The truth about "Best of" CDs.....

[R-Tistic]

I was reading an article about Lil Kim's situation with Atlantic, and it was saying that she might end up leaving or being dropped. Reading through it, part of it said....

"While no one at the label is commenting, citing that situation is "super sensitive,"  a source close to the situation tells the BV Newswire: "Most likely the only project that Atlantic will put out by Lil' Kim is a 'Best Of' collection."

Ouchee.

'Best Of' collections are usually a kiss of death to a recording career."

As I read this, I remembered what I was thinkin about the other day, which is how artists who's careers aren't even over and haven't retired end up releasing " best of" CDs......most notably, Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, E-40, and Ice Cube. I thought about it, and realized that these CDs were usually the last CDs that would come out from these artists on these labels...and they just end up coming out on a different label afterwards.

So for those who might know....is it a very common occurence for a company to put out a "best of" CD when they are about to drop an artist, or when an artist is scheduled to leave? If so, it'll make sense of all these "Best of" albums coming out for artists when they haven't even mentioned retiring soon.

[GangstaBoogy]

of course, the company releases their biggest hits on one disc and gets paid off the same old songs AGAIN.

but i don't like it when an artist releases a greatest hits cd THEN continues releasing new material. make the greatest hits your final release.

[WestCoasta]

Greatest Hits aren't always their greatest anyways, usually the ones the people know about


if I want a Greatest Hits cd I'll make my own bomb mix of an artist 

[The "Untouchable" DJR]

if I want a Greatest Hits cd I'll make my own bomb mix of an artist 

Co-sign

[D-e-f-]

one should mention that it's sometimes an easy way to get out of a contract. just take the nas / sony/columbia situation ... they're gonna put out a greatest hits or sth, too cause he still owes them two albums.

a best of is an easy way to get out of a contract when you need to make a certain amount of albums for that label ...just squeeze in a best of ...and if you need one more, make a bootlegs & b-sides or a remix record ...and then go wherever you wanna go

[KURUPTION-81]

one should mention that it's sometimes an easy way to get out of a contract. just take the nas / sony/columbia situation ... they're gonna put out a greatest hits or sth, too cause he still owes them two albums.

a best of is an easy way to get out of a contract when you need to make a certain amount of albums for that label ...just squeeze in a best of ...and if you need one more, make a bootlegs & b-sides or a remix record ...and then go wherever you wanna go

yeah, i was about to say that.

[Diabolical]

Most of the time they are released so an artist can get out of a bad deal, if they have one record left to fulfil their contract it makes it easier to release that and then they can release any new music on a label which give them a better deal.

[kingwell]

Kim is re-releasing The Naked Truth with a few different tracks on it.

[MontrealCity's Most]

seen, Something about the 50 and game beef . %0 said he would re-release the maasacre and put out one more album and he would depart.

[westkoastanostra]

i never buy best of ...or greatest hits cds...because their always missing real dope tracks (fan favorites i should say) i just make my own greatest hits (except for spice 1 - hits - thats tight shit right there)

[J$crILLa]

one should mention that it's sometimes an easy way to get out of a contract. just take the nas / sony/columbia situation ... they're gonna put out a greatest hits or sth, too cause he still owes them two albums.

a best of is an easy way to get out of a contract when you need to make a certain amount of albums for that label ...just squeeze in a best of ...and if you need one more, make a bootlegs & b-sides or a remix record ...and then go wherever you wanna go

tru , its all for contract purposes and also so the label can get some more $$ off the artist before they leave

[CRAFTY]

I only have one Best of CD and that's the one from Tupac, but other than that, I refuse to spend my money on those albums. The reason why I bought Pac's Greatest Hits is simply because I wanted to have his entire catalogue. I will never buy Greatest Hits albums just because there are one or two unreleased songs on it. If I want the songs, I'll get them off the Internet. There's no way I'm spending 20 euros on an album for just two songs.

[Leggy Hendrix]

yeah, it seems to be a regular thing that labels do when artists are leaving...again, to cash in on the tracks again as best they can...for example, Jay-Z released his first 2 albums through northwestside, when he moved to def jam they released his Best of Chapter 1 album, basically to try and squeeze some more profit out of what he'd released on their label...kinda dumb, only tracks from 2 albums on it...but hey, shit happens...

[Diabolical]

I don't buy greatest hits anymore but as a kid I did out of nessecity as there wasn't so many rap cds in the local shops and I didn't have then net.

[R-Tistic]

As far as these albums go, I think it may be more of a good investment in the long run than it is when it first drops. I don't know about y'all, but it seems like when I am trying to listen to old school artists, I usually end up buying their greatest hits or collection albums more than their entire albums, because many of them would have 6-8 songs, and in some cases, the songs you haven't heard will just sound like outdated filler since it's 20-30+ years old. So in 15-20 years, youngsters who know Cube, 40, Snoop, and the like's names, they may go to the store and say "hmm, I've heard like 10 songs on here, I'll just get the greatest hits". And when artists die, these are usually the best selling albums.

With Snoop, it is kinda cool that he has two greatest hits styled albums, but it would have worked a lot better if the first one didn't have 8 unreleased songs, which proves that it can't technically be a greatest hits album.