Hip-hop moguls stayed silent on OWS while selling wealth-maximalist luxury

Evidence

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons stood out as an exception, attending the protests “almost every day for months” and offering to fund Zuccotti Park’s cleanup. Yet he failed to galvanize the broader hip-hop community. Kanye West made a brief appearance wearing gold chains but was careful not to make any statements. Two months earlier, he and Jay-Z had released Watch the Throne, an album described as a “marvel of affluenza” and a tribute to “wealth-happy maximalism,” accompanied by $300 limited-edition Givenchy T-shirts. Critic Hua Hsu noted, “Rarely has an album seemed so simultaneously in and out of touch with the exigencies of American life.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 223

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘death of the sellout’ dynamic — critique can no longer be performed by cultural figures who are themselves products of the same distribution system. — connects to: Super-affluent hip-hop stars expose hedonism’s intrinsic hollowness — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1306; Gangsta rap’s wealth display signals nouveau-riche status anxiety, not power — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1324; Hip-hop authenticity claims encode a depoliticised acceptance of capitalist reality — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1536