Who's ya A&R?

9th Wonder has popped up on XXLMag.com, and reluctantly spent most of the interview downplaying the Little Brother break-up, as well as claims of his sound getting stale. Eskay reiterated 9th's question at the end of the interview, wondering why everyone wants to read SoundScan, why everyone dwells on sales and the like. While I agree with what both of them said, the thing is, both them niggas did it. They both supported Jay-Z at one time or another. Someone who wants to work on Lil' Wayne's next project?

Who made the fans worry about platinum plaques? Hip-Hop did.

Before Jay-Z owned 7 summers or whatever, who really knew about record sales? When I was a shorty, watching Video Music Box, eating Little Debbie brownies, Gold wasn't a record sales mark, it was the color of the dookie earrings shorty had in the LL Cool J video. Platinum? I didn't even know WTF that was. The Clinton Administration came in and changed that - DMX, Ja Rule, Jay-Z, hell 'Pac would go plat from the grave! And they let us know - whether its on MTV Cribs or on interludes of their albums, we were constantly bombarded with record sales information. Guys like 50 Cent (and 'em) keep the tradition going.

Who made us lowly fans worry about diamond status? Hip-Hop did.

The fucked up part is, it's the niggas who DON'T go platinum who cry the loudest. Everyone wants to be on the radio and on TV (9th mentioned it, and I imagine that's why they went to Atlantic), but the sales figures don't matter when they don't sell. If The Minstrel Show went 2x Platinum, do you think they'd a) have split up and b) have been harping on sales? Come on.

Who made one of my favorite producers hate me? Hip-Hop did.

Now, 9th hates me. He hates me because I blog, hates me because I think his sound is getting a bit stale (although he did his thing on the Chemistry CD), hates me because I like to know if T.I. went platinum or not. Why should I not be concerned? Didn't the Bible make some statement basically saying when you are a child you deal with child shit, but when you are grown up, you put away the childish things? Why should I not be concerned with how these niggas are eating, especially when their tracks are all about being broker than most and not shining like other niggas do, and denouncing the next nigga for doing that? You're taking our power of using that product (it essentially stops being "yours" when a UPC label gets stuck on it) and utilizing it the way we want, which could be seen as an extension of record labels putting programs on CDs that do not allow us to copy them to our computers. Hip-Hop is freedom of expression, unless you aren't sticking solely to what's being said.

What is the death of Hip-Hop? Hip-Hop is...
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting commentary, khal.

bragging on sales is just another element that rappers use to boast. some of these artists have to know that they aren't meant to go platinum and that's not a knock on them, it just is what it is. little brother may never touch gold but does that make them wack? not in my book. we're living in an era dominated by nonsense at every turn...radio, tv, movies, internet...all types of media champions the stuff that turns your brain to mush. but i guess that also speaks volumes about the American culture as well.

khal said...

trust, i love LB - that new cut "Good Clothes" has me open. it's just the backdoors shit - everyone wanting to make sure that no one slights them, i guess? who knows... everyone has to eat.