An investigation into YouTube’s distribution of the Sneaker Shopping web series and heterogeneous narratives
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Humanities
Master’s Programme New Media and Digital Culture
Harry Robert Sullivan
Supervisor: Bernhard Rieder Second Reader: Marc Tuters
Student ID: 11353783 Word Count: 21063
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ABSTRACT
The Sneaker Shopping web series is a Complex brand product distributed on YouTube; it is a series that evidences the spread of postmodern narrative knowledge through both
language used in the episodes, and language present in YouTube comments reacting to episode content. This research begins by examining the connections between YouTube channels and videos that produce implicit narrative knowledge; these narratives help to maintain the stability of the Complex brand. The second chapter will use the concept of language games to analyse how heterogeneous narratives pertinent to hip-hop and sneaker culture are used by Complex and are evidenced in YouTube’s distribution of Sneaker Shopping. The final chapter guides a close reading of Bella Hadid’s appearance on the show; this is comprised of an analysis of the language games evident in the YouTube comments for this video, and an examination of how such narrative knowledge spreads beyond the boundary of YouTube.
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONAND CHAPTER OUTLINES 5
2. COMPLEX, CONNECTIONS AND YOUTUBE 7
2.1 THE COMPLEX YOUTUBE CHANNEL NETWORK 9
2.2 COMPLEX: THE NEW CULTURAL INTERMEDIARY 11
2.3 THE DYNAMIC UNITYOF COMPLEXON YOUTUBE 15
2.4 THE YOUTUBE VIDEO PRODUCT 18
3. LANGUAGE, HIP-HOP AND SNEAKERS 23 3.1 THE CONNECTIONBETWEEN LANGUAGE GAMES, HIP-HOPAND SNEAKER CULTURE 23
3.2 COMPLEX’S PARTICIPATIONIN LANGUAGE GAMES 26
3.3 LANGUAGE GAMES: “DON’TEVERPLAYYOURSELF” 29
4. THE COMPLEXITY OF COMMENTS 32
4.1 THE COMPLEXITYOF KHALED 36
4.2 BELLA HADIDAND SLANG 38
4.3 INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITIES 42
4.4 AFFECTIVE NARRATION 44
4.5 ESTABLISHING BOUNDARIES 48
4.6 NARRATION BEYOND YOUTUBE 49
5. CONCLUSION 52 APPENDICES 56 APPENDIX A: EXPLANATIONOF YOUTUBE DATA TOOLSANDTHE DIGITAL METHODS TRIANGULATION TOOL 56
APPENDIX B: “COMPLEX” CHANNEL NETWORK GRAPH DEPTH 2 METHODOLOGY 57
APPENDIX C: “POST MALONE GOES SNEAKER SHOPPING WITH COMPLEX” RELATED VIDEO GRAPH METHODOLOGY
59 APPENDIX D: DJ KHALED SNEAKER SHOPPING EPISODE TOP 25 MOST-LIKED COMMENTS DATASET 61 APPENDIX E: BELLA HADID SNEAKER SHOPPING EPISODE TOP 25 MOST-LIKEDCOMMENTSDATASET 63
APPENDIX F: BELLA HADID SNEAKER SHOPPING EPISODE TOP 25 MOST-REPLIED-TO COMMENTS DATASET 65
APPENDIX G: NICK PECORI REPLY THREAD 68
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1.
INTRODUCTION
Complex is a community of creators and curators, armed with the Internet, committed to surfacing and sharing the voices and conversations that define our new America. Our videos exemplify convergence culture, exploring topics that include music, sneakers, style, sports and pop culture through original shows and Complex News segments. Featuring your favorite celebrities, authoritative commentary, and a unique voice, our videos make culture pop. (Complex Networks, 2018; “About Complex”, 2018)
It is a truism that the theory of postmodernism is hard to define. Different theorists have taken up their own positions on the subject, and various modes of art exemplify it differently. For David Harvey, postmodernism completely accepts ephemerality, fragmentation,
discontinuity and chaos (44), while Jean Francois-Lyotard has suggested that “postmodern” is the correct description for the condition of knowledge in contemporary society (xxiii).
The computerization of society is a scenario that seems to be inevitable, and it is this model of society that Lyotard puts forward as the hypothesis to explain the status of
contemporary knowledge, as well as its effects on public power and civil institutions. For Lyotard, knowledge has altered as society moves into the postindustrial age and culture moves into the postmodern age (3). Knowledge, according to Lyotard, is beginning to adopt a relationship with its producers and users akin to the relationship between a product and its producers and consumers. Essentially, knowledge has become valuable; it is produced to be sold, and bought to be consumed and used (4). Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition was originally published in French in 1979; the almost forty years that have passed encourage an enquiry into whether his assertions in the text can help to answer questions regarding today’s society and culture. Furthermore, can a case study that involves more advanced new media technology simultaneously prompt a rethinking of the relatively old theories of
postmodernism?
For Lyotard, the assumption that scientific knowledge represents knowledge in its entirety is something he wishes to challenge. Lyotard does this by acknowledging the existence of an infinite number of narrative knowledges in the form of language games, a term coined by Ludwig Wittgenstein (1958). Lyotard posits that this misunderstanding of the nature of knowledge can be remedied by drawing on the concept of language games in his enquiry. Language games are heavily depended on by Lyotard in his attempt to explain and analyse the postmodern social bond; each self, or individual, is located at nodal points of communication circuits; these communication circuits are language games, and for society to exist, these games are the minimum requirement (Lyotard 15).
This thesis argues that the dissemination and fostering of narrative knowledge is illustrated through the interplay of US online culture magazine Complex, and video streaming platform YouTube. Complex is a subset of Complex Networks; a new media firm acquired as a joint venture between Verizon and Hearst. Complex Networks is comprised of Complex,
RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV; there are also an additional subset of smaller brands more closely associated with Complex (Hearst, 2018). Specifically, Complex’s Sneaker Shopping web series will be used to analyse and discuss the way in which postmodern notions of fragmentation and heterogeneity are concretely expressed and afforded by YouTube’s functionality.
A typical Sneaker Shopping episode consists of the host, Joe La Puma, browsing a high-end sneaker store with a guest (or guests) from the world of hip-hop and/or popular culture. The guests are asked questions about their careers and about sneakers. The episode ends with a montage of the guest choosing, trying on, and then buying pairs of sneakers that are often expensive and of limited stock. Individual Sneaker Shopping episodes that are distributed on YouTube represent different nodal points that not only distribute narratives through the content of the episode, but also provoke framing narratives in the form of comments that can be posted by YouTube users (the viewers). Additionally, connections established between Sneaker Shopping videos on YouTube, as well as connections between YouTube channels, also provide implicit framing narratives that influence interpretations of the episode content and the overall image of the Complex brand.
Complex magazine is primarily concerned with hip-hop and popular culture. The fluid interplay between hip-hop and sneakers is expressed through a dissemination of productive narratives. Sneaker culture, which has been seen as a subculture for many years, has inspired the production of the Sneaker Shopping web series; a product that expresses YouTube’s ability to help the Complex brand report on, create and provoke narratives representing “the new America” (Complex Networks, 2018; “About Complex”, 2018). The prominence of sneaker culture, which has as much to do with fashion and hip-hop, as it does with politics, represents an evolving movement that embodies particular postmodern notions.
Postmodern theorist Ihab Hassan has provided a schematic list of differences between modernism and postmodernism in his article The Culture of Postmodernism (1985). However, Hassan is quick to note that the list of dichotomies is insecure and subject to change as “differences shift, defer [and] even collapse” (124). There are particular
dichotomies on this list that are pertinent to the picture of postmodernism painted by Harvey. Hassan’s decision to oppose modernism’s centering to postmodernism’s dispersal, selection to combination and finished work to process position the rigid and static modernism against the chaotic and dynamic postmodernism. In fact, a cursory glance over the schematic list
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may leave readers wondering whether there is a certain irony in using “movement” to describe the phenomena of modernism.
In corroboration with Harvey and Hassan, A. Fuat Firat and Alladi Venkatesh (1995) helpfully provide a table of “postmodern conditions and their main themes” (252). For Firat and Venkatesh, the postmodern condition of fragmentation contains themes such as the “abandonment of history, origin and context”, while the condition of juxtaposition of opposites “acknowledges that fragmentation, rather than unification, is the basis of consumption” (252). These themes provide the basis for this thesis’ primary concern with narratives; especially the way in which they are fostered and intertwined through Complex’s branding and YouTube’s functionality. Lyotard summarises the postmodern attitude as an “incredulity towards metanarratives” which equates to an abandonment of context and a realisation of fragmentation. Michel Foucault (2007) has also expressed the rejection of metanarratives in terms of power; indeed, society is not a single body, it is a juxtaposition and coordination of different powers that still retain their own specificity (156). In sum, if “society is an archipelago of different powers” (156), then YouTube is a platform society constituted by channel islands, and smaller video islands. These islands help spread narratives presented in Sneaker Shopping episodes, as well as disseminate narratives generated in reaction to these episodes.
The position taken up by this thesis is that of a particular understanding. Jean Burgess and Josh Green wrote the seminal YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture (2009) almost ten years ago; suggesting that the complex relationships between producers and consumers in the creation of meaning was represented by YouTube (14). They further suggested that these “moments of media transition” should be understood as an illustration of the competition between established and emergent practises, influences and ideas (14). This thesis attempts to provide evidence of such emergent influences pertinent to the fostering of fragmented and heterogeneous narratives; thus, helping to corroborate Lyotard’s decades-old assertion regarding the postmodern state of knowledge.
If the interplay between texts represents cultural life (Harvey 49), then YouTube serves as the perfect platform to help Complex achieve its brand objectives which are predominantly concerned with broadcasting voices that represent an eclectic mix of subjects; some of which have been previously under-represented and therefor need surfacing. The distribution of, and interaction with these Sneaker Shopping videos on YouTube may render these episodes as discourse rather than text; or rather, processes of interaction, instead of observable and static objects (Talbot 9). Indeed, it is easy to highlight the narrative in the video content of a Sneaker Shopping episode, yet the comments sitting below the video must be taken into account for their ability to frame the content of the episode. In addition to this, the related videos that sit next to the main video in the “up next” queue also constitute a
narrative path that infers what type of story a viewer encounters as they fall down the YouTube rabbit hole1.
Watching Sneaker Shopping episodes invites users to exercise what Nicholas Mirzoeff (2009) calls “vernacular watching” (303). The things we do and places that we occupy while watching television constitute vernacular watching (304); reading comments while watching specific Sneaker Shopping episode on YouTube is equivocal to such a phenomenon. In similar fashion, Fredric Jameson (1991) likens the postmodern viewer to David Bowie’s character in The Man Who Fell to Earth. These viewers are challenged to watch multiple screens at the same time to get the bigger picture. However, focussing on one, despite the “relatively worthless image sequence” that this screen may harbour (31), is a far less daunting task than attempting to watch all of the screens simultaneously. Of course,
comments and static related video images are not literally image sequences, nor is the main YouTube video being watched worthless; however, when taking a step back like Bowie, the relationship between these screens can provide yet another narrative to accompany these existing individual ones; a larger narrative that establishes an image of the Complex brand that aligns with its own description.
The last statement may seem rather contradictory; does the combination of such smaller narratives not in fact constitute a metanarrative that Lyotard has denounced? It may seem so, but this would require the comments and related videos attached to a particular Sneaker Shopping episode to represent the entire YouTube archive. In reality, users who watch a specific episode are spared the task of navigating a chaotic heteroclite (Foucault, 2002) that is the entire YouTube archive; a disturbing state where things different from one appear scattered at random (xix). YouTube’s functionality allows videos and channels to be presented to users in a thoroughly more concise and organised way; it is a combination of users’ viewing habits, the Complex brand’s objectives and YouTube’s functionality that helps to achieve such organisation.
Firat and Venkatesh (1995) noted the popular opinion among scholars that computers, information and tele-communications could be considered as postmodern technologies that allow users to move through cyberspace. Following this assertion, I argue that YouTube represents the archetypal postmodern communication technology that also allows cyberspace to be traversed. Mirzoeff has noted that “cyber” comes from the Greek word for “steering” (224); it is this notion of guidance that is also pertinent to the recent conceptions of hip-hop culture in the media. 1980’s hip-hop musicals would navigate the “contemporary urban settings, social anxieties and political struggle through the conventional
1 For a discussion of the “YouTube rabbit hole” cultural phenomenon see FamilyZoneTeam (2017) in bibliography.
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iconography of Hollywood” (Monteyne 39). YouTube provides a contemporary platform for hip-hop musicals in the form of Complex shows such as Sneaker Shopping; the narratives that are both broadcasted and provoked by these episodes help netizens navigate a
contemporary world partly constituted by hip-hop and popular culture, while also letting them discover wider narratives that are evoked by such videos; on YouTube, “the perpetual interweaving of texts is beyond our control” (Harvey 51).
1.1 Research Question and Chapter Outlines
In light of this, the research question that governs this thesis is informed by the evolution and spread of narratives evidenced by YouTube’s distribution of the Sneaker Shopping web series:
How does the interplay between Complex brand content and the functionality of YouTube help to disseminate and foster heterogeneous narratives?
The first chapter, Complex, Connections and YouTube, outlines the important functionalities of YouTube and then analyses Complex and Sneaker Shopping through the lens of
postmodernism and Celia Lury’s (2004) perspective on brand theory. This analysis will help to establish the functionalities of YouTube as key to the way in which narratives originating from Sneaker Shopping episodes are interacted with, as well as how the Complex brand image (that is focussed on narratives alluded to in its description) is implicated through YouTube’s networking functionality.
Language, Hip-Hop and Sneakers will then provide context that clarifies the link between the Complex brand, heterogeneous narratives, hip-hop culture and sneakers. This will be done through an explanation of the concept of language games. The chapter will end by focussing on a particular Sneaker Shopping episode featuring hip-hop figure DJ Khaled. The episode will be used to highlight the language games present in Sneaker Shopping episodes that provoke user comments; this will evidence the spread of language games and heterogeneous narration from one area of YouTube to another.
The final chapter, The Complexity of Comments, will begin by contextualising the datasets that were generated for this thesis. The importance of quantified statistics to the selection of episodes and comments for examination will be explained before a continued discussion of DJ Khaled’s appearance begins. This discussion will build upon the previous chapter’s analysis of language games and lead towards a discussion of the spread of narratives evidenced by YouTube comments. The remainder of the chapter will be comprised of an extended close reading of “Bella Hadid Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex”; this episode will facilitate a discussion of heterogeneous narratives that exemplify
appropriation of language, as well as the dissemination of such narratives beyond YouTube and out into the wider areas of the internet.
I will conclude by giving an overview of the research presented, and then provide an answer to the research question by drawing upon the particular pieces of analysis presented in this thesis. Additionally, I will outline the contribution that this thesis makes to existing branches of academic research, as well as briefly discussing future research that could be conducted on this topic.
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2. COMPLEX, CONNECTIONS AND YOUTUBE
In The Ecstasy of Communication (1983), Jean Baudrillard asserted that the scene and mirror have been replaced by the screen and network; “the smooth operational surface of communication” represents a society in which the brain is a dashboard, intertwined with any object of its choice in a single interface (127). At the time of writing, Baudrillard cited the television as the perfect object; one that exemplifies an era of ever-mutating connections. The computer screen, however, represents such an object in contemporary society. The replacing of bodily movements with electronic commands (128) can be seen to have nullified the “predictably unpredictable” process of acquiring a limited-edition pair of sneakers (De Los Santos, 2017). YouTube’s archive contains a vast collection of videos that span many topics and has the potential to overload users with a multiplicity of digital artefacts (Gehl, 2009). There is no more hunt; “discovering” new sneaker styles and their release dates has been reduced to an exercise akin to shooting fish in a barrel. This is the situation governed by the connectivity of platforms such as YouTube; allowing users access to channels such as “sneakerwatchtv”, which describes itself as “the leading source for Sneaker news, video reviews and celebrity fashion” (“About sneakerwatchtv”, 2018).
Since the founding of YouTube in 2005, the platform has been heralded as a site for DIY videos and user generated content (UGC) (Burgess and Green, 2009). However, citing the acquisition of YouTube by Google in 2006, more recent discourse on YouTube has been concerned with the proliferation of professionally generated content (PGC) that has infiltrated the platform (Kim, 2012; Bärtl, 2018; Arthurs et al., 2018). Much like the dashboard of the brain (Baudrillard, 1983), the Complex brand manipulates YouTube and uses it as a mechanism; taming what is otherwise a heteroclite (Foucault, 2002) of content that has amassed anything between 80 million and 3 billion videos (Vonderau 365). However, it can be argued that YouTube happily complies with such manipulation. Wasko and Erickson noted that before being acquired by Google, YouTube tried to partner with various media corporations to supply its archive with content; most likely in an attempt to increase its value before Google’s acquisition (378).
The basic features of YouTube include video uploading, commenting on videos, subscribing to different channels, as well as searching for content using the search bar. Additionally, there are different recommendation systems that are present within the YouTube platform; these systems help to guide users around the YouTube archive and invariably discover different content. YouTube channels are spaces where individual users (or firms) can collect and present video content for potential audiences (“Basics about your
channel”, 2018). The key features of channels are the videos, playlists, and further links to related sites beyond YouTube. These related sites are often represented by “shortcut icons” on the channel homepage that may link to a channel owner’s respective Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter presences (there are other related sites, as well). YouTube Channels include an “about” section which allow the owner to describe their channel, define their channel’s country of origin and also provide further contact information (Basics…, 2018). Arguably, channels form the backbone for the YouTube platform’s architecture as they can be linked to other channels (through conscious user choices and/or by algorithmic decision-making), thus helping to create a multiplicity of ever-mutating networks. Additionally, users of YouTube can subscribe to multiple channels, and thus have content from these channels “pushed” towards them on their homepage, rather than having to manually search for content.
YouTube’s featured channels function allows channel owners to display a list of channels on their own channel; featured channels lists may contain a maximum of 100 channels (“Channels”, 2017). This can exist alongside a “related channels” lists. The related channels list is the product of an algorithm rather than conscious human choices. These related channels represent the navigational possibilities offered by YouTube, which guide users to particular pieces of content. According to the Google Support website, channel recommendations that are presented in this list are based upon: the channels and videos watched by the same user, whether video topics are similar, and if the channels are suitable for the particular audience (“Opt in to channel recommendations.”, 2018). The lists of
featured channels and related channels represent fragments that have been taken from one section of YouTube and placed into another. The featured channel list, however, is merely afforded by YouTube, rather than governed by it. Users who use YouTube predominantly to access Complex content will be somewhat contained within a particular channel network constituted by these two channel lists.
The “Up Next” queue situated to the right of the main video frame is made up of videos generated in three different ways, according to YouTube’s literature from 2015. These videos are categorised as “recommended videos”, “More From Uploader” videos and “Related Videos” (“Suggested Videos on the Watch Page.”, 2015). Recommended videos are videos that YouTube recommends a user based on their previous viewing habits; this is why videos that users have already watched can still appear in the “Up Next” list in later viewing sessions (“Suggested...”, 2015). “More From Uploader” videos are rather self-explanatory; they are videos also uploaded by the uploader of the video currently being watched. Uploaders are allowed to use the four highest placed video slots in the “Up Next” list to display other videos from their channel; though there may be other videos from their
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channel contained in the list due to being categorised as “recommended videos” or as “related videos” (“Suggested…”, 2015).
Finally, “Related videos” are videos that are informed solely by the YouTube algorithm. According to Google Support, videos are shown together if they have been watched together by other users before; the algorithm will ‘weigh” a video to assess whether it has been watched in a similar session prior to the current session (“Suggested…”, 2015).
The YouTube functionalities discussed above act as components of the Complex brand that help to distribute the Sneaker Shopping product. An image of the Complex brand is constructed on YouTube; one that aligns with its description presented at the start of this thesis. Although not the only platform charged with distributing Sneaker Shopping, YouTube warrants an examination of its functionalities and their interplay with the Complex brand through brand theory. The logics that govern the algorithmic workings of YouTube creates connections that illustrate relationships between the Complex brand and other entities that exist on YouTube. Channel networks illustrate relationships between channels and can demarcate boundaries that constitute implicit narratives that help align Complex’s brand image with the objectives insinuated in its description. Furthermore, these functionalities help to express postmodern fragmentation and the ways in which the Complex brand both
accepts and embraces such a condition.
2.1 The Complex YouTube Channel Network
The relationship established between Complex and YouTube can be seen as a continuation of YouTube’s content business model; where brands are given the ability to host their own content on a specific channel within the overall YouTube site. Wasko and Erickson (2009) reported that the advertising revenue generated by such content would be split fifty-fifty; with advertisers paying 20 dollars per 1,000 views (379). As outlined in the introduction, Complex is situated next to, and above other brands within Complex Networks; these brands include RatedRed.com, Seriously.TV, First We Feast, Pigeons & Planes and Sole Collector
(Complex Networks, 2018; Patel, 2014). Complex Networks represents a group of brands that uses YouTube as a tool to boost their visibility; thus, Complex Networks should be regarded as a multichannel network (MCN) (Lobato, 2016; Vonderau, 2016). Naturally, the Complex brand image on YouTube differs from that of its siblings.
Symbiotically, the Complex brand helps to construct a YouTube brand image that is a particular iteration amongst many possibilities. There is no single YouTube; consumers of the Seriously.TV brand will be presented with a different YouTube brand image to
consumers of Complex. Depending on the brand or channel used as a gateway into YouTube’s heteroclite of videos, users will be presented with a field of cultural practise
(Reynolds 59) that is unique to their specific viewing habits. The channel structure of
Complex Networks shows both YouTube and this MCN to be benefitting from fragmentation. With Complex Networks providing a portfolio of brands that serve a diverse range of
audiences (Complex Networks, 2018), a wider demographic can be targeted. This wider demographic encourages a greater number of advertisers to place adverts on the various Complex Networks brand videos; due to Complex Networks’ variety of brands, advertisers are more confident that there will be a particular brand that attracts a demographic that are specifically interested in what is being advertised. This increased confidence will result in more advertisers seeking placements on these particular brand videos which invariably leads to more revenue for both Complex Networks’ brands and YouTube.
The variety of brands that comprise Complex Networks can be seen in Graph 1. This graph illustrates the Complex YouTube channel’s “featured channels” network. The network is comprised of all the channels on Complex’s own featured channels list. A “crawl depth” of “2” is used so that the featured channels of these featured channels are also present, which helps to create a larger network and thus provide a wider overview2. The nodes coloured
green are brands that help comprise Complex Networks; the remaining nodes are featured channels represented by a “hot/cold” colour scheme; the higher a channel’s subscriber count, the redder the node. The size of each node is also linked to a channel’s subscriber account; the larger the node, the higher a channel’s subscriber account3. As mentioned
previously, subscribing to channels allows content to be pushed towards users, and this also helps to spread heterogeneous narratives. The prominence of particular channels on the graph serves as a reminder that fragments are not all the same size, and that some narratives are spread more widely than others. Indeed, the size of nodes such as “WWE” and “NBA” express the existence of scale within YouTube. Complex is only a vast network when looked at from one perspective; from another, this network may appear minute. In a sense, this graph is one iteration of the “outernet” (Terranova, 2004); a term that helps to explain the potential spread of narratives beyond the Complex channel. The “outernet” will be discussed on a larger scale at the end of the thesis when looking at how Sneaker
Shopping narratives distributed on YouTube can eventually spread beyond the platform and out to the wider internet. Interestingly, Rated Red and Seriously.TV are not featured on the Complex graph, even when using a “crawl depth” that includes the featured channels of Complex’s featured channels. Despite being the three main components of Complex
Networks, the fact that these components are not linked on the graph evidences the way that channel relationships established by the functionality of YouTube can help to construct a
2 See Appendix A for an extended explanation of the YouTube Data Tools (Rieder, 2015) used to generate these files, as well as the datasets discussed in the final chapter.
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narrative of the Complex brand that is independent of other brands under Complex Networks. The connection between Complex and channels such as HipHopDX, NBA and WWE express the Complex brand’s ties to hip-hop, sports and popular culture; relationships that may not be prioritised by RatedRed.com or Seriously.TV.
2.2 Complex: The New Cultural Intermediary
The passage below is the description of Complex presented at the beginning of this thesis. This description is present on both the Complex Networks website, as well as the Complex YouTube channel. The objectives implied in the description will help to guide an analysis of the interplay between Complex and YouTube that lends itself to Lury’s definition of brand:
COMPLEX is a community of creators and curators, armed with the Internet, committed to surfacing and sharing the voices and conversations that define our new America. Our videos exemplify convergence culture, exploring topics that include music, sneakers, style, sports and pop culture through original shows and
Complex News segments. Featuring your favorite celebrities, authoritative commentary, and a unique voice, our videos make culture pop. (Complex Networks, 2018; “About Complex”, 2018)
On YouTube, Complex can be seen as a “new cultural intermediary” (Bourdieu 325) that produces cultural programmes. The sneaker culture that has provided the inspiration for the Sneaker Shopping series may not have held legitimate status until recently (DJ Skee, Sneakerheadz, 2015), yet Sneaker Shopping episodes are
consumed on a large scale, with the series having amassed almost eight million views as of early April 2018. If consumption can be seen as a site that expresses identities, boundaries and shared meanings (Kates, 2002), then YouTube’s facilitation of the Complex brand can be seen as a manifestation of Complex’s identity. The reason for this assertion is that the featured channels that are connected to the Complex YouTube page, and the related videos connected to Sneaker Shopping episodes both afford the potential for consumption. The channels that comprise the network in Graph 1 evidence Complex’s commitment to exploring topics such as music, sneakers and sports. This featured channel network makes visible, through a number of channel connections, a narrative that aligns with the Complex’s definition. The functionality of YouTube leads viewers of Complex to other channels and videos; this equates to Complex helping to surface and share channels and particular voices.
Additionally, the featured channels displayed below in Figure 1 may also lead users to associate interaction with the Complex brand on YouTube as an activity that involves finding out about the latest music (Pigeons & Planes), viewing impressive skateboarding videos (RIDE Channel) or discovering the latest news and music in the electronic dance music scene (EDM) (thatDROP.com). The potential for viewing an eclectic mix of topical videos is comparable to the realization that pluralism represents a reduction to absolute difference and that western culture is not as homogenous as once thought (Owens, 1983). The “deconstructive thrust” (58) of postmodernism is illustrated in Graph 1, as Complex’s featured channels networks shows the Complex channel, despite its centrality to this particular graph, as just “an other among others” (Ricoeur 278). This provides another reference to the existence of scale in postmodern
fragmentation; something that Lyotard fails to address in his enquiry. These channels do not illustrate a particularly hip-hop orientated picture; however, the most prominent part of Complex’s channel homepage (Figure 1) is the latest edition of “Open Late With Peter Rosenberg”. According to Complex, the series “features guests from the worlds of pop culture and hip-hop” (“Open Late With Peter Rosenberg”, 2018). In relation to
fragmentation and heterogeneity, the use of “worlds” in the “Open Late…” description may indicate that Complex acknowledges that meaning and value are provided by the
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many; truth has become inclusive and it is such truth that is revealed by the plebiscite (Hartley, 2004) that constitute the vast majority of a “world”. This expresses the claims made in Complex’s description that there will be a focus upon notions of community, sharing and convergence. Furthermore, the description’s list of topics that are to be explored are all expressions of hip-hop; sports, music, sneakers and pop culture can be related to hip-hop through the movement’s intrinsic links with basketball. Furthermore, the birth of the rap music genre has been commonly attributed to the some of the originators of the hip-hop culture that would practise the art of MCing4.
Figure 1: Screenshot from youtube.com; captured on 21 April 2018.
Pierre Bourdieu’s assertion that cultural intermediaries are forced to seek substitutes for the authority of the originators of culture (326) is not evidenced by Complex. The intermediary of meaning in the medieval ages would be the priest, charged with conveying the meaning of the divine author of the bible to the faithful public; while the modern era ushered in the role of the publisher as the new intermediary of meaning as the public became secularized. Today, appearances by guests such as Mahershala Ali on Complex’s Sneaker Shopping exemplify a voice that holds authority. Ali is a famous actor5 and embodies a sense of authority through
fame. Furthermore, while Ali has not “invented” sneaker, or hip-hop culture, his comments in the episode certainly evidence an individual that acknowledges the seriousness with which the relatively new “art” of sneakers should be met with. Therefore, Sneaker Shopping helps
4 See page 53 of George (2004) in bibliography for an interview with some of hip-hop’s originators. 5 As explained in the episode and alluded to in its description, Ali is an Oscar-winning actor.
Complex to surface the voices that define the new America; Marhershala Ali is a voice that is both prominent, and one that promotes a new opinion on sneakers and sneaker culture6. In
contemporary society, brands such as Complex, relying on integrated marketing
communication (IMC) afforded by YouTube and access to authoritative voices, represent the intermediary (Hartley, 2004), or the “new cultural intermediary” (Bourdieu 326).
Complex’s description ends with the declaration that “our videos make culture pop” (Complex Networks, 2018; “About Complex”, 2018). An overview of particular definitions of “pop” will provide a set of criteria in which to judge how Complex embodies postmodern knowledge’s fragmentary condition; this will be exemplified by how successfully Complex can “surface and share” particular narratives through and beyond YouTube. Before citing any definitions of “pop”, the word should first be adjusted to be read as “making culture popular”. “Surfacing voices” (Complex Networks, 2018; “About Complex”, 2018) implies a transition from the unknown to the known; from the unpopular to the popular. Morag Shiach (2005) discusses the use of “popular” over time, and specifically in the context of law, thus illuminating the degrading implications of the term. Citing an article from 1947 in The
Saturday Literary Review, Shiach notes the terms use as that which reduces the quality of a product in order to maintain an audience (Shiach 59). Reporting and surfacing particular narratives should not be seen as reducing the value of the narratives themselves. Rather, Complex’s objective to illuminate such narratives implies value which has yet to be
discovered, and possibly, narratives that have been previously suppressed or overlooked. When discussing more recent definitions of popular, Shiach highlights Longman’s New Universal Dictionary from 1982, which provides four definitions of the term; popular meaning “of the general public”, “suited to the needs, means, tastes or understanding of the general public”, “having general currency”, and “commonly liked or approved” (Shiach 61). In order to make culture popular, Complex’s attempts to do so via the publishing of video content on YouTube certainly pertains to making such narratives accessible to the general public. The functionality of YouTube that provides users with the ability to interact with the videos and their respective narratives represents a feedback mechanism that (ideally) serves to better suit the means and tastes of the public who visit YouTube. YouTube’s algorithm that generates a number of “recommended videos” and “related videos” (but not “more from uploader” videos) based upon a user’s previous viewing habits is an example of such a feedback mechanism.
When searching for a definition of “pop” on the dictionary website Merriam Webster, a number of suggestions appear and allow for a variation of readings of the Complex
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When interviewed in Sneaker shopping, Ali noted that: “…this high art aspect of the sneaker culture now – its really changed the relationship between men’s fashion, perception and sneakers, you; you can do that on a red carpet…” (“Mahershala Ali Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex.”, 2017).15
description ending. Pertinent to the spreading of narratives, “pop” can mean to “explode or burst open” or to “fire at” something (“Definition of Pop”, 2018). Additionally, “pop” can mean to “burst with a sharp sound” or appear suddenly, as in “to become striking or prominent”, much like a bright colour may “pop out” if presented next to imagery with a generally darker hue (Definition…”, 2018). I argue that the number of Complex videos published on YouTube and the interaction that they provoke justifies the use of “pop” to mean “explode”, “fire at [something]”, “burst with a sharp sound” and appear “striking and prominent”. Complex products explode throughout the YouTube archive and are reassembled into different contexts. The most obvious example being Sneaker Shopping episodes appearing as “related videos” or “recommended for you videos” in the “up next” queue situated on videos not produced by Complex.
2.3 The Dynamic Unity of Complex on YouTube
The remaining two sections of this chapter will outline the ways in which Complex, by manipulating the functionality of YouTube, can be productively read through Celia Lury’s (2004) perspective on brand theory. For Lury, the Complex brand is constituted by the relations between products in time. The Complex brand is both a source of information and an entity that objectifies information by turning narratives into objects, or rather, products (Lury, 2004). These products can take the form of written pieces of text on the Complex website, as well as Sneaker Shopping episodes distributed on YouTube. Lury’s suggestion that the brand is a set of relations between products is dependent upon how the aging of products is managed. Crucially, these relationships constitute the Complex brand as a whole. One Sneaker Shopping episode is not representative of the entire brand; although certain products such as Bella Hadid’s Sneaker Shopping appearance may help to boost or maintain the relevance of Complex temporarily. The Complex brand is a process; one that relies on the management of change as a reaction to the way in which products can age over time, and time in this sense is dynamic; “a process of differentiation” (Lury 2). This is an expression of the postmodern movement’s association with discourse rather than static text. The way that these products disseminate (or “explode”, as per one of the definitions of “pop”) on YouTube help with maintaining the Complex brand image.
Dynamic unity (Lury, 2004) is an important concept as it describes the way in which Sneaker Shopping episodes are constantly changing over the course of time, yet the overall Complex brand is able to remain stable. Particular YouTube functionalities are crucial to this process that equates to a performance of the Complex brand on YouTube. Sneaker
Shopping products are accompanied by videos in the “up next” queue, and these videos are generated using YouTube logics that are informed by users’ viewing habits, as discussed at
the beginning of this chapter. Like Sneaker Shopping episodes, these videos are also products, but not products exclusively produced by Complex; the “up next” queue can include both Sneaker Shopping videos as well as videos from, potentially, anywhere in the YouTube archive. The consumption of Sneaker Shopping episodes on YouTube produces information on user viewing habits that can be fed back into the process of the Complex brand. This process is governed by YouTube functionalities and are pivotal in establishing the relationships between Complex products and externally produced products; as
mentioned before, videos generated in the “up next” queue have often been generated based upon their appearance in other viewers’ viewing sessions. The stability of the Complex brand is of paramount importance, and it is through the management of aging products that this stability can be achieved.
For Lury, the relationships that exist between Complex products over time will need to have dynamic unity if the stability of Complex is to be maintained (Lury, 2004); there needs to be some relationship between the main YouTube video and those on the “up next” queue that help to stabilise Complex’s association with hip-hop and popular culture.
However, YouTube’s functionality requires an analysis of the Complex brand to deviate slightly from Lury’s perspective. Because YouTube also generates and displays external video products accompanying the “main” Complex Sneaker Shopping product, dynamic unity is maintained in this sense with the help of external products that are similar to the episode for particular reasons. Mike Featherstone (2007) has suggested that that if there is a “capital logic” that is derived from production, then it is also possible accept the existence of a “consumption logic”. This logic outlines the way that goods are used to demarcate social relationships (Featherstone 16). Similarly, the videos that constitute the “up next” queue can be seen to demarcate the Complex brand’s relationship to particular areas of the YouTube archive that help to strengthen the bind between hip-hop culture and the Complex brand; this is comparable to the relationship between Complex’s YouTube channel and the NBA and WWE YouTube channels discussed in section 2.1.
Dynamic unity afforded by YouTube can be further explained by referring to Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vonderau (2009). The two authors succinctly describe this algorithmic process by positioning YouTube as a laboratory; by counting views, comments and ratings, user behaviour on YouTube becomes a by-product of “informational transactions”, and such data gets fed back into YouTube’s “machinery” (16). The information that is fed back helps the Complex brand to express a certain market modality (Lury 3). As a market, the Complex brand helps to mediate the supply and demand of its products (3); but YouTube is integral to this process as it affords the means of collecting the information that can be used to alter the relationships between Complex products over time. Furthermore, YouTube also supplies all of the externally produced products that contribute to the expression of this market modality.
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Douglas B. Holt has noted that a heterogeneous market is one where the marketing efforts of firms are powerless over consumers (72); the YouTube algorithm that dictates where products are viewable within YouTube expresses a transfer of such power since the
algorithm is highly dependent on the input of users’ viewing habits. Thus, the dissemination of both Complex-produced videos and external videos expresses the postmodern condition of fragmentation; this can be further explained through the theory of collage and montage.
In The Object of Post-Criticism (1983), Gregory L. Ulmer paraphrases Collages (1978), written by Group Mu; he notes that the artistic technique called collage equates to “the transfer of materials from one context to another” (Ulmer 84), whereas montage is the dissemination of these materials “through the new setting” (84). Crucially, and applicable to the concept of dynamic unity, Ulmer concludes that a montage “mounts a process to intervene in the world” (86). Therefore, the dissemination of particular videos, a process governed by YouTube algorithms, concretely expresses the way in which fragments of video that are taken from various areas of the YouTube archive help Complex to achieve dynamic unity. YouTube creates implicit narratives by framing Sneaker Shopping videos with videos that embody Complex’s infatuation with hip-hop and popular culture; this framing is the result of the watching patterns of other viewers. Of course, the publishing of video products on YouTube is at the discretion of Complex, rather than a result of YouTube functionalities and algorithms. Pertinent to this, Tarleton Gillespie has suggested that algorithms must not be seen as a function of cold, abstract technicity, but rather the result of “warm human and institutional choices” (Gillespie 169). Indeed, the publishing of the video is a “human” choice and, crucially, a choice made offline.
It is this “offline” governance that informs certain algorithmic decisions; which, in turn, contribute to the dynamic unity of the Complex brand in the “mediatic space” (Arvidsson 238, 2005); a space constituted by the main video, the “up next” list, and user comments. For Adam Arvidsson, the “mediatic space” is one that affords the production of a particular form of life; a space that “pre-structure[s] and anticipate[s] the immaterial production of
consumers” (238). I suggest that the “up next” video queue exemplifies immaterial
production of potential consumption. Thus, the overall YouTube video product constitutes a mediatic space where the Complex brand relies on the production of a “a particular form of life” through related videos that are pertinent to hip-hop culture. Dynamic unity represents the continuous process whereby YouTube generates a list of videos that express the
relationships between Complex and these “particular forms of life”. The following section will continue with this trajectory by discussing the “related videos” situated in the “up next” queue for the “Post Malone Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex” video; these “related videos”
often relate to Malone and/or hip-hop culture and include videos such as “Post Malone Sauces On Everyone While Eating Spicy Wings” and “Making Music with Post Malone”.
2.4 The YouTube Video Product
For Raymond Williams, to “consume” would mean “to destroy, to use up, to waste, exhaust” (78). I suggest that watching a Sneaker Shopping episode does not exhaust the video product and may in fact encourage a spike in a user’s interaction with the Complex brand. Taking the entire video webpage (including the “up next” queue and comment section) as a single “useful thing” (Marx, 1887), Sneaker Shopping episodes will never be fully used up as the surrounding content that constitutes an “assemblage of many properties” is constantly changing due to YouTube’s algorithms that are informed by users’ viewing habits. Dynamic unity of the Complex brand is maintained by YouTube surrounding their products with related videos in the “up next” queue; as such, consuming a Sneaker Shopping video will likely lead to the consumption of another video product in the Complex brand range, or an externally produced video that is related to hip-hop. In addition, the likelihood of consumption is increased due to YouTube’s “Autoplay” feature (Lunden, 2014). This feature works as an algorithmic “flow” which automatically plays videos that appear on the “up next” queue. As discussed above, the feedback mechanism that relies on user viewing data will again be executed, meaning there will be a higher chance that users who subsequently watch this specific Complex video will be met with Complex and hip-hop related videos. The Complex brand owes as much to the technical aspects of YouTube as to its own content for the ability to keep users engaged with the Complex brand while also maintaining Complex’s ties to hip-hop. Using the video “Post Malone Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex” as an example, Graph 2 shows what “related videos” are generated by YouTube’s algorithms, which in turn influence the stability of the Complex brand image; an image that expresses Complex’s ties to hip-hop7.
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Graph 2: “Post Malone Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex” related videos graph; crawl depth 1.
Figure 2: Key to Graph 2
As mentioned before, if the consumption of goods helps to express boundaries (Kates, 2002), then I suggest that the potential of consumption may also do the same. Graph 2 shows the boundary that YouTube helps to establish and potentially contain users in when watching a specific Sneaker Shopping episode by generating a list of products that can be potentially consumed. A cursory glance at Graph 2 (and corresponding key in Figure 2 and methodology in Appendix C) shows “entertainment” videos to be the predominant category of video related to this Sneaker Shopping episode. What is of particular note is how the YouTube algorithm helps to recommend both videos that are also produced by the Complex brand and also videos that help to further cement Complex’s ties to hip-hop. It is important to remember, though, that the watching habits of previous viewers inform the algorithm;
therefore, YouTube is not qualitatively generating related videos based upon content, but quantitively based upon previous users’ viewing sessions.
Videos such as “Making Music with Post Malone” and “From SoundCloud to Success with Post Malone: Noisey Raps” help construct this related video boundary by including videos that exemplify the music, style and pop culture aspects of hip-hop (items that are also listed in the Complex brand description). The generating of these videos is the result of YouTube manipulating user viewing data and inferring that other videos of Post Malone have been watched in similar viewing sessions. As explained at the beginning of this chapter, related videos are shown together if they have been watched together by users in previous viewing sessions; YouTube’s algorithm “weighs” videos to assess whether they have been watched in similar viewing sessions (“Suggested…”, 2015). Thus, the generation of such videos exemplifies dynamic unity and the way in which YouTube helps the Complex brand to maintain such a state by managing the relation between the “main” Complex product being viewed and the other external and Complex-produced videos that appear in the “up next” queue. The publication of one of these related videos, “Michael B. Jordan Goes Sneaker Shopping With Complex” (2018), exemplifies how intervals between product releases sway users to view such releases as a sign of sameness or difference (Lury 8). I suggest that the decision to release this episode on February 19 2018, seven days after the previous
episode, had little to do with keeping a consistency in terms of product releases. Rather, Complex’s need to stay relevant motivated the timing of this release.
Michael B. Jordan is an actor who was cast as a main character in Black Panther, a film that was released across the globe in the month following January 29 20188. Therefore, the
decision to publish this episode can be seen to play on the relevance of Jordan in the
context of the film’s release. What is particularly notable is Complex’s recognition of a global audience, afforded by the extensive accessibility of YouTube; the earliest release date of the film stated above belongs to the United States, which is the country of Complex’s origin, yet the episode is published almost three weeks after. I suggest that the Complex brand wants to maintain relevance in the US by releasing the episode after further interest in Jordan has been generated as a result of viewing his performance in the film. Furthermore, by keeping its release within proximity to the film’s later global releases, the product is still relevant to a wider audience that benefits from YouTube’s (almost) global accessibility.
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Figure 3: Screenshot from youtube.com; captured on 19 May 2018.
On YouTube, the Complex brand is a medium for the exchange of products rather than a means, and the attributes of products act as mechanisms that help to mediate such an exchange (Lury 4). Lury draws upon Georg Simmel’s discussion of money to explain the assertion above. Simmel posited that money is a means of exchange because it is impartial; “money has no inherent relation to the specific purpose the attainment of which it aids” (Simmel 211). By contrast, the Complex brand is a medium of exchange because it is very much invested in its own Sneaker Shopping products, and also expresses a relationship with external video products; a relationship which, as mentioned before, helps illustrate the Complex brand’s ties to hip-hop and popular culture. The Sneaker Shopping product attributes can include placing, packaging, promotion and quality (Lury 4) and it is the relationships between these attributes that help to produce the Complex brand. Thus, the Jordan episode above may radiate with a sense of timeliness and therefore relevance, as well as quality by supplying a contemporarily-relevant guest. If Complex were to provide consumers with a product deemed to be already outdated (the appearance of a non-contemporary celebrity, for instance), then the latest image of Complex may be that of a misinformed and backwards brand. As established in the discussion of related videos, the mutating nature of the “up next” list exemplifies how the packaging attribute of a product is not fixed (4); the related videos surround and package the “main” video product. In Figure 3, elements of the Sneaker Shopping product such as the “like”/ “dislike” count are shown. This
element is an example of a promotional attribute that may develop into a quality attribute if there is sufficiently high “like” rate that consequently encourages user-interaction with the product.
In her discussion of social networking on YouTube, Patricia G. Lange (2007) has noted that non-regular users of YouTube are quick to denounce videos of poor production quality (368). However, Lange argues that those who criticise videos for a lack of technical or content quality fail to take into account that creating and circulating helps to affect the social network that the video and its creator finds itself in (638). Thus, the production quality of the Michael B. Jordan may be of secondary importance to the Complex brand in terms of fostering contemporary and relevant narratives applicable to consumers of the brand. Of course, snarky comments will appear from time to time to denounce the productive quality of a corporation with far more means that that of the average YouTube user, but the narratives that are disseminated through YouTube do more for the Complex brand’s image. Therefore, the generation of related videos in Figure 3, specifically “73 Questions with Michael B. Jordan Vogue” and “How Michael B. Jordan’s “Black Panther” Makeup Was Done”,
exemplify how the relevance, and therefore stability of Complex is helped by YouTube; this episode is surrounded by packaging constituted by up-to-date pop culture videos concerned with the Black Panther film.
As has been shown, Sneaker Shopping episodes on YouTube represent a product; not only constituted by an episode’s content, but also the video’s surroundings such as the related videos in the “up next” queue. The product is a constantly changing entity; this ongoing process is an expression of dynamic unity, which is required so that the Complex brand can remain stable and relevant; a brand that is continuously infatuated, related and dependent upon hip-hop and popular culture. The relationships between Sneaker Shopping episodes and the surrounding videos, as well as the connections between the Complex channel and its featured channels, help to tell a story, or rather, foster narrative knowledge that confirms the brand’s link to these aforementioned cultures.
In the following chapter, the concept of language games will be used to analyse how heterogeneous narratives are fostered and spread by Sneaker Shopping content distributed on YouTube. Hip-hop culture has been noted for its fragmentary nature, which is arguably why it has eventually expanded to encompass the cultural phenomenon of sneakers. Complex’s content is constituted almost entirely by hip-hop narratives; thus, a discussion of how YouTube and Complex combine to foster and spread heterogeneous narratives
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3. LANGUAGE, HIP-HOP AND SNEAKERS
It is widely acknowledged that hip-hop has originated around four main branches of cultural practice; breaking (breakdancing), graffiti, MCing (rapping) and DJing (Peterson, 2016; Forman, 2004). This supports the view that hip-hop’s diversity is structurally inherent. In fact, hip-hop may be more postmodern than postmodernism itself, since it requires no special consideration or understanding in relation to a previous movement; whereas postmodernism, or at least discussions of it, constantly refer back to the notions of modernism (Peterson 395). The fluidity of hip-hop’s diverse structure, and therefore, related narratives, is
expressed through Complex’s Sneaker Shopping web series and other brand products; like website articles, for instance. This chapter picks up from the previous discussion of narration from the broader perspective of YouTube channel and video connections, and homes in on the specific language and narratives evidenced in the content of Sneaker Shopping
products. These narratives can be analysed through the lens of language games, which rely on a constantly mutating structure of language to create and appropriate new and old knowledges and discourses.
Various incarnations of hip-hop (Eberhardt and Freeman, 2015) have been born from the restructuring of, and exploration into the relationships between hip-hop’s four main pillars. This is a testament to the notion that while information is a product, knowledge is a process (Lyotard, 1989; Roberts, 2013). Similarly, it is not enough to simply know why hip-hop music has often focussed on the socioeconomic conditions of those that created and championed the culture (Dyson, 2004; Eberhardt and Freeman, 2015), but how hip-hop has done this. Guests that appear on Sneaker Shopping episodes represent the worlds of hip-hop and popular culture; the language used by these guests help to express the specific narratives that are covered by Complex. Therefore, the Sneaker Shopping web series serves as a suitable object to help examine and discuss YouTube’s role in fostering and spreading heterogeneous narratives.
3.1 The Connection between Language Games, Hip-Hop and Sneaker Culture
Sneakers have existed since the nineteenth century and are named as such because of their extremely quiet footfall (Chrisman-Campbell, 2016). However, the rise of sneaker culture is commonly attributed to, and intertwined with the emergence of hip-hop culture (Welty, 2017; Chrisman-Campbell, 2016). Subculture would be the best way of describing the sneaker “scene” from the early 1980’s up until only a few years ago. The sneaker documentary Sneakerheadz (2015) provides an argument for viewing the contemporary scene as a
fully-fledged culture; Sneakerheadz clearly and succinctly highlights the interrelations between hip-hop, basketball and sneakers.
The sneaker community was founded upon a number of ideals; wearing the
“freshest” sneakers was of the utmost priority (DJ Skee, Sneakerheadz, 2015). What would help to characterize the “freshness” of such sneakers would be the scarcity of the particular piece of footwear; limited edition products would be highly sought after, especially with the increase in joint creative ventures between sneaker brands and athletes from the 1970’s onwards. (DJ Skee, Sneakerheadz, 2015). Evidently, the documentary supports Lyotard’s assertion that knowledge can be seen as more than the sum of its parts; or rather, more than just a visible collection of statements. Knowledge also requires the subject to “know how”; it is this branch of knowledge that represents a question of competence; knowledge of the rules that govern the formation of speech in a language (“Definition of Competence”, Merriam-Webster). Knowledge pertinent to hip-hop and sneaker culture is therefore not just a criterion of truth, but that of efficiency, justice (or happiness) and beauty (or, “freshness”, when thinking about sneaker characteristics), amongst others. Essentially, knowledge in this sense is what allows someone to make “good” denotative, prescriptive and evaluative utterances (Lyotard 18). Narrative knowledge is inclusive, in that the statements are used to make “good performances relative to various types of discourse; such as “objects to be known, decided on, evaluated, transformed […]” (Lyotard 18).
Another important aspect of the narrative mode of knowledge are the roles played by the speaker and the listener. Three types of competence are needed, two of which are required by the speaker and a third by the listener. “know -how” and “knowing how to speak” pertain to the “post” of sender; while “knowing how to hear” is a prerequisite of the
addressee “post” (21). Lyotard’s discussion of the roles people play in relation to actualizing these narratives is particularly important to this thesis. Actors within a culture switch between the “posts” of narrator, naratee and diegesis; thus, continually activating and solidifying these narratives within the culture. For Lyotard, these narratives define criteria which demarcate what is said and done within a culture; “since they are themselves a part of that culture, they are legitimated by the simple fact that they do what they do” (23). By continuing to produce shows like Sneaker Shopping and written reports on hip-hop news, Complex is continuously legitimating itself within hip-hop. My suggestion that Complex and hip-hop culture are
intertwined relies heavily on how well Complex “performs” hip-hop knowledge through narratives constituted by channel and video connections on YouTube, as discussed in the previous chapter; and, more explicitly through the distribution of Sneaker Shopping episodes that both broadcast particular narratives and encourage reactions to these that are facilitated by YouTube’s commenting function. The language games played by sneaker fanatics are not an exact science; “knowing how” to acquire a pair of sneakers, and then knowing when
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is or is not the best time to flaunt them cannot be reduced to checking oneself against a list of statements (Lyotard, 1984).
For “sneakerheadz”, sneaker culture has become omnipresent (DJ Skee,
Sneakerheadz, 2015), however it is still important to note the ways in which sneakers and their links to hip-hop imbue them with characteristics akin to those of a subculture. In
reference to themes surfaced in The Thief’s Journal (Genet, 2009), Dick Hebdige posits that style can be seen as a form of refusal; the transitioning of crime into an artform (2).
Criminality has been associated with hip-hop since its emergence (Forman, 2004; Dyson, 2004); and sneaker companies have tried to paradoxically utilize the black street culture to sell sneakers, which ironically draw “celebrity style attention” back onto this marginalized black culture (Brace-Govan and Burgh-Woodman 98). Brace-Govan and Burgh-Woodman go on to note that participants in this urban culture are not just enthusiastic consumers of sneakers but also the “creators of cool” in a wider sense; when referring the Just For Kicks (2005) sneaker documentary, the authors are quick to point out the self-referential “we” used by many of the interviewees that suggests a collective identity formed around social
malalignment (104). The “creators of cool” expresses a form of immaterial labour that is the result of the consumption of sneakers. As will be discussed in the next chapter, those YouTube users who consume and comment on Bella Hadid’s Sneaker Shopping
appearance also carry out a form of immaterial labour; this labour helps to form collective identities that equate to “interpretive communities” (Fish, 1980), although these groups are based around the communal ridiculing of a guest, rather than shared social malalignment and establishing what is “cool”.
For Hebdige, both hip-hop and sneakers could be described as subcultures in the sense that they contain the “expressive forms and rituals of those subordinate groups” (2). Indeed, while sneakers were never one of the main pillars of hip-hop, they have become intertwined within it; if acquiring sneakers expresses social alienation, criminality and fanatical consumption (Brace-Govan and Burgh-Woodman 93), then the sneaker can be seen as a site of political struggle and social marginalisation. However, if we are to position sneaker culture within the foreground of hip-hop, then “culture” is the appropriate term for a description of the hip-hop movement; sneakers are then a part of the aesthetic development of the culture, as well as a practise of hip-hop’s artistic activity (Justin Williams 90). Naturally, the physical qualities of the sneaker, while important to the structural integrity that would be required by athletes, would be of secondary importance. For Jeff Staple, sports became more than athletics; it became pop culture; this lead to hip-hop legend DJ Clark Kent suggesting that the hip-hop community took pop culture to mean something more than the quality of leather on a sneaker (Sneakerheadz, 2015). Undeniably, sneakers are more than the sum of their physical parts; they become the ideal vehicle to discuss collective identity
and symbolise the humanity of those that wear them, but also the oppression of those who fabricated them (Miner, 2009). This draws parallel to the view of one of hip-hop’s most prominent figures of the last twenty years. When interviewed on an episode of Sneaker Shopping, Usher9 points out that certain sneakers provoke a “much deeper conversation,
[one] about who we are as people and what we identify with; [this Jordan sneaker brand] isn’t necessarily something black-owned, but it’s black created.” (“Usher Goes Sneaker Shopping with Complex”, 2016). It is fitting then that as the conversation is digitized through the production and distribution of Sneaker Shopping episodes, the marketing of the Air Jordan brand by Nike completely erases Michael Jordan’s human presence. Jordan’s celebrity status still lives on through the product (Chrisman-Campbell, 2016), though the question remains whether any semblance of sporting talent is attached to the sneakers or embodied by the guests on Sneaker Shopping who, apparently, are fans of the brand.
Evidently, hip-hop and sneaker culture display characteristics oscillating between those of an omnipresent commercial phenomenon and those of marginalised subcultures. Sneaker Shopping is thus a site where, culture or subculture, hip-hop and sneakers are discussed, and YouTube is the new media object charged with housing the vernacular that comes as a response to the content of such episodes. Sneakers have become objects of extreme monetary value, which has prompted one writer to ask: “If a sneaker makes a statement in a box, does anyone hear it?” (Chrisman-Campbell, 2016). Statements on YouTube, however, can be distributed far beyond any physical casings.
3.2 Complex’s Participation in Language Games
As was mentioned in the previous chapter, the potential for consumption expresses boundaries (Kates, 2002); the article below (Figure 4) allows for the consumption of a narrative that evidence’s Complex’s “know how” and competence pertinent to hip-hop language games. Basketball has intertwined with hip-hop since the emergence of playground basketball in 1970’s New York that would often showcase a physicality and ruggedness relatable to the hip-hop tradition of breakdancing (Chrisman-Campbell, 2016). While speaking over Sneakerheadz’ montage of basketball players and rappers in music videos, Jeff Staple provides further support for the connection between hip-hop and basketball, asserting that “athletes wanted to be rappers [and] rappers wanted to be
athletes” (2015). The “B-Boys”, representing the breaking pillar of hip-hop culture, would use breakdancing to taunt and boast; two popular forms of street rhetoric (Banes, 2004).
Furthermore, the display of virtuosity through physicality and inventiveness draws parallel to the emergence of playground basketball; the playground would showcase some of the most
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recognisable basketballers (Sneakerheadz, 2015), flaunting otherworldly athleticism which ritualized a competitive physicality. Importantly, their performance enhancing sneakers would take on a new-found importance (Sneakerheadz, 2015; Chrisman-Campbell, 2016).
Figure 4: Screenshot from complex.com/music; captured on 13 April 2018.
Although the subjects of rappers and basketball are not products in the same sense as Sneaker Shopping episodes, the management of these fragments by Complex creates an article product that stabilises Complex’s brand image. The article helps associate Complex with hip-hop and popular culture and can be seen as an alternative example of dynamic unity. The article, in combination with Complex’s Sneaker Shopping products distributed on YouTube, further contribute to the dynamic unity of the brand through participation in hip-hop language games.
The name of the article shows the Complex brand to partake in a hip-hop language game evidenced by the know how that there is a traditional relationship assumed between NBA (National Basketball Association) players and MCs (rappers); the title boasts a certain confidence and competence. While the brand may be constituted by the relationship between products over time (Lury, 2004), Complex has taken the two fragments of MCing and basketball, in similar fashion to YouTube’s treatment of video products, and combined them to establish a relationship that embodies Complex’s infatuation with hip-hop and popular culture.
