http://disqus.com/by/BiggCaZ/enWed, 09 Sep 2009 02:43:56 -0000http://shinesfreshness.com/post/168821123#comment-16228769<p>There is no such thing as underground now. There is known and unknown. I'm sorry to say, but its been that way for a while, and I'll tell you why.</p><p>It's been established that anyone can sell records without talent. It doesn't matter how good you are at rapping or making music if no one knows who you are, and it doesn't matter how bad you are at it if you're getting a lot of audio/video spots and are performing regularly. Because of this, selling out isn't just acceptable now, its encouraged.</p><p>Record companies have been trying to do this since "Rapper's Delight", but now their choke hold over hip-hop is now absolute. Buying the talent didn't give them credibility, so they buy the critics, but it didn't make them cool. So they buy the radio stations and the television stations. So unlike 15 years ago where a DJ or critic at a magazine company would call out a shitty rapper, record companies have it set up so they can pimp their loyal whores out and have the critics, DJs and VJs play their part to turn tricks. So now instead of having to go out and discover an unruly and hard to control artist, they can just create the next big thing.</p><p>Now, its what everyone aspires for, both talented and untalented. They get their name out there to land a major record deal only to unwittingly be chewed up, milked and have their art bastardized, and spit out by this processing machine. Even those that build their popularity on Myspace or Youtube eventually sign on for the dollar signs and false fame only to never be heard about again in a year or two.</p><p>Whether you're one of the talented or untalented, you're creating a product for the sole purpose to be sold. Artistic value or credibility doesn't come into play here anymore. Now that record companies know for fact they don't need talent to sell product, they have girls like this Miss Minaj on their team. Chicks with big lips, wigs/weaves and tittes all in your face for the sole purpose to get your attention (despite her talking out her ass saying otherwise) so they can push entire albums that were created by some musican(s) that probably chose a paycheck over their dreams so they can pay bills. I guarantee you she had very little to do with the creation of that album, but rather just featured on it.</p><p>Sure, you can blaze your own trail and become respected in the music world for your talent, but then you wouldn't become very rich or popular, would you? The best you could hope for is to end up like Common, Mos Def or The Roots, and drop albums over two decades only to finally get the mainstream respect you deserve when you do a track with some newbie hack or mainstream producers. At least they were fortunate to be able to live off their craft, everyone else isn't so much.</p>BiggCaZWed, 09 Sep 2009 02:43:56 -0000http://shinesfreshness.com/post/159678819#comment-14707112<p>Alright. Now I've got your premise. So where do we go from here?</p>BiggCaZWed, 12 Aug 2009 07:48:17 -0000