Blurred Reality: Art or Commerce?

The old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" has never been more true. The irony is that it's in fact highly likely that for the first time, an underground artist like Mos Def +will+ in fact outsell the insipid and poorly received work of an artist like Mase, who's "Double Up" has gone double wood since it's release. Pop star? He's not anymore. And therein lies the real danger - by making Mos Def a commecial product he also becomes a DISPOSABLE product. Then people start to wonder if he's successful because he's artistic or successful because it's "trendy" to like things that APPEAR to be artistic - the same mania which fuels sales of things like Andy Warhol paintings. In a disposable consumer culture, appearances are everything and substance meaningless. That is what gave birth to the idea of "underground" in the first place - a response to the meaninglessness of pop art. Pop art renews itself by stealing new life from the underground and the underground rebels by branding whatever crosses over as outcast, irrelevent, or played out. That's the fine line Mos Def walks, and when his label advertises that his album is "shipping gold" it really doesn't help. Here's hoping that underground artists don't get played out before they ever get played.

Peace, Flash

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