THE GATEKEEPER

luka

Well-known member
im preoccupied by the idea of the gatekeeper at the moment. how do scenes mirror society? what is the relationship between merit and attainment? to what extent is a scene merely a social circle? why meridian over total package?
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
I've actively done my best to stop being a gatekeeper in some regards b/c of bad experiences.

Now I just try to be this one person in a circle of friends with interesting taste and pray that it doesn't lead to someone turning into a meme. And when that fails I start deleting social media accounts and give myself lashes like an obscure monk.
 

luka

Well-known member
ididnt mean me and you.i meant is a scene comprised of 'people like us'and is success and acceptance in said scene predicated on being seen as óne of us''
how is a scene policed. who polices it. clearly some are able to bully their way in.
 

luka

Well-known member
wiley could bring in strider but kano couldnt bring through dangermouse. towhat extent is this a reflection on wiley and kano, to what extent is it a reflection of strider and dangermouse
 

luka

Well-known member
you can see the heiracrchies operating in those de ja youtube videos. who can expect the mike? who has to more or less beg. who gets denied.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
In that regard, it's tricky because everyone has differing agendas. Who's using this climate as a means to an end; "I want my 'people' to do well." Who has an elitist opinion of others, and to which degrees? Who's entirely out for self, and only like to use people for their benefits?

Like, I kind of think Dizzee has some mild Jay-Z type sociopathy. The interview where this one BBC DJ is trying to get him to acknowledge people would love to see him and Wiley reunite and he's utterly perplexed by the idea: "What good does that do me? How does that help me?" It shows how ambition just figures way too greatly into his logic. He'd rather just make bad pop than go back to *gasp* doing songs with WILEY. Whereas Wiley WILL make the song about taxis, knowing it has probably no commercial value and just thinking "You know what man? People will feel it. They ride cabs." and obviously Wiley loves to try and feed everyone on the planet, even if they don't necessarily deserve it. (See: A-List)
 

luka

Well-known member
im using grime as an example, its not the whole point of the post. its just the mechancis of inclusion and exclusion im brooding about in case thats unclear.
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
I get that, I just tend to always associate human behavior characteristics with MCs these days because I tend to pick who I want to entertain me based on their ability to function as humans as much as talent. And MCs always have a way of displaying this really well.

Case in point, a lot of people made fun of Flocka because before he became popular, Brick Squad was like... His brothers/cousins, OJ and Gucci. Then while Gucci's in jail and OJ's in limbo, the dude goes across America adopting random street rappers left and right from almost every city and state. The talent of these people was... variable, but he clearly was just concerned with putting on as many people as possible, for whatever alternate gains (maybe they paid to get in? maybe he wanted a national network of rappers affiliated with his brand? maybe he's just a nice guy?).

Unfortunately, now he's kind of not very sociable because his cousin got murdered, and instead he focuses on trying to establish his 'celebrity' outside of rap. Nowadays he'll ditch those same people he was fond of earlier for more safe characters (hipsters, EDM people). Can't necessarily blame him, but it's a bad look for anyone who thought Flocka was going to help them achieve some fame and success beyond their local area.

Nowadays, Gucci's perceived as this sort of trendsetting A&R the way 1017 is more or less pushing very popular rappers. But these are guys with buzz that Gucci latches onto. So is he a gatekeeper in how he tells a greater audience: "Here's Migos/Young Thug guys! You'll like it!" or is he trying to be like "These are my cool young friends, I'm still hip!" because to me, Flocka's way of just saying "These are my friends man, you should like them if you like me." is more of an idealized gatekeeping.

Personally I like exposing my friends to contrasting friends, because I get spiraling with my disparate relationships and I feel "Well, let me be the interzona and maybe these two individuals I really like will get along." Won't always work, but hey.
 

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
pretty sure chronik told dangermouse and demon not to spit any more

between that and pissing off the nasty family their music careers were done

plus dangermouse was shit lol
 

Patrick Swayze

I'm trying to shut up
so yeah between the 3 of them marcus, wiley and chronik kinda carved up east ldn musically. could definitely see them as gatekeepers to some extent.

not sure how much of it was 'ppl like us' and how much of it was just personal politics, petty rivalries going back to schooldays.

marcus' industry exposure dubs are good for getting a sense of that "esco's fucking your sister jam and you're giving him beats" (thats the gist of what he says anyway)

jammer kinda occupies that role in grime now. especially for the northern mcs.

and i suppose elijah has a lot of influence in terms of instrumental grime.
 
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CrowleyHead

Well-known member
Yeah, and there's examples of the gatekeepers kind of strangling everything to death by forcing themselves into the picture every waking minute with Jammer & The Adenugas. It's entirely not productive to the scene as it is for THEM.
 

trilliam

Well-known member
the gatekeeper thing through me off abit but nah i get it

these days there's a lot of artificial link ups, fake crews uno, shit like MMG for instance, plastic as hell, supergroups basically

it's all about what you can bring to the table, are u gonna make us look more street, show there's a conscious side to our thing (wale and especially stalley in mmg), how many of your fans can i take and vice versa, it's mutually beneficial when it works but things like chemistry get thrown to the way side.

young thug and rich homie quan, two rappers i don't really care for have linked up with birdman and are making "apparently" the best music of their careers, and have amazing chemistry, so that's an example where u got an old hand like birdman bringing two similar guys together to create suttin special

unfortuantely there's tons of failed ones

jet life >>
 

CrowleyHead

Well-known member
young thug and rich homie quan, two rappers i don't really care for have linked up with birdman and are making "apparently" the best music of their careers, and have amazing chemistry, so that's an example where u got an old hand like birdman bringing two similar guys together to create suttin special

This is kind of inaccurate though; Quan and Thug have been recording together, a lot of their joint material just isn't popular as the recent stuff under Birdman's promotion b/c that was both before they blew up in the recent year or so, and of course Birdman's major label promotion budget.

The joint material however is all under Birdman's "Rich Gang" label. It's kind of a singles outlet disguised as a "supergroup", where his artists (Wayne, Drake, Nicki, Tyga, Thug whom he manages but hasn't signed, whomever else he cares about at that minute) and familiar outsiders (Quan, Future) can rally together for singles. That's essential right now b/c some of these artists can't simply do that single because it doesn't look good for their 'brand' the label wants to enforce, and should the single take off it looks good for their sales. A good case in point is Nicki, who right now just can't do urban singles like she used to because of her pop persona. But on a "Rich Gang" single, she's able to fit in and not worry about it being mistaken as her 'downgrading'. Right now Quan and Thug are probably doing well as "Lifestyle" is a vastly huge single, that their labels (I think Quan actually signed with Birdman, whereas Thug is in this shitty deal with Lyor Cohen/Kevin Liles stupid venture) will think "This will maintain their buzz".

So what Birdman's doing is kind of the DJ Khaled approach (although that man always makes it an EVENT record, and tends to emphasize too open a star-studded cast), as opposed to a real supergroup. So obviously Birdman gets to look good, but he's also providing an outlet that most rap labels aren't trying to form right now. Rap and Radio as far as America are concerned get so estranged nowadays.
 
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