect the internet has had in discovering new artists and of course, the future of Hip Hop.
Bay Area Hyphy Movement (BAHM): Clyde, prior to launching ProHipHop.com in 2004, what experience did you have in the world of Hip Hop marketing?
Clyde Smith (CS): None, unless you include promoting earlier hip hop blogs. I'm more of a social and cultural critic with doctoral training in interdisciplinary social science and qualitative research. But I've been analyzing text and images and deconstructing agendas since at least the late 70s when I started to define myself as an artist. A lot of the pieces of my critical software came together in the 80s when I added activist to my identity. Beyond that, it's all been learning on the job and applying my unique skillset to a new topic of study.
BAHM: In the many blog posts you have made over the years, do any standout for drawing a reaction that generated a lot of buzz for ProHipHop.com?
CS: The first piece that really caught attention was one of the very few interviews I've conducted for ProHipHop. It was an interview with Tahir called The Revolutionary Heart of the Dirty South on the topic of Hood Economics: http://www.prohiphop.com/hoodec.html
Though I wish my more serious posts were always the ones that get attention, I think the post about AJ and Free leaving 106 & Park has been my biggest in terms of traffic to date.
BAHM: For those visiting your Hip Hop Marketing blog for the 1st time, what can they expect to find?
BAHM:When you launched ProHipHop.com back in 2004, did you envision it would become as popular as it has today?
CS: I expected it to be much bigger and I still do cause I'm a big dreamer!
BAHM:What are some of the relationships you have formed in the Hip Hop industry as a result of your blog?
CS: The two biggest have been with Hashim Warren and Adisa Banjoko, both of whom I got to know as hip hop bloggers. Hashim has gone on to embed himself in the world of NY hip hop media and we're keeping connected but at a respectful distance. Adisa Banjoko, author of Lyrical Swords and cofounder of the Hip Hop Chess Federation, has become one of my closest friends. He's practically a brother to me now and if I walked away from hip hop blogging today, I'd take that friendship with me.
BAHM: One theme I've noticed within your blog is how negatively the media can portray Hip Hop. Do you think the media is improving or getting worse in this regard?
CS: I think it moves in waves and I think it's going to get worse in the near future unless folks step up because right now we're getting a weird mix of coverage by people that don't understand hip hop but do see the obvious problems that those of us within hip hop are also facing. From the N-word to dogfighting, there's a lot to be sorted out and if we don't sort it out, it will get sorted out for us.
BAHM: What hip hop groups are you listening to these days?
CS: I'm mostly checking for videos these days and posting a lot of my faves at VidRap.com. Though I'm following the big guys and enjoying some of that from Kanye West to 50 Cent, it's the up and comers and hardcore independents that have been catching my interest lately.
People I've been feeling of late: Small Eyez, Adam Tensta, NYOil, Trunk Boiz, Belly, Brother Ali, TIMZ, Grafh, Hue Hef, Dan Johns, Kano, Jin, Mike Relm and, believe it or not, Mickey Avalon.
I wish there were some women on this list. Though I appreciate Lil Mama and Rasheeda, I just can't listen to that kind of music very often. I'm also definitely not checking for the next trap star or savior of New York. Those themes are thoroughly played out.
BAHM: One of your friends, Adisa Banjoko has been involved in the promotion of Hyphy Juice and is someone you would recommend as a "hyphy consultant." How long have you known Adisa and what projects have the two of you worked on together?
CS: I met Adisa at the first Bay Area Rap Summit in the spring of '05. Even when I was in San Francisco it was mostly phone and email but we scheme regularly, trade ideas, give each other advice and support. I helped him structure and organize the second volume of Lyrical Swords and we're now collaborating on a smaller writing project that will be announced in the next month or so.
BAHM: How would you define the Hyphy Movement?
CS: No way am I defining the Hyphy Movement. I'm going to cop out and say I know it when I see or hear it which tells me that one could come up with a definition but defining a movement is a lot harder to do well than most people realize. When all is said and done, it's the artists and fans that define it and writers like myself just try to figure out what they've come up with.
BAHM: In your March 23, 2006 blog post, you wrote: "If E-40 and other hyphy types out of the Bay aren't able to seize the moment, for once it won't be due to lack of promotional support or media coverage." Why do you think it took the rap industry so long to come around to supporting this Bay Area movement?
CS: I'm not sure the rap industry, especially New York, is supporting hyphy. People with power saw a chance to make some money and position themselves in case it blew up so they threw their support behind known quantities. That's one of the reasons E-40 was the flag bearer, no disrespect intended to E-40. But it's the kids that created it and it's the kids that are going to make it happen and I think it's still too early to say how this story will turn out.
However, anybody waiting on the industry for support might as well be waiting for a bus in LA.
BAHM: With the internet, every MC or DJ hoping to get discovered now has a platform. In some cases, an amateur artist can land a record deal just from word of mouth generated by buzz on forums, chats and blogs. Has this shifted the labels strategy for discovering the next big act and is this a good thing for the Hip Hop industry?
CS: I think it's good because it's led to a diversity of voices and artists have a chance to connect with a national and international audience much more cheaply and directly than at any point in the past. Though I think this development has shifted how the majors discover new talent, the biggest change is moving power into the hands of the small fry. I would include myself in the list of small fry that have benefitted greatly from that change.
I should point out that most stories of signings based on Internet buzz were made up by the industry. A lot of those artists already had deals before they got "discovered".
BAHM: What trends do you see occuring in the future of Hip Hop?
CS: The future of hip hop is impossible to predict and that's part of its beauty. However, there are trends in progress that will affect that future including the growing call for social responsibility, though it's hard to say how that will affect the music.
I think video is becoming the key to making things happen. Now you don't have to wait for radio or tv to get folks on board. If you can put out a solid video with a decent track, you can now build from wherever there's an Internet connection. And even though lots of videos are getting made, I don't think most indies have fully grasped the fact that a good video is now crucial to breaking a new artist rather than something you build up to doing. I'm on almost all the promo lists now and get most of the stuff you're going to see on MP3 blogs and I very rarely listen to any of it. But send me a link to your embeddable video on YouTube or MySpace and I'll check it out and possibly become a fan. Videos are how I found out about almost every group that's on my current list of folks to watch.
BAHM: How can up and coming artists get coverage at ProHipHop?
CS: The best thing to do is send press releases and links to embeddable videos and online coverage of your act to: hiphoppress(at)netweed(dot)com
I generally just write about marketing so folks trying to get cd reviews and artist interviews are mostly wasting their time. But I'm always interested in getting press releases for hiphoppress.com and videos for vidrap.com and, once you're in the system, it opens up possibilities for coverage at ProHipHop.
About the Author
TheHyphyMovement.com covers the Bay Area Rap Music Scene with articles, contests, free downloads, videos and more!