BAMMER said:
Should'nt underground artists do anything it takes to get in the European market?I see members of this board from time to time from Europe who can't get there hands on c.d.'s.
You definately on point with this suggestion. It kills me to see that you can be some unheard of cat from New York, with pretty average skills, and you only have to show Europe some love (maybe with an interview, a bit of promotion, or just make sure your stuff gets out here) and straight away enough people will be picking it up.
Every time I read some shit over here from an emcee they always comment that they feel its coo over here cos they just gotta show some love and it gets reciprocated with people picking up their stuff. That goes for everyone from KRS-1 to some kid making a name for himself from the underground. They only got to put Europe in the equation and they get a market in return.
Thats kind of how it is out here, its not just about backpackers, but in general people who are into they hip hop or whateva music like digging deep and swooping different things.
And its not hard either - big music stores here nowadays will line up some fairly un-heard of debut shit alongside the big pop-rap releases in their recommendations, the trouble is that its always the same kind of thing - some underground act that has put the vibe out to appeal to backpackers and hip hop junkies. These people don't have big budgets and for me some of this stuff is plain boring, but they putting their name out there and picking up a second market in Europe in return.
Whats f*ked up is that if the Bay had any kind of exposure here people would be picking that up for sure on the same tip. People hear CD's which I bring over and straightaway they're trippin on where they can pick this stuff up.
Give someone San Quinn, Young Droop, E-40, Tech N9ne, Keak Da Sneak, or any of the countless emcees who can spit and have their own style, and people really think they missing out on a whole heap of stuff. They just haven't been told about any of these people or been given any exposure to them before.
I'm not in the business, but I guess that comes down to distribution and just plain networking with deejays and media peeps over here. When you consider there are probably acts who aren't selling shit in the US, but are picking up decent support here, it must be because they have taken the trouble to get known over here. It's just an extension of when 40 water had the business savvy to go state to state putting out his tapes.
Right now a legend like 40 is made and doesn't need to waste time trying to pick up extra fans in Europe - he already has some - but I agree that any up and coming cats could tap a whole market by just extending their marketing and hustle to cover Europe too.
Someone with skills and originality and a unique vibe could swoop a whole new fanbase no problems.
they seem to have somewhat of a fasination with the westcoast lifestyle.
This bit is weird. I kinda know what you mean, it ain't an adulation kind of thing, but it is exactly the sort of thing which Bay artists could capitalise on. I think the reason is that 99% of Westcoast acts get 0% of exposure here. Dre / Snoop / Kurupt etc is the only Cali acts who actually get exposure here, plus cats like the Liks, Dilated Peoples and a bunch of underground emcees. Compare that to NY where every new act will get a mention on the hip hop radio shows or in the magazines here.
Its a crazy imbalance, and definately I think Europe is waiting for the chance to tap the whole Bay scene when they finally find out about it or can actually pick up one or two of the CD's here. When folks here are picking up CD's from 100's of different NY emcees, you got to believe somewhere somehow there is business and market waiting for west coast rappers to put their product out.
I would fly there,and hit the city'z so hard with promo,and do my best to prepare a mini tour
Flying over might be a last resort on costs. But definately get promos to the top deejay radio shows over here and the magazines. That is the cost of a few mails and product overseas, then let the exposure, word of mouth and also unity and communication of European heads do the rest. If you can get a small number of CD's properly distributed here too, it should pick up from there.
As for flying over - its interesting to see that we have some little-known underground acts coming over here and doing the most small-time shows and appearances in clubs, they probably making little money but suddenly they got love - and their name known - to a whole new bunch of people who are hungry for different stuff to swoop.
Marketing and exposure. I guess the independence of the Bay area and the labels means the powerful distribution isnt there, but I definately believe that some of the flame spitters in the Bay could blow the f*** up if they could just get their name and sound known over here.
Believe me, the hip hop magazines here - they could tell you the foot size of a thousand emcees and list off their whole discography, but they wouldn't know shit about the Bay. They've never heard of the Bay / Sacramento and anything from it.
Someone needs to get their shit over here and wake these people up. In the last year there was just one mention of the Bay in the main UK hip hop magazine. It was the Click album and it was the most misinformed b.s. you've seen. This fool reviewing it tried to act like he knew, but came off as an idiot listing Celly Cel as E-40's partner in making up 'The Click' and a bunch of other nonsense.
Thats all the Bay gets and yet the backpack scene gets page after page for all these obscure acts who don't have a big fanbase... but actually made sure they were known over here.
If the Bay labels could do the same..... one or two people going to blow up.
