I think there is a serious problem with the commercialization of music in general, hip hop more specifically, and the Bay Area independent rap scene in particular. When participating in an art form is viewed as a hustle, it means that "artists" will value making money over the actual music itself.
You might say, no the market corrects for that, because if its not good people won't buy it. But lets be realistic. The fact is that SOME people will buy it regardless, and if you can spend a few hours on an album and sell 20,000 copies you will probably make a nice profit. But you've put out a piece of shit album.
I think thats the biggest problem with Northern Cali rap right now, when some Bay pioneers blew up in the early and mid 90s they showed everybody that we had our own sound and we could sell records.
But then a bunch of people got into the game who just want to make independent money and don't spend anytime putting together quality albums.
So WE - the consumers - are stuck trying to find out which are the 2 or 3 artists who actually put time and effort and artistry into their releases each year. And its a short list. Northern Cali comes out with hundreds of albums every year and damn near NONE of them touch the quality of music in the early-mid 90s.
So I see all of you internet rappers out there, and some of you are talented, but my question is why do you want to rap?
If you only rap to make money, go back to college and be a stock broker, DONT RAP. Spare us. You're better off as a cook at Denny's than rapping.
If you have some kind of love for the artform and a message that you want to put out there, then keep doing your thing regardless of the obstacles. Hopefully the "hustlers" will clear out of your way and un-saturate the northern cali hip hop market.
.....And spare me the JT the Bigga Figga speech (track 1 off Hustle Relentless) of I'm hustling for the community, thats bullshit, his making money by putting out 100 mediocre albums a year doesnt do shit for the community, it just helps HIM. Unless he plans on giving new shoes to all the kids in the hood and filling everybodys frigdes instead of buying the rims that keep spinning when you stop. I doubt it.
You might say, no the market corrects for that, because if its not good people won't buy it. But lets be realistic. The fact is that SOME people will buy it regardless, and if you can spend a few hours on an album and sell 20,000 copies you will probably make a nice profit. But you've put out a piece of shit album.
I think thats the biggest problem with Northern Cali rap right now, when some Bay pioneers blew up in the early and mid 90s they showed everybody that we had our own sound and we could sell records.
But then a bunch of people got into the game who just want to make independent money and don't spend anytime putting together quality albums.
So WE - the consumers - are stuck trying to find out which are the 2 or 3 artists who actually put time and effort and artistry into their releases each year. And its a short list. Northern Cali comes out with hundreds of albums every year and damn near NONE of them touch the quality of music in the early-mid 90s.
So I see all of you internet rappers out there, and some of you are talented, but my question is why do you want to rap?
If you only rap to make money, go back to college and be a stock broker, DONT RAP. Spare us. You're better off as a cook at Denny's than rapping.
If you have some kind of love for the artform and a message that you want to put out there, then keep doing your thing regardless of the obstacles. Hopefully the "hustlers" will clear out of your way and un-saturate the northern cali hip hop market.
.....And spare me the JT the Bigga Figga speech (track 1 off Hustle Relentless) of I'm hustling for the community, thats bullshit, his making money by putting out 100 mediocre albums a year doesnt do shit for the community, it just helps HIM. Unless he plans on giving new shoes to all the kids in the hood and filling everybodys frigdes instead of buying the rims that keep spinning when you stop. I doubt it.
