hiptics.com

Found this pretty interesting. Apparently T.I. represents the free market with “Whatever You Like.” As a result of the success of songs like “Whatever You Like” T.I. went on to sell over 500,000 physical copies of Paper Trail within a week of the albums release.

Though many listeners may only scratch the surface of the song and view it as a lusty, playful approach to grabbing a lover, Pettijohn argues that the popularity of the song is based off people’s desires to have more when in reality they have less than before. Ann Powers, a writer for the L.A. Times, predicted this same result a few months ago in a column about the chart-topping single. “Why would a song about insane levels of affluence entrance pop fans as economic crisis hits?” she asks. “Maybe the answer to that is obvious: We want escape.”

Continuing her comparison, she takes the example of the music video that accompanies the song. Describing the way the girl in the video day dreams about spending time with T.I., it subsequently ends with her having a $100 bill rather than the chance of a lifetime.

“In this scenario, T.I. doesn’t simply play a sugar daddy – he’s the free market itself, enticing a hopeful girl with a little cash and a lot of delicious talk. The money melting in her hand at the video’s end represents the shrinking value of crazy deals in which so many have indulged.” Full story by Edwin Ortiz

That reminded me of something I posted from the New York Times back before Hiptics was a publicly viewed website.

“Because hip-hop is so intensely self-aware, and self-reflexive, it came to be known as big-money music, a genre obsessed with its own success. If we are now entering an age of diminished commercial expectations, that will inevitably change how hip-hop sounds too.” Full story by Kalefa Sanneh

I’m so deep.

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