YOU SOLD OUT!!!! ”But the rest are getting Brand Nubian, change up their style from jeans to suits and, thinking about a pop record. Something made for the stations, for a whole new relationship or a new type of scene, to go platinum and clock mad greens. AKA a sell out, the rap definition." EPDM - Crossover Every now and then, in every scene, there will be an artist or a group who cross over into commercial territory. These are the people who take a sound and engineer it for a wider audience, effectively taking it from the underground into a new realm, dominated by money and power. The masses form opinions on what they are given and a backlash occurs as cries of ‘sell out!!’ emanate from people (not so) involved in the underground scene. These are the people who are quick to judge, and even quicker to criticise when commercial success knocks on the door of any artist who is willing to transport something to a broader audience. Can there really be a sell out, and if there can, is there truly any harm in taking your work to a new level where it can be heard by more people. Surely it is self defeating for any artist to only allow their work to be witnessed by a select few. If commercial success means a changing of style, is this really a bad thing? The amount of jealousy in any music genre is vast, as everyone wants to be the top dog. Everyone is striving for that elusive break and chance to fill some sort of niche in the market. Everyone is moving towards some form of success and recognition. When anyone achieves this success, it creates a kind of underclass of people wanting to emulate these accomplishments. It is this jealousy that the term sell out derives from, as if it’s impossible to mimic someone’s accomplishments, then the only thing left to do for many is to criticise them. Let’s take Shy FX as our first example. Shy is a hardworking, no nonsense innovator of the jungle scene for as long as anyone can remember. Responsible for a string of seminal drum ‘n’ bass anthems, such as Funkindemup, Bambaataa and This Style, he has also forged a successful career DJing top of the bill week in week out. The latest offerings from shy have come in the form of his album with T-Power, Set It Off. This album showed a genuine break in style for Shy, as he ventured into new territory with a new, wider appealing sound. The success of Shake Your Body and Set It Off were widely noted in the drum ‘n’ bass community and immediately people were calling Shy a sell out. But who were these people pointing the finger? Was Grooverider sitting on his stool mocking Shy? Was Goldie smirking behind his 32 gold teeth? Did Andy C and Shimon laugh about it all over a cup of tea? Of course not. People involved in the scene didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow, and on the whole, they reacted positively to the situation. The only people who really criticised Shy were the juvenile rabble of outsiders who fail to grasp the concept of any scene. Any scene is about experimentation and doing what you feel is right. Shy has grafted hard for over a decade and contributed as much as Andy C or Mickey Finn, and so surely the scene owes enough to him to be able to respect whatever direction he chooses to take. By definition, selling out is altering your style so that it appeals to more people, who will, in turn, buy it, and thus more money is made from larger sales. At the end of the day, everyone has to make money, and so what’s the real harm in someone trying to make their own life a little more comfortable? If any one artist has the ability to tap into what an audience wants, then this can only be a positive thing because it shows great versatility and awareness. The Neptunes album project In Search of N*E*R*D was one of the best, most overlooked, LPs of 2002. It was distinct, fusing hip hop and rock atop of expertly laced beats. Yet the Neptunes have made vast amount of money, producing everyone from Britney Spears to Justin Timberlake. But they never sold out. They produce these artists because they can, and because they are given these opportunities ahead of anyone else. This shows more about their character and abilities, and also about their common sense. If you can make a good living out of music, whilst still making tracks and albums that you are proud of, then who cares what the sell out critics say. The only problems come when an artist is making music solely for money, but these people are not the figureheads and playas in any one genre. These people are not sell outs because they never had anything to sell out to. Puff Daddy isn’t a sell out. Aside from maybe one track (Victory), he’s just generally wack. He’s never really had the respect from his peers that is needed for him to truly be a sell out. The real problem any scene has, is that people automatically turn against any vogue sound in an attempt to be more underground. There is a misconception that something is automatically bad if it shows signs of crossing over. It happened with tracks like Don’t Wanna Know and has happened with artists like Aphrodite. Everyone wants to take their own, unique sound to as many people as possible, and, generally speaking, these people have paid their dues. Hip hop is probably the culture most aware of what it is to sell out. To make serious money in hip hop is to make an absolute fortune, many times what Shy could make in any one go. There is always a backlash when any rapper starts to make real money. It happened with Jay Z and Nas. Both artists have had varied pasts, with career ups and downs, and people pick up on this. Nas has made some truly awful tracks in his time, but he has also made some of the monumental hip hop albums to date. As has Jay Z. Jay Z’s very best work over shadows any wack efforts he may have made in his time. Hip hop is a very different game to drum ‘n’ bass though. Fuelled by pride and rivalry between labels, it is about real expression and so not only will the public and the media jump on a weak track, but so will an artist’s peers. Hip hop is truly about being on top of the game and letting people know this. Jay Z was heavily criticised for (allegedly) selling out on his 1997 album ‘In My Lifetime Vol. 1,’ but as he eloquently put it, if people don’t like the album ‘…then (it’s) not for them so they should go and get something else. It’s all hip hop. It’s just a variety, you understand? I think it’s better for the consumer. Hip hop needs to grow. It can’t just stay in one place.’ This makes some kind of sense, because the sound is still Jay Z. Jay Z took his own sound and moved it in a direction. Furthermore, just because someone slips up now and then and makes a mistake or two doesn’t mean that all the good they’ve done is overlooked. Snoop Dogg’s Doggfather and Doggystyle are still immense hip hop albums, despite none of his recent work coming anywhere near that status. The same happened with Paul Oakenfold, whose debut album, Bunka, was ill received. People go so far as to call Paul Oakenfold a sell out because he made a commercial album and has become a real superstar DJ. What these people fail to grasp is that Paul Oakenfold has done more for the scene today than anyone else. Having played to thousands in abandoned wear-houses for years, Paul rode the acid house wave and worked hard for what he has become and achieved today. People are quick to forget all the good one has done for the sake of remembering the bad. But Oakenfold, Shy, Jay – Z and everyone else shouldn’t have to go on making the same sound and doing the same thing over and over just to please the underground few who despise success because it somehow goes against everything they stand for. This is just naïve jealousy. When anything becomes mainstream, people will pounce on that chance to make money. These people, like DJ Sammy and co. and just useless producers capitalising on a niche in the market. As with Puffy, these people never have had and never will have true respect from their more knowing peers. If there is ever a real sell out from any scene then I’d like to see them. Only when a true master of their craft openly turns their back on a scene and makes something in opposition to it can someone say they are a sell out. I’m still waiting. Home > Features > ^top