Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is me, Andre Grant and Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
Is QC fulfilling its promise as Atlanta’s next So So Def?
Ural: Following So So Def’s historic successful run during the 90s and early 2000s, it’s difficult to pinpoint a pivotal label that had their success in Atlanta. Matter of fact, many labels popping up afterward were mere vanity or individual imprints acquiring various levels of success before those fuses blew. Disturbing Tha Peace, BME Click, Brick Squad 1017 or Konvict Music all had these great moments then fizzled out. Sure, labels ranging from T.I.’s Grand Hustle to Young Jeezy imprint CTE(which greatly benefited Compton’s own YG) have essentially stabilized but haven’t found the success of their earlier days. Fast forward to a few years back, Quality Control is bubbling as the next major success. It’s easy to see exactly why, their roster looked so damn promising. And the marketing and business smarts behind Coach K and Pee meant sure fire dominance. Helps that artists and management at QC has had a hand in almost every corner of Atlanta’s Hip Hop scene.
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So So Def had a regional focus that stretched to several different parts of the nation as Da Brat is originally from Chicago, the failed experiment of Harlem World is obvious and Bow Wow represented Cleveland. Local acts including Xscape and even head Jermaine Dupri himself held the city down. However, their range didn’t stretch outside of R&B and Hip Hop before falling by the wayside itself. Quality Control, on a surface level, is just a rap label with one semi-successful trio, one semi buzzworthy artist and several artists in grooming stages. Migos is technically the label’s only hitmaker while OG Maco hasn’t done anything remarkable since “U Guessed It” though 15 was a banger. Meanwhile, other label artists ranging from Young Greatness(from New Orleans) to Skippa Da Flippa are in their incubator stages. Though QC’s deal with 300 Entertainment didn’t go anywhere, their situation with Motown seems to still be intact. Right now, QC’s handicapped by their singular focus of radio hits and club bangers. So So Def had huge smashes in two genres out of the gate. How cool would it look if OG Maco was allowed to express the garage metal side that lead to his breakout internet single? Variety is the spice of life and there isn’t enough differentiation in the label’s output at the moment to foresee a future at the moment.
Andre: QC, the label started by Coach and Pee, and features what Zaytoven called in a Billboard write up in January “the hottest acts in Atlanta,” seemed on pace to be an independent label with what Todd Moscowitz mentioned as a “national view.” That dream may just be in jeopardy since Migos tweeted they’ve parted ways with their distribution and ad partner 300. In a year that felt pregnant with promise, the label hasn’t managed to achieve escape velocity with any of their projects. In fact, their money maker group Migos released Yung Rich Nation without a bona fide single, and the charts reflected it. The group only sold 15 thousand records in the first week. OG Maco has also yet to find his footing after “U Guessed It,” his drunken reverb of a hit. And although 15 showed the emcee had promise, he hasn’t quite lived up to Quavo calling him a “black punk rock star.”
And the rest of the label is simply coming along slowly. Johnny Cinco’s “For A Little” is gathering steam on Soundcloud after a Complex look, but that process hasn’t been explosive. Skippa Da Fippa’s I’m Havin dropped to nary a word from anyone, and then there’s the rest of the label. Young Greatness may be the label’s surest bet after Migos, but his project is also working itself fairly slowly. So, yeah, they do everything in house, but windows move a lot faster now than they did during the heyday of Jagged Edge, Xscape, Jermaine Dupri, Lil Bow Wow and Da Brat. So So Def, at any one time had at least two acts on mainstream radio and the Billboard charts. There was more time and less pressure to both stick to what your fans know and create something that could push your sound forward. Another point of contention for QC may just be trap music itself.
Everyone hates that term, but as defined, it’s an sub-genre of music that ATL made really famous. From Gucci Mane and Peewee Longway to Migos and Future and now everybody else, trap has become so ubiquitous it’s now repetitive. Problematic isn’t the word for a type of music that many people eat off of, and that mainstream audiences have yet to embrace outside of that last guy I mentioned. The #futurehive is a real thing, to be sure, but why hasn’t the sound manifested itself stronger in others? It’s hard to say. But it’s never a good sign when the highest charting song on the entire label is one that his number 79–be clear that “Handsome and Wealthy” is incredible, but still. The road that lies ahead may be tougher for QC unless they align themselves with the platforms that will rule the next five years with an iron fist: Facebook, Apple, and Google. Once those three circle the wagons, music may just never, ever be the same. But that’s another conversation for another time. In the meantime, QC is not So So Def.
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Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
