iHipHop Admin
Three of my favorite rap stars are being featured in Time Out New York for being uber stylish. KanYe West protege Kid Cudi as well as Himanshu Suri and Victor ‘Dave’ Vasquez from Das Racist are getting the royal treatment from TONY. Top tier photogs and media exposure are what you might imagine will find you the moment you make your MySpace demos but Cudi, ‘Dave’ and Heems just happen to be the micro-percentage of rappers who have placed tracks on the internets that anyone gives a fux about. Their meteoric rise means that no one will be listening to your music. Evar. Sorry to be that angel of death to your dreams.
I mean, you shouldn’t really give a fux what someone like me has to say about your music career, especially since I haven’t heard any of your music. It might prA’li actually be really, really good too, but I’m totally oversaturated with rap music. Unless you can create some rap content that starts a new genre. No one is making organic produce rap right now although I prA’li wouldn’t want to listen to that crap, but you get my point right?
With Kid Cudi, ‘Dave’ and Heems sucking all the oxygen out of the rap music atmosphere I think its time for a lot of MCs to get familiar with another letter of the alphabet – B. As in Plan B, and I’m not talking about birth control pills either unless you plan on supplementing your income with the sale of those pharmaceutical items (natch). I mean, since when has being a rap star been a smart career choice? The average life expectancy of a rapper is below that of a Washington Heights livery cab driver. How many rappers have you seen retire? One, but he had to get back into the game because his lady uses more linear feet of yaki weave than Janet Jackson.
There’s nothing good that is going to come out of your plans to make rap music. Who the hell is gonna buy it? No one, unless you get Taylor Swift on the hooks, or Lady Gaga. Maybe you will bring Biker shorts rap back? I think Heavy D has that lane on smash still but maybe you can shoot your shot in that direction [ll]. I just don’t see how you plan on coming into an industry that is waist deep in a recession. On the average, rappers make less money per annum than someone putting in full time hours at McDonald’s. Unless you get lucky enough to get a job rapping about McDonald’s, but even still my homey Wordspit better make sure his 1099 gets filed properly if he doesn’t want to end up working the fries.
My advice for you is to go to school for a trade like being an electrician so that you can help all these producers and sound engineers wire their studios where these failing rappers will records their MySpace demos. Do you REALLY want to be a rap star?
yea kid cudi and das racist are monopolizing the industry. kneegrow plz
This is true. Rap as career is usually destined for epic fail. Any career where your progression is limited by subjective opinion and timing is gonna be shorter than the odds of making a long shot[||].
My advice would be for the aspiring rapper is to use the rap game as a hobby.
True story: I had some beats that I might could have gotten on a major artists release for a price I was nice with off of the strength of neighborhood ties. I was making non-sample/laser-beam rap beats back in 2006. My card holding it had gotten erased because of some magnetic shit. Needless to say I didn't get put on. But it's jus a hobby. If I get the bread to get the data back I'll probably try to sell it over again.
You didn't stop making beats tho'? Data loss is an everyday occurrence. Don't let data loss = passion loss
Das racist is the shit, and since your mentioning creating new genres, what about Nas & Damien, sure you could compare their sound to the fugees but i think what they are doing is creative, will have to see the album to truely know though
My thing is I got a few passions
Stand up comedy, Pro Wrestling, Beats, etc. . . A bunch of shit
I'm gonna get my shit situated before I get back in. . . Data retrieval cost like 2 grand they were saying. My young dumb ass had 400 beats saved on one disc.
I havent made one in like 2 years. I got my beat passion from the same guy I would have had a track. I was 12-13, and Moms asked what I was listening to. . . She heard the intro to Wildflower, no more rap music in her crib. I just examined the beats from outside with the windows closed. I broke the beats down into math. If you can count to 4 you can make a hip hop beat, mad easy, son
The comparisons people use to make between crack and rap are true in this sense.
Before crack…..you needed connections and a lot of money to sell drugs. When crack hit, both of those entry barriers were gone.
You used to need talent and access to expensive equipment to seriously pursue a career as a rapper. Those days are gone. With the average laptop and a catchy hook, you can be put on.
It's hard to tell a kid that he CAN'T “make it” as a rapper because he hears garbage on the radio and on video shows every hour on the hour.
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Th other part…
Young dudes just want SHINE….and the appearance of wealth. Which a hot record/video can surely give to ANYBODY.
If you work legit job and pay bills, you'd approach a music career differently, but a lot of these guys haven't been in the work force yet, so they have different expectations going in.
The comparisons people use to make between crack and rap are true in this sense.
Before crack…..you needed connections and a lot of money to sell drugs. When crack hit, both of those entry barriers were gone.
You used to need talent and access to expensive equipment to seriously pursue a career as a rapper. Those days are gone. With the average laptop and a catchy hook, you can be put on.
It's hard to tell a kid that he CAN'T “make it” as a rapper because he hears garbage on the radio and on video shows every hour on the hour.
=================================================
Th other part…
Young dudes just want SHINE….and the appearance of wealth. Which a hot record/video can surely give to ANYBODY.
If you work legit job and pay bills, you'd approach a music career differently, but a lot of these guys haven't been in the work force yet, so they have different expectations going in.
I think the thing to do is to make it a hobby, and it someone happens to listen and like it, then pursue it.
We all try, heres one by me
Music To Smoke To = http://www.mediafire.com/?jlgmijmxdtv
Too many people treat it like a hobby but expect it to be their fulltime job
I know I'm probably late on the props but, congrats to you and CJ for making that switch. Y'all were the only reason I was messing with XXL anyway so I had to follow y'all. And you put me on to CJ in the first place. This is Blackwater by the way. And you went in on this post.