West Coast Artists Survival

[doublee313]

Man these threads are pretty rough on artists, users opinion's, etc.  Let's take a look at things:

I've been listening to west coast music since the beginning.  We all have to love the tell it how it is, hard core music they bring us.  Listen to some old CDs and hear what made these guys into a successful artist.  The 80s-90s was the time to be out there.

There is a new generation of younger people listening to this music.  The artist has some choices.  What does he do?  Keep it the same and not worry about new fans (less money), or switch it up to a new sound and try to get both.  We hear albums that have a mix of old school tracks, and some new sounding tracks.  This works sometimes, but also can backfire on them.  I think Snoop Dogg is a good example.  He has a mess of tracks on his albums.  He throws one thing, and next track is totally different.  This is bad in my opinion.  Snoop Dogg needs someone to help him put an album together, but he owns his company.

So let's take Dr. Dre.  He put out the Chronic with a new sound, and 2001 with a different sound.  Both albums were solid production and excepted by new fans, old, etc.  Now we are waiting to see what he does next.  From what we heard (Kush, I Need a Doctor) it is a little confusing.  I peronsally like both songs, but have an open mind still because we haven't heard his finished product.

How about Daz and Kurupt?  Low budgets, and low quality songs.  Daz was hot for a minute.  Dogg Food, Revenge and Releation, Dillinger and Young Gotti, R.A.W, Keep It Gangsta,  and then things just got messy.  Daz says this new D.A.Z album is for his true fans, but it sounds like a flop.  Kurupt puts out Streetz is a Mutha, Space Boggie (which was a different sound but worked), and now it's just a bunch of garbage in my opinion.  Streets Lights was a huge mess.  Let's be honest.  These guys went from some classic albums, so putting out whatever to make a buck (and you can tell).  I believe it's a production issue.  They need someone to help out.

The GAME has managed to put out some good sounding albums.  I guess when you have his producers, they will make sure it's done right.  He to me is a master and knows how to please both sides.  He took the early advise from Dr. Dre and ran with it.  We have yet to see how RED is.

There are many more artists I didn't mention.  Maybe some of you guys can comment on these artists and some others.

The point is, we all have opinions, but I still think the artist needs to really work hard before putting on an album.  We should be able to listen to it from beginning to end.  Whens the last time we had that?

[Jimmy H.]

I wouldn't exactly call Game a master. He's good at following blueprints and making hot music but he's in a rare minority of artists who have access to the cream of the crop in popular music production. He has Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, DJ Premier, Scott Storch, DJ Quik, Cool & Dre, and all the top producers at his fingertips. I mean, when Pac went to Death Row, he rode that for one album. He made a big all-star double album with all the top people. But then he did "Makaveli", a back-to-basics project that really had no big producers or artists and didn't even come under his name. I'd love to see Game try that because that would be a great test for him as a solo artist. I think hip-hop needs that right now. Has Game ever put out a track on any of his albums that wasn't either produced by or featuring someone that's been involved with at least one platinum album?

[Gamestarr]

I wouldn't exactly call Game a master. He's good at following blueprints and making hot music but he's in a rare minority of artists who have access to the cream of the crop in popular music production. He has Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, DJ Premier, Scott Storch, DJ Quik, Cool & Dre, and all the top producers at his fingertips. I mean, when Pac went to Death Row, he rode that for one album. He made a big all-star double album with all the top people. But then he did "Makaveli", a back-to-basics project that really had no big producers or artists and didn't even come under his name. I'd love to see Game try that because that would be a great test for him as a solo artist. I think hip-hop needs that right now. Has Game ever put out a track on any of his albums that wasn't either produced by or featuring someone that's been involved with at least one platinum album?

Yeah its sick he has all those producers.


and I think youre right. Even dudes like Knobody and Reefa has been a part of platinum albums before.

I dont know about Ervin EP Pope though?

I think he could produce a classic album for Game. just him

[shoo]

The problem with so called new sound is that's not the new sound at all. They don't experiment they just copy the sound that was making money not that long ago. I mean all this new west stuff sounds more like a southern rap. And it looks like Dre is trying to copy the style that made Eminiem back to the top. I'm not saying i want to hear g-funk again. I just can see the difference between early 2000s western rap and the recent one. The eraly 2000s was creative because it was nothing but developing the sound of the 90s. It was fresh but had the same west mood as g-funk era. Nowadays it's hard to find west coast artist who stay true to their roots. After BAGNN mixtapes i thought Nipsey is the one of the few who wants to rap over modern west coast beats but eventually he also took that radio friendly route.

Of course i'm not saying how the west coast rap should sound like. I'm just talking about my own taste of music. I would love to hear developed west coast sound.

And one more thing. Don't forget about how the time has changed during these years. It's not like your music can earn big $ for you. No matter how good your music is you won't sell decent amounts if you don't have some big promotion behind you. And that means you need to sign a major record deal. And if you manage to do that you need to say goodbye to your artistic freedom and record what they want you to record...

Same goes for the vets. They are simply naive if they think they can sell more with the sound that is on top now. Let's face it...these guys won't sell more than few K with such a weak promotion, no matter how their music sounds like. Or maybe they are so desperate for any penny.... maybe 10k and 11k is a big difference for them...

PS. I can't wait for the EA Ski "Fifith Of Skithoven" album. From what i've heard so far  it looks like this album could be exactly what i was expecting from Detox. I know i know... both albums haven't came out yet. My opinion is based on what i've heard so far...