Pump up the Music
Some of Hip Hops' Biggest Stars Named in Steroid Scandal
Story by G. Melesaine

The pressure on professional athletes to compete in any sport against the best of the best has always been strong enough to push those athletes to steroids. But when a New York based steroid investigation came out naming some of hip hop's biggest artists including Wyclef, Timbaland, Fifty Cent, and Mary J. Blige, it was a surprise to a lot of hip hop fans. Though shocking, I'm not really surprised.

Since the change in the music industry with technology, competition is probably at an all time high. In all realness the music industry is first a business. Music fits somewhere in between money and consumer perception. I remember when a 200+lbs. Missy Elliot disappeared and returned almost half her size. It was a big deal to her fans because she was always the big girl who had flows. But during that time it probably was her most recognizable time as a hip hop artist, dropping the best selling female rap album of the year. Not to say that her music wasn't good, but I also believe her new image helped. And she's not the only one. Being close friends with Timbaland, he returned to the music game looking like somebody's bodyguard, I figured that maybe nutrition and fitness brushed on to him or they worked out in the summer. Timbaland has always been one of the greatest music producers to me, but because he really never had a certain image, he often got overlooked. If its true that Timbaland used steroids for that image, I'm not sure if it really matters because that's how the business is, a selling game. And looks sell, even in hip hop.

But while a lot of people are pointing fingers at these artists, perhaps we as fans and consumers also are partly responsible. A lot of times people listen to and follow what they like to look at. Is it the artists feeling the need to look a certain way, or is it ourselves needing an artist to look that certain way? And lets not forget that these artists are literally putting their lives at risk to get these certain looks.

Last year wrestler Chris Benoit, a long time steroid user, shot and killed his wife, child and then himself because of these effects. Are we going to see a similar horror stories coming out of hip hop?

And beyond the health, the impact of an image conscious rap game has an impact on the quality of who gets listened to and who doesn't. Living in the Bay Area, musically I think we've bred some of the best music artists that the world will never hear mainly for the physical exceptions of the game. The Jacka is no supermodel and Killa Kies doesn't have the bone structure of T.I or Pharrell but these artists have the music potential to be great additions to the rap game.

Its almost like the industry can use their resources to grab a pretty looking person off the street, get a ghostwriter, a good producer, change their clothes and sell records. Whether this is good music or not can end up becoming irrelevant. Because in the industry, the actual music fits somewhere in between money and consumer perception. The industry is the money and the other half is the consumers, which is us.