Its been a while since i have actually posted a personal blog but due to a recent string of events in the hip hop community I feel like i just need to vent about my frustration with people's misunderstanding about music, promotion, media and the connection between random publicity stunts.
First of all you must understand that there is a uniquely different perspective between the producer and consumer of music or any other product for sale.
Okay hear me out... In the late 90's a huge battle took place between heavy weight hiphop giants Biggie Smalls and Tupac, that sparked the whole east coast west coast war that eventually led to both men dieing. What you need to know is first, 2pac and Biggie smalls were very close friends before it all started seeing that both men were originally from new york (east coast). At which point in time 2pac was mainly a conscious type rapper who rapped songs such as "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Brenda Gotta Baby" type songs. To contrast 2pac, Biggie was more of a commercial party song writer who was also known as a profound story teller lyricist also. Here's where the confusion lies. 2pac got a deal with Death Row Records located in California and Moved from the east coast to the west coast. His career started to explode after this transition because he switched his style of music from conscious to gangster. Now Biggie smalls as a story teller had previously recorded a song called "Who shot Ya" in which he described a shooting. and Right before 2pac left New york he was shot leaving a studio session with biggie smalls.
The mix up... First you must understand time. All artists write and create multiple songs that are never released due to industry politics or financial matters. The song by Biggie was recorded several months in advance but was released by coincidence around the time 2pac was shot. See you have to understand that from the point in time a song is recorded by any artist in a studio until the time in which you here it on your radio is at minimum 3 months. Therefore Biggie Smalls song was already scheduled to be released before 2pac even got shot in the first place but 2pac never knew that. So from his perspective its like hold up "I just left my homie studio and was shot and robbed, then this nigga turn around and release a song titled "Who Shot Ya". So basically he goes to California pissed and thats when he started to retaliate on the air waves with what his own shots at Biggie. The media blew up the battle and basically made a world headlines and selling magazines and stories about the two biggest hiphop stars battling over supremecy and tagged it the "East vs West" The confusion basically led to both men being killed.
Fast Forward. Since then many artists have stayed out of beef on the air waves due to this tragedy ex.. Lil Wayne who throughout his career has been successful making music only about himself. On the other hand, some up and coming artists who have not made a name for themselves yet have been know to start rivaries on the air waves as a marketing strategy to boost their own publicity. Ex... 50 Cent who is now one of the richest rappers. This is basically because in America for some strang reason violence sex beef and negative behavior grabs more attention faster and in the world of music or should I say... the music BUSINESS. This BEEF STRATEGY is one of the fastest way to Make and sell music, because the beef itself creates a buzz around both artists and it automatically creates anticipation for a response. In this scenario both artists benefit financially due to greater album sells, but the artists who are already selling tons of albums do not use or need the BEEF STRATEGY to succeed.
So Basically what im trying to say is... STUPID, EVERY SINGLE BEEF SINCE 2PAC AND BIGGIE HAS BEEN STAGED BY BOTH ARTISTS BEHIND THE SCENCES TO MAKE THEM MORE MONEY WHILE THE PUBLIC GOES BACK AND FORTH BUYING THE MUSIC TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH WHAT WAS SAID LAST.
This leads me to publicity stunts. Few years ago Kanye West ran on stage during Taylor Swifts award acceptance speech. On one end he was being disrespectful, but because is was on live television and the commotion surrounding the event led to Kanye selling more music. He wrote an apology on his blog where millions of people visited to see his side of the story, however many people who never knew who Kanye was were able to learn about the artist personally and PURCHASE music directly from his site. So by visiting the site to see why he did that you end up listening to his music, and people who already knew him for music went to the site for the juicy story line.... STUPID THATS CALLED CROSS MARKETING its what sell of commercial music is basically based off of. Its the same as the beef strategy.
THE LATEST MILLION DOLLAR STUNT?.... Kanye West'S rant about how he doesnt like the song "Suit and Tie" featuring Jay- Z and Justin Timberlake. By saying this live to an audience of over 20,000 fans who may or may not have even heard of the song, what Kanye is doing ON PURPOSE is 1. Keeping his name in headlines/media without having to put out any new music and 2. Helping his BFF sell more copies of his new single "Suit & Tie" while pea-brained customers buy into the story lines of KANYE WEST DISSING JAY-Z... LOL!
This shit is hilarious as I know that behind the scence Kanye West has always looked up to Jay-z and has also admitted live on television also in his previous musical releases that Jay-Z is his Idol. They are using their owb national media exposure to rob millions of dollars from the music industry and pay homage to the late great Biggie Smalls and 2pac who died unable to control the aftermath of such publicity. its really that simple, they are making a statment...
THE STATEMENT?
"Okay media, MAGAZINES, TV, ETC... by mixing your business affairs with our private and personal lives. You have managed to kill our homies, and destroy the careers of several black entertainers. Over-time you have dam near killed our entire genre of music HIP HOP. So.... Since we peep this dumb as scheme your companies have been using to exploit our cuture and livelyhood. How bout... FUCK YOU PAY ME. Im on stage wearing a Jesus Peice on my Chain,(Originally Worn by Biggie Smalls) and making a killing with billboard statistics,albums sales, and financial success. PS. I WAS A BORN A POOR BLACK MAN IN AMERICA AND LAST YEAR I MADE the fucking FORBES LIST."
Leave Comments ABOUT THIS POST on my Facebook CLICK HERE
