Wednesday, August 28, 2019

DC ExtraTime: Before They Were MTV Stars - RW ATL Meets Hip Hop's Best

BY DC CUEVA                        
■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

This summer, if you've been browsing through the timelines and tabs that is Facebook, The Real World has been enjoying a return to what made the show something to watch in a simpler world than now. Season 33 of this proud reality pioneer became the first MTV original series to air on a digital platform as part of Viacom's new strategy of expanding its horizons beyond just its linear TV channels when The Real World Atlanta premiered on Father's Day weekend, and during a time that saw Viacom make a deal to have it and CBS reunite for the digital battle ahead.
   Those who've been watching it on Facebook Watch (free to see for everyone, cord-cutters included) have enjoyed a season that speaks to what we're all going through in this divided America of ours, and has offered some TV to think about in between the two War of the Worlds Challenges (the second of which having just started tonight) and complementing both Are You The One? and Ex On The Beach, among other things. Streaming in less than 24 hours is the season finale, as this latest class of seven strangers soak up their last several days in one of America's great cities, with all of what comes with it as they bid each other a fond farewell as changed adults from when they walked into the house 77 days ago tomorrow.
   During this season, the show has harkened back to its roots in exploring the social landscape of what's been going on in our world by casting seven strangers intent on making their impact on viewers through what they are passionate about, and seeing all of these personalities collide. For Justin, it's him embracing his role as an advocate for African Americans, while for Yasmin it's her exploring body positivity and being Muslim and queer. There's Dondre finding himself in three worlds of being black, conservative and pansexual; all as Meagan confronts these differences & her insecurities. And no Real World would be complete without its intercast romance: here, it's Michigan country boy Clint and West Coast free spirit Tovah... and the drama with them has been just as juicy as Kai & Jenna, Paulie & Cara, Devin & Marie and Ronnie & his baby mama.

A girl who has been living with these six other strangers in the Real World house is Joplin, MO native Arely Avitua, this class' youngest housemate at 21 years old but already a mom to an adorable son. This season, she has been dealing with personal drama with her ex-boyfriend David back home - who also happens to be the son's daddy, and who paid a visit to the South during a time where the the house went on a weekend's excursion to Savannah, GA to escape all the house drama.
   In last week's episode, Arely's mom was next to come to Atlanta for a visit on the condition made by her daughter to those behind the fourth wall that her face & identity be concealed as she's a Mexican who is undocumented. It has brought into the Real World house and its discussion the subjects of immigration, being Latino and a Dreamer... and in turn, the term DACA has been part of Arely's backstory. And MTV's next digital-only series will see this story continue in young adults living in the town of Nogales, on the border of Arizona and Mexico as the President's border wall blabber continues.
   But that's not the focus of this story... in our brief capsule on her before this season began, we made mention of the strange but true fact that Arely has some ties to the rap world - surprising for someone of her Latin background but not surprising in this Real World taking place in one of the capitals of American hip-hop. And before she set foot in Atlanta - and in this installment of Before They Were MTV Stars, she got to cross paths with two of those from this genre, during a summer that's helped reassure the genre's powerful message in the music world.

Facebook/Real World
The summer of 2019 in a musical sense has been dominated by hip-hop, one which was explored in a way on this Real World season when, like everyone else that spring weekend earlier this year, the cast found out of the sudden death of Nipsey Hussle, and attended one of the many tributes that were paid to him across the country after the shots that rang out outside of L.A. clothing store which cut short his life. Nipsey's passing was one that was also felt by Geordie Shore alum turned Challenger Dee Nguyen when she shared a picture of her meeting Nipsey years earlier while we saw her on War of the Worlds earlier this year, and before she joined close friend Natalie "Ninja" Duran and defending champion Turabi "Turbo" Camkiran for tonight's premiere of War of the Worlds 2.
   And... it's no secret that what he has been able to do in turning a beat that cost him $20 in an online shop that turned Lil Nas X into a newfound superstar when "Old Town Road" became the track with the longest spell at #1 in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. From April until mid-August, the track with him and Miley Cyrus' "Achey Breaky" dad Billy Ray spent 19 weeks at the top of the pops - various remixes included. During that time, X also came out of the closet - the first openly gay artist to have America's #1 song as measured by the bible of the music industry and the figures it compiles each week that measure where things stand in music. And on Monday night, he took the stage at the Video Music Awards and won the Song of the Year award for his historic hit, the first of what will be many awards in the coming months for the incredible year that no one expected.

X aside, a chart showdown that music insiders and hip-hop fans alike had circled on their calendars was the last week of July, and something unusual in a digital world where the major players in the label universe are half of what they were when CD's & cassettes were roaming the earth. Two independent rappers not signed to either Warner, Sony or the Universal labels, and who are both influenced greatly by their Christian faith, duked it out on the Billboard 200 album chart. One had the better name recognition and having the edge in promotion and press while the other felt like he was the University of Maryland-Baltimore taking on the Virginia basketball team.
   In this changed world of the music industry, it's not just physical copies of CD's and vinyl that counts in this war... it's also the amount of streams and those bought and downloaded digitally & legally that also factor into the sales totals. And in the case of this story, it also had the inklings of those brave enough to ditch the casinos for a sales pitch to acquire ownership in a Vegas timeshare: the two opponents bundled album sales with deals for free clothing, concert tickets and even getting free rides on Lyft... all in an effort to buy their way to the top of the charts.
   On paper going into their first weekend of release, the odds favored the man from Chicago who made music history when his 2017 mixtape Coloring Book earned Chance The Rapper three Grammy Awards, becoming the first streaming-only album to win music's most cherished piece of gold. Chance's debut studio album, The Big Day, dropped on July 26th, and got both positive reviews from critics and the opposite from the social sphere who expected more from him. While Big Day led the streaming race with 104 million online plays, it sold 108,000 copies... good enough for #2 on the BB 200 when the receipts were tallied up, but losing in the race for #1 to the first of our two subjects.

Nathan Feuerstein grew up in a small town in northern Michigan, and was raised by his mom until his dad took him out of harm's way when her boyfriend abused him after they divorced. After getting his high school diploma ten years ago, a 18-year-old Nathan found music as an escape, and used a karaoke machine to begin mastering his craft. Fall 2010 saw him drop his debut album, followed a year later by his first single and him getting signed to Capitol's Christian music label in 2014. His first major label offering bearing his initials and now stage name, NF, charted in the top 20 of not just the Christian charts, but also the rap charts too... and soon, his music and a second studio album, Therapy Session, was gracing Madden NFL 16, FOX's Empire and other media.
   The best, though, was yet to come for NF: October 2017 saw him release his third major studio album, Perception, and it dropped at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 despite him not charting on the Hot 100... that would soon change when "Let You Down" began an ascent to just outside the Top 10. A platinum record and an opening act spot for Logic and Kyle would soon follow. And because his music is rooted in the Christian realm, NF is unique in that there's never an "Parental Advisory" label on its album cover art to indicate profanity is in his lyrics. And to add more to this story, this is all from a rapper who shares the same home stage as Eminem, whose hometown of Detroit is a 3-hour's drive from Gladwin, MI.

NF with Arely (IG @_arelyyy)
As for the album battle itself, NF's fourth studio album The Search dropped at the same time as Chance's debut. Compared with Big Day, it got mixed critical reviews with Pitchfork and Rolling Stone being the most hard on him. But much like what we've seen in the movie world where there's a considerable gap between film critics and the moviegoers (best characterized by fans giving their money to a panned 2019 live-action remake of Disney's The Lion King), it's what the fans do with their cash and how they spend it based on who they love that speaks more than the critics' words, and the fans won this battle decisively.
   While it had half the number of streams of Chance's at 58 million, on the album sales front The Search recorded the equivalent of 130,000 copies to just take the top spot. For those who bought the whole thing on iTunes, fans were offered concert tix, $15 hats and other assortments that saw him sell 84,000 albums en route to what The New York Times call "an upset" in this chase... an album released on his own NF Real Music label, years after Macklemore's rise to the top without major label assistance. He thanked his fans afterwards on Facebook: "I put my life into this and to see this much support means a lot to me. The fans made made this album #1, and I am forever grateful."
   Those who've seen her selfies on her Instagram have spotted Arely wearing one of those caps and the name of NF's indie label. In a recent IG post, she revealed that it was his music that has helped her through something she has been battling for three years: "I’ve been dealing with depression since 2016 but wasn’t diagnosed until February 2019. My biggest escape was listening to @nfrealmusic. His music really helped me through my tough times. His slogan is REAL MUSIC. So his slogan is something I really believed in and LOVED the meaning behind it. So when Real World came around the corner... I wanted to do something for myself because for the longest time I’ve always done things that others tell me to do. This is my first tattoo I have ever gotten and it just made sense for me to tattoo REAL because of REAL world but also because all my struggles I have been through are REAL and it’s things I’m still dealing with today. 💕💕💕"
   Just prior to his jaunt with Logic, in winter 2018 he went on a national tour in mid-level venues, and Arely made the two-and-a-half drive up I-49 to his tour stop in Kansas City and got to meet NF backstage. She captioned on Instagram @_arelyyy, "Real's still the slogan, only difference is there's more of us. 🔥🔥 #realmusic #nf #perceptiontour"  But this February night was just half of her hip-hop story: the other half came six months later.




Last year, we featured the emergence of one of the biggest artists of the past few years, Halsey, from an emerging singer MTV staple Kailah Casillas fan-girled at the 2016 MTV Movie & TV Awards, to one who broke through in a big way shortly after that night in Hollywood. Her collaboration with The Chainsmokers, saw "Closer" have a lengthy #1 spell, and it not only made the poster boys of EDM pop stars, it also put Halsey on a path to have two chart-topping albums and more hits, including her second #1 hit last fall.
   When the song "Without Me" dropped two months after our feature on her was published in August, it was a break-up track that couldn't have picked a better time and place to be released. It spoke to the personal feelings Halsey had of being in many relationships she's had in her life -- with men and women, and the one romance that had everyone watching. The release of both the song and its video came on the heels of the relationship she had with the other person Arely has gotten to cross paths with en route to The Real World.

Gerald Gillum spent all of his childhood and most of his adult life in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, a time where his parents split up, and where he took a detour to New Orleans to attend college. While in the Big Easy attending Loyola University, he joined a fellow student and producer to transition from record producer to recording artist, and as part of a Bay Area hip-hop group released songs on MySpace. Soon enough, spots to open for Lil' Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Shwayze and big names would come, along with releasing mixtapes that didn't sell at first, but then caught YouTube's attention in a modern-day update of '60s hit "Runaround Sue."
   By summer 2012, he combined his initials with where he spent his college years, and G-Eazy was roaming America on the Vans Warped Tour, and then with Hoodie Allen on the Excellent Adventure Tour... all leading to the release of his first full-length album Must Be Nice, landing him in the Top 5 on iTunes. More tours soon followed for Eazy, as did a major label pact with Sony, and summer 2014 saw These Things Happen also top the Billboard hip-hop charts along with his first world tour and festival spots, a plunge into the world of fashion.
   The year of 2016 saw Eazy become mainstream: When It's Dark Out dropped, "Me, Myself and I" with Bebe Rexha charted in the top 10, a world tour with Logic and YG, and joining Britney Spears on "Make Me..." in summer 2016, whose video included Are You The One? alum Asaf Goren and saw him and the pop legend perform at the VMA's. Collaborations with Kehlani and Dillon Francis led into the release of his most recent album The Beautiful & Damned, which also performed well.

Arely w/ G-Eazy. (TW @ArelyTheMexican)
And there's that relationship with Halsey: Eazy first met her at his tour finale in New Orleans, and soon "Him & I" featuring the both of them would turn them into music's power couple of 2017. But last year, things changed for Eazy: on tour in Sweden, a rough night saw him get into a fight with a security guard and got caught having a pack of cocaine in his pants... resulting in a night in the slammer, a probation charge and a $10,000 fine on assault and narcotics charges. Shortly after, he and Halsey would eventually break up as she would then date one of today's rising stars, Yungblud.
   While things were unraveling for #Haleazy, both went on with business as usual with their summer tours, and for Eazy it was the second installment of his Endless Summer Tour, with Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Uzi Vert joining in on the fun. Arely made the trek from her home region of the Joplin, MO area across the state border to the Arkansas Music Pavilion north of Fayetteville to see Eazy perform during what was the most eventful summer of his life (including riding a cable car during the Warriors' 2018 victory parade). Arely's reaction to meeting him was best characterized in the most usual of ways on IG: "CAN’T BELIEVE THIS JUST HAPPENED!! 😭😭😭 #amplivefeed"  And she added on Twitter @ArelyTheMexican, "So grateful to have been able to meet someone who supports people like me and many others. @G_Eazy thank you for all your support !! ♥️♥️#DREAMER"
   Him supporting Dreamers like Arely is only part of Eazy's social impact: last year, he let H&M have it in tearing up a sponsorship pact after the company's racial sweater ad, performed at an Everytown fundraiser for anti-gun violence during March for Our Lives weekend, and headlined a concert that raised $15 million for fire relief after the devastating North Bay wildfires. And he launched the Endless Summer Fund non-profit to support young people in the Bay Area.






While she hasn't met him as of yet, a man who's opened for both Eazy and NF is Logic, who's used his music to advance awareness of the world around us through the most socially-conscious of all the genres we have. She has memories of watching him perform at last year's VMA's and wrote below about her being the many who were touched by the stirring moment of him bringing out immigrants on stage with them reminding the audience, "WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS."



When she went to the MTV Music & TV Awards a few days after Real World Atlanta premiered - and where she and the roomies met two leading men of The Challenge in Johnny Bananas and Wes Bergmann, Arely was overwhelmed with the feeling of walking the red carpet for the first time in her life and as part of an MTV family that, thanks to the franchise having two other seasons being produced outside the U.S., also has a Real World cast in Mexico City. She wrote on her social platforms to accompany her pic at the MTV Awards:
"Um... still can’t believe I’m here!! My parents immigrated from Mexico 🇲🇽 so my siblings and I could have a better future. I literally watched MTV growing up. Loved watching @challengemtv and @realworld . To now be a part of the MTV family!! It’s so surreal and I’m so happy where my life is taking me!! 💕💕 So grateful to be able to use my voice as a platform for immigrants and DACA recipients. And I am telling my story and using my voice to speak up for what’s right!"



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Stories such as this is part of the unique aspect of DCBLOG's MTV Reality coverage known as ExtraTime: original storytelling offering a different look at the people and stories of the shows you love, and the world around us as seen through the prism of TV's most exciting reality programming. Our coverage also features exclusive diaries of all the social reaction of the weekly episodes as well as traditional episode recaps and opinions. If you like what you see, feel free to like, comment, share and subscribe, and join the conversation on Twitter @DC408Dxtr and include the hashtags #DCBLOG and/or #SeeForYourself in your posts.

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 UPDATE: 9/14/19 to include mention of Arely's postseason IG post on NF
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