Mainstream Music and the Media Cycle

The media cycle is one that has taken over the genre of rap music nearly entirely. In fact, it would be a travesty to categorize all rap as being similar to what we hear on the radio. But sadly, that is how so many people identify the genre.
The media cycle quite simply goes like this: Artists create music, the radio (and other forms of media) play that music, an audience hears that music and demands more, so the artists create more and the cycle repeats until one of the three links (artists, media, audience) removes themselves.
This cycle within itself is not the problem. It is how the music industry has and will always work. The problem is the current state of the cycle. The "current music" that is circling this cycle is where the problem lies. I could go on a rant about how mainstream rap artists only ever rap about money, women, drugs, alcohol, guns, and other things of the sort, or just about how repetitive all this music is. But I won't. Instead, let's talk about one artist who recently managed to accomplish some incredible achievement in rap.
Fetty Wap.
Yes, Fetty Wap. Now that his hype has died down a fair amount, I feel safe to bring up the vine spawned rap star. Like I said, he has had some incredible achievements, and I commend him for that. He is the first artists since Marshall Mathers to have two songs occupy the top twenty of the Billboard Music charts at the same time. He is the first artist since 2009 to have three consecutive singles reach the top ten of the same chart. Undeniably, this man has had some great success.
So clearly, this man must be one of the greatest rappers of our generation, right? I'm sure you guessed it, but no. No he is not. Fetty Wap managed to get popular by creating three copy-and-paste style catchy songs (really more of an accomplishment for his producer and mixer). He followed a road map laid out by those before him: rap incoherently about money, women, drugs, alcohol, guns, ect. over a catchy beat and boom. Top ten hit. Now yes I understand the purpose of this music is mainly so people have something to play in clubs or whatever, but why on the radio? Why do we appreciate such, dare I say, unintelligent and uninspired music?
 Let's take Fetty Wap's song "679". With a grand total of just 237 words (about half of which are slang), the only thing I learned from this song after searching for the lyrics (because I couldn't understand more than half of what he says) was that Fetty Wap likes to hit on women in the club and should be arrested for holding up someone at gunpoint. I also learned that "letting bands go" is a reference for making it rain. I'm still unsure of what a "robin" is though.
My personal favorite lyric has to be "They like, Monty, can you be my baby daddy, I'm like, yeah". Wow, inspirational. And furthermore, I would like to answer the question posed by rapper Monty in this song, "Tell me what you see, is it money or it is me"? Well, watching the music video, all I see is money and women. And that bottle of "1738" liquor you have for product placement.
To come full circle, music like this is the issue with media cycle. Artists come, and go, and are replaced by another artist. And until one of the three links removes themselves from the loop, artists like Fetty Wap will continue to thrive.




However, not all hope is lost. Check out this great article about Logic: http://streetpoetry0.blogspot.com/2016/09/why-i-love-logic.html