Old west... New west... What about after new west?

[bigpimpin20]

Kanye West

[Jimmy H.]

All of this shit is kind of silly. It's good West and bad West. Thing is both sides need to realize they need each other. Hate on Dre if you want but he's one of the few veterans who sort of figured it out. He started out with a bunch of dudes from Compton. When he went to Death Row, he pulled together a lot of young cats from Long Beach. When he did Aftermath, he was all over the place. White boy from Detroit. Mixtape hustler from Queens. Whatever it took to keep him fresh. Even got Game when the time was called. I think veterans co-signing younger or at least newer acts, when done right, helps keep their careers fresh. We love seeing Cube with Dub C and Snoop with Dogg Pound but we also want to see them add some fresh faces into the mix. Game was an exciting deal for the West but that kind of thing has a shelf life. I think when he came out, people were interested in the BWS movement but nothing materialized. It would be like if 50 waited until he dropped "Curtis" to start pushing G-Unit as a brand. You got to strike while the iron is hot. It's tough because the industry really is sort of fucked.

[Dre-Day]

I agree with Cube, Fuck New West a bit. I mean fucking damn the originals in hip-hop couldn't have as much exposure (Most acts were pretty much luck) as today's new west. The Internet changed the way that people can come up, Case and Point (god I gonna hate this) but Soulja Boy is proof of this. Mind you it's also showing how hip-hop/raps core elements have deteriorated, and how Mainstream truly doesn't give a damn about the core elements, but in the end it's exposure. I mean you go back to the 1980s/90s and chances are majority of these niggaz wouldn't have any play outside there own area. I mean Eminem was only primarily known in Detroit until Dr. Dre had gotten Involved, even N.W.A had been a lucky act, just because there album had something no one else at the time was putting out, the fact that Eazy had made his own label, and that some guy in the industry (Jerry) iwas willing to work with people from the street.

In the end N.W.A only got Radio play for the first time because of "Panic Zone" and sold out to that electrico hip-hop at that time. Today niggaz don't need to sellout. Today they can run everything avoiding the labels, and generate there own money. Every Technology you had at the studio you can get at home now. It's no longer like back in the day you needed to pay for studio time. Today's artist can build there own fanbase via mixtape, p2p sharing, the 1000s of hip-hop sites, and don't even need to PRESS a album today. Itunes, MP3 purchase today allows them to directly sell to the fans, avoiding labels taking income. If they're good they can get a strong underground (Crooked I for example) and eventually generate enough interest for themselves.

you mean Express yourself 
NWA didn't blow up with Panic Zone, WTF are you talking about

[MediumL]

Ill take fashawn and blus albums over 90 percent of the cliche gangsta rap shit anyday.

pretty much. exile is probs behind the best music from the west in last 3 yrs

[D-Nice]

Ill take fashawn and blus albums over 90 percent of the cliche gangsta rap shit anyday.

[Jimmy H.]

In the end N.W.A only got Radio play for the first time because of "Panic Zone" and sold out to that electrico hip-hop at that time. Today niggaz don't need to sellout. Today they can run everything avoiding the labels, and generate there own money. Every Technology you had at the studio you can get at home now. It's no longer like back in the day you needed to pay for studio time. Today's artist can build there own fanbase via mixtape, p2p sharing, the 1000s of hip-hop sites, and don't even need to PRESS a album today. Itunes, MP3 purchase today allows them to directly sell to the fans, avoiding labels taking income. If they're good they can get a strong underground (Crooked I for example) and eventually generate enough interest for themselves.

The fact a lot of these niggaz don't drop albums is amazing. Even Local niggaz in Fresno have even pressed albums (Mind you it's still on a local scale, but they are still getting the music out there and still trying).

Still in the end, even if these niggaz don't drop albums it's not all that bad.

Crooked I hasn't dropped a pressed album, and he's passed being new west. He's still put on bangers.

The fact is niggaz don't need to press albums to be in the game. all they need 2 drop is hot 12 tracks, and we can make the album ourselves. The fact is the majority of these artist thrive off this new Technology. So why complain when we don't get a hardcopy???

But there's a good and bad side to that. The easier it is to become an artist, the more the market becomes flooded with the MP3 and mixtape rappers so it becomes more difficult for them to stand out. The "hard copy" allows them to reach that crowd who still buy CD's and distinguish themselves from the people who only have "MP3 exclusive" projects. Even if it's a limited run, it shows that there is demand for you in all formats. Tech N9ne can drop CD's independently on a rather frequent basis so if the interest is there, you can create that lane.