If you haven't already, in the near future you will hear the musician's hit single "Watch Me Whip/Nae Nae." Ricky Lamar Hawk (Silento), was born on Jan. 22, 1998, (age 17) in Conyers, Georgia. The song was released on his YouTube channel on Jan. 26, 2015, and within the first week, the song climbed to 2.5 million views. It even got him a record deal with Capitol Records. In fact, he isn't the only artist to release his content solely on his own on Youtube and receive a record deal. In 2007, the young and imminently successful Justin Bieber released a video on Youtube and was quickly noticed and signed with a major record label. It is becoming blatantly obvious that the music industry has completely evolved since Youtube. Silento and Justin aren't the only ones, many singer songwriters have turned to Youtube as a way to self publish their content and gain popularity. The trend in the music industry has gone from recruiting with executives choosing who to sign, to the listeners or fans. Which begs the question why do all pop and rap music still sound the same? I digress. However, there is an element even more powerful to his success story.
African American musicians have become an emerging constituent of the music generation among millennials. According to Billboard.com, at the time of writing, 31 percent of the top 100 artists are African American. Silento’s “Watch Me Whip/Nae Nae” is third on that list. The reason why that is a surprising number is that in the U.S., the percentage of African Americans to the rest of the population is only 13 percent. In fact, African Americans are one of the smallest minorities in the United States. So why is 31 percent of the Musical artists currently trending African American?
The two-part answer has to do with America’s cultural environment, which has changed drastically in the last 50 years with respect to African Americans. Think about it 52 years ago. African Americans and Caucasians were marching on Washington for the right to vote, non-segregated housing, equal pay, freedom from discrimination for any race, color or ethnicity.
The first is a major social change that a minority was able to group up and influence national politics permanently. One should agree that America has come a long way in the last 52 years. And, based off of the trend of what millennials are listening to, it has the potential to grow and influence even more.
The second part is that America is now socializing younger generations differently than previously raised, a given of course. That is to say due to the change in culture from 1963 to present, the times have changed in such a manner as to allow for African American culture to be even more widely accepted and equated as equal among other races and genres of music. This part wouldn’t be possible if it hadn’t been for the first part. Note that as the civil rights movement gained momentum, it took nearly 200 years to get to the tipping point. Now, the second part of socializing new generations is slow, gradual and steady. This is the part that you and I are now witnessing. From NWA to Biggie Smalls, to 2Pac, to 50 Cent, to Eminem, to Drake, to Kendrick Lamar, hip-hop and Rap, like most of all other genres, is ever evolving.
Which brings me back to Silento, the newest member to the Hip Hop/Rap scene. Silento symbolizes how far America has come to becoming a diverse mixing pot of cultures and races, by accepting that a young rapper can go from self publishing a song, to a musician whose music and dance is accepted as hip and as trendy by all races alike. One might not think about all the African American history that has occurred in order for Silento to reach this level of popularity and wide acceptance. However, without all of these factors falling into place, and all the events in not only African American history, but America as a whole occurring, none of this would be as it is. That 31 percent could be only four to five percent, or perhaps if history had taken a different route, it could be even higher. I presume that further in the future it will be higher, as it looks to be growing in popularity as hip and cool among the younger generation.
Silento also represents how far rap and hip-hop have come in their long evolution from those who started it way back when it was a language to describe the struggle in low socioeconomic neighborhoods. Now, it seems in the majority of songs produced today, have flipped to boasting about material wealth and high status achievements. Rap has come to be a force of culture that is ever present and ever growing in America, and Silento symbolizes a large part of that with his rapid success and widespread support.
As of Aug. 2, 2015, Silento's music video on YouTube.com has a total of 89,568,608 views.
