Author Topic: Hyphy: The Cousin of Crunk? (Read 270 times)

ωεεźγ ғ · « **on:** March 22, 2006, 12:51:10 AM »

he Cousin of Crunk is slowly seeping through the musical veins of the country; the new categorization of Hip-hop is slowly reaching places as far away as New York City, Chicago and the South. So put on your ‘stunna’ shades, ghost ride your whip, polish up on your slang and let’s get HYPHY,. As finally the area that has always been ahead of the rest, stylistically, verbally and automotivally has found a niche to allow itself some national recognition.

Heading up the Bay and its ‘old to them but new to the rest of the country’ movement is none other than the man who ‘spearheaded the underground rap scene’ one of the Bays very own seasoned multi functional commodities, E-40. “The Hyphy movement is going to take the world by storm..we never cared so much, if the world was going to love us for our movement or not, we are having fun in our environment..we want the world to come along because hyphy is high-energy music, it’s up-tempo…no matter where it is from it’s party music,.” And with twelve albums under his belt, E-40 has the rep and the expertise to lead the Northern Californian brethren to a higher level of acceptance.

The Bay Area has been labeled ‘defiant’ because it has held onto its individuality, but does this bold and rebellious behavior warrant being rejected by the rest of the country? Having nurtured stars such as E-40, ‘the undisputed King of Slang’ and Too Short, then having that very slang stolen and robbed time and time again by each and every coast within the Hip-Hop spectrum, do you hear them complaining? Of course not, because The Bay Area will continue to survive regardless of being its own entity or not, because they are used to be raped and pillaged of their uniqueness and style, they have accepted the ‘brush off’ they have hit head on by failing to attract major label attention and have opted to ignore the subtle hostility shown by what is considered by the rest of the country to be the hub of Cali Hip-hop, Los Angeles. But times change, people want new things and demand new music to move to and get ‘hyphy’ to and the Bay area is providing them with just that. There is no resentment, there is no bitterness, you just have people there making music they enjoy.

A label that has helped take the Bay and its artists to the tips of tongues of the country is SMC Recordings. This label works to the sound of its own drum and the masterminds behind a company that encourages the talent from within the Bay came down to three individuals, Ralph Tashjian, George Nauful and Will Bronson,. The indie route was the obvious choice when no major love was coming north of LA. SMC recognized that obviously independent labels can offer artists a little more as they allow an artist to a certain degree to control their own destiny. Their roster includes B-Legit, San Quinn, Balance and Bullys Wit Fullys, all Bay artists, all figures in the Hyphy phenomenon.

“Majors are becoming a thing of the past, indies can offer deals that are more suited to what an artist needs these days,” explained George Nauful who along with his partners have an extensive history with major labels and from their resumes, you understand that they know what they are talking about. SMC has a deeper than deep loyalty to the area it represents. So with that loyalty and their extensive knowledge of the industry the only direction available to them is upwards and the new movement is helping them move just how they had hoped to.

The nature of the Bay area has always been that if the majors don’t come to them then they will take matters into their own hands. Hence the emergence of SMC. “We aren’t about forcing a square peg into a round hole,” explained SMC’s own Will Bronson. Taking an organic approach they just continue their marketing and promotion the way they always have and if the majors want to take notice, fine let them, if they don’t then that is down to them. SMC doesn’t want to force their movement on anyone, that isn’t the way they do business nor is pressuring people with their product, when they know themselves the products they put out and the artists that represent them are going to move units anyway, but funnily enough the world beyond the Fresno divide line is starting to take notice.

Now people are jumping on the Hyphy bandwagon. Everyone who understands the marketing of Hip-hop talent understands that to generate sales and garner attention you have to be categorized. So alongside ‘gangsta,’ ‘crunk,’ ‘snap,’ ‘conscious’ and ‘back-pack’ comes the Bay areas self categorization of ‘hyphy.’ But as Bronson broke down his definition ‘Hyphy is more fluid, it is more high energy than crunk,’ it exudes individualism and having adopted a category for itself, even though in the bay area it is nothing new, the nation is listening. Everyone likes something innovative and this ‘branding’ is picking up momentum and spreading with ease.

SMC is right in the midst of this epidemic. Even though the company itself has only been around in its current form for the last eight months it has urged and encouraged the prominence of the Bay area artists with their approach to business for many years. February 7th saw one of San Francisco’s favored adoptees San Quinn drop his project distributed through SMC. Giving San Quinn his props, the dude is seriously talented and has been a staple of Bay Area rap for over ten years. Already a record breaker for his presences in the Guinness Book of Records for appearing on the most rap albums of any rap artist, Quinn is breaking further records.

Records that not only do him justice as an artist but enforce just what SMC are trying to create. San Quinn’s album The Rock sold more units independently than any other Indy Bay Area artist in its first week. When talking to HipHopDx San Quinn had this to say as possibly the only downside to being on a indie “You are not on TV every day, I need to be on MTV and BET on a daily basis.” But it was obvious that this would eventually change and it has, pretty damn fast. When people start talking as loud as they have recently about the Bay, the media pays attention; they have to get in on whatever is developing. Everyone fights to break something new, whether it be TV, Radio, magazines or on-line, we all want a part of it.

So the MTV world sat up and paid attention when the show that gave you a peek into how it goes down in other Hip-Hop strongholds like Atlanta and Houston took it to the Bay with My Block. Here you got to experience first hand just how to get hyphy, how sick their ‘car-game’ is in the Bay and understand how their slang isn’t something that has just materialized over the last few years and nor is their music.

SMC couldn’t be happier. The powers that be wanted to ensure their roster got a label that would represent them the way they should be represented. The formation of the company may have taken longer than anticipated but like Ralph Tashjian said “timing is everything and over the past few years it just seemed to come together.” And it really has. The Bay is being recognized more than ever and to the loyalists, the labels, the artists, the Bays industry this is just the beginning of something that started way before the audiences being targeted now actually realize.

This exposure to such an energy driven culture may be long overdue but one thing about the Bay they are not about waiting on acceptance. They know their ability, they survive regardless of what everyone else thinks of them and their so called ‘defiant culture’ and they will continue to birth real talent regardless of if the majors are on their wavelength or not. And with indie labels like SMC at the forefront of this take over the limits for the bay are countless. As the crowned King of the movement said himself, ‘We want the world to embrace the Hyphy movement, because really and truly, we from a soil called the Bay area where we get bypassed like the surgery, they look over us.’ But as this movement picks up speed, the only way you could look over E-40 and the Hyphy movement would be if you had you stunna’s in place as you popped your collar.