First off, Zigidy your still gay and you will never sell so this doesnt apply to you...
Second, Tay you seem to be dwelling on some shit that you could have made right a long time ago. I dont work at Bayside anymore and there are raesons for that but the thing that you seem to never want to consider is that your label D1A never paid you. Bayside showed you check stubs, Bayside even paid you some dough directly but you never want to say that shit huh? Always the bad side? Im not defending Bayside but I did spend four years there and I helped build it and I never was personally involved in the "robbing" of anyone. Was Bayside slow to pay? Yes. Was Erik Grotte always making my life hard? Yes. Did that hurt my relationship with some people? Yes it did but I kept it moving.
Tay dont play like me and you didnt handle this shit hella times. All the voice mails from you apologizing and telling me to get GOD In my life. I didnt do shit to you. But for you to always make it a race issue and blame Bayside for your shortcomings just makes it seem like you dont have shit else going on. No other label ever paid you or what? What's up with AWOL? How about Greedy Green, or Kim Collette or Metro who put out Thug Religion. Me personally, I think you have had an all around bad experience in music and Bayside and me are your excuses on who to take it out on. There is no lawsuit on Bayside and if there is you should produce the paperwork. I never called no police on you and I didnt sign no restraining order for your info and I am always in the streets or at shows or at studios if you still want to hollar and lay this to rest for good. Its counter productive and I have made alot of people money but the only people dwell on is negative not positive. This post wpouldn't even be interesting if it was JT The Bigga Figga bragging about how much money he made or Celly Cel or one of our other labels. Just tell me though bro, who else of your homies didnt we pay? I WANT TO MAKE THIS CLEAR TO END IT HERE...BAYSIDE DID NOT HAVE A DEAL WITH KILLA TAY, WE HAD IT WITH D1A AND WE PAID THEM CLOSE TO $300K AND THEY DIDNT PAY TAY. CLASSIC CASE OF THE LABEL NOT PAYING AN ARTIST BUT BAYSIDE HAD DEEPER POCKETS SO THE BLAME WAS PLACED ON THEM.
People are right on one thing, you are talented. You are very intelligent. After me and you got through all the bullshit we did have some real conversations and I know you have a good heart and are deep with this shit both musically and spiritually. Tay I tried to email you my # but it aint working so get my # from I-Rocc or PM me yours so we can hollar. I aint got no problem with you dude but I want to hear from you because I thought it was laid to rest.
Now to stop cluttering the board with shit about my life cuz its not really that interesting lets address the bigger picture...
To address the West Coast fell off issue though there are too many factors to pin it on one thing but there is definitely more product in our marketplace that any other independent region in the country and that has alot to do with the over saturation and therefore leads to retailers ordering less product and therefore less product selling through. There is also more hating in the West than helping (like on this site) and you have so many artists that aren't willing to promote with other artists and when artists have shows they dont grab other acts to tour with them.
The feature thing is also destroying the West Coast industry and it seems like artists have no credibility now because they are spread thin on so many albums so it hurts their sales as well. Furthermore, believe it or not, the whole music industry is based in the East Coast and aside from City Hall, Bayside and Wherehouse Music there is no inustry infrastructure to break new and devloping artists so that's why you rarely see a star rise from the West because radio, distribution and major record labels are all in the East. Decisions are made by corporate big wigs in NYC who dont care about Richie Rich who should have gone GOLD on Def Jam but sold 300K. Or E-40 who isnt moving what he used to because they dont uinderstand how to market our music. Just look at how dope WC's new album is and where are his sales at?
Does bootlegging and downloading hurt the industry? Thats too long of a topic for me to address and I have to admit that I dont have all of the information and dont truly understand it all myself but I know for sure that if someone has access to get it free, they will. Shit, I would. Thats why you have to provide consumers with added values now days like enhanced CD's, bonus DVD's, poster offers etc. You have to bring some creativity back to the marketing process in order to just stay afloat especially independently.
The list goes on but at the end of the day it is up to the individual to forge their own destiny and be responsible for their career because it is too easy to say because of your region you aren't hot. There are also alot of good things going on out here too, Cellski, Wax, Done Deal, Killa Valley, F.E., Arsen & 151 have all put out mixtapes that are creating interest and making life a little more exciting in the Bay in particular so its not all bad out there. They arent sitting around waiting for distributors or record labels they are forging their own path and making dough while they do it. So I respect it very much.
Until we own radio stations, touring agencies, video outlets and retailers though it will also be an issue about why we aren't blowing up. Its too easy to blame a distributor and although this has been said to death...Ill say it again. DISTRIBUTORS SUPPLY THE DEMAND THAT YOU CREATE. If there is no demand, there is no supply needed and thus you will not ship or sell any product. Period. City Hall, Bayside, SOH, Southwest, ADI and all of the other distributors have a bad reputation unjustly because its too easy to say "my distributor robbed me" rather than saying "I didnt do my job so my distributor didnt owe me". Its just reality.
I propose that the never ending "race to beat other labels" should end and we need to find some real DJ's to put out real mixtapes with exclusive material and we get the scene going out here. We dont have any DJ Kay Slays, or Who Kidds out here but we have raw as DJ's like DJ Mark 7, Mind Motion, Jazzy Jim, and others that dont have the outlets that a Funkmaster Flex has to make an artist blow. there is too much talent being wasted or not heard at all in the Bay, Sac, San Jose, Central Valley, Portland, Seattle etc. Dont quit your day jobs. Peace...
