You can tell Gnarls Barkley is not your normal hip hop act just by checking out their graphics (some people would dispute calling them hip hop but I haven’t heard enough to say). They’re a nice example of how graphics, from pr photos to album covers to music videos, can support each other in marketing by honestly expressing the artists’ aesthetic rather than attempting to communicate a coherent theme.
I first heard about their new project when the single Crazy topped the UK charts totally on digital downloads. Along with that article was a cropped version of the following photo that was featured on a variety of sites.
I didn’t immediately catch the Clockwork Orange reference from the cropped online versions but the following less popular shot helped clue me in.
I should note that I have absolutely no idea why they’re dressed like a couple of rejected oddballs from a Clockwork Orange reunion party but, somehow, it fits. The next image I saw most in circulation was of the cover art for St. Elsewhere, the album for which Crazy is the lead single.
Already you can see that this is not a coherent series of images yet the message that these guys are a bit different but are also creative and not standing on convention is coming through loud and clear. If you didn’t get that yet, the following quite wonderful video for Crazy will clue you in.
To some degree, Gnarls Barkley comes across visually with much more of an indie rock aesthetic than most anything that might be described as a hip hop aesthetic, though the nuttiness in their pr photos really places them in that category of genius/weirdos that tends to cross and/or bend genres, just as their music seems to be doing. From my impression to date, their fans are the type of people who are comfortable with such nuttiness while recognizing that Gnarls Barkley is neither a novelty act nor a comic routine, though they’re certainly novel and funny.
While doing this little graphic roundup I ran into a bunch of earlier pr photos and they would make for an even more enjoyable look at communicating what a group is about. But I’ll save that for another day. It’s almost time for me to go drinking with my redneck brother to celebrate his recent birthday. See you tomorrow.
Official site: Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley is the most successful marketed alt-hip hop project since Gorillaz. Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse have both been in the industry for a minute and the visuals reflect both of their personas and aesthetics perfectly: loose, fun, mysterious, quirky, chaotic and funky. The album is targeting hipsters, indie rock kids, and hip hop fans who are into Dr. Octagon and Handsome Boy Modeling. Just on visuals alone, you are enticed to at least give them a listen or find out more about them. And once someone picks up the product, you have a 50% chance of a sale. The album doesn’t live up to the hype but they’ll at least go gold when pop radio picks up “Crazy.”
It’s funny that an act like Gnarls Barkley has to prove themselves as hip hop. Of course it’s hip hop (both Cee-Lo and DangerMouse’s resumes prove it)
Is it ‘alt-hiphop’? Maybe – but that’s just a clever catch word to market against the commercial pop rap machine that co-opted ‘hip hop’ in the 90s/00s
It’s dope, hand down – and how they broke this record should be a lesson for everybody doing something differently.
djeurok, I hear what you’re saying about the label. But all I’ve heard so far is song with no rapper. I know that sounds superficial but I tend not to write about singers.
So, if they put out a country album, would you call it hip hop due to their resumes?
I keep putting in ProHipHop when I mean to say Clyde Smith. Gotta build that name recognition.
I think if Gnarls Barkley put out a country album, it would still be hip hop because they are hip hoppers doing country. They are not coutry artists. Members of Anticon (Sole, Alias, Dose One, Why) all put out weird ambient hip hop folk art records, but they write their music from a hip hop perspective, even if the songs don’t have constant rapping and boom-bap beats. I think the spirit of the artist determines the label of the record.
I’m actually less concerned with labels than it might appear. Because I write about hip hop and also have a hip hop press release blog, I have to filter out a lot of R&B and other “urban” artists and businesses to keep my focus.
That’s mainly why I said that. And, of course, Gnarls Barkley doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody at this point. More power to them.
I think it was Duke Ellington that said, “there are only two kinds of music…good and bad…”
Cee-Lo has always been one of those hip hop artists who doesn’t fit neatly into an industry box. Like Lauryn Hill he is someone who can sing, rhyme, and orate in a manner that is consistent with hip hop’s traditions as well as traditional african american artforms. If he doesn’t rap, is he not hip hop anymore? I think that’s a really limited way of defining hip hop. What about the beats – don’t the beats make it hip hop??
I first heard of Gnarls Barkley because I got a MySpace bulletin from DangerDoom’s profile. Gnarls success owes alot to Danger Mouse, MF Doom and the Madvillain project, and just the Stones Throw crew in general, who have pioneered the “dream team” themed albums.
But on the real, these dudes OWNED on MySpace. They had cats competing with “Make Your Own Crazy Poster”…that shit got their buzz goin strong
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