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De La Jay z - two sides of the same coin

This past month, De La Soul and Jay Z – both established and beloved hip-hop institutions in their own right – have offered to connect directly with their fans in exchange for their patronage. In theory, they represent opposite sides of the ideological spectrum: De La Soul are considered to be champions of the ‘underground’ and blue-collar intellectuals while Jay Z is the flashy, highly influential hit-maker who occasionally raps in between corporate acquisitions. De La once mused that they, ‘might blow up but we won’t go pop,’ while Jay Z declared, ‘I’m a business, man.’ De La raised over $600,000 to complete their new album via Kickstarter (‘the second most funded music project on Kickstarter’), and Jay is offering to perform two exclusive ‘B-Sides’ concerts for the 2,200 Tidal users who create and then promote the best playlists of his music.

On face value, it appears that Pos, Dave and Maseo have embarked on a grass-roots campaign to directly connect with their loyal fanbase. Meanwhile, Shawn Carter is acting as the bait to convince Spotify users to switch over to a new streaming music platform on the off chance that they might win a $200 concert ticket plus the chance to stunt on Instagram about how you’re watching Jay Z perform all those songs he did with DJ Premier in the 90’s. But is it really that cut and dry?

Is having a ‘dinner date’ with someone who’s willing to cough up $2,500 in the name of fundraising any less manipulative than Jay doing a sweepstakes concert?

 

A closer examination of the De La Soul project reveals that they plan to create the beats for the new album from two hundred hours worth of original music which they’ve recorded with session musicians over the last few years, covering a variety of styles and genres. This, they argue, will allow them the artistic freedom to sample and chop up sounds without any fear of being sued down the line. This is effectively to avoid a repeat of what happened when ’60s rock band The Turtles stung them with a lawsuit for using a portion of their record on ‘Transmitting Live From Mars’ on the seminal 3 Feet High And Rising album. This makes sense, although it’s debatable if anyone would bother to sue for sample clearance violations on an album that may sell only around 150,000 copies as compared to 3 Feet High’s phenomenal sales.

The Kickstarter rewards themselves range from the standard combinations of CDs, vinyl, USB sticks and clothing options in the lower tiers, but for the dedicated De La groupie that wants to get their Stan on has the opportunity to talk to the guys on Skype, have dinner with them, go shopping for records/toys/sneakers, get a ten year backstage pass, record a skit for the album or actually own Trugoy’s copy of the platinum plaque for 3 Feet High and Rising. Which begs the question – is having a ‘dinner date’ with someone who’s willing to cough up $2,500 in the name of fundraising any less manipulative than Jay doing a sweepstakes concert? It’s certainly a lot more personal to be able to spend one-on-one time with the guys who made that catchy song about answering machines than to watch a show of all the non-hits from S Dot’s catalog, but it also doesn’t cost anything to enter the Tidal thing (other than the shame of having to publicly shill for them on Twitter).

I certainly don’t like the idea of spending $250 for a signed album and 7″ that I might not even like.

 

Former Smith’s frontman and indie pioneer Morrissey isn’t a fan either, stating that crowdfunding is, “a desperate measure, and insulting to your audience. We have already provided sufficient amounts of money. What is the next thing you’re going to ask? Brush our teeth?” For him, it’s a matter of pride. He equates Kickstarter to public begging. Jay Z, on the other hand, is begging the public to try his new music platform. At least fans know what to expect with the B-Sides concert though – what happens if the De La Soul album that over eleven thousand people backed isn’t very good? I certainly don’t like the idea of spending $250 for a signed album and 7″ that I might not even like. Blind faith and loyal fandom are chips that can be cashed like any other and by relying so heavily on the goodwill of their supporters, Jay Z and De La Soul are more alike than they may care to admit. Let’s hope they both deliver.

Keep up with Robbie’s weekly ‘No Country for Old (Rap) Men’ here.