For much of its early history, hip-hop’s basic unit was the group. The most popular artists of the mid to late 80s, when rap began to make headway into mainstream pop-culture, were groups: Run-DMC, Eric B. and Rakim, NWA and Public Enemy. As the 90s rolled through, more individual stars began to dominate the rap scene, all-timers like 2Pac, the Notorious B.I.G., Nas and Jay-Z. However, the group continued to have a strong presence in the rap world, from murdered out Mobb Deep to kushed out Cypress Hill to funky futuristic space pimped out Outkast. Through the 2000s, squads such as Dipset, the LOX and UGK continued to make their marks. And then, all of a sudden, the group faded away as a relevant force in hip-hop.
There are probably a couple of reasons for this transformation in the rap landscape. During the 90s rappers began to really start making the money they talked about all along, and an influx of earnings has a way of straining the bonds between creative partners. Why, if you’re Rakim, one of the most skilled MCs ever, would you want to split a $5 million deal with Eric B., a solid producer and DJ, when you could sign the same deal as a solo artist? Record labels began to identify a new group’s most marketable talent and encourage him to go solo, maximizing his income and reducing their risk.
Several existing groups experienced internal friction. Outkast famously went their separate ways shortly after the release of Idlewild, a smiling-through-gritted-teeth kind of split to work on individual projects. Dipset and G-Unit, on the other hand, went through extremely ugly breakups marred by diss tracks, taped phone calls, and no end of ridiculousness from all parties. Even the greatest hip-hop group of all time, Wu-Tang Clan, has released only one album since 2001.
All told, the group pretty much faded out of hip-hop relevance starting around 2006 or 2007. In its place another form of hip-hop organization came to being, what I like to call the clique. These are similar to groups in that they are made up of multiple artists, producers and rappers, but they are distinguished by being largely creatively independent of one another. The members may collaborate often, show up at each other’s concerts, and flex together on Instagram, but they are not a single artistic unit. The most prominent example of the hip-hop clique is Kanye West’s GOOD Music squad (they in fact had the smash hit, “Clique”), which includes Mr. West himself, Big Sean, Pusha T, Common, and a whole mess of other artists. While they share an umbrella under the GOOD record label and receive creative input from Yeezus, they are not a group in the way that Mobb Deep and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony were. In the same vein as GOOD Music, Rick Ross has developed his own stable of young talent in Maybach Music Group.
In addition to supplanting the group, cliques quickly became the best avenue for new artists to crack into the mainstream. As anybody who has aspiring singer/songwriters on their Facebook feed knows, the internet has virtually no end of musicians posting their work. The best way for a newcomer to make any headway into a broader market is to receive a co-sign from one of a handful of rap’s head honchos. Artists like West and Ross are amongst the few rappers who can still perform well in commercial album sales, which gives their signees credibility and a leg up on the competition. Even less established clique-masters have seen their underlings parlay association with the top dog into solo success; mere months after A$AP Rocky’s own album debut, his right-hand man A$AP Ferg rolled out two of the biggest hits of summer 2013.
So is this an obituary commemorating the death of the hip-hop group? Not quite. In recent months, rap groups have found themselves with a considerably larger share of the limelight than in previous years. Two Brooklyn groups, Flatbush Zombies and the Underachievers, have quietly gained substantial followings, and have even united as the supergroup Clockwork Indigo (they’re playing Higher Ground November 30). Ratking, a three man group made up of two rappers and a producer, has won enormous critical acclaim for their debut album “So It Goes.” Out West, groups like Pac Div and Audio Push have been making noise of their own. Obviously these guys are not ready to compete with Kanye’s merry band of fashionistos, but their continuous progress is proof that the group is regaining traction in hip-hop. Even the old-guard has noticed that the group has reentered the vogue: Outkast, Dipset, G-Unit, and Wu-Tang have all reunited in the past months to tour and record.
The reasons for the group’s resurgence are harder to pinpoint than its initial collapse. My explanation ties back to that all-powerful force in the music industry: the internet. Although receiving a major endorsement is a fast track to success, many artists have used the web to achieve wide notoriety without the help of a major record label. Groups are able to remain creatively independent and can develop their own sound without having to justify their record deal with a thrown-together, commercial single. The Flatbush Zombies have yet to release a single song that anybody had to pay for, yet they’ve sold out shows across the US and Europe. The ability to avoid the meddling influence of the mainstream music industry seems to be at the center of this, as evidenced by Ratking, whose lead MC Wiki was told by several major labels that they would only sign him if he left his partners behind. Fortunately, he did not lose faith in the power of the group. Perhaps hip-hop fans should never have either.
