Andre 3000 is confused, when did hiphop become a sitcom (uuum Mr Van WinKle you can come out of the cave now…). Andre bro hiphop’s been that way for a moment, but wait is it that there are writers or has hiphop evolved as an entertainment medium?
There have always had crews of writers (Andre knows this because he came from the Dudgeon Family…), what really seems to be the issue is not as much about the writing but HipHop “is not what I wanted it to be anymore…” (That’s what happens why you allow other to be the funding principle of your so called culture communications tool, I mean if you don’t invest you don’t control). Look when you want control, you gotta be the bread, those are the rules (you know “he who has the gold make’s the rules…).
For many years I’ve heard complaints as to where hiphop is going but I never hear anyone saying I’m going to step up as a primary lender (unless you’re the corner trap king and his investment in Jeezy wanna be’s seems to be doing just fine…). Entertainment usually is a reflection of the lenders, why, because it’s their money and they will call the shots. I don’t know why that so hard for some to come to terms with that reality.
So if you wanna called the shots and define hiphop as how you want it to be, (with only rappers who write their own material) well you have to start a label that just has that as its code (you probably won’t make a lot of money and then some folks will still complain about its not fair…)
Andre is a very gracious and pleasant cat and he went out of his way to not point fingers buy the real of it is, artist who became successful hiphop stars financially (major point) didn’t reinvest their cash in hiphop, why, because they felt it was better to use OPM (other people’s money) and when you use other folks money they call the shots.
Of course when your spending in the hundreds of thousands in marketing an artist, eventually your gonna start to move the odds in your favor. What the hiphop traditionalist don’t realize is that the old RNB guard said the same thing about them (“This rap stuff will never last…”). Not only did rap last but it outlasted the traditionalist RNB artist, why, a new generation with new taste and ideas.
To the lenders (who are trying to make money off the music) does it really matter to them that someone is writing the songs? No. Does it really matter to the spending customers? Why it doesn’t matter to the money folks is because they want a hit and that it and you know what, that really not bad of an idea (minimize my risk in a risky investment hmmm ground breaking). Artist in their endeavor to survive develop a sort of entitled type of mentality about where sponsors or what sponsors should pay attention to in hiphop. It’s not a game, its business.
Like I said Andre’s a great guy (for real one of the best guys I’ve met in this business…) but no Andre you weren’t working to hard because you were defining your footprint in this business we call hiphop. Maybe these new artists have a different definition in mind for their footprint and really, ain’t that’s what hiphop is supposed to be about? Redefining a musical style to define your generation musical style and taste?
Remember “There’s nothing wrong with the record business that a good record can’t cure…”
#ItsAboutTheMusic
#GetAtMe
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