Chris Schwartz, CEO of Ruffnation/ Warner, pinpoints the elements that make a song underground. "I think it's the stuff that's really raw," he says. "It's more sparse, has less music. It's got a lot more energy to it. It's a rawness of the track, the lyrical content and the delivery. I think it's also the production approach-it's grittier, it's noisier. It's not as musical. it's more beat-oriented and high-energy. It's the Method Man, Redman, DMX-type of repertoire."
With the emergence of gangster rap and acts like N-WA "hardcore" and "street" became terms associated with the underground as this market blossomed outside of mainstream record labels, radio, television and retail chains.
Prior to that, innovative approaches to creating the music had defined the term underground. Artists experimented with jazz. Rules of song structure were bent. Lyrics provoked thought and were no longer a mere invitation for the audience to sing along to a James Brown loop. The success of artists like De La Soul and, later, Digable Planet proved that underground did not mean "lacking commercial viability."
So today, both DMX and the Roots are described as underground. "We are defined by the streets," says Dru Ha, CEO of Duck Down Records, an independent label considered a leader in hardcore underground music, with a roster that includes Smif N' Wessun, Boot Camp Clik and Heltah Skeltah. "That's where our music is heard. That's where people know about us. As a label, and speaking for my artists, we wouldn't claim that we are underground. We want our music to be heard [everywhere]. We strive to get our music
on MTV, to be on BET."
TRADITIONAL HIP-HOP VALUES
There are traditionalists who consider underground a scene that is the epicenter of hip-hop music and culture. "It's a group of fans, open mics, a group of radio shows," says Rawkus' Myer, who met members of his roster while a fan of New York City's underground scene. "At one point, there were a bunch of underground magazines."
Bigg Jus Ingleton, who is chief creative officer-as well as an artist-at Sub Verse Records (a label promoting underground hip-hop on a global scale), elaborates on the cultural aspect of the term underground. "I'm a practicing b-boy, and everyone on my label is a practicing b-boy," he says. "Growing up in New York, hiphop has been prevalent in my life since I was 3 years old, so it's a way of life. My music expresses that. I think, personally, underground hip-hop is traditional hip-hop-what hip-hop is
supposed to be. Anything else is not hiphop. Guess it would be rap."
The bombardment of materialism in rap lyrics and video imagery has also led traditionalists to broaden the term underground to include low-key, true and "for-the-love-of-hip- hop" vs. "forthe-money" attitudes.
"As it's grown, underground has come to mean not really flashy. It's a humble type of group, "Lyricist Lounge's Marshall suggests. "Like Redman. His music has been certified gold, but he is still grimy. He's not polished. He's still under the dirt."
ANTI-FLUFF STUFF
For many traditionalists, underground is still synonymous with groundbreaking and progressive. An artist labeled underground is exceptional in his or her skills. "There are popular artists selling records who are doing music deemed acceptable to the underground-based on what the essence of hip-hop is-good lyrics and good beats," Domino believes. "Not fluff tailored for the mainstream."
Myer agrees, using Jay-Z as an example. "As far as the underground goes, I think he has a lot of love in the underground because he is really talented," he says. "Jay-Z can walk into a cipher [a bunch of MCs rhyming with each other in a circle] and blow everyone away with a couple of lines. He may be making millions, but underneath it all, he's a true lyricist."
Bigg Jus cites the Roots as a model of progressive, underground hip-hop. "They're a perfect example of a group that's reaching and pushing to the next level of hip-hop sensibility," he says, applauding the use of live instrumentation in the genre. "The sound of sampling and looping stuff has gotten stagnant. The future of hip-hop relies on cats going into the past and picking up instruments."
Meanwhile, a few believe that the term underground has been used as a way to excuse professional failure low record sales or the inability of a newcomer to get a deal. 'Just because it's called underground does not mean it's good," Ha emphasizes. "That's where a lot of people create confusion. When people are not accepted by the mainstream, they start to claim they're underground. They hold up underground as a flag or a safety net. They might just be wack, and that's why they are underground."
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