Good point. My question for you is, what's your take on all the artists that sell in other regions, but not the bay? There's a lot of cats that step out of their soil and make bread...but when they come back nobody is supportin' 'em and tellin' 'em they're wack. In that case, maybe it's not the artist...maybe it's the region. I see a lot of hate out here, and a lot of cats tryin' to bring somebody down before they even raise up.
First off, comparing The Bay to other regions is like comparing apples to oranges. I hear the term "The South" thrown about in these forums like its a city or somethin', when in all reality it consists of one quarter (if not more) of the entire country (as in "North", "South", "East", "West"????). They have more successful artists simply because they have more artists. New York and LA are entirely different beasts as well, in as much as they have always been seen by the entire country as THE places to go to be discovered in ANY form of entertainment. They are THE Meccas of the Entertainment industry. They succeed simply because their talent pool consists of the entire country's (if not the entire world's) populace of aspiring artists who are either disgruntled with their own regional entertainment centers or are too impatient to wait for the mountain to come to them. As far as the other small regions they're all just waiting for a chance to blow up in their own rite. Historically the ones with the best chance have a few things in common. For one, they're near large bodies of water. Secondly they have what is considered to be a major metropolitan city within it's boundaries. Thirdly they have at least one professional sports team within it's boundaries. In my opinion these areas are ripe for the picking for any enterprising dreamweaver with Bay game who would be willing to uproot themselves for a business opportunity. The same independent game that is saturated here can still be used to full effect somewhere else and the they will be more than happy to hop on board there due to their hunger and lack of know how. Don't get it twisted all of these small regions want badly to blow and all of their artists want to be the ones who put their region on the map. You could help them achieve that dream.
So what do I think of cats who leave the bay to get their money on? Shit, I got much respect for that kinda entrepreneurship. As for the niggaz who sit on their asses out here struggling against all odds with wack product and a self aggrandizing attitude? I gotz NO love.
As for the haters... Well you have to really ask yourself this... are niggaz really hating or are you just wack? You HAVE to be ojective in this situation.
Look at the signs. Is the potential hater a known hater of anything and everything? Then most likely he or she is just hating on you too. Is the potential hater another artist? Then fuck what he says. Shouldn't be asking him anyways. Fame and fortune is not a team sport. Niggaz will not give you your props if they feel it diminishes their shine. Is your potential hater a producer or a DJ? Then open your ears. They have nothing to loose and everything to gain by working with those that they think is hot. If they start avoiding you... you may be wack. Is your potiential hater a fan of your genre of music and bay music in general? Theres about an 80% surety that you are wack. Is your potential hater a family member or friend? You can be 99% sure that you are most likely wack so please give up and get out of the way. It's never too late to find another career. If that doesn't sound appealing, then you can always and go and kill yourself.
In reality, we have only one region that could even be considered our peer in the game and that is Philly. They are near New York but are not considered New York and they do their own thing just as we are near L.A. but not considered L.A. They not only have a independent rap scene but a thriving R&B/Neo Soul Scene as well (not to mention a few National acts as well, such as Common and the Roots). Our problems in the Bay are unique and cannot be measured by other regions successes and failures. Our biggest problems as a collective are that we have too many wannabe artists and not enough fans, a lack of originality, a surplus of arrogance, and an unexplainable and preposterous notion that if we band together as a whole and support EACH OTHER we will pull ourselves out of of the rut we see ourselves in.
The only thing thats gonna bring the bay back is good music. Period. And when I say bring the bay back I don't mean every Tom Dick and Hank is gonna be eatin, cause that there is a myth. it aint never been that way, even in our heyday. What I mean is that we will have national artists again and that the majors might actually view us as place worth looking at.
Until then... for those who want advice on how to come up right here, right now, in The Bay. Here is my opinion.
1. If you're young, stop telling older established and once established artists like 40, Short, C-BO, B-Legit, Richie Rich, Spice 1, 4Tay, Dru Down, The Luniz, and/or anyone you or your parents grew up listening to, to get out of the game and make way for the youngsters. In fact if you see one of these niggaz, give his nuts a firm hug cause if you're a bay area rapper you owe everything to these niggaz for they are the ones who built SOMETHING where NOTHING once stood. You gain nothing by disrespecting them and you only make yourself look like a clown.
2. if you're listening to one of your tracks and it has even the slightest resemblance to something you've heard before, throw it out. Now is the time for originality. Imagine being known as the inventor of the New Bay Area Sound. For those of you who are not that creative: Hyphy is dead. Leave it be. It was a nice attempt but it failed. Go back to making Mobb music and attempt to update the sound. You don't have to rap about killin nobody if that aint what you're about but The rest of the world is still fiendin for that Bay Area Funk that they know and love. They won't play it on the radio but that only means that they'll have to either buy your shit to hear it or download it. As for the downloading problem... Find creative ways to get around it. Example : look up the top 10 internet search words and name each song on your album one of those words. It's gonna be a helluva lot harder to find a song called "Sex" Or "Porn" to download than one called "I Break Bitches".
3. Quit it with the multicolored clothing and shit. What are we Kid & Play here? We are the joke of the industry. It's time to get back to the basics. if you want to be taken seriously then look the part. Historically any Hip Hop rap style based around a clothing style or dance craze has died a painful death. Do the names Hammer, or Vanilla Ice, or Kwame, mean anything to y'all? Turf dancing is cool but don't make songs about it. they'll still dance to it.
4. Get your business in order. If you don't know what you're doing go take a business class. You'll thank me later. Also... try to pay attention to details: for example read back some of these post and look how many misspelled words there are. Am I the only one with a built in spellchecker? Hello? A red underline means it's misspelled. I mean a word here and there misspelled is o.k. but I find it hard to take someone serious who calls them self a businessman but cant spell. Maybe it's just me...
5. I'v'e said this too many times before... stop tryin to make an album off of free shit. Pay what you weigh and you can expect to get quality services. Pay nothing and you cant expect shit.
So there you go... 5 ways to better your chances. By no means is it a total answer to your problems , but its a start... I defy anyone to say that any of these 5 actions will hurt your career. I know it's hard to go against the grain but honestly, what do you have to loose?
