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.H I P H O P M AT T E R Sinfluence in pop music was so strong that a few years after it passed the 1996 act, Congress openly pondered the consequences of its deci-sion.Of all the legislators who weighed in on big radio, none wasmore forceful than Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold.Speaking fromthe floor of the U.S.Senate in January of 2003, Feingold explained why he had introduced new legislation intended to curb the anti-competitive practices in big radio.“People should have choices, lis-teners should have a diversity of options, and Americans should beable to hear new and diƒerent voices.Radio allows us to connect to our communities, to our culture, and to our democracy.It is one of the most vibrant mediums we have for the exchange of ideas, and for artistic expression,” he said.Feingold’s concerns about radio resem-bled the concerns in a hip-hop movement that experienced shockingdecline in the range of voices, perspectives, and viewpoints found in the music that big radio vigorously promoted.The 1996 Telecommunications Act had a profound impact on thehip-hop movement.The emergence of big radio, as much as anyother factor, hastened the rise of corporate rap.Because they were committed to securing a place in the pop mainstream, many of hiphop’s top producers learned to play by the new rules that governedbig radio: pay-for-play, testing, call-outs, and corporate-controlled playlists.Whereas saying and doing something original in rap wasonce a main goal, in the era of big radio the mimicking of already es-tablished styles and trends meant more.Its image of rebelliousness notwithstanding, rap grew remarkably conservative in style, tone,and musical structure.As a whole, rap’s many regional accents—East Coast, West Coast,the Dirty South—made the genre a lively mix of diƒerent styles,communities, and voices.But corporate rap, the hip-hop musicheard by most of the world, developed a national dialect that gravitated toward a standard pop vocabulary that consisted of catchyhooks, hummable lyrics, and uptempo R&B style arrangements.This trend avoided the complex, multilayered rhymes and rhythms thatdefined the aesthetic and sonic achievements of Public Enemy.138 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]