Trap
Does the media' s portrayal of Trap affect the success of UK musicians who focus on that genre?
Trap is a worldwide genre with artists from different backgrounds, heritages and upbringings. It brings A different variety of people together and mixes them into one big culture. Although gang violence still occurs on a regular basis, I still believe that this genre has a positive future for musicians.
The Trap genre has often been criticised for encouraging violence and gang culture. This is mainly because of the lyrics and actions used in music video's. Before Trap, artists would usually clash in rap battles which often caused tension. In the UK scene right now artists and groups are doing similar things, but are acted on. As bad as it sounds, most people who listen to Trap are usually engaged to the violence and are looking to find the most Savage (violent) artists.
Sky news worked on the subject last year where they had taken footage from Edmonton rappers and their music videos and used them to almost protest against the acts. The footage showed up to 5 people with weapons before the song had started playing. The chorus then worded "Anything Green Get Bun" which is basically shouting that anyone from the other side will get shot. The Sky reporter told us that "social media is playing an increasing role in gang violence" which is true, but not just in gang violence. In fact Police reports show that social media-related crime reports an increase of 780% in four years. Crime has always occurred to this day and will continue for many years to come, as social media becomes more powerful, It becomes easier to blame the younger generation, especially if you voice it to an audience, which most Musicians do in Trap.
(KAII TV, 2016)
Although some groups are creating this style of music to boost their reputation on the street, some artists have become successful coming off the streets doing Trap. The way most artists blow is if somebody famous notices one of their tracks. For example, Rita Ora originally liked a Section Boys track and danced to it online. This brought all kinds of attention to the group's music. Section boys then went on to make a track with Chris Brown, which obviously brought them a lot of new fans from the UK and US. When rappers decide to make more mainstream music, it just becomes brand management and how you can promote your music. Another rapper who has recently blown up (who in fact attended a college with most of my friends) is Santan Dave. He was our age, creating music that we liked, which helped him gain a local following. The way he blew up was actually quite random. Millionaire artist Drake has recently been involved in some of the UK scene, as he "fell in love with the UK sound", by listening to Grime artist Skepta and BBK. He even got a tattoo on his right shoulder saying 'BBK' and this brought a lot more people to investigate the UK music scene. Drake heard one of Dave's songs 'Wanna Know'(Santan Dave, 2016) and remixed it at his studio. When this released, the UK went mad hearing the track. This showed Dave a different side to music industry, as he was offered promotions, signed with Nike and had him travelling on some of Drake tours around the world.
Music, just as an art, takes teenagers off the roads and gives them another road to choose for their future.(Drake, 2016) Local rappers from Camden NDubz started off with underground rap locally, but added melodies to the mix and got recognized instantly by gaining world wide tours, TV shows and nearly winning CBB. There's an endless amount of potential to become successful in the music industry with Trap. It's a worldwide genre that is vastly increasing in size of its following. Artists are looked at differently and are especially judged by their characters, as well as music with Trap, These are artists from Germany who create similar music, but have a different feel to the UK.
(IMMER READY, 2016)
The Trap music in Germany is dumb lit. The beats are are almost exact to US type beats, for example they use the same sample packs from Lex Lugar. This is mainly the snare drums instead of 808's. It's very hard to tell 808's apart. In this track the artist Morten was singing in the track which is more of an American style from artists like Future, Kodak and others. Saying it is more American Trap to UK doesn't change the genre feel. It still involves key aspects including the visuals, which were really well done from my point of view. There was a lady in a Bally breaking down weed. This is more of a US style because of the work put into it. UK artists have recently been putting a lot more into visuals, but aren't this style.
(16BARS.TV, 2016)
My second choice of German Trap was called Balkon (balcony) by Jumpa ft Chima Ede. This track was a lot more like UK Trap. This was every aspect, from vocals to visuals. The visuals have a group of men on a balcony and in the middle of an alley. The effects used on the video made it all a bit grey and white. That could be another reason why it had a UK feel, they showed us some of the UK weather! The track had the Foreign Trap feel though, with the acoustic stringed instrument with effects on it. The vocals were rapped and had a faster flow, until the chorus which was slowed down and had a melody over the top. This track was similar to an old school 67 style, one of the more successful groups.
(Link Up TV | Music, 2017)
This track's by the group 67. They are well known musicians who are taking off in the UK Trap scene. These two tracks (Balcon & Waps) are very similar when it comes to music, but the video creates a gritty atmosphere, which is a typical for UK Trap and gives the whole track a different feel. Although 67 are a music group and have sworn to be dedicated to music alone, they struggle to tour, as 'Feds keep shutting down shows' (the Police stop them from performing) because some are on music bans, or linked to individual crimes.
Artists like Skepta and Stormzy have very recently blown up from bringing out albums and individual tracks which have almost branched out to a higher end and wealthier group of artists.
(BBC Music, 2016) Since Skepta won the Mercury award over David Bowie, there has been a lot more talk about UK artists, in the papers, musicians and the public, who are being encouraged to embrace UK Trap. This recent move has shown the audience another side to the UK scene. The speech he gave on creating his album showed the audience that he really is doing this for the music and the success, which is a point many artists have tried to get across but failed. Stormzy is another artist who has been persistently working to become a successful musician. He recently performed at the BRITS with Ed Sheeren in front of a pretty well known audience! The two performed brilliantly as they mixed both genres into an incredible act. Social media enjoyed the funny moments between Stormzy and the actor Bradley Walsh. He was almost giddy as Stormzy approached him and congratulated him on his success. The two then took a picture after the awards and performance. Small gestures like this can give someone an entirely different perspective on the person and his background. Also performing that night was Skepta from BBK who had a lot of controversy to his name after performing. He performed his most recognised song 'Shutdown' to the thousands in the audience, only for some of the words to be muted because they weren't allowed to be said, although the presenter had sworn several times during the show. A minor act like this is almost used as a metaphor to show how UK rap is observed. As bad as the media are, with stories of this type, on the youth in the UK it can be helpful in some ways to artists like this. Being looked at as an underdog gives people more of a reason for them to do well, For instance, if Skepta was an average American hip hop rapper and won something as great as the Mercury Award, it would have been an amazing achievement, but because of his background, style of music and raw passion for the scene it makes it that little bit better.
Although the media are very persuasive and can change people's opinions on certain subjects, for instance Trap music, they aren't the only ones who control the internet platform. In March 2016 UK rapper Nines posted a video of himself with North London rapper CBiz's chain and watch.
(UKG Music, 2016) This video went viral and created a huge amount of tension between the two. People were locked on to see how CBiz and ER (CBiz's group) would react. As the viral spread across the UK and US it caught the eye of bloggers and reporters. In the same week an innocent civilian was shot in the head in Harlesden (Nines's area) and was killed. The immediate response, which flooded the internet, was that CBiz had committed the crime with one of his friends. Because of the coincidental circumstances, the Police had arrested CBiz because of the the way the internet had reacted. After many trials and court appearances there was not enough evidence to prove that CBiz was the murderer. This shows that, although the media have a huge impact on what people think, social media has the same amount of power, if not more.
My conclusion is that Trap is a genre that is easy to criticise because of the dark and gritty affect it lays out for an audience to see. It's being brought up by the youth of the UK and is almost becoming an accepted genre, as it is slowly, but gradually, building different types of following and is winning awards whilst doing that. The media doesn't cover the genre too much when it comes to success, but has a headline of 'London Rapper Showkey stabbed to death'. They are quick to pick up on faults, but are slow to recognise positives. If the media were to cover more on the genre and the success it can come with, there would be less artists writing about killings and gang violence (as that's the only part you'll see). It's almost easier to get fame through taking one's life than to earn it by selling a record amount of albums. The success of UK Trap can be easily gained because of the humbleness of the culture and could become a major genre if it was appreciated more by the media.
Bibliography
16BARS.TV (2016) Jumpa feat. Chima Ede - Balkon (16BARS.TV PREMIERE). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
BBC Music (2016) Skepta wins the 2016 mercury prize. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
Drake (2016) Wanna know ft. Drake - Dave (official audio). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
IMMER READY (2016) Morten x abermillion (prod. By morten) (official 4k video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
KAII TV (2016) A1FromThe9 (Edmonton) and Poky (AP) were on sky news (8/5/16). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
Link Up TV | Music (2017) 67 (monkey x Dimzy x LD) - #WAPS (prod by Carns hill) [Music Video] @Official6ix7 | link up TV. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
Santan Dave (2016) Dave - wanna know. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
UKG Music (2016) Rapper NINES robs C BIZ’s chain and watch. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/
Will CT (2017) ED SHEERAN feat. STORMZY - shape of you - live at the BRIT awards 2017. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
Citations, Quotes & Annotations
16BARS.TV (2016) Jumpa feat. Chima Ede - Balkon (16BARS.TV PREMIERE). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/
(16BARS.TV, 2016)
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