Hi Fi

I consider hip-hop to be the most egalitarian genre of popular music. Pretty much anyone with a mouth that can open stands a slim chance of ending up on MTV - while being in a punk band is a good way to get laid in high school, in the end, nobody's really paying attention. The ugliest truth of the rap world is that talent is an entirely secondary factor in a successful career.

Take Young Jeezy. He's famous because he sounds like he gargles with Drano, he wears leather and his production is colossal. But he raps like Shawty Lo if the hemispheres of Shawty Lo's brain were connected. And it doesn't matter.



When the stars are aligned, a rap video will improve exponentially as you throw money at it. Where a rock band would spend all their funds hiring cartoonists to draw girls with stupid haircuts riding magic reindeer who fart raindrops, a rapper will concentrate on what's important: looking cool. This is the central purpose of all music videos, and rap is the only genre that really fulfills it.

This isn't to say that less-groomed rappers are irrelevant, just that they're disadvantaged. And when you see them scaling the side of the YouTube mountain, it's exciting.



See, you don't have to have half a million dollars to make a compelling video. If you have a good concept and you don't spend half the song glancing nervously at the camera while trying to look hardcore in your back yard, it's almost better than the Jerry Bruckheimer shit. Almost. Watching these videos is like getting to see just a little bit more cleavage than you should. Maybe the boobs will look like crosseyed yams when they're seen in full light, but maybe you just danced with Scarlett Johansson before The Island haunted the daydreams of every teenage guy in the country.

Then, sometimes, your grandpa left you $99999999 and your manager is your high school choir teacher.

The Alchemist |MTV Music