Critical and Cultural Reactions
Due to its emphasis on abstracted artistry, experimental sonancy, and subversive lyricism, alternative hip hop is frequently the recipient of critical acclaim but is generally shunned by media outlets and viewed as a financial liability. Rapper-singer Q-Tip, frontman of the highly influential alternative rap group A Tribe Called Quest, had his sophomore solo effort Kamaal/The Abstract shelved for nearly a decade after his record label deemed the genre-bending album as sounding uncommercial. Q-Tip was quoted as saying:
| “ | I am really disappointed that Kamaal wasn't released. LA Reid didn't know what to do with it; then, three years later, they release OutKast. What OutKast is doing now, those are the kinds of sounds that are on Kamaal the Abstract. Maybe even a little more out. Kamaal was just me, guerrilla. | ” |
Similarly, Black Entertainment Television infamously refused to play "Lovin' It", the lead single of North Carolina-based alt-rap duo Little Brother's socio-politically charged concept album The Minstrel Show, which provided a tongue-in-cheek critique of African-American pop culture, on the grounds that the group's music was "too intelligent" for their target audience. The network was subsequently satirized by the animated series The Boondocks – which regularly features underground/alternative rap as background music – in the banned episode The Hunger Strike. The episode, which humorously portrayed BET as an evil organization dedicated to the self-genocidal mission of eradicating black people through violent, overtly sexual programming, was banned by Cartoon Network and has yet to be aired in the United States. As a result of these complications and more, most alternative rap groups tended to be embraced primarily by alternative rock and indie music fans, rather than hip hop or pop audiences.
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