MY THOUGHTS ON THE BAY AREA RAP SCENE

[MasoN]

HOLY SHIT READ THIS! ..MY THOUGHTS ON THE BAY AREA RAP SCENE

This is what some guy said in another forum, I was typing back a response but it turned out into a Forum subject. These are just some of my thoughts and not eveyone else's (unless u agree with me )

let me see off top....i here FRONTLINE sold 8,000-9,000 of the "who r u" ..The jacka-jack artist sold 1200 its first week...prolly at a few thousand already....Jt's/get low "west coast resurection" was at 36,000k something soundscanned...not to mention the Other game album..which last time i checked was at 91,000.....

those are some numbers..im preety sure im acurate on..if im wrong someone correct me!

the only reason the game is gettin so much sales is becuz hes on 50's dick. think about it. 50 is a entertainer, not a rapper. EVERY GOD DAMN WHITE ASS KID THAT LOOKS LIKE THEY BELONG IN THE SHOW "THE OC" is in fuckin love with 50 snitch. Y? cuz of gay songs like "magic stick" "candy shop". Y do they love it? cuz they dont listen to the lyrics or nothin. all these faggot ass kids juss think hes a rapper becuz he got shoot and can make beats. then once the game came on the scene everyone ( i garuntee u ) that was in love with 50's faggot ass was like "Oh my god, look at this gangster rapper from compton, he must be down." <----- 100% accurate so what do they do, they buy hes cd's. Now once they see that the game has lyrics that people can actually hear and understand (becuz who wrights his songs? 50 snitch) they want more of it and juss keep buyin his shit. NOW why dont people in the bay not sell as much as the mainstream faggot ass rappers do? becuz everyone that doesnt know what "yadadimean" "cuddy" or any other slang u can think of thats come out of the bay, those are the people who dont understand what it means. WHY dont they understand? they dont pay attention to the music around them. Think about it, all over the radio u hear gay shit like candy shop or sumdin gay those g-unit homos put out. It gets tiring after awhile. Ever since Mac Dre (R.I.P) died hes sales have been up. Go to any Rasputins (or any other mom&pops stores) and look at their best sellers list. I garuntee u, mac dre will be #1 or #2. Then right below them u see g-unit ect ect. If those stores held alot more Bay Area artist CD's I would tell u this, the bay would be blowing the fuck up. Why would the bay blowin up? What do people do when they look at those best sellers list? they want the best thing thats out. So they walk down the cd isle to check it out, but guess what. they are sold out. Most of the stores Ive seen (rasputins and a few others) carry lots of Mac Dre yukmouth ect, but what do you see more of? MAINSTREAM RAP! If the stores held more bay are music, the bay would be on the map without dout in my mind. So what do people do when they see Mac Dre or something else that is big at the time? those people are most likely to buy the CD that is under they bay artist which is sold out of, the CD that is next in line, which in this case would be more of the mainstream rap.

Its funny to see what kind of rap people are listing to that dont really know what rap is. I asked some kid at my school if he knew who andre nickatina is, and he said yeah, hes the guy who did ayo for yayo. Then i asked him who his favorite rappers are and he said. "G-Unit, CHingy, T.I and then Andre Nickatina" I felt like slappin this kid in the face. How do you compare Chingy to Nickatina? There is so much mainstream coming threw the radio its not even funny. U listen to 94.9 or 106.1 and what do they always talk about? "THIS IS THE BAY AREA, THE BAY AREA IS PUTTIN THE WESTCOAST BACK ON THE MAP. NEW BAY COMIN AT YA." or sum shit like that. then what do they do right after saying some shit like that? they play songs like candy shop, bring em out, some fat joe songs ect. Why would you do that? I mean if ur gonna rep the bay like that atleast throw some bay shit on ur show. I know 94.9 is playing some Mac Dre, Frontline, Federation ect. But how many artist arent gettin played that deserve it. TONS! dont get me wrong, Mac Dre and the rest of those cats deserve it, but I think it gets tiring when the only songs u hear from them are "feelin myself" "bang it" "hyphy". They need to put some more shit on their shows. Theres more songs out and theres a lot more artist out there then just those few. I can go on and on about this subject but I would like to hear what some of you people who think that mainstream is better then what we got rigth here in the bay area.



(sorry it took so long )

 

[W3STC0ASTLADiiE]

i agree with u i meann yea 949 DOES make it seem like its THA BAY AREAS PARTY STATION..like why tha bay (or me i guess?) waNNa get dowN to 50cent or the gay uNit? i was at a skooL dance on friday and almost all tha stupid DJ played was hella east coast shit..&raNdom crap..gwen stefaini or whoever..a LOT of 50 and that gay shit..they only played ONE bay song..over a period of three hours..8-11.. ALL he played..was...wanna guess? YES..HYPHY..because thats the only thing that known..i just moved to sum white infested towN N these kids are so stupid!! i was listenin to WE DONT STUNT--FRONTLINE and this gurl said..IS THIS 50 CENT? and i was so pissed i was all NO! ITS FRONTLINE!! and she said ooh they the same i said no it aint..theyres is ILL TEACH U HOW 2 STUNT..and ours is we DONT stunt..and then i was listenin to SHAKE THAT MONKEY and she said ooh isnt that by whoever tha fuck and i was all TOO SHORT...and i named all thse rappers..yukmouth, san quiNN, messy marv, hella NO BODY here kno what im talkin bout..keak da sneak..nah they dun listen to that..they all into 50cent, or the game. i said THE GAME SUCKS one time hella loud in class and this kid said what! hes the ONLY rap i listen to!! and i was all why? he sucks? hes a pussy and hes all no he isnt he is SO good.. i was alL nahh buddy peep this and i made him listen to yuk and hes all nah thats &i quote "TOO GHETTO 4 ME". ..it was off the ALL OUT WAR mixtape..these stupid boys dunno quality if it slapped them in tha face..they never will...they think they hard..they can keep bumpin they shit..but its all good as long as our bay area artist get the love & respect they deserve..(more on this later..i gotta eat!)

 

[W3STC0ASTLADiiE]

...u cant expect these kids to kNow that music from tha bay is far better then the music they listen to..they just stupid lil kids who want to look hard 4 tha ladies..

 

[idadadada]

.... this nigga wrote an essay....

 

[MaddDogg]

The reason why 50 Cent is hot is because he is a gifted artist, has great production and a budget to work with, and is working with Dr. Dre and Eminem, two of the best known and biggest selling artists in the game. Game and 50 Cent got pissed off at each other 3 or 4 months ago so I really doubt the Game is on his nuts as much as you believe. The reason Game is hot is because he like 50 is a gifted artists, brings a knew style to the table, is representing a region that needs to be revived and gets the top notch beats. There's little room to dispute the fact that both artists are doing quite well because of their talent, and that talent is what JT saw and capitalized on in the first place.

The fact that you have incorporated 50 and Game into your "Thoughts on the Bay Area" exemplifies a typical view of a bay area listener, blaming the outside community rather than whats going on in the bay area itself. Though its true in my opinion that there are definitely better artists in the bay area, they dont blow up for a number of reasons that are their own fault. A number of bay area artists poorly promote their albums and allow their albums to be released without proper distribution. Some turn out cds every 3-4 months when they could turn out one solid album every year because they feel they make more money that way. Some dont want to blow up and seem to be happy independent and making the money they make in the bay area. Others dont handle their music careers professionally, they choose to hop on internet chat boards and make asses of themselves. The 91 Siccness forum is a great example of this. Another great example is DJ's like Mark 7 who have internet radio shows and spin in clubs asking several big name artists for vinyl and never recieving it.

Contrary to popular belief on the BART board, I dont believe their is a conspiracy against bay area music in the rap community. If bay area artists and fans focused less on putting down other artists and more on releasing solid cds, they will not have to worry about being shut out of the game. This has happened recently as the Team, Frontline and a few other newbies have began releasing records that blow away some older vetrans stuff. The same is true of vetrans like Quinn, Yukmouth and EA-Ski who have elevated their game to another level. I think that the support for Bay Area artists in the bay area is much larger than most people would tend to believe. Although your friend may not listen to Nickatina im sure most of your friends do, and the fact that Amoeba and Rasputins record shops are full of Bay Area top sellers backs up that point. There is something very unique going on in the bay area in the whole culture and its roots are in the hip hop scene that has its roots in the old school days but just developed in the last 2-3 years. There is no place like the bay area, there is nothin like seein a big local artist at a poppin club like Mission Rock, there aint nothin like the number of sporadic sideshows that have sprung up all over the bay in the last 5 or 6 years except the ones that started the whole scene in Oakland, theres no where with such similar slang and styles, and in general there is no place in my opinion as culturally distinct, racially indiscriminate and different from the rest of the United States from the Bay. Some may dispute these facts, but no one can deny that there is something interesting going on up there right now.

Whats even more interesting is new mediums like the internet can help spread the word. Maybe the bay doesnt need MTV to reach its true potential. As long as the message is being spread that there is something different than 50 cent out there, the music of the Bay Area will speak for itself. More artists should use the internet and local outlets to improve their fan base. They should seek creative ideas and promote in regions they typically ignore. The hip hop music in the bay is slowly changing things over at 949 and at a much accelerated rate at KMEL. As long as Bay Area artists retain and expand their local fanbase, someone is bound to notice sooner or later. The more they open up regions like the midwest who is also fed up with whats on the radio, the bigger they will get.

I hope my thoughts on the bay willl help you see that it aint just the mainstreams fault and that the scope of the bay area scene is growing regardless of mainstream music.

 

[MasoN]

thanks for writing back. You made me think a little more about the rap scene in the bay area. What I realized is that I was blaming mainstream rap, when I wasnt really trying to. I was trying to blame the people of the Bay. BUT I do think that mainstream has to do with a lot of it though.You see I live in Fremont ( probably one of the whitest towns in the bay next to pleasnton.) and I go to Irvington (which is the gayest school in town) and theres about, Id say 100 people at my school that listen to bay area rap music (might be more but so far thats all the people i know). If you were to walk down the 2 hall ways of my school you would be able to point out who listens to what ect. Most of the time the people I see bumpin 50 snitch or any other mainstream rapper is those god damn TRL wanna b's. The only problem I have is the fact is that they listen to that shit/garbage. Its sad to see these people playing this crap. But lets face facts, bay area isnt as big as it should be so I dont really want to blame it all on its residents and what they listen to. I mean i could care less if they buy their CD's (bay area rap artist) as long as they got people in the bay supporting them. Some way down the road more and more people are going to catch onto the whole bay area rap scene and thus people will start to buy their CD's. its more of a risk i think. I think that most mainstream is blockin that from happening though. I mean I try to, not promote like most promoters do, but mention rappers. I cant stand when people from my area have never heard of yukmouth, Mac Dre, Keak Da sneak ect. At school I listen to my iPod every single second of the day and once i go home i bump my music in my room. Whats funny is when I get people asking me to barrow my iPod for awhile, they scroll threw the artist and ask me the dumbest questions like, " Wheres the Loyd Banks at? Wheres the Kanye West at? Wheres the Ying Yang twins at? WHERES ALL THE GOOD MUSIC AT?!?!" i just respond with, ur lookin at it. People are dumb beyond belief at my school its juss sad to see it happening. (sorry if this seems out of order, im tryin to watch a movie and type this at the same time and im kind of losing my train of thought here but work with me.) What im trying to get at is I think if we want to see the bay really blow up we need to step it up as fans. (shit lost my train of thought, ill post it up once it comes back to me )

 

[DAT NIGGA TAZZ]

its called marketing.

 

[MasoN]

okay so lets say Yukmouth, given the chance to be put out to the public in a more professional way (more marketing), Do you think he could blow up big or even bigger then g-uint? I think so, but thats not the point im tryin to get out to all you folks. (this movie is fuckin up the way im thinking...lol... i cant think straight)

 

[Sick Wid It]

MaddDogg, I'm glad you took the time to write out that response because it lets me know there's atleast one person in this thread that isn't on that stupid shit. Your post is definately worth reading. You make a lot of good and valid points that may not be popular to voice but are no doubt honest & on the money.

Cats need to quit being so ignorant & closed-minded about music in general man. Listen to whatever you like to listen to and fuck anyone who has a problem with it. Those dudes are true dumbfucks.

 

[Rock]

Fu-k what you've heard about the industry to now, fu-k all major record labels and fu-k all major recording artists as well, fu-k Nas, Jay, Em, Nelly, Chingy, Jermaine Dupri, Dr. Dre, Russell Simmons, The ROC, All Of Shady, Desert Storm, R. Kelly, Fabolous, Joe Budden, all mainstream rappers I haven't mentioned. Let me tell you the real industry............

I've been signed for about 4 months now to a major label and now I wish I never started rapping, producing, or even getting into the music business, I'm going to college. You know why underground rappers never shine?? You wanna know why it's so hard to get a deal?? You wanna know why some artists can write 6-7 albums while some cats struggle to write one?? You wanna know why It's more A&R's that exists on labels than it is actual artists on the label?? You wanna know why Interscope is suppressing the whole Eminem thing??

Here Goes.......

Most cats believe they can get a deal by spittin' some sick lyrics or making some good songs, wrong. You know what labels do?? A&R's don't look for artists, not at all, Labels sign around 25 artists per decade and then freeze signings. A&R's don't go look for the next big artists, they look for hit songs and writing pools and people who can sing backup vocals. A&R's aren't worried about finding artists with star quality that have interesting backgrounds, oh no, not at all.

Here's how they do rappers.........Raping-U-Records artists are starting to get old and played out so they send an A&R out to find a punkass rapper who lives in a respectable area. Next, they make sure the artist is marketable, then they'll sign the artist. Now Rapper A has a record deal with no previous history of rapping, next the label will setup a front to make it look like they discovered the artist (might sign a kid first, then set it up to make it look like this kid was rapping in front of a crowd at a gas station where a highly known A&R just happened to be getting gas from).

Next, they'll sit down with the artist and have this reality talk to them, explaining to them that the industry is a business and none of this is real. Now, they'll overexagerate their background and even lie about their age and where they grew up, they'll push a suburban to a harder area then they're really from. They find a an angle (pop's died, parents divorced, got shot, sold drugs, friend died) and push that angle to build the artist sentimental respect (who likes a punk who lived a perfect life??). They'll use that angle to build a story around them and how that event or events affected them.

Now, they hit the studio, right?? Wrong!! Now here is what real A&R's are meant for. They'll send out their A&R's and stupid cats like me will kill to get the demo in their hands, once these A&R's have a good number of SOLICITED demo's they'll tell Rappers B, C and D to send the label some material. Rappers B, C and D think they might get a deal, so they get their demo package together with Bio, Pic's, Press Kit and the actual demo. They probably tellin' their guys that they finna get signed and ish. Wrong........

Now A&R B is at the label listening to the demos of Rapper B, C and D. A&R B doesn't care for anything but the songs. A&R B is really feeling Rapper B and D's demo's (capable hit songs) but not Rapper C. So that's when Rapper C gets the rejection letter. Now the A&R is interested in Rapper B & D's material, so they'll write them and ask them to send more material, now B & D really think they're gonna get signed.

A&R B listens again and feels as if Rapper D isn't as good as he thought he was but still feels Rapper B. Now he sends a rejection letter to Rapper D. Now the contact is made with Rapper B and a meeting is set up. Sounds lovely right?? Keep Reading....A&R B and Rapper B and a few exec's have a meeting and now Rapper B is hit with REALITY. A&R B explains the real music business and gives Rapper B a choice, either walk out that door and be forever blackballed or the alternative.

You remember Rapper A, right?? Rapper B has been hit with the reality that he will never be a star. Rapper B just sent in about 10 songs to A&R B which were purchased and now will be on Rapper A's album. Rapper B is now merely part of a writing pool, he will continue to make songs under the supervision of an A&R, only not for himself, for everyone else. Now Rapper B sends about 10-20 songs to Rapin-U-Records every 3 months and now Rapper A, Rapper X, Rapper J and Singer T go through Rapper B's material as well as the other hundred's of Rappers and Singers that are merely writing pools material and pick which song they want on their album.

Now here is where the process takes place, Rapper A chooses 3 songs from Rapper B, 4 songs from Rapper Y and 2 songs from Singer U to make an album. Rapper A might want to do his own song so the label gives Rapper A 2 slots to do his own songs. When the album is finished, starving artists in writing pools are paid off and SILENCED. Now you can read the credits and see Rapper A's name all over, but it's to fool you, the sheep, the cats who buy the albums and the stupid chickenheads that believe anything in writing.

Rapper A has candy stories and rumors started by people at the label that grow and make the Rapper more respectable, more harder and more controversial to keep the life span of Rapper A alive. Guess what?? If an A&R finds someone else who's making better songs than Rapper B, they cut him off and blackball him to keep him silenced, it's that simple, fuk what you heard and believe. Beef?? Real or fake?? Ima tell you this, more beef's in the past and present then you brainwashed muthafukaz will ever believe are fake, some are real but even then you'll believe what you want. Once Rapper A falls off (not lyrically, not songwise) marketwise, they drop them and a new era of MUSIC INDUSTRY BULLSH*T arises.

And that's just the rappers, I'm not even going to get into producing, all Ima say is that most of your respectable producers are merely NAMES, you believe PRODUCER B is ths ish?? PRODUCER B can produce, but how do you think they can produce so many hot songs at one time?? They don't, a label will send out A&R's to find clones (people who've been influenced and therefore have the same sound) of the producer and the same process as with Rapper's A, B, C and D will spark up with producers too. THINK ABOUT IT........

Why do think it took Twista and Memphis Bleek so long to come out again, huh?? Cuz they wanted to write their own albums and didn't want to fall victim, too bad that's not for most of the ROC. Why do you think Ali Vegas will probably never drop and even when he drops, watch what happens......Why do you think 50 Cent couldn't get a deal after Trackmasters?? How come the Bravehearts took so long?? And then didn't even get pushed, promoted or even have money put behind them?? Hey Chicago, where is 3Piece?? Why do you think both MTV MC Battles promised Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Contracts but Reignman's on his own label and Wreckognize aint on the Roc?? How come Shawnna got shelved?? Why did Universal lie about Nelly's age?? Why did it take Jin some 2 and a half years to come out with a single?? Where the hell is Postaboy?? What did Mase get exposed to that made him choose God over Millions of dollars?? Cats know the truth and don't like it, it's that simple.......

How would you like it if you've been rapping since you were 7, been hustlin demos, doing meaningless talent showcases and then you finally get a deal at age 20 and now you've become Rapper B?? The industry messes people up for real and half these cats who see the Bling Bling and girls think that's all their is, it's like finding out God doesn't really exists and now I've become Rapper B.

Sh*t like this gets cats killed for real, the industry is shady and what you've seen on TV, them DVD's, in interviews, VH1, MTV, whatever is nothing but the "GHOST INDUSTRY" that you've been led to believe is how it is and none of you have any idea, I hate the music industry, I hate the entertainment business, I'm going to college, getting my degree and am leaving this is behind me, FU*K COLUMBIA RECORDS and most of all, ya'll can SU*K my D*CK. To the industry heads on here, F*CK U, go ahead, yeah, I've broken the silence, only the underground is real, FU*K the industry.......

I'm uppin this til everyone reads it, I thought I was about live out my dream and now I've been exposed to the nightmare that is the industry. I was brainwashed, now I'm not, everything I've said in this post is the truth, anything you've heard or been led to believe is bull, this post applies to all them STUDIO wankstaz.......

Cat's I know got ghostwriters and songs come from writing pools.........Fuk what you believe........

Clipse
Snoop
Nas
D-Block
Eminem
Fabolous
Biggie
Static
Joe Budden
Nelly
Mase
Chingy
Ludacris
Kanye West
Trick Daddy
Cassidy
Jay-Z
Young Gunz
Murphy Lee

And about a bunch of cats I'm too pissed to mention right now......I'm uppin this til the world blows up, think about this ish seriously and a lot of ish will start to make more sense......

-Welcome To The Real Music Industry-

 

[MasoN]

wow, took me awhile to read but thanks for puttin it up. Thats sucks tho. I guess i now know why most underground rappers stay underground. That sums up some of my thoughts but I still think people should support our local talented rappers and not this mainstream shit. thanks for puttin that shit up and clearing it up. good luck in school

 

[cipher_circle]

This topic is discussed at http://www.thesource.com/

The reason why 50 Cent is hot is because he is a gifted artist, has great production and a budget to work with, and is working with Dr. Dre and Eminem, two of the best known and biggest selling artists in the game.

not entirely true, boss playa. he only got the major exposure by dick riding the hype of beefs that was blown out of proportion. the only thing"gifted" bout 50 is that he can use other Producers POP creds and attach it to CD . For one thing, 50 doesn't entirely engineer the beats or write the lyrics on his albums by himself, but uses the skills of another "gifted" producers to make mainstream tracks.

Game and 50 Cent got pissed off at each other 3 or 4 months ago so I really doubt the Game is on his nuts as much as you believe. The reason Game is hot is because he like 50 is a gifted artists, brings a knew style to the table, is representing a region that needs to be revived and gets the top notch beats.

Game only got into this RAP GAME by learning in the Bay and with Bay Help. He also got himself deeply connected into the politics in the RADIO game which he got a major label to invest money and major effort to market him.

There's little room to dispute the fact that both artists are doing quite well because of their talent, and that talent is what JT saw and capitalized on in the first place.

Thats true, but I think Game is at a point which he still doesn't admit the fact that Dre didn't discover him. Jt did. Somehow, Game keeps up the idea that Dre discovered him.The Bay helped the Game.period.

The fact that you have incorporated 50 and Game into your "Thoughts on the Bay Area" exemplifies a typical view of a bay area listener, blaming the outside community rather than whats going on in the bay area itself. Though its true in my opinion that there are definitely better artists in the bay area, they dont blow up for a number of reasons that are their own fault.

ITS MOSTLY HOW THE RADIO GAME IS STRUCTURED TODAY. ITS NOT AN ISSUE OF TALENT OR PRODUCTION VALUE, BUT ITS AN ISSUE ON HOW MAJOR LABELS CONTROL DIFFERENT AREAS IN THE RADIO THROUGH PAYOLA.

A number of bay area artists poorly promote their albums and allow their albums to be released without proper distribution. Some turn out cds every 3-4 months when they could turn out one solid album every year because they feel they make more money that way. Some dont want to blow up and seem to be happy independent and making the money they make in the bay area. Others dont handle their music careers professionally, they choose to hop on internet chat boards and make asses of themselves. The 91 Siccness forum is a great example of this. Another great example is DJ's like Mark 7 who have internet radio shows and spin in clubs asking several big name artists for vinyl and never recieving it.

Contrary to popular belief on the BART board, I dont believe their is a conspiracy against bay area music in the rap community.

THE REAL ISSUE IS HOW MUCH DIFFICULT IT IS FOR INDEPENDENT LABELS TO GET RADIO AND TV EXPOSURE IN 2005 COMPARED TO BACK IN THE DAYS OF 1995. BACK THEN, THERE WAS LESS POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT ARTISTS AND LABELS TO GET ON THE RADIO AND COMPETE WITH MAINSTREAM LABELS ON A RADIO LEVEL. NOW, WE GOT MAYBE JUST 4 MAINSTREAM LABELS PAYING OFF RADIO STATIONS TO PLAY "WELCOME TO ATLANTA" IN THE BAY. A DJ WILL TELL YOU THAT IT WAS REQUESTED BUT WHAT THEY WON'T TELL YOU IS THAT PEOPLE WHO REQUESTED CALLED ALL THE WAY FROM ATLANTA AT THE LABEL'S PR DEPT. AND CALLED MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE THE REQUEST LINE IS TOLL FREE AND THE STATION DOESN'T HAVE CALLER ID TO TELL WHERE THE REQUEST IS CALLING FROM OR IF THE CALLER IS PRE-RECORDED. THERE IS A MACHINE YOU CAN BUY IN THE INTERNET WHICH DIALS AND FORWARDS RECORDED MESSAGES LIKE, I WANT WELCOME TO ATL TO BE PLAYED AT PEOPLE'S RADIO HOUR, AT 1-100 TIMES. PEOPLE WHO WORK AT THE STATION NEVER TALK TO THE CALLER, BUT WRITES DOWN THE REQUEST AND HANGS UP. DO THAT 100 TIMES WITH DIFFERENT ACCENTS AND YOU JUST GOT IN AT THE TOP 10 SONGS OF THE DAY, YA-DIG. P DIDDY GOT BUSTED ON SOMETHING LIKE THAT AND GOT CAUGHT LIKE A BUSTA.

If bay area artists and fans focused less on putting down other artists and more on releasing solid cds, they will not have to worry about being shut out of the game. This has happened recently as the Team, Frontline and a few other newbies have began releasing records that blow away some older vetrans stuff. The same is true of vetrans like Quinn, Yukmouth and EA-Ski who have elevated their game to another level. I think that the support for Bay Area artists in the bay area is much larger than most people would tend to believe. Although your friend may not listen to Nickatina im sure most of your friends do, and the fact that Amoeba and Rasputins record shops are full of Bay Area top sellers backs up that point. There is something very unique going on in the bay area in the whole culture and its roots are in the hip hop scene that has its roots in the old school days but just developed in the last 2-3 years. There is no place like the bay area, there is nothin like seein a big local artist at a poppin club like Mission Rock, there aint nothin like the number of sporadic sideshows that have sprung up all over the bay in the last 5 or 6 years except the ones that started the whole scene in Oakland, theres no where with such similar slang and styles, and in general there is no place in my opinion as culturally distinct, racially indiscriminate and different from the rest of the United States from the Bay. Some may dispute these facts, but no one can deny that there is something interesting going on up there right now.

THE REAL ISSUE IS WE NEED MORE RADIO STATIONS THAT SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS AND LABELS. IT DON'T MATTER WHAT CITY YOU LIVE IN THE US, IT HAPPENS TO THEM TOO CUZ ALL HOODS ARE GOING THRU THE SAME DRAMA. WE NEED MORE MUSIC VIDEO SHOWS THAT GIVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDEPENDENT LABELS AND ARTISTS.

Whats even more interesting is new mediums like the internet can help spread the word. Maybe the bay doesnt need MTV to reach its true potential. As long as the message is being spread that there is something different than 50 cent out there, the music of the Bay Area will speak for itself. More artists should use the internet and local outlets to improve their fan base. They should seek creative ideas and promote in regions they typically ignore. The hip hop music in the bay is slowly changing things over at 949 and at a much accelerated rate at KMEL. As long as Bay Area artists retain and expand their local fanbase, someone is bound to notice sooner or later. The more they open up regions like the midwest who is also fed up with whats on the radio, the bigger they will get.

I hope my thoughts on the bay willl help you see that it aint just the mainstreams fault and that the scope of the bay area scene is growing regardless of mainstream music.

WE RELY TOO MUCH ON STATIONS THAT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM, RATHER THAN STARTING OUR OWN RADIO STATION WHICH CAN SOLVE THE PROBLEM. NOTHIN AGAINST PEOPLE'S STATIONS, BUT IF ANYBODY HERE WHO KNOWS THEY GOT THE TALENT AND SOUNDSCAN NUMBERS TO PROVE THEY DESERVE A CHANCE ON THE RADIO OR TV, I SUGGEST TO START YOUR OWN RADIO STATION AND BE YOUR OWN PEOPLE'S STATION. LIKE BURGER KING, YOUR WAY.

MAYN, THIS SOUNDS LIKE A BROKEN RECORD BUT ALL Y'ALL MAY HAVE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES TO THIS TOPIC AND ITS JUST BEST TO BACK UP YOUR OPINIONS WIT FACT BEFORE YOU START PUTTING DOWN OTHERS FOR THEIR OWN STRUGGLE, BUT JUST GO TO A LOCAL 7-11 OR MAGAZINE STAND AND PICK UP THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE SOURCE MAGAZINE THAT GOES INTO DETAIL ABOUT THIS SAME TOPIC and read what they say on the magazine frontpage on the web at http://www.thesource.com/
READ IT AND GET INFORMED.

 

[Stinje Mac]

you guys got too much time on your hands.

 

[Stinje Mac]

If i was an English teacher i would be really impressed.

 

[tonymontana925]

heres my opinion on why bay shit dont blow up
majority of people slappin 50's shit and Game and all that mainstream bs is because it appeals too them Yukmouth is not marketable to rich white girls who watch Mtv and drive BMW's not when hes rappin bout East Oakland and sellin crack and all that they dont wanna hear that and same with KeaK I love em but damn he sounds like an animal with a microphone sometimes East coast cats would laugh at his ass rappin about smokin sherm and makin weird ass noises bay rappers need to appeal to America if they want to sell

 

[Pioneer]

you guys got too much time on your hands.

4real......

 

[MaddDogg]

I guess you can say 50 isnt talented but most people say he was the hottest thing in NY beofre he signed...Theres a number of Bay area independent artists on the radio today. Its not impossible to penetrate the radio scene. OF COURSE gettin an independent radio station is an answer, and of course its harder to get on the radio because theres more competition now than ever before. My point is, if you arent professional, your busy dissing other rappers instead of making good music, you have the personality of a female donkey in heat, your not going to blow up. If you make innovative music and have creative ways of getting your product to people like the 10 or so artists from the bay that do get radio play you will suceed. fold.