Last night like most hip hop fans in New York I was listening to the funk master flex/50 cent interview. Now I for one by no means necessary am the biggest 50 cent fan but something about what 50 brings to the table when interviewed by Flex always has me listening. Since the days he would bring a young Banks to the studio and have him lay “freestyles” over flex’s beats I always checked for those sessions.
And yesterday it was no different. It was just your average 50 interview filled with talks of his beefs, Oprah, and whatever the hell else he had on his mind. But then towards the end he got into what seemed as one of the most enlightened topics I have ever heard him discuss when he started to talk about the “Hip Hop Police“. He asks the simple questions “How can one justify the Hip Hop police? Is it a crime to be a part of Hip-Hop? Do you want us to forget the fact that hip hop is largely run by minorities?”.
And with that one question “Is it a crime to be a part of Hip-Hop?” a nerve struck. Why is it that in a industry dominated by minorities we are treated like criminals? Why is (according to the account’s of Aisha Simmons the older sister of DJ Drama) a SWAT team of at least 30 officers needed to brake into a studio and place all of Drama’s associates face down on the ground with guns to their heads? But then she goes on to point out where were the SWAT teams breaking down the houses of Enron or Worldcom officials when they screwed hundreds even thousands of working citizens when they lost all their savings, children’s college funds, and pensions? But when a annuall $40 billion worldwide industry feels money is taking out of its pocket it has the right to violate citizens by bringing swat teams and drug sniffing dogs to their places of business? The same studio of the DJ who bought more public exposure to artist that are under the R.I.A.A umbrella and literally helped line the fat pockets of the record industry by creating an outlet for the public to hear artist that labels wouldn’t normally release anyways{1}.
And that’s what makes it so hard to comprehend about the R.I.A.A the time and effort spent staking out Drama’s studio could have easily been spent doing research about the mixtape industry and how it coincides with Hip-Hop. Especially in terms of money. For example 50 cent one of the record industries cash cows who’s sold over 20 something albums worldwide would be no where if it wasn’t for the exposure he got through his mixtapes especially with an all time mixtape classic like 50 cent is the future. Papoose, Saigon, Dipset, Joe Buddens all wouldn’t have deals if it weren’t for the efforts put forward by their tapes. The success of tapes doesn’t even stop in that one region either, many of the south acts in Houston became popular and established a fan base through their releases of chopped and screwed mixtapes. Even Chamillionaire a.k.a. the “Mixtape Messiah” saw the resurrection of his career when he started dropping tapes.
But regardless of the kind of money hip hop pumps into the record industry there always going to want more. And now with the decline of rap sales the industry wants that money thats coming from mixtapes and the one who ends up losing is you the rap fan. Cause if you’re a rap fan your just a criminal anyway.
Send your thoughts about the situation to RIAA representative and raid coordinator Mat Kilgo at MKilgo@RIAA.com.
{1} See Joe Buddens, The Clipse, Ras Kass etc.
COMMENTS
The industry has to find ways to get the sales up again.. They might need new marketing strategies.. something needs to come in and give the rap game a jump start again... something of epic proportions needs to happen in order to get it back on track sales wise..
maybe for a minute we need some artists to not be so greedy and treat it as a business and still do it for the luv of it rather then just "cut the check"
the quality is gong down hill.. the game is oversaturated..
everyone and their mama is trying to be in the rap game now days...
in any business if to many people are trying to be in the same game and sell the same thing then sooner or later the market with crash and it will fall out on the bottom line...
holla back... thats real talk...
First of all you can't blame the artists for putting the label paycheck first because look at what kind of shady shit goes on the industry!!! Example: Koch records artists! The rap game, just like any other part of the music industry, IS A BUSINESS and you can't blame any artist for treating it that way beause that is the only way you will survive in the BUSINESS!!! As far as record sales go, yes they are declining, but it's not just in hip-hop! If anything hip-hop is probably the top selling genre of music ever since the N-Sync and Backstreet Boy Era finally became extinct (THANK GOD)! But sales are declining because of the internet and file sharing, with IPods and all that other shit! So the industry needs to change the way they do things because technology is changing so fast that nobody even wants to really deal with CDs anymore because there is too many easier and faster ways to get the music!!!
The quality is fuckin up sales but at tha same time so is tha internet. THE INTERNET IS THE MAIN REASON Y RAPPERS AND MUSIC ARTISTS IN GENERAL DON'T SELL AS MUCH.
good post man i agree wit u 100 percent they just want us to fall, when they see minorities doing good they will do whatever to make us fail and not enjoy the success.
Co-sign....
you know how to write damn it...
As far as everyone on this board talkin bout this issue, I agree with you all entirely. Look, since the explosion of downloading and file sharing in the late 90s, the "Music" industry has been taken back. Ever since 1999, record sales have slip nearly 4% and still dropping. The reason - - people bootleg and find files online and spread them around to other like the damn flu epidemic. The reason why mixtapes are so popular is because people wanted to hear more from their favorite artist and see how complex and broad they were in their lyrical abilities. Remember, the mixtape did not become popularize until the late 90s and 2000s. Mixtapes have been around and did not get the publicity untile websites like Datpiff.com start collecting and distributing to the public.
Now, with the R.I.A.A. fallout and trying to "crack" down on mixtapes and "leaking" of music, it has become a backlash. They government has put the anti-piracy material on cds now, but not on websites and other programs that fuckin' hackers get on and steal the songs. Don't get me wrong, I do download songs, but not the whole fuckin' albums of my favorite artists. If I like the song, then I'll go and buy the cd from that artist. I am a disc jockey and I need material that I could play and it is difficult on a wallet to get edited songs. But, that does not make it right for me to do what I do too.
But, back to the topic. Mixtapes should stay, maybe not leak brand new music that could be appearing on the new albums of the artists that they're promoting. The R.I.A.A. should not try to make a profit off of mixtapes cuz, then, we lose. They should continue to try and find other alternative ways to protect music that could be on upcoming albums, like keeping music locked up and protected. Cause if we resort to artists continuing to constantly tour, artists will get burned out and may lose creativity. Yes, we do need to weed out those that are just trying to make a "fast-buck" with these lil' cutesy, one-hit wonder songs. Hip-Hop, in the past, was to be the "CNN of the Ghetto - Chuck D"; it was to be about story-telling and displaying emotions to the audience and to make them bridge the gap between whites & blacks, man & woman, etc. Now, we got this bullshit that is cluttering up the airwaves and people are tired of it.
And I def. agree with WhiteShadow570, the industry, itself, has taken a hit. Please, do not get it twisted, Hip-Hop is not the only genre that had a big hit in 2006. Everyone has felt the burn. If we can come together and stop this madness, then the artists can get the income they deserve instead of trying to bridge out and venture to get money in movies, television, fashion, etc. However, it has leaked into our mainstream, corporate America (God, how I hate that). But, overall, it should be about the music and the proper way to protect it, not about the money.
before I begin to preach I just want to say that I agree ahundred percent, now back to my origional thought.
The music industry is going down overall, and as much as I hate to say, its from downloading, file sharing, and expensive prices for CD's are all of the reasons the prices are going down, and just like so many others have already said, these mixtapes have put a lot of these rappers on the map, and without mixtapes might have never made it, radio's only play rotation of ten songs during an hour mixtapes open up the spectrum for fans. where was this pressure 5 years ago, its all about money
man fuck dat they want to see us. its already happenin. isnt it a coincidence dat rap is a very low point in almost every category and then they decide to take a important part out. man they planned dis. they waited for to rap started fallin, then atack. im not tryin hear dat they didnt do no research they did. they been waitin and they just went in
Honestly Hip Hop has not fallin, it is still high. However, it is slipping because of the quality of music and artists' creativity. The problem is that people are getting too "big headed" and macho and think that they can't be touched. There are things that you should leave back in the streets. If you bring too much street and not really know the business side of the industry, then, this would def. happen. There are too many people in this industry that think that they can build labels and businesses just because they release one damn cd and it went decent because of one song. Example: G-Unit Records! Those are the people that are gracing the goddamn radio waves and televisions and people get pissed because that is not what Hip Hop is about. So, what do we do? We, collectively, need to just knock these muthafuckas off the airwaves and support those that are "Real Hip Hop". We must understand who came before us and where we headin. Too many people are getting killed because they are getting "too big headed" and thinking that they can't be touched & that they are getting too macho because they think that they are "the best rapper alive". That's bullshit! No one is the best rapper alive. The best rappers alive are the ones that started the movement of Hip Hop. We need to head back in that direction and stop acting too ignorant about everything and hatin about one's lyrical prowess. We need to respect one's game and the others. But, I don't think we will until we all are hitting rock bottom. It's sad to see it that way cuz I love Hip Hop. But, honestly, it is what we need.
it sucks but they got caught and they knew what they were doing was illegal. Also, Enron was an energy company that scued its books, basically putting numbers in different places that didn't exist, therefore almost impossible to catch from the outside looking in until time plays out and the money never shows. No one will be able to kill hip hop, as long as the fans and artists don't let it happen.
Law Enforcement and especially those against hiphop niggas love to make examples out of individuals just to say "see we told you so..." 50 said in his Flex interview that while he was driving through Harlem a crowd gathered because people noticed him and a cop pulled up next to him and told him that "the told me to pull you over...." I mean what the fuck does that mean, "they told me to..." who the fuck is they?? I feel like hiphop is such a strong movement people get scared, especially since its run and supported primarily by minoroties....now does it help that one of Games members gets shot outside of Hot 97? No. Does it help that Junior Mafia and Capone's niggas have a shootout? Or the Vibe awards stabbing? Or Fabolous getting shot? All these incidents police use to say "see, this is why we gotta do this..." its pathetic in my opinion, so personally since I aint a rapper, Ima stay listening to the music, hopefully one day the feds dont bust my shit for living this hiphop shit lol....
well said Joey, but were can i listen to this Interview ?
I believe it was 50's interview with Flex last week, check it out on Hot97.com....