hip hop is dead!!!

[JHOOKS]

yo nowadays i feel ashame to say i was born in raised in the BRONX NY, birth place of HIPHOP. hip hop nowadays is beyond corny! too much water down toilet water shit! i just listen to a new so called HOT album "wont say who" but damn has hiphop died! may she rest in peace.

[BeatsBuY]

I'm sorry to say Jhooks, but the music industry is no longer about talent and more about the money! You have guys in business suits callin the shots. They pick a song for a single no mater how weak it is. They'll pay the radio stations to play it over and over. When you first hear it, you say "What's this weak Shhhh!". But, they play it over,over, and over till you say Um, I guess it's alright. And then if your the type of person who follows everyone else, you'll go and buy it. That's what it's all about. The paper! Not talent!
I am wishing that it's producers like us that will keep hip hop ta what it was ta be. Even the new beats on the radio sound like 5 minute makers!

I don't even listen to the radio anymore. I listen to the original Hip Hop. That's where the real talent was.

No since I'm on the subject. I'm tired of this industry game. What I mean is how they make fake drama ta make you buy a CD. Back in the days you went to buy a CD because it was good. Since music isn't good anymore, they got ta make drama. O.K. J-Lo will get married to Ben Affleck just before her album comes out. Now everyone is talkin about her. Then they'll get a divorces 4 months later. Then you won't hear about her till her next big movie. Then she'll marry Mark Anthony. And of course, divorce. And so on, and so on. I'm just saying whats real.

Can we get back ta real music???

http://www.soundclick.com/beatsbuy

[JHOOKS]

Originally Posted by BeatsBuY

I'm sorry to say Jhooks, but the music industry is no longer about talent and more about the money! You have guys in business suits callin the shots. They pick a song for a single no mater how weak it is. They'll pay the radio stations to play it over and over. When you first hear it, you say "What's this weak Shhhh!". But, they play it over,over, and over till you say Um, I guess it's alright. And then if your the type of person who follows everyone else, you'll go and buy it. That's what it's all about. The paper! Not talent!
I am wishing that it's producers like us that will keep hip hop ta what it was ta be. Even the new beats on the radio sound like 5 minute makers!

I don't even listen to the radio anymore. I listen to the original Hip Hop. That's where the real talent was.

No since I'm on the subject. I'm tired of this industry game. What I mean is how they make fake drama ta make you buy a CD. Back in the days you went to buy a CD because it was good. Since music isn't good anymore, they got ta make drama. O.K. J-Lo will get married to Ben Affleck just before her album comes out. Now everyone is talkin about her. Then they'll get a divorces 4 months later. Then you won't hear about her till her next big movie. Then she'll marry Mark Anthony. And of course, divorce. And so on, and so on. I'm just saying whats real.

Can we get back ta real music???

http://www.soundclick.com/beatsbuy

dogs you aint got to be sorry! i been knew that! im just glad a "real" nugga like you stepped up and responded to this posT!!!! you going to get a rep point from me!!! dog i use to intern for this " big time artist" and man was that muthfucka fake, he was faker then micheal jacksons nose! its not that im hating(and any muthafucka to call me a hater i will shove an mpc up you fucking ass and show you the true meaning of shitting on beats!) is that i grew up in an era that if your shit wasent hot, if your words werent real, then nugga you couldent call your self an MC (master of ceremony 4 does that forgot) shit you couldnt even come back to you block! hip hop alway been flashy, but nowadays nuggas act like they in paris at a gucci fashion show with all that bullshit on. and best buy you right, nuggas like us have to step it up and your shit is tight on soundclick dog. again any nugga calling me a hater, i'll take you back to the bronx, to castle hill projects and show you how REAL MUTHAFUCKING HIP HOP SOUNDS LIKE! ONE!!!

[BeatsBuY]

Ya, I feel your passion. I just get tired when I see hip hop loose it's roots. It's like you see someone dying and you can't do a thing about it. Just keep true ta your roots. Perfect your craft. And always grow as a producer or artists. You never can stop learning...

[jibran]

To quote one of my favorite MCs on one of my favorite albums,

Here is Talib Kweli from Too Late off of Reflection Eternal's Train of Thought album:

Nowadays rap artists coming half-hearted
Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets
Where were you the day hip-hop died?
Is it too early to mourn? Is it too late to ride?

[JHOOKS]

Originally Posted by jibran

To quote one of my favorite MCs on one of my favorite albums,

Here is Talib Kweli from Too Late off of Reflection Eternal's Train of Thought album:

thats real! its not that i want to take hip hop BACK to were it use to be. i dont believe in backward progress, i only believe in forward progression, but damn has this shit got to stop! i like when cats be "like dog stop hating nugga just do you and get that money!" im like "what money? rappers dont get paid much only a hand full get paid decent, the rest get jerk and end up paying back a HUGE FUCKING loan they took out from there record company! the real nuggas that make the money are the bill gates and the people that own walmart of the world , that whole family is gettting "real money".

" hip hop aint the same no mo. you acting like you paid and full, act for the dollar, bond by the collar, muthafuck your talk cuz you wont really bother. who the hell change the rules of the game. for the fame you acting like dames!"

[JHOOKS]

Originally Posted by BeatsBuY

Ya, I feel your passion. I just get tired when I see hip hop loose it's roots. It's like you see someone dying and you can't do a thing about it. Just keep true ta your roots. Perfect your craft. And always grow as a producer or artists. You never can stop learning...

thats some real shit! 4real! heads nowadays have terminal illness's and dont even no it.

[Fieva]

Yo,

I feel what ya'll sayin', but the way I see things is play the game, don't let the game play you. What do I mean by that shit? Simple. Instead of just being a rapper or just making beats, put yourself out there learning more skills to add to what you've already got. Notice how most of these rap labels doin' shit now are usually indies with big label backing and a distribution deal? I mean look at Aftermath. It's backed by Interscope. Enough said. Look at Cash Money, backed by Universal. No Limit (not that it's worth a damn now) is backed by Koch and once was rollin' huge with Priority backing them up. That's how shit is being done these days.

Also on this note, here's what I hate about hip-hop. I never labeled hip-hop as she. I save that shit for cars, girlfriends, and guns. Hip-hop was a man's struggle to keep shit hood and real. But now I feel like hip-hop is starting to dress in drag. Like ya'll said, it used to be purely about lyrical content and beats. I'ma have to quote 4 words from my man Chalin "Beats, Rhymes, Money and Life". Erase the Money part and that was hip-hop. Our problem is muthafuckas LOVE to floss shit. It's kind of like one-uppin' each other for ego's sake. That's where the shit is now. Me personally, I know no matter how much you got, there's always someone who's got more than you do. Do you get mad and start beef over it? Nah. You be happy for what you got and work to get to that level.

I think everybody lettin' egos get to they head is makin the whole game weak as fuck. It's cool to brag about your ability, that's one thing. To brag about how much you holdin' is another. Anybody can go buy a damn car and put shit on it and in it, but how many muthafuckas can rap worth a damn and constantly put out hits?

That's what's up,
Fie.

[JHOOKS]

Originally Posted by Fieva

Yo,

I feel what ya'll sayin', but the way I see things is play the game, don't let the game play you. What do I mean by that shit? Simple. Instead of just being a rapper or just making beats, put yourself out there learning more skills to add to what you've already got. Notice how most of these rap labels doin' shit now are usually indies with big label backing and a distribution deal? I mean look at Aftermath. It's backed by Interscope. Enough said. Look at Cash Money, backed by Universal. No Limit (not that it's worth a damn now) is backed by Koch and once was rollin' huge with Priority backing them up. That's how shit is being done these days.

Also on this note, here's what I hate about hip-hop. I never labeled hip-hop as she. I save that shit for cars, girlfriends, and guns. Hip-hop was a man's struggle to keep shit hood and real. But now I feel like hip-hop is starting to dress in drag. Like ya'll said, it used to be purely about lyrical content and beats. I'ma have to quote 4 words from my man Chalin "Beats, Rhymes, Money and Life". Erase the Money part and that was hip-hop. Our problem is muthafuckas LOVE to floss shit. It's kind of like one-uppin' each other for ego's sake. That's where the shit is now. Me personally, I know no matter how much you got, there's always someone who's got more than you do. Do you get mad and start beef over it? Nah. You be happy for what you got and work to get to that level.

I think everybody lettin' egos get to they head is makin the whole game weak as fuck. It's cool to brag about your ability, that's one thing. To brag about how much you holdin' is another. Anybody can go buy a damn car and put shit on it and in it, but how many muthafuckas can rap worth a damn and constantly put out hits?

That's what's up,
Fie.

good point about not putting a label on hiphop, also another good point about owning your own label, but the one problem i have about the l you own record label things is this. See we can own our own label, but to me thats almost like renting an apartment, u still have to answer to the landlord! owning your own indie label and being backed by the major is the same thing. i mean you do have much more freedom, but try doing somthing they dont agree with, man they will pull the plug on your ass quick! i think the true freedom will come when we own all aspects of our music, until then we are like slaves answering to the slave master!( i know a bit extreme, and no disrepect to the slave's and the struggles they had to go through) but hey they still control our moves.

[Fieva]

Originally Posted by JHOOKS

good point about not putting a label on hiphop, also another good point about owning your own label, but the one problem i have about the l you own record label things is this. See we can own our own label, but to me thats almost like renting an apartment, u still have to answer to the landlord! owning your own indie label and being backed by the major is the same thing. i mean you do have much more freedom, but try doing somthing they dont agree with, man they will pull the plug on your ass quick! i think the true freedom will come when we own all aspects of our music, until then we are like slaves answering to the slave master!( i know a bit extreme, and no disrepect to the slave's and the struggles they had to go through) but hey they still control our moves.

More times than not a distribution company only cares if you can push product. They usually care less what else you do as long as you can prove you know what you're doing and you can keep up with what the market is buying. The minute you drop some albums that don't sell as well as you would have hoped that's when they'll tell you to go fuck yourself. What you have to remember is no one can or should do it all. That puts huge stress on your label that doesn't need to be there. A marketing company usually likes to take more control with how you portray yourself. That's why I think any indie label should do the marketing themselves until enough about them is known (and enough sales are made for people to see them) to keep them original if they decide to get a marketing team together.

Here's where I plan to end up (for an example)
*I make all my own beats and do all of my own recording in house.
Would I use beats from other producers? Hell yeah if I'm feeling their work and it gives the CD different flavor and vibe. But I'm in control of that not someone else.

*I am looking into buying a duplicator so I can cut the middleman out of the picture on that market yet have little to no stress involved while burning my copies.
A good CD duplicator should run you about $1,200 to $1,500 if you want to only duplicate CDs and not worry about printing the tops of them. I'll let a manufacturing plant print my already pressed CDs because if you already have your stuff pressed they don't charge you near as much. The last project I did it ran $1700 to get everything pressed and printed (with me having my own cover already made to their specs). Had I spent that on a duplicator it would have covered that project, the album I'm doing now, and any future projects. Plus it gives me room to make what I want to make and hit the streets with em without someone else telling me I have to make this many copies all at once for this certain price. That's less stress for me.

*I also do my own artwork on Photoshop
See above statements. A manufacturing plant will charge you out the ass to make your cover, in addition to finishing pressing your project.

*I am working on a street team locally and an internet team to get word around about my projects and doing all the work myself to get them into the right stores.
That's the most stress I'll have right there. Have to keep tabs on everything going smooth and people doin' what they supposed to do. I figure the best way to have a street team if you own your label is to have your artists and friends be your street team. Basically, you're not charging them for your beats and studio time in return for them pushing out all of your label projects by word of mouth.

Know how to play the game, don't let the game know how to play you,
Fie.

[ethos]

I've stopped careing whether people think its dying or not.
I love the hip-hop i listen to. its as fresh as ever.
that's all i need to know.

[JHOOKS]

i think one person cant do it all, and agree that they shouldnt do it all, but for example: i work for one of the biggest companies in the world as a video editor, i see people that dont know shit about hip hop putting promotions togethers, spots etc and i just get sick of seeing half ass people doing half ass work. fieva you seem like you know your shit pretty tightly! when i get my shit together i'll see if we can connect? if thats cool?

[rnb259]

If Hip Hop is dead i came back to resserect myself!

[JHOOKS]

happy ressurection!!! meng!

[rnb259]

No but on a serious note, i felt like you did a while back then i realized the old saying (sorry if i quote this wrong), "Things are only truly wrong when good people do nothing"

When i saw/heard that i made it my business to succeed no questions asked! i now look at Hip Hop from all aspecs and appreciate all of Hip Hop. its tru Hip Hop is alot one sided right now, but thats only for now. History has this funny way of repeating itself, so im looking to see a very big independant resurgance "Really" soon! If you notice artist get smarter and smarter every year and every yaer the companies lose that death grip just a lil bit.

All its gonna take is for one main stream artist to say, "I've had enough, F*** This, Im Bigger than all of you". You'll see, its coming, if money is the root of all evil watch wat happens when the playing field is the same level!

[JHOOKS]

YES SIR!!!! happy to hear that man! believe it or not i think a few major artist are leaning in that direction. there doing things with alot more deep rooted hiphop heads. maybe right now you dont see it, but i think in the near fulture your see it! i just hope me and the real heads will be in the four front! modern day huey P!

[rnb259]

Im all for it, just listen to my track record. As soon as my company hits the floor, we takin off runnin.

KOCH here i COME!!!

[Fieva]

Yeah Jhooks, I've been learning ins and outs on the game since I was about 17...so I've been working at that for about 12 years now. I feel you on when you see people who don't know what they're doing putting together half ass done shit because they don't know any better. The last small label I did work with, they threw a release party for the compilation we did in a barber shop. Now I admit for the resources it was impressive, but if you're gonna have John Q. Public going to your album release party, wouldn't it make sense to have albums AT the party to sell to the folks eating and drinking your shit and listening to the album....for free?

It takes time to get ya grind right. Don't expect to shine overnight. Stay real about it.

But as far as hooking up, I'm all about that. The more you network, the more chance you have of getting word around about what you do. Word of mouth travels faster than any commercial.


Fie.

[JHOOKS]

i feel that meng! the only way to get the game in your pocket is to really grind it out! ya'll some cool kats in here! keep that shit banging hard!

[bknot1]

^^^and have some mad inside connects...no connects no real say-so in the industry..if you have people in the inside talking about you..people will listen more then you tryin to prove you are the next best thing..just stay on your grind..keep puttin in work...show you making moves, packin shows, selling over 30,000 cd...and they will come to you..

take Mike Jones..eveyone know he isnt the best talent out there..even he will tell you that..but he grind his ass off to get the paper and the deal..he promoted his self real well..collab with everyone in texas with the Mike Jones Comin' Soon..we he didnt have much..sold about 20,000+ units to show he can be a money maker to the record companies..RCs(record companies) dont care about talent or if you makin hip-hop they care about is sells..if you can bring them 70 million off sells..they can care less if your hip-hop or not..its all about the numbers..So now what you need to ask is which way you want to go...do you want to be hip-hop and appeal to the 600,000+ or so that will like it..or do you want to appeal to the million+ that wants to hear about flossin..the RCs see it like this..its more money in Flossin the in puer Hip-Hop.. Its nice to be known underground (Most Hip-Hop Artist are now) but it pays and reach millions to do what the RC wants..this is why most artist now sign two deal...1 for the label..and the other so they can do the real music we love on mixtapes without the majors say so..

ok I'm done..i didnt even want to go that far..i had just come in here to read the post..and ended up posting..LOL

[JHOOKS]

i feel you, but i dont respect that game. because to me the music that they call hiphop is not hiphop no mo! its POP, pop culture music. and i know that pop culture stands for reaching a mass audience. but damn dog thats like christopher columbus calling "america a new world, that he discovered", how they hell is it yours when people were here before you got here??? same for hiphop these executive eat lovey off a music that we the poooor folks invented! how the hell do they control something they know nothing about??? that was the day we lost our escape! the day they started programing shit is when shit hit the turning point!
back in my childhood days shit was real, hiphop was the music for the people by the people, but now its like music from the STARs for the consumer! but dont get to close to the stars or you might get stomped by some big 8 foot tall bouncer that eats to much steel for breakfast !
i remember seeing rakim and krs one roll through my hood! shit was dope!!! they were real people! not no fucking image the record label invented! so for all you out there that can give two shits about my point, keep making the money man! just like jarule and irv gotti!!!lol shit ( some of ya'll might know what im talking about)! you dont control shit nowadays! unless you can take a good ass fucking!!!! even then you still on a tight line