From thizzle to fizzle

Last Wednesday, the SF Weekly published Eric K. Arnold's “The Demise of Hyphy”, an article which suggests that local radio station KMEL is responsible for the movement’s premature end.

I was glad to see someone addressing the subject in print. While I don't miss some of the more mindless bullshit associated with the musical style, I do miss how energized the local scene was a few years ago.

For much of 2005 and 2006, hyphy music was all over KMEL and, to a lesser degree, its pseudo-competitor, KYLD. (Both stations are owned by the same company, Clear Channel, and effectively divvy up the demographic pie; KMEL aims older and blacker, KYLD aims more Hispanic, more female and more gay.) Throughout 2005, the style seemed to build, first with a few local hits, then a lot of local hits, and then a tidal wave of media exposure that peaked in early 2006 with a special on MTV and loads of national media coverage. On the strength of this, quite a few Bay artists got courted by major labels, and many signed deals—F.A.B., the Federation, the Pack, the A'z, C-Bo and Clyde Carson among them. For a region that hadn’t had a platinum rap hit since 2pac was alive, this was huge.

Local commercial radio stoked and, for a while, kept pace with the frenzy. By the summer of 2006, KMEL and KYLD were both saturated with hyphy music. A few dozen local songs—E-40’s “Tell Me When to Go” and “U and Dat”; Mistah F.A.B.’s “Super Sic Wid It” and “N.E.W. Oakland”; the Team’s “It’s Gettin’ Hot”; Too $hort’s “Blow the Whistle”, “Shake That Monkey” and “Burn Rubber”; Mac Dre’s “Feelin’ Myself”; Turf Talk's "Slumper" and "Turf Talk Is Back"; the Federation’s “Hyphy”, “Go Dumb” and “I Wear My Stunna Glasses at Nite”; Keak Da Sneak’s “Super Hyphie” and “T-Shirts, Blue Jeans & Nikes”; the Hoodstarz “Getz Ya Grown Man On”; San Quinn’s “Hell Yeah”; Frontline’s “Bang It” and “What Is It?”; DJ Shadow's "3 Freaks"; and the Pack’s “Vans”—got as much play as national hits, if not more. Granted, there were a lot of great local rap artists who still didn't receive regular airplay—like the Coup, Mac Mall, Messy Marv, Zion I, the Solesides/Quannum dudes, the Hieroglyphics folks and the Mob Figaz, all of whom have established followings and make music that's worthy of spins—but the amount of support from commercial radio was still very impressive.

Then something funny happened—the Bay choked. Just as local airplay peaked and national doors opened, the music stalled. In late summer of 2006, there was a dearth of new, quality Bay music—it was almost like everyone was waiting for someone else to take the ball and run with it.

For a while, KMEL and KYLD kept airplay up, running the same two dozen records into the ground, as well as a few new ones that were mediocre (Big Rich's "That's the Business") or total shit (F.A.B.'s "Ghostride It"). Before long, fatigue set in, and KMEL and KYLD cut way back on spins for now-stale hyphy songs and, with the lone exception of Kafani's 2007 single, "Fast", seemed to stop adding new material by Bay rap artists altogether. Sensing a chill, national labels pushed back or scrapped releases by all of the local artists they had rushed to sign just months before.

The Weekly article enumerates many ways in which KMEL has hurt the local rap scene and suggests some of these are intentional. For example, it describes how KMEL purposely stopped playing songs by one of hyphy music's most popular artists, Mistah F.A.B., once he began hosting a show for KYLD. The article also suggests that KMEL hindered the popularity of hyphy music in other parts of the country by refusing to play music from other markets that had begun to support the style. It also describes how KMEL has shut out most independent promoters, so that only major-label artists and those represented by a handful of favored independent promoters have access to airplay.

The article has its weaknesses. A lot of arguments are put forward without much support or discussion and seem unconvincing as a result (e.g., that KMEL's F.A.B. boycott caused national labels to postpone or scrap releases by artists other than F.A.B., or that KMEL benefits by packing the Summer Jam bill with national artists even if, according to the article, local artists are more popular). The very detailed retelling of one DJ's conflict with others at the station and eventual firing seems like a digression. The article doesn't really explain how programming decisions are made at KMEL or why KMEL is more blame-worthy than KYLD, which also withdrew its support from the scene. Finally, it's really hindered because KMEL's Music Director, Big Von Johnson, who emerges as a villain in the piece, refused to be interviewed.

Also, the article occasionally loses sight of the larger point: two years ago, local commercial radio stations were playing a ton of new, local rap music. Now, they don’t seem to do so at all. The Weekly article includes a damning and darkly funny statistic: as of the week of February 4, the highest-ranked current local rap song on KMEL’s charts, the Federation’s “Happy I Met You”, clocked in at #187.

Whereas two years ago, KMEL and KYLD were regularly breaking records from unsigned and unknown Bay artists—Nump’s “I Got Grapes”, Kinsmoke’s “Do the On One”, Gorilla Pits’s “Scrapin’”, Champ Bailey’s “Fuck Yo Couch”, the Cataracs’ “Blueberry Afghani”, the A’z “Yadadamean”—now they don't.

Moreover, they don't even support established artists they used to support. For example, last year, the Federation and Turf Talk both made great records but neither got any significant exposure from KMEL or KYLD; the latter literally got a much bigger push from the New York Times than it did from either station.

Currently, even when a local single has a big street buzz or commercial potential—e.g., Keak Da Sneak’s “In Front of Yo Momma’s House”, Too $hort’s “This My One”, Ya Boy’s “Holla At Ya Boy” or either of Clyde Carson's solo singles—it's unlikely to get more than a few token spins on mix shows, if that.

Maybe what was happening two years ago represented a brief, golden age for local commercial radio, things are back to business as usual, and it's foolish to hope for a return to a time when KMEL and KYLD actively support local artists. Reading the article, I'm pleased to see that I'm not the only one who's pissed off about the status quo.