An Analysis of Dave's "Clash" featuring Stormzy

 An Analysis of Dave's "Clash" featuring Stormzy Hyper-capitalism can be defined as extreme capitalism at the expense of traditional values. Capitalism critiques such as the Marxist scholar use the term to depict the relatively new form of capitalist social organization underpinned by the speed and intensity of the global exchange of material and immaterial goods, information, and people. According to Vujnovic, hyper-capitalism is also referred to as corporate capitalism (CC), where corporates and consumption decisions dominate the economy and are made within boardrooms regardless of the actual consumption demands of the target consumers and are further characterized by excessive show-off of wealth (2). CC critiques like Jackson and Victor have pointed out that hyper-capitalism causes misbalance and fragmentation of social life because it allows business interests to penetrate every aspect of the human experience (12). Others like Tate argue that subcultures like hip hop have become instruments or even symbols of hyper-capitalism, where people get rich off it without necessarily celebrating it (16). Going by Tate's view, the current paper aims to interrogate the elements of hyper-capitalism in the hip hop song "Clash" by Dave and Stormzy. About "Clash"
Dave and Stormzy are considered top rappers in the United Kingdom. Both have had one or more of their albums and singles top the charts in the UK and are among the handful of UK rappers with international recognition. The rappers collaborated on the track "Clash," listed in Dave's second LP, We're All Alone in This Together, produced by Neighborhood Records in 2021. The track was written by Dave, Stormzy, and Luke Grieve and produced by Kyle Evans. In the song, several prominent figures, including Jorja Smith, Jeremy Corbyn, Alan Sugar, Viola Davis, and Pep Guardiola, are namedropped. Dave, as the main vocalist, focuses on his wealth, women, and crew, while Stormzy appears to focus less on money and women and more on aiming words at another party as it is in the contemporary hip hop subculture of beef and rap battles. In the music video, Dave and Stormzy are surrounded by high-end cars and women with expensive and elite wristwatches while they dance at the Aston Martin factory in Warwickshire and the Silverstone Circuit. There are several ways in which the song is a classic representation of the presence of hyper-capitalism in the hip-hop music genre of modern times. Song and Video Analysis
In his article, Hip Hop Turns 30, Greg Tate argues that from the moment Rapper's Delight went platinum, "hip-hop as a holistically coherent cultural movement began its decline" (Tate). According to Tate, the marriage between the global hyper-capitalism and New World African ingenuity brought hip-hop culture into the toxic waters of the mainstream, and the offspring is commercial rap. Under commercial rap, Bailey further adds that hyper-capitalism goes against the substantive discussions or protests against the political, social, and economic consequences of ghetto life (60). This evolution of hip-hop has created the trapping of success (exclusively in financial terms) that has become the universal hallmark of the modern rap genre. In essence, commercial rap is characterized by sprawling mansions, women, exotic cars, expensive liquor, and designer labels that feature across lyrics and videos. According to Greg Tate, these characteristics are not only the rewards of commercial rap but are also the subject of poetry. The analysis of the lyrical content and the social context of the track "Clash" will reveal that these elements are both commercially viable and subjects of poetry. Analysis of Lyrical Content
According to Perry, "Hip hop music is a war of position, and the position one takes itself in the performance or language used" (59). The lyrical content of “Clash” typifies these assertions in two different ways. The first instance positions the rappers as wealthy individuals who could even retire as early as 23 because of their wealth in a world where capitalism is forcing people to work well into their senior years because of economic difficulties. For instance, in the opening line, Dave raps that "Jordan 4s or Jordan 1s, Rolexes, got more than one." Jordan 4s and 1s are part of Jordan's elite series of sneakers that are hard to come by because of their cost. This show-off wealth is prevalent throughout the song, highlighted by the mention of ownership of high-end products like Crocodile bags, having a movie theater in the basement, and expensive cars like the Aston Martin Superleggera DBS, which, in 2019, Dave purchased at 225,000 pounds. The second instance positions the two rappers as part of a crew at odds with a different crew. This is typical of the hip-hop culture, such as the American West Coast and East Coast enmity between rappers or between two rappers who clash in a rap battle. Based on this antagonism of rap music, Perry points out that the metaphor of murder stands alongside proclamations of competitive orality and superiority and is used as an ego assassination as typified through skillful dis (...