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Learn Public Enemy’s warning — which is essentially about being a critical, independent thinker and forming your own opinions — is just as potent today as it was more than two decades ago.

The music industry has always been a pioneer in hype. And today, with the rapid advancement of social media, hype is hitting new levels.

Hype without talent is like school without education. You can get by for a while, but then you hit a wall. Albert Einstein once said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

Well, talent is what’s left after the hype wears off.

Musicians, filmmakers, writers, visual artists and other artists now have the power to integrate means of production, modes of production, branding, distribution and audience in a seamless, streamlined way.

For up-and-coming artists, social media can be useful in leveraging the best deal. I recently watched [|Odd Future] , a rap group who started as an Internet sensation, rock the [|SWU Festival]  in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Social media, talent and hype made that happen.

The independent rapper STS, on a track called “ [|The Interview] ,” weighs in on the changing music industry landscape, the responsibility of the record labels and all the noise generated from an oversaturation of amateur artists:

Labels ain’t puttin in the labor

 They can’t foresee the paper

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> All they see is views on the YouTube

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> And nah I ain’t impressed by these new dudes — they doo doo!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the end, hype fizzles, talent endures, and the struggle continues.