ATL Indie Field Notes

Though the topic of the Atlanta Indie/Underground Hip-Hop Scene may seem like a strange and narrow topic to do a whole project on, luckily for me I have some strong ties and associations to the scene. Most of my effective ground work and true “hands-on” ethnological study will likely take place over spring break while I am actually at home, in Atlanta, and I am able to set up interviews with people and attend parties/shows. Until then I thought it may be useful to do something that is one of my favorites past times even beyond this project. I call it “MySpace surfing”. The basic premise behind this is starting off at one music artist/group/ producer/manager’s MySpace, browsing their respective MySpaces a bit until I see another person of interest and then continue the routine on the new page.
Initially, I had planned on doing my normal “surfing” routine and reporting on each individual page I go to but I think it would be more useful to just jot down some common characteristics seen on the MySpaces. On a bit of a sidebar, It is truly amazing what MySpace has done for music. It has allowed virtually anyone who makes music to make it easily accessible through the internet. Before MySpace Music pages, I am not even exactly sure how people who weren’t easily accessible to me or in my particular area or subculture. These characteristics are just a few things I have picked up on while looking at the hundreds of pages I have come across.
Here are a list of key themes & characteristics seen on ATL Indie MySpace Pages:
• Of course everyone has a profile picture with some sort of self promotion
• In addition to the generic MySpace music player that allows them to choose up to 6 songs to post, many have external players that allow them to add many more songs
• Embedded YouTube videos, some of which are just songs with pictures, others are live performances
• “Top Friends” lists are a great indicator of who the artist or group associates with
• “Top Friends” list is generally a culmination of other artists (sometimes major artists), producers, friends, managers, stores, magazines, etc.
• Many comments stating something like “thanks 4 the add” or “Love the Sound”
• Most pages are clearly done by someone who knows that they are doing and not just taken off of a “MySpace page designer” website.
Some random thoughts and questions I would like to answer at some point during this project:
• Since many artists are independent, and thus not signed to a record label, what is there main source of income? Additionally, are they students? Do they have day jobs?
• Is there a stigma attached that promotes separation from the mainstream or is it the artists’ goal to someday “make it big”
• Do the major artists from Atlanta help out the indie artists? If so, how?
• Is the scene unified as a whole or is there tension from artists to artists, clique to clique

Atlanta Indie/Underground Hip Hop Scene

For the topic of my ethnographic project, I will be exploring Atlanta's Indie Hip Hop music scene. Since the early 1990's Atlanta has been a major piece in the evolution of popular music we know and love today, producing the likes of Babyface, Jermaine Dupri, Usher, TLC, Outkast, Ludacris and T.I. to name a few. Despite all of these big name music industry people, Atlanta also has a vibrant Indie Hip Hop scene not so prevalent to the masses across the nation.



The term "hip hop" will be used very lightly in this project because Atlanta's indie scene is very dynamic musically crossing over many genre-barriers and is sometimes even classified by terms such as "Ghettotech", "Industrial" and "New Wave". During my ethnographic process I plan to conduct interviews with those affiliated with the sub-culture, as well as conduct my own studies of the music, fashion, culture related to the scene. I plan to include, a juxtaposition of videos, sounds clips, images, and links that will be important in understanding the lifestyle.


Links to some Atlanta Indie Artists:

http://www.myspace.com/proton2
http://www.myspace.com/cumgitslum
http://www.myspace.com/hollyweerd
http://www.myspace.com/mumsfp

Critical Review #4

Hodkinson, Paul. 2004. Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

Hodkinson's chapter, "The Goth Scene", highlights the underground goth scene in Great Britain. Throughout his article, Hodkinson pays special attention to the translocal connection of goths located throughout Britain. Hodkinson also points out the more inclusive nature of goth culture, and there evaluations of cultural capitol. To be more specific, instead of being in 'competition' with goths from different areas across Britain, they are interested and eager to interact with non-local goths. Hodkinson also discusses media's role in the translocal goth scenes. Media is used a way to connect, organize, and bring together goths that are not necessarily close geographically. Oftentimes, this media, most often the internet, is used as a means to sustain contact with translocal goths, and also as a conduit to organize events, gathering, and meetings.

Discussion Question: Hodkinson's article about the goth scene makes it seem as if the goth community is very accepting of each other translocally, and also locally with little attention paid to one's cultural capitol. Why is it that some subcultures are more inclusive that others? Additionally, what are some of the things that may cause a person to be excluded from a sub-culture, in general?

Critical Review #3

Cohen, Sara. 1993. "Ethnography and Popular Music Studies." Popular Music 12(2): 123-138


In her article, Cohen takes almost an instructional approach in explaining ethnography and its importance, specifically in the study of music. Ethnography, as usually described in the field of anthropology, is a hands on approach to research that involves "intimate study and residence with a particular group of people." [124] Cohen goes on to describe some of the methods in which she has conducted ethnomusicology and gives a specific example, comparing and contrasting the musical journeys of two Jewish men from Liverpool. Cohen goes on to talk about some of the pros and cons of ethnography. For example, a shortcoming of the more hands-on approach is whether or not the small part studied is an accurate representative of the whole. Despite her ability to view both sides of the ethnography argument, it is clear that Cohen is pro-ethnography as she feels as if it can "increase self awareness and challenge preconceived notions or 'ungrounded assumptions." [135]

Discussion Question: In her article, Cohen discusses that often times, when researching our own culture, we have difficulties pointing out some of its most obvious characteristics which makes it difficult to relate our culture or practices with other cultures or practices. Why is it difficult for us to see some of the most obvious traits and characteristics of our culture?