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 The problem with UK Hip-Hop is…

 article 0081 added 24.06.04 words Coakley technical: QED

Coakley breaks down ten reasons why he feels UK Hip-Hop is in a difficult place right now.

 1. You don’t want UK hip-Hop to blow up.
UK Hip-Hop won't 'blow up' to the extent where we have a UK #1 for a loooooooong time, for the simple reason that UK Hip-Hop heads won't allow it. We'll never accept a UK Hip-Hop act on Top of the Pops (ask Blade about the backlash against him for having the nerve to chart) let alone being number 1 in the charts and the commercial commitments you'd have then (CD UK, Smash Hits, etc).
When most heads see acts blowing up and appearing on Top of the Pops the first reaction is to cringe and if someone does a crossover track they find themselves cussing 'em, and maybe we’re are wrong to do that. In the US, when Run DMC and the Beastie Boys blew up in the eighties, they were respected as pioneers and this was the difference between the way they treat their 'stars' and the way we build ours up to knock 'em down. Could you actually see a UK crew doing a song with the likes of Aerosmith or a song like 'Fight for your right'??? Look at the controversy and cussing that went on when Mark B and Blade did that rock remix - and that wasn't even particularly POP!

At the end of the day the UK is culturally very different to the US, in that Americans celebrate success while we resent it. Our whole media is based upon building people up to knock them down.

I think most UK heads say they want UK Hip-Hop to blow up, but secretly like the fact that it's an underground art form and 'exclusive' to them. This is NOT a criticism....I guess it's fair enough. I sympathise with UK heads totally as there's always that horrible flipside to consider. However nice it sounds, once British rap 'blows up' it WILL lose its edge. If it becomes easy to find that rare Scorz 12", the element of excitement (usually associated with tracking down and finding rare UK shit) will be lost. I can understand why some people think the current climate the UK scene is experiencing is as far as we should go. UK Hip-Hoppers (understandably) wanna keep this scene to ourselves and keep it 'pure'....unfortunately this means progress will be slow.

While I (sort of) understand why people want to see their heroes, hungry & struggling; in my humble opinion….fuck struggle. The fact is, if Richard Branson or some other major wanna pay the likes of Fallacy money for doing their thing then great! Unfortunately while the romantic notion of artists ‘striving’ continues the scene will be held back.

 2. Everyone wants to be an emcee; everyone wants to be a DJ.
Great! But it’s not the only role available to you. The best way to make money in this business is to be the person behind the artists i.e. producers, writers (Most commercial rappers in the US have ghost-writers) and engineers, etc. Even better having your own successful label or owning a radio station.

The problem we have is that record companies don’t understand UK Hip-Hop.
So infiltrate the system.

Then, instead of the industry being run by 50 year old middle class white boys into Eric Clapton & Dire Straits……
It’ll eventually be run by 50 year middle class white boys into UK Hip-Hop! Hahaha!

 3. Hip-Hop is nothing new.
In our efforts to 'keep it real' we've held the scene back for well over a decade now and it may be too late. Being brutally honest, hip-hop (never mind UK Hip-Hop which we’ve been banging on about for a decade+!) is nothing new. It is after all a 25+ year old art form, in comparison to UK garage or whatever the next ‘big thing’ is, which they (the industry) can market as fresh and exciting, and therefore fashionable, as they did in 2001 with So Solid.

….and already Dizzy is ‘old news’.

UK artists need to come up with something completely new the industry can market as fresh….and I mean literally something mind blowing, no-one’s heard before.

 4. THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING UK HIP-HOP TODAY IS….LAZINESS.
People simply don’t support their own scene.
There are too many club nights that end up in no-shows. Where were the people?
Ask UKHH.com about the artists who whine about not getting recognition or media coverage….who can’t be arsed to sort out an interview or a feature.

Ask me about the time I did my little radio show….I received some 50+ e-mails (and dozens of PM messages from peeps who visit this site alone) asking if they could send me stuff for airplay consideration. Great I thought! I’m really gonna be able to showcase some unsigned British talent on air now!

I received 3 CDs! 2 of which arrived at my crib 3 weeks after my show (which was on a limited RSL license) had been finished up!
Note: If you’re that lazy you can’t be arsed getting yourself free radio publicity you should quit right now.

Sadly my experience (purely as a DJ and Hip-Hop enthusiast) has been that most (yes most) people 'involved' with Hip-Hop are complacent at best....plain lazy at worst.

I've had the pleasure of hooking up with people like 'Blood & Jonzey' for example who despite having no deal, shop their CD's through independent record shops nationwide and work hard to push their availability, often out of their own pocket, and who travel all over the country to spread the word.

On the flip side though I've met many, many individuals with huuuuuge talent but no desire to help themselves, whether it be doing interviews, travelling to shows, producing CD's and sending them off, general poor timekeeping (i.e. sending CD's off late, appearing at shows late!), not working hard to promote themselves....and a dozen other things necessary to take a bit of talent and make it work.

 5. Manners.
Some of you have none. All it takes is a ‘pound and a compliment’ to the DJ or emcee you’re taking over from. Arriving to gigs on time. Replying promptly to mail/correspondence. Not going apeshit if things don’t go EXACTLY your way.
There's no room for Galligher-esque moments in a scene that will drop you on your head faster than a prozzie blows jobs.

 6. Authenticity.
Like it or not the average person sees Hip-Hop as being ‘black & American’ and most of the people who are involved with the Hip-Hop scene here are neither. UK Hip-Hop will continue to find it difficult to achieve that same level of authenticity until we stop biting their beats, and stop rhyming like public schoolboys returning from a 6 month trip to Jamaica.
In short….be original. Do something uniquely British (ask Jazzie B).

 7. Accents.
At the same time, people over criticise emcees who emcee in American accents.
Why?
Is it really any worse or more fake than 99.9% of the white boys out here rhyming in the exact same ‘home counties with a bit of ragga, ya get meh’ flow?
Be yourself.

 8. The actual music itself.
People don’t like it. Most people, even those into Hip-Hop, think UK stuff is shit. Sad but true.
The white, 2Pac & Eminem obsessed kids with the 50 Cent poster on their wall, are your main target audience if you want to blow up and the Kids today are raised on Timberland, Neptunes, Just Blaze & Swizz Beats.
Why would they have time for the majority of UK Hip-Hop which is some ’94 east coast, Premo/Diamond/Showbiz/Pete Rock clone shit?

Now I’m not suggesting copying the contemporary yank shite…. UK artists just need to make original, new music.
Most importantly, it’s no longer good enough to say “Ahhh but UK Hip-Hop is as good as any US shit”…. our stuff has to go even further, and be considerably better.

 9. Hip-Hop doesn’t chart anywhere.
UK Hip-Hop won’t ever chart because Hip-Hop doesn’t chart in America either!
The ‘rap music’ that gets into the top 10 in the billboard isn’t Hip-hop, it’s R’n’B with people rapping over it.
LL/JLo….Ashanti/Ja Rule….Ashanti/Fat Joe….

People need to accept that a certain amount of crossover is necessary to break underground music like UK Hip-Hop. There hasn’t really been any collabos in UK black music and if the ‘Perfect Love Song’ remix is anything to go by, why not try it?

There's a whole load of acts out there craving street credibility: Craig David, Lemar, Jamelia, etc. As long as it’s done in an uncompromising, non-cheesy way, why not exploit it?

 10. Distribution.
There's too many emcees and not enough readily available material. If I’m 13 and just getting into Hip-Hop and I go into HMV on sat afternoon, is your album going to be sat in the rack next to Jay Z??? If so that's half the battle won.

If you haven't and my mate says "Oh you should check for Taskforce" (or a dozen other crews) and their CD isn't there, no matter how good they might be I’m gonna turn round and say "They can't be that good mate I couldn't find the CD anywhere".

Somehow Big DaDa managed to have prominent POS (point of sale) packs for TY's and Roots Manuvas in Virgins and HMVs, and they're a UK Hip-Hop label, so it can be done. Similarly DIY Ethic brought 57th Dynasty's stuff through national distribution and back in the day The Brotherhood (and yes! I know they were on a major) managed to get their stuff noticed on the shelves.

How many people are just sitting on beats, waiting for something to happen?

Here’s some advice if you want to get anywhere:
RELEASE QUALITY MATERIAL REGULARLY AND HEAVILY PROMOTE IT

Theres loads of other factors involved....of course there is. But if people would just raise their productivity a bit and actually get their shit onto a format, and ensure that, if you can't get it into HMV's, then it's at least for sale past the M25 in the independent stores….that's most of the battle won.

- thecoakley@hotmail.com

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