Topic: The (de)Evolution
- May 14, 2008 05:13pm by Fur1ous - "She said, 'who the fuck died and made you God?' I said, Jesus"
I was just sitting here and a thought popped into my head that kinda upset me. Remember back in the day when producers went around looking for talented MCs to showcase on their beats? Nowadays, everybody's selling beats for $25, $50, even THOUSANDS of dollars. Most of the time the producer doesn't care what calibur of MC is rocking his work, as long as he got that PayPal transfer. I've been fortunate to run into some cats that don't feel that way and have laced me with some heat rocks, however, I know there are others out there who feel my man. On a similar note, what happened to doing a whole album with one producer? Someone to guarantee your sound is cohesive and everything comes together....I miss that. Not that I dislike variety, but Common is the only one in recent memory that has really done that! Aside from the various projects with 9th Wonder that is....I dunno, I'm really just rambling here, but we as artists can't take this music to another level without bringing back some of the elements that made our art special. Twelve year olds everywhere are salivating over the newest version of Fruity Loops so they can post their "beats" on soundclick for a big faced Ben Franklin a piece. Oversaturation hurts my soul......[size=24:56b78f5b5c][b:56b78f5b5c]SOUND OFF[/b:56b78f5b5c][/size:56b78f5b5c]
- May 15, 2008 02:08am by DR.T - nuts .. haha Location: KCMO
[quote:6352bd4fd2="Fur1ous"]Nowadays, everybody's selling beats for $25, $50, even THOUSANDS of dollars. Most of the time the producer doesn't care what calibur of MC is rocking his work, as long as he got that PayPal transfer.[/quote:6352bd4fd2]
Guilty as charged.... lol
[quote:6352bd4fd2="Fur1ous"]
On a similar note, what happened to doing a whole album with one producer? Someone to guarantee your sound is cohesive and everything comes together....I miss that.[/quote:6352bd4fd2]
Same here ...
[quote:6352bd4fd2="Fur1ous"]
Twelve year olds everywhere are salivating over the newest version of Fruity Loops ....[/quote:6352bd4fd2]
I take offense to this!!!!! lol
- May 15, 2008 09:26pm by Deta!L - I just said that so you would stop bothering me.
how many producers have you approached to do full albums with?
how many full albums have you done?
I agree and disagree with you at the same time, the ego is e-vil man, if you want to work with someone step up and ask don't side step with a post on KC hip hop...
and if this comes off as an attack it's not meant to be, i'm just saying take control-own the means...b-b-b-b-b-be easy!
- May 15, 2008 10:11pm by Fur1ous - "She said, 'who the fuck died and made you God?' I said, Jesus"
no offense taken Detail.....It's also not meant as an attack on anyone in particular, just a thought I had. Producers used to seek out the MCs, but now it's pretty much reversed. I bought 7 joints of this JC cat back in 2003, paid well over a grand for the whole package and asked him to do the "Guru and Premier" but he wasn't down for that. And that's when I had time to really sit down with someone and craft something that special, now I really just take what I can get and make music when it fits in my schedule...responsibilities and such dictate that it be this way. If I were to approach someone now to do something like that, it'd almost be a waste of their time unless they were ultra patient or could light a significant fire under me to bang an album out in a short period. I've all but given up on ever "making it", I just wanna put an album out that's lasting and resonates with people in their hearts...you know? As stated earlier, my rant was not target specific.
- May 16, 2008 12:45am by beatbroker - -beatbroker
HHA/Symbol Heavy/IN crew Location: KCMO
This has less to do with the de-evolution of hiphop producers than the
de-evolution of the record industry as a whole.
In the alleged "golden era" of hiphop, (and indeed of many other forms
of artistic creation) the 80's and 90's... There were a WHOLE LOT more
records being sold daily, yearly etc. thus aLOT more royalty money
finding it's way to the artists, producers, engineers, assistants and EVERYONE involved on every level of the project that received residual
income. ...including shot calling record execs. This let the execs and a&r's sleep easy, so they let the artist take their time to create a sound,
experiment and polish it to their liking as long as the record sold.
Nowadays, with the advent of digital piracy and declining record sales, a "producer" rarely sees a dime of residual royalty cash unless they are indeed overseeing production of the entire project on an executive level. This is due primarily to labels changing their contractual approach to album production in an effort to cut larger pieces from an ever-shrinking pie.
This new "cut the fat" approach to record production makes it imperative
to the survival of the beatmaker to collect as much dough up front as possible. Often times that ends up being a bill or under at first, but one must seek a better rep by pushing a quality product through the proper channels (ie; dope lyricists) in order to obtain more and more per beat. Sink or swim. Sad but true.
Now, I agree that many beatmakers express little to no judgement regarding where their beats end up, just as long as they get their check.
This is truly unfortunate, as it's the best path to a short lived career.
People may even end up liking the track "just for the beat" but ain't
no classics coming out without quality control from top to bottom.
Most of the music coming out now has a very finite shelf life due to this
lack of QC if you ask me. People forget about sub par music, even
if it's catchy enough to blow up the club for a month. It's the inherent
quality that makes "golden era hiphop" golden. It's the quality that
won't let you forget. I could make a million analogies on this subject
as it relates to the de-evolution of everything around us... especially the food industry and air jordans.
but i digress...
I KNOW there are lots of fresh producers out right now that don't fall
prey to the temptation to sell sell SELL to the highest bidder, regardless of talent. This mentality needs to spread in order to re-instill some integrity to the record business. I believe it WILL spread as the monetary reward system of the industry continues to transform and larger labels lose their influence. These are exciting, if not downright scary times for music. Mark my words. We will see a reignition of the regaional artist, regional commercial radio and regional "major" labels. (far removed from the mega-lithic corporate entities currently pulling the strings.) These smaller regionally focused outfits will hold innovataion, creativity and genuine artistry as the most endearing qualities thus maintaining a much higher standard and hopefully raising the bar to new unseen/heard heights.
How's that for optimism?
