Finding the Right Groove for Hip Hop

Finding the Right Groove for Hip Hop
 
In this viewpoint, audio producer, composer and rap producer Tyson
Kuteyi of Toronto's Tattoo Sound + Music says hip hop has the right
groove for ads, as long as the message jives with the genre.
 
By Tyson Kuteyi
 

Tyson Kuteyi says there's more room for hip hop in TV spots, as long as it's used in the right context.

I love hip hop. It's a culture made up of rapping, DJ'ing, beat boxing, graffiti and fashion.  Since its birth in the early seventies, the elements of hip hop have evolved. Specifically with the musical aspect of hip hop, the sound has changed throughout the years, along with its audience.
 
Perceived early on as "black music," hip hop today reaches a far greater spectrum of listeners. Enjoyed by people from varied demographics, the form has charmed its way into the mainstream market and continues to be on top in worldwide music sales - so much so that even other genres of music, like pop, R&B, rock, jazz and dance music, have been incorporating elements of hip hop more and more in their songs.
 

But hip hop isn't just about the music. It's a lifestyle, it's fashion, it's art.  Not only do we hear hip hop music in advertising, we also see it. Hip hop fashion is becoming more prevalent in ads, mirroring how it's become prevalent in society. I find that sometimes, whole wardrobes may have a "hip hop feel," whereas sometimes it's just the way an actor has been "accessorized."
 
The thing about hip hop is that, by its nature, it's cool, fresh, youthful and fun. So if that's the overall message that the advertiser is trying to get across, it works.  I still find myself feeling like, 'Hey, they're talking to me," when I see an ad that has any or all of these elements added.
 
Why? Because it relates to me and my culture, my lifestyle and the way I hear and see things. That's a result of my environment. I grew up listening to hip hop, wearing Cross Color jeans and keeping my sneakers as white as I could. I grew up trying to write rhymes and make beats, doing shows, and DJ'ing clubs and house parties. Hip hop has helped make me who I am today, and I'm thankful for it.  It's given me my inner funky.
 
The issue of demographics plays an important role in deciding when hip hop is right for an ad.  There's still a lot of debate circling around music magazines and websites for years, revolving around the question of just who buys hip hop music.  I'm not sure if the question matters that much when deciding whether or not hip hop is right for an ad. There are many people in my immediate circle who don't listen to hip hop regularly, but will still sing along to Kanye West's "Golddigger." There are even some that hate hip hop and any form of it, but will still chuckle at seeing T-Pain do his thang in those TV spots for Bud Light and Toshiba.
 
But are there other ways to use hip hop in advertising besides poking fun at it? My opinion is that, because the sound of hip hop is so prevalent in our everyday lives now, there's a great opportunity to make use of it in ads, depending on who you're talking to.  At times, it can work to simply represent the tastes and attitudes of a particular type of consumer, which you can achieve by simply melding some of the elements of hip hop with a folk song, doing a mashup with a classic rock song or even with a piece of classical music.

Hip hop can even be combined with opera, as Kuteyi did in this Honda spot titled "Wave."

This is an approach I took on a TV spot for Honda I worked on a number of years ago for Grip Limited, Honda's agency in Toronto. Part of the brand's Civic Nation campaign, the spot, titled "Wave,"  showed a guy driving a Civic sedan listening to the opera "Carmen," then cut to a guy in a Civic coupe headed towards him listening to a hip hop track by the Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall.  As the two got closer to each, the classical piece morphed with the hip hop piece, and the two tracks played together in a remixed, mashed-up kind of way.
 
In this ad, the creatives were demonstrating the two aspects of a single car - classic yet sporty and hip - and how both commingled, which emphasizes my point:  When the strategy calls for it, it's right.
 
I can remember clearly, when I first got into the ad business, I thought I was gonna bust through and be this booming voice, advocating for more hip hop in advertising!  I quickly learned that, like loud booming voices, there's a time and a place for it - especially in Canada.  As I check out ads from other parts of the world (on SourceEcreative's website of course), I find there's way more usage of hip hop in advertising in the States.  That's not surprising, given that there is a much larger number of African-American consumers in the US than here in Canada. Naturally, work in the States reflects more of an African-American influence, both in terms of casting and in terms of message.
 
We all know that using a familiar piece of music is a good way to get a brand recognized.  Fortunately for beer companies, alcohol consumption is a popular subject in some hip hop lyrics (hell, ya think?!), although that's not the only product category that can take advantage of what hip hop has to offer brands. In some cases, because of the wide range of lyrical content found in rap, you can find clever ways to use an existing piece of music where the lyrics work really well.

Kia's use of a tune from Black Sheep is a great example of hip hop in advertising, says Kuteyi.

A great example is the Kia "This or That" spot for the Soul, from David & Goliath in the US.  What a clever and fun use of Black Sheep's classic "The Choice is Yours"!  The lyrics go, "You can get with this, or you can get with that," sung as the lead hamster compares the ultra cool Soul to two poor dudes riding in a toaster.  It's a pretty bold statement that frankly would just sound silly coming from a voiceover announcer, but for some reason it seems cool and funny and fitting, coming from rapping hamsters.
 
I believe that when hip hop is used properly in an ad, it has this almost poignant ability to stand out. Whether it's being used to comic effect or in a serious manner, it seems to make that ad a bit more prominent than the other commercials seen in that pod. I'm not saying that if you want to stand out you have to use it. If you're trying to speak to 65 year-old retirees about medical insurance, perhaps it's not the right approach - but if you want to speak to a younger audience, or speak about a younger audience, that should be viewed as an opportunity.
 
One of the great things I like about hip hop is that there is a range of usability.  You can have very dark hip hop that is angry and aggressive, and you can have hip hop that's quirky and playful. It can even poke fun at itself. It can be dramatic, cinematic, blended with orchestral instrumentation, mixed with classical and even wrapped up with songs from yesterday.  
 
Music professionals can play an instrumental role in adding just the right degree of hip hop style to your music track to make it work with another genre, or to sit perfectly within the demographic you're aiming at.  Whether it be the sound of the drums, the swing of the groove, adding an MC or having a DJ throw in some scratches, there are ways to inject elements or influences of the genre within the music without going 'all the way' hip hop.
 
The tricky part is having the right person do the job.  If you're going to add sprinkles of hip hop within the music track, please make it authentic!  There have been a few cases when I've heard these elements used the wrong way.  That ends up sounding lame, which listeners can detect instantly.  My advice is to let your music house help you.  (We don't want anybody thinking you're wack or cornball. We want people to know you're fly, hot crazee, ill, fire, and "you know, what'z up!")  This gives both you and the product you're promoting the credibility it deserves.

In "What Goes Where," Kuteyi built a danceable track to complement the message.

An example of finding the right balance to your hip hop can be seen in a recent spot I composed for Ikea.  We feel this is a good example of having the elements of hip hop used in a way that works for the brand.  The track is danceable, while at the same time it's interesting, quirky and fun. The spot is not geared towards any specific demographic, as Ikea's Canadian customers are quite diverse. This spot shows that understanding how hip hop reaches many different cultures provides you with a great opportunity to include it in your palette of sounds that work with the picture – it just needs to be handled with the same attention to detail that exists within the visuals of an ad.
 
In my workplace at Tattoo I'm surrounded by extremely experienced and talented professionals with varying strengths. When we all get together in a room to collaborate, we feed off each other and are inspired from different perspectives.  Having Steve Gadsden, our founder and President there, along with Steve Convery and Drew Frohmann, allows us to create amazing results collectively.
 
That's the advantage of having the team.  We draw from each other's past experiences and/or strengths in music, allowing us to blend any genre together to create a new hybrid that's both on strategy and sonically pleasing. 
 
Tyson Kuteyi is a composer and producer at Tattoo Sound + Music in Toronto.

Published 25 March, 2011