Going Out On Your Own: When Affiliates Break Away From The Posse
posted in: Music News • Pop • Urban
The group is a celebrated convention of hip-hop music culture. N.W.A. Wu-Tang Clan. Public Enemy. De La Soul. Need we say more? Greater than then sum of their parts, these are groups with famous individual members whose collective efforts are generally more celebrated than their solo material.
Cut to the modern day. The tradition of the hip-hop group is still alive and well. Black Hippy, for example, is a supergroup of sorts though they don’t have a release to their collective name. Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q both enjoyed well-received releases this year, with Control System and Habits and Contradictions respectively. Yet neither release made the same splash as Kendrick Lamar, the most visible member of Black Hippy, and his major label debut good kid, m.A.A.d. city. But little else did. Even Jay Rock, the fourth and most slept on member of Black Hippy, has seen his profile rise considerably as of late, if only by proxy.
Black Hippy’s success is exceptional in a number of ways. No one release or member can be pointed to as the genesis for the success of the rest. Lamar is flying high right now, but Black Hippy was never entirely his show. It’s also rare for a group to have all of their members do as well as all four in Black Hippy have. In a hip-hop group dynamic, it’s not unusual for a member or two to become prominent. The rest will experience varying levels of popularity but the likelihood that each member fully breaks through is low.
But egos clash. Friendships fray. Artistic visions deviate. So, what happens to rappers who try to make it on their own?
Dominic Lord is a 19-year-old street fashion fanatic, music entertainment impresario, and aspiring rapper. Just like every 19 year old seems to be these days. But his pedigree speaks for itself. Lord reportedly designed the now-iconic VSVP logo and can add “ex-member of the ascendant A$AP Mob, headed by one A$AP Rocky” to his musical resume.
Lord hasn’t disclosed his reasons for breaking with the mob. Whether there was any animus between Lord or the group, either individually or at large, is unclear. It might be an issue of sound. As an emcee, one imagines Lord slotting in well on an A$AP track. His flow never gets as narcotized as Rocky’s can, and his occasional mush mouth delivery could conceivably fit in well to Rocky’s syrupy productions.
But in his solo career, Lord has shied away from the chopped and screwed, and has instead rapped over beats with a more warped flavor. Lord’s first release, the Fashion Show EP, features productions from the likes of Hudson Mohawke and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes. The Guardian UK wasn’t far off when they wrote that Lord’s output was an example of the “Cocteau Twinsification of hip-hop.” (I blame/thank The Weeknd.)
A$AP Mob mines murkiness on occasion but they also sound right at home on more traditional, sample-based productions. Lord, on the other hand, is wallowing in the murk. And it appears to be paying off. There’s a purported label bidding war over who will get to put out Lord’s debut full length. So Lord hasn’t made it yet, but he looks to be on his way.
Now we turn our eyes to Odd Future, the famously gargantuan group that counts twelve rappers and dozens more photographers, designers, skate boarders, and other affiliated music acts among their roster. It’s no surprise then that some would break off from the rest of the wolf pack. While there are a couple members that we could cover here, the primary success story of note belongs to Casey Veggies.
Veggies was one of the founding members of Odd Future; his verses can be heard all over The Odd Future Tape, the first mixtape released from the collective way back in 2008. Though Veggies got in on the ground floor, it wasn’t long before he got the solo itch. Veggies, real name Casey Jones, left Odd Future right after graduating from Inglewood High School. According to a spate of interviews, it sounds like Veggies didn’t see himself fitting into the group’s brand. Not a problem, says Tyler, the Creator, head honcho of OF. [Veggies] knows exactly where he wants to go,” Tyler mentioned to MTV Rapfix. “But he always know if he ever needs anything: beats, a dollar, sneakers, a bag, deodorant, waffles, peas, I have his back.
So how do you think a kid who was juggling high school, a burgeoning music career, and varsity athletics would do, crew or no crew? He’s had features on tracks with XV, Pac Div, Juicy J, Mac Miller, and Chiddy Bang. He was a nominee for XXL’s 2012 Freshman Class. He has four mixtapes and an independently released full length to his name. Oh, and he’s a recent signee to Roc Nation’s management arm. So yeah, Veggies is doing pretty well for himself.
So members of hip-hop posses, take note. You might be better off doing the solo thing.
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