Joey Bada$$, Lyor Cohen & The Death of the “Indie” Rapper Posted by Nathan S. on 07/02/13 | Filed under Opinion, Joey Badass

Long after the world has changed, the language we use to describe it remains the same. "Mixtapes" haven't been on actual tapes in a decade, and are almost never mixed, but we still call them mixtapes. Most "leaks" are nothing more than the artist releasing a single online without calling it a single, and now it's time we redefined, and renamed, what it means to be an indie rapper.

From at least the late '80s until today the term "indie rapper" meant a rapper who wasn't signed to a major label, and along with that "indie" label came a whole host of expectations. Indie rappers are always viewed as more "authentic"; when they succeed it's because their music was undeniably dope, not because they had a marketing department behind them, and we love them more for it.

But in 2013 so many indie shades of grey have emerged that the word's essentially lost its meaning. As I discussed on the podcast, major labels are now regularly ghost-signing artists, giving them major label support but purposefully avoiding any major label association so the artist can maintain their indie appeal factor. Mac Miller is "indie", but he is signed to Rostrum Records, an "indie" label with a lot of the resources of a major whose biggest artist, Wiz Khalifa, is also a major label superstar. Is Mac Miller "indie"? Macklemore is "indie", he even went so far as to tell Jimmy Iovine to fuck off, but he uses the same marketing and publicity company as Universal Records. Is he "indie"? And now an indie rapper credited with reviving underground New York City hip-hop, Joey Bada$$, has moguls like Lyor Cohen behind him. Is he indie?

In a recent Village Voice interview Joey Bada$$ said that it would take, "Three million. Off the top," for a major label to sign him, a quote that, in conjunction with the recent news that he met with Jay-Z but didn't sign to Roc Nation, will further cement his growing reputation as an indie rap icon. In large part it's a reputation he more than deserves, but dig a little deeper and you'll see that things aren't so simple. He's signed to Cinematic Music Group, an "indie" label with a distribution deal with Sony, who also contains the Def Jam-signed Big K.R.I.T., and last week Lyor Cohen, the former head of Def Jam and Warner Music Group, literally one of the most influential, major music players on the planet, held a party at his Brooklyn house to celebrate his investment in Joey Bada$$.

Now let me be clear. While Lyor's relationship with Joey isn't a secret, he did invite enough people to this party that word easily spread to me, I have no idea what the exact details of what that relationship entails. Independent investors who put up some money upfront for an artist in exchange for a long term cut of the profits are common place, and what I have to assume is going on here, but the details really don't matter.

What I'm more interested in is how this news continues to redefine the definition of "indie". True, Joey Basa$$ or Mac Miller or Macklemore may not be technically signed to a major label, but when you've got Lyor Cohen in your corner, or you're ghost signed, or you're hiring major label radio promotion, you're so far outside of the true spirit of "indie" that the word doesn't really apply anymore.

By no means is this a shot at Joey, or anyone else. Truthfully, this is the indie rappers dream; all of the benefits of a major label deal without signing your life away. People like Bada$$ are changing music, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse, maybe both, but it's changing regardless of how we feel.

So it's not up to artists to change themselves to fit our definition of "indie", it's time for us to redefine what we think an "indie" artist is.

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See Also:  Joey Bada$$ Drops Some Musical Bad Assery On “Summer Knights” (Listen & Download)
See Also:  This Week in Hype Podcast: “Indie” Major Label Rappers, Ye vs. Cole vs. Mac & More