The following thoughts were inspired by someone (hereafter Person) saying that “mainstream rap” was of drastically decreased quality these days. When asked what their evidence was, Person said, “All I hear on the radio is Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne.” (I will be working on the assumption that Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne are generally not great, musically. This may or may not be true, but the point is to look at the argument “A and B are bad and on the radio, that means mainstream rap is bad.” So I’ll accept that premise just to avoid unnecessary complications.) (Also, not gonna lie, this is pretty rough.)
Q1: Is the radio mainstream?
In Beyoncé’s “Formation,” she cites her ability to “get your song played on the radio station” as a seemingly significant form of power. Far be it from me to contradict a pop queen on what is or isn’t effective artistic exposure, but this offer seems a bit disingenuous coming from someone whose album debuted as an HBO special. If we’re looking for the home of the mainstream, Game of Thrones (or Lemonade, for that matter) seems like a better signpost than Mojo in the Morning. Then again, maybe that’s exactly the problem with trying to find the mainstream if you are not in it: it’s everywhere you wouldn’t think to look. Or what if “mainstream” and “popular” are actually two different things? There’s a question. Yup, that there’s a question.
Accepting, provisionally, that radio at least can be mainstream, I wonder if it’s different for different genres. Rap, which often includes explicit lyrics and subject matter, I would imagine has not been as welcomed on FCC-regulated media outlets as, say, Taylor Swift. Blake Shelton is a regular on NBC’s The Voice, where established artists vie for the opportunity to “coach” contestants. Shelton often presents himself to singers with a country vibe as being the guy who can get their music on country radio stations. I could easily imagine that mainstream country is fairly accurately represented by country radio, as the target audience seems more likely to turn to their radio as their primary source of exposure to new / popular music. Or maybe that’s just bro-country? Is bro-country mainstream country? Uh oh.
Q2 (Q1 part 2?): Is mainstream rap mainstream, and vice versa?
Let’s accept, for the sake of argument, that the radio to which Person was listening represented “the mainstream.” I wonder, then, if it’s possible that Rap that has entered into the mainstream of music as a whole might nonetheless not be part of the mainstream of rap itself. To put it another way, is it possible that Lil Wayne is rap, and is mainstream, but is not mainstream rap? Might this apply even between two genres? Dave Matthews Band is a mainstream jam band, but are they mainstream singer-songwriter? Ok, I think I’m starting to confuse myself.
Q3: What is mainstream? Or rather, what is “mainstream?”
Probably I should’ve started with this one: what the heck does mainstream even mean? One way we use “mainstream” is to simply refer to what’s popular, which, while somewhat nebulous, at least has a certain sense of measurability. Another way we use “mainstream,” though, is to refer to those pieces of culture that break out of the confines of their respective niches and enter the general consciousness—thus my suggestion that “mainstream rap” is “rap that is mainstream.” It’s easy to dismiss such things as appealing to the lowest common denominator, and certainly it is true that these are usually the least interesting and least innovative cultural products, and least significant within their respective fields. But I think it’s important to recognize that when someone says “mainstream rap,” they don’t necessarily think of it as “rap that is mainstream.” Rather, they are using the word “mainstream” to claim authority that they don’t actually have.
Think of a literal stream, specifically one that is a tributary to a large river. The people who call this the “main stream” of the river do so not because it is the largest, I would argue, but rather because it is the one near which the most people, or perhaps the most people like themselves, live. Those who live by the actual largest tributary know more about the river than these others, and yet, due to lack of numbers and/or cultural power, are underrepresented in determinations of what constitute the main qualities of the river. So the people by the “main stream” see a bunch of salmon and are like, “This river is populated solely with salmon,” but the other people are like, “There are actually a lot of trout and perch in there too,” and the “main stream” people are like, “Ugh stop being so pretentious.”
This is why I am often suspicious of the term “mainstream.” It seems what is actually doing is allowing the general populace, which is to say those not expert in a particular field or area of interest, to claim undue authority. I expect that neither I nor Person should be able to say what is or isn’t “mainstream rap,” and yet, specifically because we are part of the non-expert population, we feel like we have that power, and those who hold expert knowledge are then seen as being “pretentious” or “hipster,” etc., which are not just convenient epithets but challenges to the sincerity and therefore validity of any identity that is not “mainstream.” It’s really quite insidious when you think about it, and I don’t think it’s going too far to say that this is a reflection of the anti-intellectualism that is deeply embedded in American culture. (Obviously in this specific instance there’s also a cultural appropriation angle, and the history of white people dictating the value of art produced by non-white cultures.)
Note that the term is not always used to describe that which is the worst or least-representational in a field. When the far-right refers to the “mainstream media,” they do, in fact, tend to be referring to those media outlets that actually practice journalism. This is still a case, however, of those outside of a field using the word “mainstream” to claim some authority in that field, and indeed, they believe themselves to be using it in the same way as Person referring to the decline of “mainstream rap.”
TL;DR
Stop using the word “mainstream” unless you actually know what you’re talking about and maybe not even then because it’s confusing.
Certain of Eventual Failure 