From a musical perspective the song, three and a half minutes of innocuous listening, breaks no new ground. But produced under the auspices of the State University of New York, the video represents a new front in the battle for the attention of American high school seniors. According to David Doyle, a SUNY spokesman, it will be a significant part of the system’s marketing arsenal, shown at “all kinds of public events, from the state fair to you name it.”
It features B. Martin, otherwise known as Brendan Martin, a 2010 alumnus of SUNY Albany who graduated with a 4.0 grade point average. Or as he puts it in the song, “I knew how to party but also knew my limit. I got my act together and went on to study business.”
After he won the radio station Hot 97’s “Who’s Next” competition, he said, his management and SUNY “decided it would be good to put out a positive message with a hip-hop vibe.” So he wrote and recorded the song, and SUNY contributed $3,000 for video production costs. Thanks to a 15-person crew that Mr. Martin persuaded to pitch in, SUNY officials had a rough cut to show to its university presidents and trustees at a meeting in January. It was a hit.
“The SUNY Anthem” was posted on YouTube on Wednesday and quickly gained tens of thousands of views, as well as a few outspoken detractors. Watching the video for the first time Herman Matlock, who teaches a class in popular music at SUNY Plattsburgh, called the song “youthful and energetic,” as well as danceable. But he took issue with the instrumental accompaniment. “If it’s supposed to represent a popular music style of people that age, it’s not coming across as very authentic. It sounds too synthesized.”
According to Mr. Martin’s publicity materials, “While being white certainly makes Brendan unique in his field, it is not the only thing that sets him apart from other rappers.” Indeed, few of his competitors fill their videos with scenes of science laboratories, orchestra rehearsals and long-distance runners. And few of them could manage, or would even try, to work the names of so many SUNY campuses into one song. “In Oneonta, Cobleskill, or Cortland / make sure you got your hands up when I walk in.”
“I think it’s a bold move,” said Mr. Martin. “For me, I’m a hip-hop artist, and to come out with a positive message is definitely not expected, and I don’t think people expect the educational system to come out of with a hip-hop video.”
But Nicholas Conway, who teaches a course in hip-hop at the University at Albany, found it not so much shocking as cynical. “I think on one level it’s probably smart and might be effective,” he said, “but I find the whole thing almost tragic. This art form that the state was once running from — it seems a little hypocritical that now they embrace it because they can use it for their own benefit.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/nyregion/suny-adds-a-hip-hop-anthem-to-its-marketing-set-list.html?partner=rss&emc=rss