record labels

‘Tanning of America’ downplays South, West hip-hop contributions

Produced by Steve Stoute and featuring commentary from luminaries ranging from famed emcee Nas to civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, the project took a look at how hip-hop’s emergence into a major cultural force shaped a generation and American culture over the past 40 years. But the documentary, an ambitious and engrossing look at hip-hop as both art and commodity, virtually ignores the contributions and histories of hip-hop locales outside of the mecca of New York City. Even the participants themselves, save for hitmaking superproducer Dr. Dre, tended to be mostly from the Big Apple.

Gucci Mane’s fall: Do record labels enable self-destructive rappers?

As Gucci Mane’s career has become less noteworthy, it looks as though his label doesn’t consider him worth the trouble any longer. He was arrested five times and sentenced to jail time four times from 2008 to 2011, when he was at his commercial peak. Yet he continued to land lucrative deals for himself and his 1017 Brick Squad imprint.