When asked to describe the hip-hop scene in Pittsburgh, artists often used words like
“fragmented” and “disjointed.” The literature on scenes drew my attention to this fragmentation of the Pittsburgh scene and the precarious industry infrastructure exhibited by WAMO and Rostrum Records as explanations for why this scene has not produced another “star” since Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller. Physically, the infrastructure of the hip-hop scene shifted. During the time when the Beat Box was operational, the majority of hip-hop shows and events took place there, and a small smattering of other shows took place at various locations around the city.
When this space closed, a variety of smaller sub-scenes popped up throughout the city as fans were relocated to these other venues. Fans and artists that formerly came from all over the city to congregate at the Beat Box now began to find shows near where they lived in the city. Alchemist described the fragmented scene in terms of live performances:
There’s only so many spots. Most of the good venues are on the South Side.
That’s like a 15 to 30-minute drive for most people. Especially when it comes to people who support hip-hop, like I said, most of these people come from nothing, so, where do you think they are going to allocate their money? To go to a show that not many people are going to go to on the other side of town? No. They can’t just walk there…Pittsburgh isn’t set up for hip-hop. (Interview, 9/12/14)
84 For whatever reasons, be it financial or physical, Alchemist believes that the lack of a central location with a consistent turnout of hip-hop fans is what now keeps the local scene scattered throughout the city.
However, my respondents believe that this physical distance was not as detrimental as the psychic distance created by this shift. The unified scene that was present at the Beat Box became one of competition, with rappers becoming more and more unwilling to support one another. One hip-hop vocalist, Leena, describes the scene where “we [Pittsburgh artists] need to learn how to support each other. It's really more like a crab in a barrel type of thing. Everyone is trying to get out and you're just holding everybody else down instead of everybody working together to come up together” (Interview, 4/12/15). Like Leena, other respondents believe that the unity within Pittsburgh hip-hop, which existed at the Beat Box and helped propel Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, has been replaced by competition. Ironically, this competition may have arisen from the success of these artists. With Khalifa and Miller as examples, aspiring artists in Pittsburgh now see success as a more realistic possibility. At the same time, they see success as zero-sum.
Consequently, aspiring artists see the success of others in the scene as threatening.
A producer, Greazy, echoed this sentiment and said that for aspiring artists in the city,
“Pittsburgh is seen as this barrel full of crabs where once a person gets out, it’s a city you got to get out of, you kind of don’t lend a hand to the next person. You just get out and run away”
(Interview, 10/27/14). Greazy’s comment illustrates a sentiment among artists in Pittsburgh that in order for them to achieve success in the rap music industry, they have to make it out of the
85
“barrel” of Pittsburgh.10 Greazy also emphasizes the individualistic nature of the goal of escaping the barrel. While an artist may understand the plight faced by other Pittsburgh artists, they are not willing to help. This leads to a complicated set of interactions and conflicts among artists in this scene. The artists, as the literature on scenes discussed in Chapter 2 highlights, realize that other members of the scene share their goals of achieving mainstream commercial success in the rap music industry. However, the “affective alliances” or “community” produced by this scene is one of competition and distrust, precisely because of the shared ethos among scenes related to achieving success.
Leena and Greazy’s11 imagery of “crabs in barrel” is important to understanding the types of conflict that characterize the scene. A single crab, it is said, when placed in a barrel, will attempt to make an escape by climbing out of the barrel. However, if two or more crabs are placed in a barrel, they will pull each other down as they attempt to make an escape. The crabs, if unified, could help one another escape the perils of the barrel, but they do not. While it almost certainly predates this, the phrase “crabs in a barrel” is often attributed to Booker T.
Washington’s characterization of black Americans’ treatment of one another during Reconstruction. Marcus Garvey cites a lecture from Washington when he describes this crab mentality in “The Negro’s Greatest Enemy” (1923).
This is an instance of what Audre Lorde (1978) have referred to as “horizontal (or lateral) hostility.” Lorde uses the concept to describe the relationships between black women and black men as well as among black women. She describes that, “in discussions around hiring and firing
10 In a later section, I discuss how individuals describe their desires to “get out” of Pittsburgh and what that would mean for their careers.
11 These two artists were the only two to directly use the phrase “crabs in a barrel” in their interviews. However, 21 of 26 interviewees used imagery I coded as thematically similar to this imagery as exemplified in the remainder of this section.
86 of black faculty at universities, the charge is frequently heard that black women are more easily hired than are black men…[and] they are only ‘taking jobs away from black men’” (Lorde 1978:
33). Lorde (1978) also asserts that “in the interests of separation, and to keep us out of touch with our own power, black women have been taught to view each other as always suspect, heartless competitors for the scarce male, the all-important prize that will legitimize our existence” (34).
At the heart of this concept are the conflicts that arise among members of marginalized and oppressed groups over what they perceive to be scarce resources available for their advancement.
What this ignores, Lorde (1978) argues, are the possibilities “of joining together to fight for more” (34). In Pittsburgh hip-hop, what this leads to, according to Wheels, is a mentality in which “everyone looks at this [scene] as a race. [They think,] ‘I got to get signed before so-and-so gets signed. They [i.e., record labels] got to see me first” (Interview, 10/28/14). Actshawn similarly points out that in Pittsburgh conflict among rappers exist “more or less because of an internalized fear [of one another] and the whole adage of I would rather nobody went anywhere than me support someone to get anywhere” (Interview, 2/18/15).
More contemporary scholars have defined horizontal hostility as “a prejudice shown by members of a minority group toward members of a similar minority group that is perceived to be more mainstream” (White and Langer 1999:538). Horizontal hostility has been studied among minority groups of non-meat eaters (Rothgerber 2014), reform, conservative, and orthodox Jews, college athletes (White and Langer 1999), political parties in Greece, Ivy League students (White, Schimitt, and Langer 2006) and nursing students and staffs (Alspach 2008, Curtis, Bowen, and Reid 2007, Longo 2007).
Often, the concept of horizontal hostility has significant racial and gendered components.
For example, Fanon (1961) in The Wretched of the Earth describes horizontal violence as the
87 oppressed attempting to use the tools of oppressors on their peers. Freire (1968) extends this in Pedagogy of the Oppressed saying that the oppressed strike out at their peers out of their desire
and aspirations to be among the oppressors. While it is important to note the origins of this concept in literature on racial and gendered oppression, my respondents typically12 did not explicitly conceptualize the horizontal hostility they experienced in racial or gendered terms.
Pittsburgh’s hip-hop artists typically form small collectives of artists, managers, and other kinds of support staff (e.g., videographers, photographers, publicists, etc.) that they refer to as “teams.” In this context, artists and their teams exhibit or experience horizontal hostility when they perceive, or are perceived by others, as being closer to the mainstream rap music industry.
As artists gain more mainstream recognition, through things like touring outside of Pittsburgh or being recognized in the local media or on internet blogs, they are met with unfavorable attitudes from others in similar positions. In a career where individuals are attempting to move from the margins of being an underground artist to the mainstream, this creates a struggle among artists and also creates an internal struggle for artists. Scrollz described the dual nature of this struggle:
I mean, yeah, it’s a competition. Hip-hop is a competition. It’s a competitive sport. If one person does good, yeah, we applaud it, but, it’s like deep down inside, you want that. When we got on the City Paper and it was like [people were saying] “Congratulations, but, damn, I wanted that.” Or like [another artist] is on tour. It’s like damn, I want that. And [a different artist] has been doing stuff with Wiz, and it’s like damn, I want that. Everything is really cool [among artists in Pittsburgh], but at the same time it is still competitive. You can [congratulate]
things all you want or you can just stay quiet. And I think that a lot of people choose to stay quiet because if you speak it, especially with the way social media is, that’s a cosign. (Interview, 4/24/14)
12 Later in this section, I describe a situation where gender was discussed in relation to horizontal hostility. However, the respondent does so to explain how and why horizontal hostility does not exist among female rappers in
Pittsburgh.
88 For Scrollz, there is a struggle between bringing light to the achievements of others and the recognition that others’ successes bring them closer to a goal you have for yourself that you have yet to accomplish. To “cosign” these achievements are to give them recognition as such and thereby placing another artist above you in the pursuit of scarce resources. While artists in the Pittsburgh scene may still be “cool” with one another, that is, they do not express outward disdain for each other, they are not willing to unify and boast of the achievements of those outside of their teams.
Additionally, in the GroupMe text messages that I shared with Scrollz and his team, he described how the artist on tour that he mentions in the above quote initially asked him to be on the tour with him. Scrollz was excited about the opportunity because he had an album coming out and the tour would be a good opportunity for him to play music from that album and get a larger buzz about the release. Days before the tour was scheduled to begin, Scrollz was contacted by the artist saying that he no longer wanted Scrollz on the tour. While Scrollz was upset about the decision, he explained that he understood why it was happening. The other artist stated that he did not want others to associate Scrollz with Pittsburgh as well, because that would diminish his product. The other artist wanted a monopoly on any potential new fans and to optimize his association with Pittsburgh. Scrollz’ presence on the tour would be a threat to that. While Scrollz understood why he was not able to be on the tour, he expressed extreme frustration because of what positive effects on his career the tour might have had that he would now miss out on.
Rappers in Pittsburgh engage in horizontal hostility out of an understanding that careers in the rap music industry are not developed only on talent and merit. For artists in every genre, talent is highly relative, is appraised by many gatekeepers, and is part of a highly competitive market (Menger 1999). As discussed earlier, the perception among artists is that they and their
89 peers have immense talent. As these artists minimize the importance of talent in their attempts to make a career in rap music, they are left looking for other ways to make themselves “stand out”
in the crowd and maintain the myth of meritocracy. The sense that opportunities are both scarce and zero-sum leads artists to compete over performance slots, media attention, and fans as well as resent those who begin to stand out. Competition in turn breaks the unity typically found in music scenes as individuals shared experiences in the quest for these resources necessary for career advancement become threats rather than allies or sympathizers. Artists marginalized from the mainstream recording industry focus their attention on horizontally attacking other artists because of this perceived threat rather than questioning the structures that exclude them from the mainstream music industry.
In the sections that follow, I analyze how my respondents eschew discussing the city’s weak infrastructure for hip-hop music in favor of discussing horizontal hostility as the main obstacle to the predicted “Pittsburgh Renaissance.” They believe that there is a sense of unity missing in the local hip-hop scene that is present in successful scenes elsewhere. They also claim that the success of Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller have defined the rewards for those who make it out of “barrel” of Pittsburgh into mainstream success. This has created, in their opinion, a scene that is oversaturated with new artists looking to mimic the success of Pittsburgh’s superstars.
This saturation has created an intense competition among artists in Pittsburgh where artists engage in horizontally hostile practices. In order to succeed, Pittsburgh artists believe that it is more important to eliminate the horizontal hostility among scene members than it is to strengthen the city’s hip-hop infrastructure.
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3.1 “YOU CAN’T THROW A ROCK IN PITTSBURGH WITHOUT HITTING A
RAPPER”
While members of the rap music scene in Pittsburgh recognize the horizontal hostility and competition are a part of the scene, they do not view it as an inevitability. As individuals discussed the things that hold artists back from breaking into the mainstream, they also discussed how they see themselves and others resisting these barriers. According to my respondents, the success of Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller brought with it a steady influx of artists into the scene looking to mirror that success. On the one hand, scene members see this as a positive because it allows artists to interact with others in the city they feel are talented. Some also feel that more artists in the scene bring with them more exposure and potentially creates a more commercially viable scene in the eyes of record executives. On the other hand, artists express a displeasure with the lack of quality artists in the scene. Just as an increase of “good” artists may bring more exposure to Pittsburgh, an increase of “bad” artists may keep record companies from being interested in the scene.
Music scenes have been described as relatively “open” spaces, that is, “open to potential participants who simply want to be there” (Kortarba, Fackler, Nowotny 2009: 330). While many researchers have investigated the pathways into music scenes and the necessary barriers to being considered an “insider,” they have not fully explored the potential consequences of the “include
‘em all” (Císař and Koubek 2012) attitude often found in music scenes. As this section shows, that the ability for many to engage a music scene as artists can create problems for artists as they attempt to make a career out of music. Artists may have trouble differentiating themselves from a sea of other artists of similar quality, or, what’s worse, they may find themselves being reduced
91 to artists of lower quality that have flooded the scene. Because they feel there are few barriers to get into the scene, with the rise of online music distribution and the ability to “pay to perform” in Pittsburgh, artists resort to horizontal hostility as an attempt to weed out others they feel are obscuring their limelight.
Many members of the rap music scene in Pittsburgh describe the scene as being
“oversaturated” with artists. Miz Taken said that she “think[s] the hip-hop scene in Pittsburgh is oversaturated…you can’t throw a rock in Pittsburgh without hitting a rapper” (Interview, 5/11/15). For fans of local hip-hop music, this can be a bit overwhelming. I found myself often leaving shows with demo CDs, business cards, fliers, and other handouts from artists canvassing the crowd all widely varying in quality. Miz Taken explained that consumers may not be willing to seek out new music from “good” artists in Pittsburgh because they have been bombarded with
“bad” music. After enough “bad” music circulates, consumers characterize all Pittsburgh hip-hop as being bad and may stick only to a few artists or may stay away from it entirely.
Rapper Kerve described the Pittsburgh scene as having “a lot of oversaturation out here, too. A lot of people are rapping for the fun of it and it kind of makes it hard for people that are taking it seriously” (Interview, 6/13/15). While I fully analyze “taking [rap] seriously” in a later chapter, Kerve makes an important point about visibility in the above quotation. He believes that he must differentiate himself from those rapping “for fun” so that he can get the exposure he needs to advance his career. He went on to explain that many artists who may be rapping “for fun” will post their songs many times a day on social media sites. He also relies on social media for exposure, so, if a consumer follows both Kerve and a less-serious artist on social media, they may not see his posts because the other artist may “clog up” the consumer’s online feed. Artists like Kerve often said that they would rather their music be heard by potential consumers even if
92 they do not like it (many artists are quick to admit that their music “isn’t for everyone”) than to have their music go unheard.
The oversaturation of the music scene coincides with the progression of digital technology. As Kerve indicated earlier, consumers have access to a wide array of music which can lead to some artists being overlooked or obscured. Burner indicated that this has led to the increase of rappers of poor quality entering the scene:
In this day and age, I mean, MySpace changed everything. As soon as you could put music up on the internet, it was a wrap. Everyone wanted to be a rapper. So, the seams that you had to go through in the early 90s, with the record labels [were more direct]. Biggie Smalls didn’t upload his songs on SoundCloud and try to get plays off of that! You had to be a spitter [a talented rapper] to get somebody’s attention. You had to grab someone’s attention. (Interview, 4/28/15).
Burner feels that the emergence of social media and the internet has led to an increase of less-talented artists entering the mainstream. Instead of relying on talent, artists can now rely on becoming a “viral” sensation on the internet, again obscuring the spotlight from artists like Burner. Whether or not “unworthy” artists are gaining recognition as Kerve, Burner, and other
Burner feels that the emergence of social media and the internet has led to an increase of less-talented artists entering the mainstream. Instead of relying on talent, artists can now rely on becoming a “viral” sensation on the internet, again obscuring the spotlight from artists like Burner. Whether or not “unworthy” artists are gaining recognition as Kerve, Burner, and other