I was listening to T.I’s Paper Trail album. Definitely a hot album but I hadn’t realized just how many Haters that man has after him. Man, it must be tough to constantly have to shake the Haters off as much as he does. Now that I think of it, all that Hating is probably a lot tougher on the Haters themselves, especially considering all the bad press they get. And for what? Considering that most of your successful rappers alive today owe the bulk of that success to the haters who inspired them to reach for the stars, in spite of them; why can’t Haters get the recognition they deserve? Where did all the love go for the Haters who made you who you are?!?! I’d say a pretty solid case could be made that Haters are probably the most important and under represented people in Hip hop today. We need a union.
The Urban dictionary defines a hater as “1. A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy, they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.’ Historically, being hated on is the best thing that could have happened to some folks. Where would our greatest rappers of the day be without haters? From Jay-Z to Maino, the list goes on.
Rappers are our modern day superheroes, and everybody knows that any super hero worth his salt has an arch enemy; aka Hater keeping them on their toes. Superman has Lex Luthor. Batman has the Joker. Heck, even Barack Obama has FOX News to hate on him. What do all these larger than life figures have in common? They’re all successful, do in large part to the many Haters who extol them on a daily to excel; not only in thwarting whatever dastardly deed they’ve cooked up to take over the world that day, but also by helping them hone their craft to near perfection. I mean there’s very little room for error when it comes to saving the world, or even in implementing universal healthcare for that matter.
Haters are walking, talking PR firms. They essentially drum up interest in whatever it is they’re hating on (a paradox of sorts, since the intended purpose of hating is to make a thing seem less attractive to everyone else) in the hopes that their hate can single handedly bring that person/thing down a couple notches. As harsh as it may seem hating is as American as apple pie. So in the vein of capitalistic chicanery that is America, it only seems fitting that one should be able to turn a profit for Hating.
Rappers need Haters and Haters need rappers. It’s a symbiotic relationship (one feeding off of the other for sustenance). Although it’s hard to tell sometimes who’s the parasite and who’s the host, especially considering the anemic state of the music industry these days.
I’d like to take this moment now to put my bid in. I want to be Your Hater. Come to think of it, I’ve been a world-class hater for years and didn’t even know it. I hate the Yankees. I Hate the Lakers. I hate skinny jeans. You get the picture. I just want to get in on what could possibly be the next big American entrepreneurial endeavor- the Corporatization of Hating (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it). Look at my track record. It’s quite possible that my hating may have propelled those two teams mentioned above to championships this year. I don’t have the facts and figures in front of me to prove it, but, trust me- I Hate those guys a lot. And if it wasn’t my hate that did it then it was probably yours.
My point is this: It takes talent to spew the kind of venom I do for those things I truly despise. It only seems fair that I should be adequately compensated for my hard labor. And so should you. Why hate for free?
Tags: entrepeneur, hater, haters, hip hop, jay z, Kanye West, Maino, MC, music, rap
Hateration defind. Nice job!