Evolution of Media: Hip-Hop Narrative - Entry #6

So, with all the conversations I've been participating in regarding what hip-hop is and what constitutes an actual rapper, I have to ask myself one question: Is Travie McCoy, lead vocalist of alternative upstarts Gym Class Heroes and a general menace to legitimate rapping talent everywhere, hip-hop? I guess he unfortunately is, considering the broad definition of the concept I've been peddling in and out of my hip-hop intersession class. This, of course, won't keep me from getting the following off my chest.

I try not to wallow too terribly much in all of the negative aspects in an entire year's worth of music (although it's been hard to divorce myself from that sentiment, especially since I have been personally perceiving the quality of music to be on a disturbing decline in the last four years), but "Billionaire," McCoy's flagship single for his debut solo album, has to be one of the worst songs I have heard this past year and beyond. I can already see what his thought process resembled:

"I am going record a faux-humble beachy, 'Santeria'-aping surf jam about a carefree hipster-slacker wishing he was rich. But wait! - I'm already fairly rich due to the freakish accidental success of awful pop tunes that are already in my back catalogue, so it wouldn't be right for me to be singing about wishing I was a millionaire. I've got to put this into realistic perspective: I will have to wish I were a billionaire."

Thus is the genesis of 2010's most appalling and patronizing pop song: a song, released during the worst recession for 100 years, in which a mere million dollars is deemed not quite sufficient enough to get by on. Thanks a lot, Travie McCoy, for making 2010 a lot more insufferable than it had to be, and for your stupid first name. And thank you too, Bruno Mars, with your equally worthless and faceless contributions to the R&B sector, and your equally stupid whole name. There were fewer songs released this past year that made me switch over to NPR faster than this song did. And in a year featuring the pop dominance of the likes of dollar-sign Ke$ha and Katy Perry; Taio Cruz's Euro-dance electro-R&B garbage; a Nelly comeback; the inescapably annoying Nicki Minaj; and the most irritating Train single since the last irritating Train single, that's definitely no mean feat.