Rap Collectives

Over the 2010’s we have witnessed the resurrection of the rap collective, from A$AP Mob, Black Hippy, BROCKHAMPTON, Odd Future to Raider Klan and many others. Whether this resurgence is continuing or paralleling the seminal and influential hip-hop collectives of the 90s (such as Wu-Tang Clan, N.W.A., Native Tongues) is to be debated; paradoxically I believe it’s both. What makes these modern collectives unique is that they seem to be used as a springboard for more successful and abundant solo rap careers. However, ultimately what unifies the old and the new is the means of collective resistance against uncertain political and anthropic landscapes.

First of all, the appeal of the rap collective should be acknowledged. Ironically, the fan appeal of the rap collective is often to do with the multiple individual personalities within said collective. The contrasting lyricism, styles and flows of each individual member creates conversation amongst fans; fans therefore debate over their ‘fan favourite’ and a ‘cult of personality’ forms around each member. In a sense each member becomes a caricature, with individuated monikers. Crucially, the modern rap collective appears to thrive in the technological environment of the modern day, as fans now have easy access to a new drop or project. Social media seems to be the perfect incubator for these collectives, the group having their own platform as well as each member. An example of a group who utilised a heavy social media/ online presence in order to trampoline into the mainstream is Odd Future. Creating their own merch, the iconic doughnut logo, quirky and outlandish clothing, and their own meta

hashtags on their posts such as #OFWGKTA #GOLFWANG, the collective has really made their own mark. The infamous group even had their own television series for Adult Swim under the name ‘Loiter Squad.’ I suppose the collective gives fans the opportunity to witness more of the rappers’ playful personalities via watching member-member interaction. Odd Future, in terms of being a collective of the modern variety, additionally seems to be somewhat of a phenomenon in terms of the booming success of each member’s solo career, having birthed the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, Hodgy Beats and Syd, of The Internet fame.

Strategically, the modern collective grants each solo artist a higher chance of survival within the industry. Melissa Pandika and Rob Carpenter for OZY commenting: ‘It’s half-mentorship, halfprotection in a savage market full of oversized egos.’ The ‘half-protection’ in the form of cult followings of various group dynamics and relationships. With OF, the friendship between Tyler and Frank Ocean is hugely followed, with several archive accounts on Instagram dedicated to these two as well as fan art. Tyler and Frank have not just benefitted from each other in terms of following either - the two members of OF have been deeply involved with each other’s solo careers. The artists have had several musical collaborations with each other; Tyler’s deep, gravely, and angry sound being the perfect antithesis sonically to Frank’s soothing and emotional vocals - especially on the fan favourite track ‘She.’ These beneficiary relations also occur outside the group and with different collectives. Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky (from A$AP Mob) being another iconic pair on social media as well as the recording studio.

The modern rap or hip-hop collective today may separate itself from the traditional collective as the group is used as a precursor for an abundant solo career, and we expect the group to branch away from each other. However, in many ways the modern collective continues the legacy of groups from the past. Hip-hop has always largely centralised around community, vocalising local concerns and making them global. According to Lesley Faracho, an academic who has written extensively about Hip-hop culture, “The hiphop golden era of the 90s was a ‘musical space [which] provided a voice for a collective reality not addressed on a mainstream and political level’”. The act of forming these rap collectives in the 90s was a sign of unity, the explicit lyricism surrounding social concerns of black communities being essential and a real turning point. In this sense the influential precedent of what rap collectives of the 90s set, cannot be matched. For example, N.W.A were renowned for their activist stance, to the extent of which they received threats from the FBI for calling out the police. It is the likes of groups like this why collectives such as Black Hippy exist today. The group’s most recent project, titled “Two”, dropped in April 2020 and features tracks such as ‘My People’, which highlights division both between races in America, and within the black community. There’s a visible parallel occurring where politically concerned collectives produce some of the most important activists to date. Kendrick Lamar, a member of the group, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his brutal and honest lyricism. Precisely making local issues in his community global and breaking into an award sphere that has been historically white at the same time. It would seem that the original hip-hop collective set a political tradition, that today artists continue solo rather than in their respective collective - but the group is needed in the first place for a chance of survival in the music industry.

The representation illustrated by a unity, by a collective, is vital. In these politically divided times, it makes perfect sense why this resurgence is reoccurring. Hopefully we can see these representations taking new leaps and bounds. 88rising, a hybrid between a rap collective and a record label, are bringing a new generation of Asian hip-hop artists to the forefront of mainstream Western music. Personally, with the popularisation of female rappers trending, especially on TikTok, I’d love to see more female rap collectives emerge soon.

THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD

LOU REED -LOU REED & IGGY POP -

Though Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground had earned a plethora of critical acclaims, the band never saw commercial success. Brian Eno famously stated;

“The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought it formed a band”.

The radio friendly sound of what would be the final album with Lou Reed as frontman, Loaded, was created out of record company pressure to produce hits. Loaded wasn’t a hit. Lou Reed’s divorce from the Velvet Underground came in 1970, after which we saw Reed embrace a solo career that again struggled to speak to mainstream audiences. Reed’s prospects were far from promising; walking away from what would become one of the most influential bands in rock history, he was penniless, exhausted, and had accumulated four commercial failures to his name. However, retirement was not on the cards. With rejected songs from his time in the band and an RCA record deal in hand, Reed arrived in London to record his 1972 eponymous debut album. To put it bluntly, this was commercial failure number five. The album was confused, overproduced and sat limply at 189 on the Billboard 200. Reed’s career was over, dead before even getting started, another victim to mainstream close-mindedness. Or, so we thought. This is the part of the story where the glam rock hero rides in to save the day.

In Britain, the era of glam rock dawned, with platforms, sequins and imposing hair. It was the first mainstream rock movement to openly acknowledge the influence of the Velvet Underground. Of course, David Bowie is the glam rock hero aforementioned, a Reed protégé and Velvet Underground devotee. Lou Reed, in turn, was drawn to Bowie’s music. Bowie included Velvet songs such as White Light/ White Heat in his set lists, and referenced the Velvet Underground in his album Hunky Dory. Riding high on the success of the chart-topping The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Bowie and guitarist Mick Ronson offered to produce and play on Reed’s second solo album.

What came next was one of glam rock and Reed’s most illustrious musical offerings. The record was a radio hit and would become a template for most of Reed’s solo work. There was a nod to the glam rock scene that had its grip around London, but in Transformer Bowie diverged from Ziggy, swapping glitter for grit and a realistic subject matter. The songs on the album depict the downtown streets of New York City, Walk on the Wild Side is a simple tale of New York gender-bending. It is a curious diversion from the work of the Velvet Underground: where they had embodied the avant-garde, it took hold of the strong pop undercurrent that ran throughout their records. It sounds curiously natural, much to the credit of Bowie and Ronson whose ornate musical arrangement help bring Reed’s astonishingly focused songs to life.

Bowie took Lou Reed and turned him into a pop-culture icon. The Transformer album is an incarnation of Reed at his most tuneful and accessible. When asked about Bowie’s contribution to the album on the TV series ‘Classic Albums’, Reed is uncharacteristically deferential to Bowie’s backing vocals on Satellite of Love. Reed plays with the soundboard stripping back the sound, leaving Bowie’s unique voice. “Ain’t that great?” Reed drawled. The record was ranked 29th on NME’s list of Greatest Albums of All Time in 2013.

IGGY POP

First meeting in 1971, David Bowie produced Raw Power, the third album released by Iggy Pop’s band The Stooges. By 1976 The Stooges collapsed under the weight of Pop’s heroin addiction, which resulted in his institutionalisation. Bowie invited Pop to join his 1976 Station to Station tour, marking the beginning of a close working relationship and friendship that would span until Bowie’s death in 2016. Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine Iggy Pop stated:

“The friendship was basically that this guy salvaged me from certain professional and maybe personal annihilation- simple as that”

The two musicians lived together in Berlin in 1977, with Bowie helping Pop write The Idiot and Lust For Life, his first two solo albums following the end of The Stooges. Bowie also played keyboard in Pop’s live performances during this period, in exchange for Pop’s backing vocals on Bowie’s record Low.

The first album recorded with Bowie’s expertise was The Idiot at the renowned Hansa Studios in Berlin, Bowie would later admit the album stood as an opportune moment for musical creativity. This was mainly due to the fact Iggy Pop’s solo career was devoid, so could afford to take the risk of experimentation. The album was a success and went on to influence Joy Division and Souxsie and the Banshees, foreshadowing the post punk sound that would dominate the end of the decade. With a reinvigorated career, Iggy made his long-awaited live return, backed by a band that included Bowie on piano and backing vocals. Iggy’s performance on that tour is spoken about in complete adoration, especially the Lust for Life live show in Manchester 1977. Iggy Pop wasted no time, having gained depth and knowledge from production of The Idiot, he took his touring band straight into Hansa writing his second album Lust for Life in just eight days. Pop explained in a later interview “See, Bowie’s a hell of a fast guy. I realized I had to be quicker than him- otherwise whose album was it gonna be?”. Lust for Life was released just five months after The Idiot, with Pop making full use of the title Bowie had gifted him.

Iggy Pop was the William Wordsworth of Punk Rock, and Bowie redirected this talent to an unexplored corner of the genre. The pair created a winning formula of Glam Rock shine and punk rock grit. Four decades later and both The Idiot and Lust For Life have become classic albums in their own right.

words by: Natalie Graham design by: Amelia Field