“Cred” - Street, Indie, or Otherwise and the rebirth of Vinyl
While watching a recent video web-blog entitled “The Jewelry Report”, the blogger, one Ebon Gregory, discussed the recent “controversy” regarding rapper Rick Ross. The story in short: Rick Ross is a rapper with a good deal of “street cred”, who had an image of drug dealing and gangster life. It turns out though, Rick Ross used to be a Corrections Officer (C.O.). Working for the cops is a huge no no in the “street cred” department, and on top of that, Rick Ross lied about his past job to cover up his less than gangster past.
Gregory’s conclusion on the topic though, is that Ross having a job when he was 19, even if it was as a C.O. is a good thing. In fact, he encourages rappers to value working in their music over gang life, even if it might initially go against usual “street cred” ideas. I really have to agree with Gregory. Even not as a fan of Rick Ross, I wish he wouldn’t have lied about his past, but embraced it. Why should it help your rap career that you were a dealer in the past, or how many times you got shot?
This whole concept of “cred” or credibility got me thinking about other genres of music’s “cred”, and the issues which revolve around them.
The following descriptions of various “cred”s, I realize are somewhat simplistic and even ignorant of aspects of the cultures they represent. So you, as my reader, have fair warning.
I’ll begin with what is seemingly the most talked about “cred”, and the one which I would say I’m the least a part of: “Street Cred”.
One seems to gain street credibility by committing crimes, taking bullets, leading a dangerous life-but coming out on a top. One loses “street cred” by working with the law, working McJobs, compromising your own values, or working with artists with a distinct lack of “street cred”.
While not always referred to as “cred” or credibility, there certainly is an equally important world of “Punk Cred”.
Punk Cred, like its street counterpart, has little, if anything to do with the actual music. One gains “Punk Cred” by being loud, by being offensive, by going against mainstream political trends, and not becoming famous. I’m going to repeat that because this is the biggest key to “punk cred”. Not. Becoming. Famous. If too many people like you, you’ve lost “punk cred. This trend continues with “indie cred”, but I’ll get to that.
I call this the underground music paradox, and I’m sure I’ll bring this up again, because it comes up in my life far too often. If an artist gets popular, even if their music gets better, they lose their underground “cred”. Now, there certainly are cases when underground artists get big and change their sound for the worse, or sell out (which is a way overused term). There are also the cases though, where artists get big, develop their sound, become better musicians/lyricists etc, and lose “cred”. I’d imagine this is the same in underground hiphop (very different in terms of “cred” than mainstream hip hop), although I don’t have enough first hand information with that.
Which brings me to the transition point in this entry- “Indie Cred”. “Indie Cred” is very related I would say to other underground/smaller music genre “creds”. If you get big, you lose “cred”, simple. “Indie cred” does though relate to the music itself as well. Often the more inaccessible music is, the more “cred” worthy it becomes. If a song is too catchy or too melodic, it loses “cred”. While I want my music to be original and not obvious or too bubble-gum-pop-y, I don’t see why the genre encourages artists to be as weird and wacky as possible just to feed the indie-heads who worship music just for the sake of it being out there.
That said, I love underground hip hop, I love punk, and I love indie music. I just find the “cred” system ridiculous.
This brings me to a final point on Indie music which is thrilling me. The current indie trend (and huge boost to your indie cred for all you aspiring indie artists), is to also put your albums out on vinyl.
While I realize that some of vinyl’s return has to do with its offbeat different-ness which separates it from the mainstream formula of CD+Mp3=$$$, hence the gains in indie and alternative rock circles, but I can’t help but get giddy even at the thought it becoming a more widespread format again.
Records have this depth to them, which CDs and especially mp3’s just lack. First off, there’s this warmth to vinyl which you need to experience to understand. It’s like the charm of analog photography against digital, but even more so. Mp3’s as a format also condense the music into small amounts of space, which is great for your hard drive, but awful for your music. Try blasting an mp3, then listen to the same song right off an album (cd or record), you’ll hear the difference.
In addition the sound itself though, listening to records is an experience, it’s not just background noise or something to have to pass the time on a train. No, it’s not as convenient, but that’s a good thing in my mind. Music is meant to be paid attention to. It’s meant to be an activity to itself. This concept is completely lost on much (certainly not all) of this new music culture focused around the Ipod and the mp3. I’ll go in to this more in the future I’m sure, as it is a topic which I hope to write about in greater detail someday.
So while I’m thankful for the convenience of new technology like this laptop I’m writing on, the inexpensiveness of digital video equipment like what Ebon Gregory was able to create his own online TV show on, the openness of the internet where a nobody like me can have his own venue for thought like this blog, and even for the mp3 so I can create a mix cd with ease on my computer, I just want people to realize that ease and convenience aren’t everything, and sometimes it’s worth taking a little more time out of one’s day to put on a record, admire the cover art, the liner notes, and the simple glory of a record and just listen.
Does this boost my indie “cred”?