Ke$ha’s ownership of the sales and radio charts, this snapshot of today’s largest hip-hop influences presents a colorful, if thoroughly varied, portrait.
Jay-Z
Jay-Z has always been a unique player in the hip-hop game.
His flawless flow and ‘hood history give him credibility on the street. His business savvy has made him an omnipresent figure in popular culture — music, movies, and more. His presence as a hitmaker launched the career of Kanye West and others, and it recently granted him his very first No. 1 single, “Empire State of Mind.”
Jay-Z took a more creative approach to the old Puff Daddy school of hip-hop. Not only did he become a label mogul and a fashion figurehead, but he did it with a straightforward sensibility that is very hip-hop. Jay-Z exudes confidence, and more important, he backs up his claims with some of the tightest, most intense rhymes in the game.
In 2010, Jay-Z is hip-hop personified. He’s independently revered and commercially viable. He’s graduated from baggy T-shirts and ballcaps to designer suits and Italian shoes. He’s a monster of a personality at home on the covers of both Cigar Aficionado and Rolling Stone. He’s as comfortable on the streets of Brooklyn, where he’s housing his New Jersey Nets with a new arena, as he is on Wall Street — or Fifth Avenue.
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne is a madman Southern genius, a visionary MC, a Cash Money Records man without a home.
The New Orleans native behind the five-times platinum single “Lollipop” (and the three-times platinum, Grammy-winning 2008 LP “Tha Carter III”) is also a paparazzi magnet — and now TMZ and other such lowbrow outlets are digging for Wayne dirt at Rikers Island, New York City’s primary jail complex.
Wayne began serving a yearlong sentence at Rikers earlier this month after being convicted of possessing an illegal firearm, a charge from 2007. He’s only one of many hip-hop artists who have done time at the height of their popularity.
But Wayne’s story is different, because he’s serving his substantial term just a few years after every teenager in America was singing along to his multiple No. 1 hits. Families invited Wayne into their living rooms via music videos and award shows. Fans championed the release of his first rock music album, the risky, critically panned “Rebirth.” And a month later, their champion is behind bars.
At this point in the game, America seems to have grown accustomed to hip-hop’s criminal element. If Wayne is a bad boy, the thinking goes, that’s no reason to hate him.
Ke$ha
One of the most critically derided pop stars of the last decade, Ke$ha has created a tidal wave of international buzz. Fans love the incontestably contagious nature of her hit songs. Haters call her “dumb” and “derivative,” words that accurately describe her all-party lyrics and Gaga-styled beats and melodies.
Say what you want, Ke$ha is a top-3 selling artist in 2010. “Tik Tok” is everywhere, in Europe as much as the U.S., and her debut, “Animal,” has more likely hits to fill out a full album campaign.
That said, Ke$ha isn’t much of a rapper. True, she does rap-talk her way through most of her songs. And that’s what sets her apart from her pop sisters. The New York Times recently compared her to Deborah Harry of Blondie, calling Ke$ha a groundbreaking force as a white, female musician who has assimilated quietly, easily and cleverly into hip- hop culture.
Ke$ha is as hip-hop as biscuits and gravy, but she kind of qualifies as an MC, with her strained-and-sexy vocal delivery. And given her recent promotional bum-rush, she is one of the loudest voices in modern hip-hop.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394
or rbaca@denverpost.com; Twitter @RVRB
