A Musician's Dream
ACT 1
It’s the Faustian bargain that every musician makes when they choose to pursue commercial music. And Mephistopheles isn’t kind to those who fail, trapping them in a well of distress and desperation. So how exactly does the music industry body the American Dream? Hacht cites Tara Carter who notes:“...the traditional white American dream...is born out of capitalistic ideals, and thus, reliant on material acquisitions and attaining high social status” (Literary Themes for Students: The American Dream). Many musicians love to flaunt their own wealth, from posting pictures of designer clothes, speeding in sleek muscle cars, and showing off diamonds glimmering on clothes, chains, and teeth. These celebrities attend wild and lavish parties secret to many, meet important and powerful figures, and overindulge in luxury.
But besides their fixation on material possessions and social stations, musicians also portray another important part of the American Dream: its quick attainability and easy accessibility. Starving one week while eating a meal fit for kings the next, successful musicians reach their peak quickly, mirroring the meteoric rise of Jay Gatsby himself. Commercial music is simply a matter of popularity and the easiest way to obtain this is through replayability. With the right song at the right time, anyone can blow up and go viral. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is now certified 14x platinum by the RIAA, meaning that it’s sold over 14 million song units, equivalent to a single digital song sale or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams. This single song has launched his entire career. And there are hundreds more of these viral artist examples: Rebecca Black, Carley Rae Jepsen, and Mario Judah just to name a few. This viral factor of promising musicians isn’t just limited to the 2000s. Jazz, which could be considered the first age of commercial music, had plenty of overnight sensations: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ma Rainey, and Billie Holiday. From reggae to R&B, rock to rap, electronic to pop, each era has its fair share of viral musicians. Commercial music history is built on the foundations of these greats. These stars are idolized by the young musicians of today seeking to mimic the sound and success of their favorite artists. By the next century, there’ll be thousands of Lil Nas Xs, hundreds of Taylor Swifts, and a couple dozen more Drakes.
This rapid increase of rising stars is also partially because music, and especially rap, is deceptive, seemingly easy in theory but difficult to accomplish in practice. The story of the rags to riches musician has been told over and over again, from Celine Dion to Jay-Z. Musical talent has been shown to come from anywhere. When analyzing music at its core, the most popular songs often have the simplest melodies. And all you really need to do is match the melody of the beat. There’s no need for the knowledge of melodies or harmonies, key and time signatures, or musical tone and dissonance. A musician is simply a person with a microphone, right? Commercial music thrives on this misconception, delighting in the influx of potential profits brought upon by music’s seemingly simple process. This misleading procedure of music production and the multitude of overnight sensations entrap hopeful musicians to continue to blindly grasp for their dream, the American Dream.
ACT 2
Commercial music is enticing as a quick buck, especially to people in low-income and crime-stricken neighborhoods. But in these areas, music is not a product of pleasure or joy; it’s more of a necessity to be freed from the violence and gang activity of the streets.
Kendrick Lamar is widely regarded as one of the most influential rappers of his generation, coming from humble beginnings in Compton, California, a city known for its violence and gang activity. He’s the first hip-hop artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for his album “DAMN.” in 2018. In his second album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, he uses the violence he experienced in his adolescence to demonstrate the temptations and pressures of the streets highlighted in neighborhoods with serious violent crime rates. Here’s an excerpt from “Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst”:
By any means, wasn't tryin' to offend or come between
Her personal life, I was like "It need to be told"
Cursin' the life of twenty generations after her soul
Exactly what'd happen if I ain't continue rappin'
Or steady bein' distracted by money, drugs and 4-5's
I count lives, all on these songs
Look at the weak and cry, pray one day you'll be strong
Fightin' for your rights, even when you're wrong
And hope that at least one of you sing about me when I'm gone
Am I worth it? Did I put enough work in?
Kendrick clarifies why he’s rapped about the private lives of the people in Compton, dedicating all of his songs in this album to those who’ve died and suffered. The stories he’s told through his raps are ultimately about human nature, the struggle to resist temptation and break away from the streets. Resisting the temptation of money, drugs, and guns that runs rampant through millions of neighborhoods in America. He describes the desperation, peer pressure, and instability experienced by millions of people who are forced to succumb to this violent life because it’s all they’ve ever known, using his influence to highlight the struggles that he’s seen and experienced firsthand.
More recently, Kendrick has used his impact to criticize the music industry for its excessive exploitation of black talent. Here’s an excerpt from For Sale? on To Pimp A Butterfly:
You said to me, I remember what you said too, you said:
"My name is Lucy, Kendrick, you introduced me, Kendrick
Usually I don’t do this but I see you and me, Kendrick
Lucy give you no worries, Lucy got million stories
About these rappers that I came after when they was boring
Lucy gon' move your mama out of Compton
Inside the gi-gantic mansion like I promised
Lucy just want your trust and loyalty, avoiding me?
It's not so easy, I'm at these functions accordingly
Kendrick, Lucy don't slack a minute, Lucy work harder
Lucy gon' call you even when Lucy know you love your Father
I'm Lucy, I loosely heard prayers on your first album, truly
Lucy don't mind, 'cause at the end of the day you'll pursue me
Lucy go get it, Lucy not timid, Lucy up front
Lucy got paperwork on top of paperwork
I want you to know that Lucy got you
And now you all grown up to sign this contract, if that’s possible"
Kendrick portrays the common pitfall that artists fall into when they become successful, starting out with pure intentions but losing their goals and aspirations in exchange for their wealth and fame. In a way, they become “pimped” by the label and partake in superficial delights like material possessions. Lucy, short for Lucifer, represents the reassurances that music labels provide artists in violent neighborhoods, stating they’ll provide financial security, wealth, and a future as long as the artists sign. And artists, especially those living from paycheck to paycheck, are quick to sign when it’s a means of getting off the streets. These label executives know this, and they exploit the lack of legal and contractual knowledge to the benefit of capitalism.
On the other hand, rapper 6ix9ine has followed the same path Kendrick sought out on, but with exceedingly different intentions. A New York Times article, written by Ali Watkins and Joe Coscarelli, describes him as a “ proud public menace” and “self-described ‘super villain’ whose mere presence seems to attract drama and gun violence.” Just like Kendrick, 6ix9ine started from tragic beginnings, but quickly became a viral sensation with his brash and controversial persona. Seizing the moment, he became a rapper. His music is shallow, full of overly explicit lyrics and loud screaming reminiscent of metal. But he’s quickly become a millionaire off these viral hits. To maintain his image, he frequently collaborated with a street gang and feuded with other rappers. 6ix9ine used the streets as a way to keep off of the street, mixing himself into gang activity as he wrestled to maintain his tough-guy persona. His career in music was more of a decision to capitalize off of his viral persona rather than out of joy for music. 6ix9ine is the epitome of the corrupted American Dream. He follows each of the criteria to a T, from flaunting his wealth to a rapid increase in social station. Music labels were eager to sign him despite his lack of musical direction and future.
6ix9ine is a dangerous ideal for the community, representing the possibility of becoming a brand for people to follow rather than a medium for music. Starting from poor beginnings, he’s proof that a lack of musical talent doesn’t stop someone from blowing up in this industry. For those who are truly desperate, 6ix9ine’s persona is a gift, an option that can be taken when things go south. The commercial music industry doesn’t thrive on music anymore. It thrives on popularity.
Bobby Shmurda was a rapper just on the cusp of making it. Widely renowned as one of the pioneers of Brooklyn drill, he was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. At the beginning of his career, everything was looking up for Bobby Shmurda. He just signed to his first label and was working on his studio album before his arrest. In a New York Times article by Joe Coscarelli, Shmurda states Epic Records ‘grabbed me up at a vulnerable time. I was desperate to get out of the ‘hood. I knew I was going to lose my life or go to jail.” And there are countless other examples of rappers who have lost their lives or gone to jail before they made it mainstream; the late King Von, Kodak Black, and YNW Melly. Kendrick Lamar echoed these sentiments in good kid, m.A.A.d city, describing the difficulties of turning away from the street life. In the article, Coscarelli notes the miscommunication between rappers and label executives. Rappers believe that record deals are a path out of the ghetto, along with a guiding hand and unyielding loyalty, a school of thought paralleling the street code that tough-guy personas pride themselves on. But labels often keep their associates at a business level and don’t offer any support or guidance to newly signed artists. Epic Records didn’t even help make Shmurda’s bail when he was arrested.
Shmurda’s story is only another within artists who’ve been abandoned by their labels. He’s a reminder that first and foremost, the money reigns over all. And when someone isn’t able to continue to produce this money, they’re unceremoniously dumped out and left to fend for themselves. Record labels hold immeasurable power in their hands for the young youth. Time and time again, signing is seen as the start to a career, the only way for an artist to make it big. But labels continuously exploit desperate people to sign deceiving contracts and restrict an artist’s creative freedom. But there’s no other choice to make. For these people, music is often their last chance to be free from a life of crime.
ACT 3
But even at the very top, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Successful musicians often suffer from pressure of maintaining their presence and relevancy. Becoming a viral musician just requires a bit of luck, the right moment, and hard work. But staying a successful musician is much more difficult, especially from dissatisfied labels pressuring the release of new music, the sudden lack of privacy sacrificed by celebrities, and an unanticipated need for wealth management and financial independence strategies.
Kanye West is a well-known name, whether spoken with biting criticism or warm adoration. In his early days, he sacrificed everything to become known as not just a producer, but also a rapper, spitting bars with his mouth wired shut. Kanye suffers from bipolar disorder, and the pressure to maintain his status at the top only aggravates this condition. His fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was inspired by the media backlash he received when taking away Taylor Swift’s mic at the 2009 MTV Music Awards. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy describes the luxury and overwhelming pressure that the spotlight brings. Here’s an excerpt from POWER:
I got the power make your life so excitin'
[Outro: Kanye West & Dwele]
Now this will be a beautiful death
I'm jumping out the window, I'm letting everything go
POWER: (3:16-3:50)
Kanye cleverly turns so excitin’ into suicide, giving new meaning to the next two lines. Kanye has openly admitted to contemplating suicide when the burden of fame grew too much on him. Like others before him, Kanye reached his success through the help of a label, putting in all of his time, effort, and passion into his music. But his creativity began to have a toll on him as he lived the fast life of a celebrity. Like Willy, his mind began to shatter under this pressure, but this was from the pressure of maintaining the American Dream rather than chasing it. Serving as a warning to the rising stars, Kanye preaches about the drawbacks of fame as it leads to feelings of inadequacy, a lack of privacy, and pressure closing in on all sides.
Kanye also notes the financial and familial pressure that comes with fame on the track Saint Pablo from The Life of Pablo:
My wife said, I can't say no to nobody
And at this rate we gon' both die broke
Got friends that ask me for money knowin' I'm in debt
And like my wife said, I still didn't say no
People tryna say I'm goin' crazy on Twitter
My friends' best advice was to stay low
I guess it's hard to decipher all of the bills
Especially when you got family members on payroll
Saint Pablo: (0:09-0:34)
Overnight sensations hardly have time to plan for their fame. Following the rags to riches story passed down by the music industry, when musicians first reach success, they hardly know how to plan to keep this wealth in the long term. And along with financial troubles, family and friends may view success as a piggybank to beg out of, and it’s hard to draw the line, especially with family. Kanye’s financial pressures culminated in a set of angry and cryptic tweets on Twitter that eventually resulted in his breakdown from exhaustion and sleep deprivation while on his Saint Pablo Tour. The various pressures around him only heightened his condition until he couldn’t handle it anymore. This decay is common among celebrities and serves to warn artists of the pitfalls that fame can lead to.
Drake is perhaps the most famous rapper alive. Though he began his career as a “woman’s rapper,” Drake’s songs are now popular amongst a variety of genders, races, and ages. But it’s hard to maintain his level of success, and so Drake has relied on scummy and lazy methods in an attempt to become everybody’s favorite rapper, an appeal to the masses. Besides unconfirmed allegations of ghosting writing and his messy relationship with his son, Drake is relatively free of controversy. But beyond that persona of the nice guy, Drake hides his complete lack of musical direction, makes effortless mimics of other genres in an attempt to stay relevant, and creates painfully boring songs both lyrically and instrumentally. Though Drake hasn’t committed any serious crimes, his musical crimes would charge him with life in prison.
There are countless examples of Drake’s scumminess throughout his career: releasing a UK drill track when drill was gaining relevancy, releasing an album of throwaway songs to capitalize even off of his trash, and creating songs that pathetically mimic other genres, dancehall and drill being two of Drake’s many victims. Drake’s popularity isn’t because his music has meaning, like Kendrick, or unpredictability, like Kanye. His popularity stems from the replayability factors of his songs. And these shallow but catchy songs are how he’s managed to remain at the top, paying his ghostwriters and producers top dollar to write catchy hooks and melodies. At his core, Drake is desperate. After living his life of luxury for so long, he’s desperate to remain at the top, so he resorts to musical crimes like genre mimicry, shallow songs, and overreliance on production. His decay of excess is gradual. Its effects can’t be viewed right now. But someday, just like Gatsby, Drake will fall, exhausted both creatively and financially from his musical crimes in an attempt to recreate the peak of his success.
Artists at the top aren’t immune to the pressures of the system, pressures that the American Dream adds onto its followers. To keep their success, artists will either crumble creatively or resort to cheap methods in an attempt to nourish their growing appetite for luxury, exploiting the broken system to rack up more streams or pushing themselves past breaking point until they shatter.
ACT 4
The commercial music industry is heavily flawed. Those in power dangle the American Dream in a carrot and stick approach to lure artists into signing, advertising themselves as advisors, mentors, and friends set to help artists on the path to their dreams. But instead of guiding, they demand. Instead of helping, they control. Their contracts are merely tools to guarantee the most profit they can out of an artist, built on capitalistic ideals just like the corrupt American Dream.
But the winds of change are coming. Artists are beginning to follow a different path, one that’s more reminiscent of the pure American Dream ideal of defining one’s own path in life. These artists remain unsigned or signed with an independent label and retain full creative control over their music. From Taylor Swift to Chance the Rapper, indie artists are a growing movement in the music industry. By now, young musicians are warned about the backhanded tactics that labels resort to once signed, so they begin to rely on the only person they can: themselves.
Chance the Rapper made his money off of shows and merch while releasing his mixtapes for free. He made history for becoming the first artist to win a Grammy without selling physical copies of his music; all of his music was released freely on Spotify and other streaming services. Back in the beginnings of the 2010s, before the Spotify and streaming boom, a free mixtape was seen as inconceivable. But Chance managed his success by himself, inspiring others to turn away from record labels and build up their own team of advisors.
Similarly, though Taylor Swift is not an independent artist, she’s mandated the importance of owning her own masters, or the official original recording of a song. She’s even gearing up to rerecord over half of her discography in an attempt to own her own music. Taylor Swift’s label gives her full creative control, and she sets an example and a warning to aspiring artists to think carefully about the decisions they make and the contracts they sign.
As more and more pedestalized musicians are turning away from record labels and retaining full ownership of their own music, they set an example for the millions of hopeful musicians that admire them, demonstrating that a deal with the devil isn’t the only way to success. After all, for most aspiring musicians, though they do desperately desire success, music is pursued simply because of the joy it brings them, the delight that a simple blend of words, melodies, and rhythms can create pure and unrestrained emotions in listeners from any place, time, and point of life.
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