Number one on the Billboard charts right now stands Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (aka Lil Wayne) at 5 feet 6 inches. His opponent, 5 foot 11 Taylor Swift, drops her “Speak Now” album on Monday and many predict it to dethrone the incarcerated rapper’s reining “I Am Not A Human Being” record (released on his 28th birthday—a month ago today). The two couldn’t be more different aside from their shared superstardom, but both dominate the radio waves and iPod memory space of America. Chris Anderson describes the current media market as a “Long Tail” of targeted niches and scattered cultural communities, but don’t let this long tail fool you; the gangster rock stars and American sweethearts are doing just fine.
Both of these contending artists have developed a massive fanbase by working hard and providing a quality product. Somehow standing their ground, these artists are finding ways to maintain mass appeal in the YouTube landscape that is contemporary music. Lil Wayne’s 2008 record “The Carter 3” leaked over a million illegal downloads before it’s official release even dropped, and he still managed to sell another million in the album’s first week in stores. Taylor Swift was the highest grossing artist in America last year and she kept it classy through all the Kanye West drama that ensued from a dramatic VMA ceremony.
I talk a lot about the economy of entertainment and the pressures of piracy on creative wellbeing, but these two superstars haven’t lost their faith just yet. Don’t get me wrong, they have little to fear as far as finances go, but I think they reason they are so successful is because they put all of themselves into their music and they don’t fear the unknown. Both musicians care so much about their fans and their work that they don’t have time to doubt themselves. Both take creative chances and express themselves through their art, and fans can definitely feel it. It seems as if confidence in your work is the key to success, and the less you care about cash the better off you’ll wind up.
Now, obviously not everyone can be as lucky as Lil Wanye or Taylor Swift, and there are plenty of artists out there who try just as hard as they do and go completely unappreciated. But there are also artists out there who take cookie-cutter lyrics from their record label, sing them to autotune, get drunk at awards shows and make it into the tabloids, but will never succeed the way a superstar does. Americans may have split into niches with the internet, but we haven’t lost our appreciation for a true, hard-working artist and we know one when we see it.
Financial success shouldn’t be what drives an artist. It’s a rational necessity in some aspects to live comfortably, but even the billionaire billboard moguls know better than to give up on their art because of an economic downfall or a pirate-laden cycberspace. They work hard and deserve what they have, but the important thing about these two is that their motivation doesn’t come from economic success. Piracy puts its damper on entertainment, no doubt; but it also separates the driven artists from the fame-hungry frauds.
On a personal note, I love Lil Wayne and hope his success continues with “I Am Not A Human Being” and his upcoming release of “The Carter 4.” He deserves it. Free Weezy!
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