Thursday, March 01, 2007

Over the Counter Culture

Tim Fite, Hip Hop artist extraordinaire, is giving away his latest album, Over the Counter Culture. In a wonderful interview in the Chicago Tribune by Greg Kot Fite explains how the album is a protest against what he sees is the worst aspects of the culture he loves so much
Everybody has their first musical love, and rap music -- and especially the politics of it -- were what turned me on and what got me excited, that there could be a form of music that was socially conscious and untainted seemingly by big business. But along the way it stopped being a voice and became a product. Now it takes the worst stereotypes that society has to offer and amps them up to ridiculous caricatures of what a population can be and then uses those characteristics to market a product that is a mockery of itself.
Because the record is so decidedly critical of consumerism, Fite has taken the next step and has decided not to go through his label, which would need to sell it as a viable commodity.

Sound complex? It is. As Fite told Billboard
A lot of people don't even know their voice is being suppressed because they're too busy buying stuff. They're putting money back into a system that exploits them, and they're told happiness comes from a material gain. That's my primary target of rage on this record. It's a complicated idea, and I have to recognize that my voice isn't necessarily the most valid. I have benefited from all the things that I rail against.
By the way, it has a good beat and, yes, you can dance to it. I give it a 98.

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