After a month straight of daily reviews, it’s safe to say Real Yeti Rap is back in business once again. That business has seen better days! Music criticism, especially the kind made by humans, is a dwindling field and getting smaller every year, too. This is necessary, this is good.
The legend of Cameron Crowe recapitulates the life cycle of the entire industry. Yung Crowe was an awkward kid who desperately wanted to be Lester Bangs, and he found no shortage of underground publications that were happy to take advantage of his tireless ambition. Paying dues at a prolific pace, he worked his way up to the desk of Jann Wenner, one of the biggest assholes in the history of print. The rest is … well, more mythology than history, but fame is a culture that bleeds bullshit.
Rap music, of course, is even worse. The origin story is pure fiction, many of the biggest names are blatant frauds, and generations of stylistic innovators who shaped the genre barely rank as footnotes. Life is like that. I’m not here to tilt at windmills or do butterfly strokes against that tide. I accept the arena for what it is: an abattoir where the blood is always knee-deep.
There is always more work to be done, but April will see two changes. First, a return to a more civilized schedule: we’re back to Monday through Friday. Working on the weekend is good clean American fun, but I have an entire country estate to tend to this Spring. That kind of opulence doesn’t maintain itself, and a man needs to live outside.
Second, we are re-opening an actual submission inbox. I have been impressed by the managers & hustlers who managed to track me down by other means over the past month, but it’s time to democratize that access: yo hump jones at gmail is the direct line. This is a mistake, I regret it immediately, but I also know it is the right thing to do.
The Genre has never been in better shape and The Industry has never been more fundamentally fucked. This is an era of immense opportunity and man-made horrors beyond our comprehension. Good luck, and remember: you’re going to die someday. Act like this matters.