Coolio: Tommy Boy Records Purposely Sabotages Every Artist

[Sccit]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/paOUcX1z0c4" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/paOUcX1z0c4</a>

[JeremyM]

It's interesting, but I'm not so sure how much stock I put into his theory. Queen Latifah's first two albums didn't go gold per the RIAA database and only sold a combined 250K according to Wikipedia (yes, wikipedia, so who really knows for sure--the point is they didn't even go gold). Her third album Black Reign was actually her best seller.

As far as De La Soul, they were on the downward trend with their second album, in part because they wanted to move away from their successful style and image from their first album. But it was probably their destiny even if they had continued on with their first album image, as they were never going to have a hit like "Me Myself and I" again.

So those two acts don't fit the theory at all.

As far as Naughty, they do fit, and I'm not quite sure why Poverty's Paradise didn't sell as well. Feel Me Flow was a big hit as I recall, and "Craziest" did pretty well I think. They weren't hits at the level of "OPP" or "Hip Hop Hooray" of course.

Coolio could have been sabotaged, I don't know. "C U When U Get There" did pretty well, but "Ooh La La" flat-lined--and it was a bad song, a rehash of "Sumpin New" and "It's All the Way Live" and so forth.  They didn't release any other singles so he very well could have been sabotaged. The album did go gold. To me, it felt like the mainstream had moved on to Puff Daddy and Mase by this point--they had taken his slot and you know the mainstream only had room for so many rappers, the mainstream is fickle and unloyal. Taking himself so serious with the Weird Al parody didn't help him at all either.

[Hack Wilson - real]

Tommy ain't my motherfuckin Boy - GZA

[Sccit]

i believe him

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Coolio already sounded cracked out in the other video of this same interview; this just makes him sound even worse.

It's not to say that companies are eager to give money away, but an album that they put out being commercially successful means that they are making more money, even if they end up bumping up the artist's pay.

Besides, it's hard for a company to purposely sabotage an album, especially when they have to invest money into making it in the first place.  Coolio had a lot of momentum going into his third album since his second was so huge... not even a label could undo that.  But the album just wasn't all that, but he still had plenty of exposure... from It's All the Way Live being on the Eddie soundtrack to C U When U Get There being on the Nothing to Lose soundtrack, his music was still being played to mainstream audiences.  But the reality was that the music wasn't all that, and the fans caught on, and not all of the fans who picked up Gangsta's Paradise kept buying, but obviously the material was lacking.  I remember in school, one of my neighbors (a nerdy white kid who oddly used to play Mariah Carey and wasn't really into hip-hop) was all into Gangsta's Paradise.

And if it was really Tommy Boy's fault, then when he started putting out material outside of Tommy Boy, then it should've been hot... but it wasn't.

Not saying that Tommy Boy was necessarily doing everything they could to make the album a success, but I really don't think that it's nearly as bad as Coolio was making it out to be.  Remember that at that point in time, not many artists who went platinum or better on their first try were consistently finding similar success later on down the road.

[heyyou]

I think some artists have said something similar about defjam

[Okka]

"And fuck Tommy Boy, them niggaz just suck" - Noreaga

[JeremyM]

Coolio already sounded cracked out in the other video of this same interview; this just makes him sound even worse.

It's not to say that companies are eager to give money away, but an album that they put out being commercially successful means that they are making more money, even if they end up bumping up the artist's pay.

Besides, it's hard for a company to purposely sabotage an album, especially when they have to invest money into making it in the first place.  Coolio had a lot of momentum going into his third album since his second was so huge... not even a label could undo that.  But the album just wasn't all that, but he still had plenty of exposure... from It's All the Way Live being on the Eddie soundtrack to C U When U Get There being on the Nothing to Lose soundtrack, his music was still being played to mainstream audiences.  But the reality was that the music wasn't all that, and the fans caught on, and not all of the fans who picked up Gangsta's Paradise kept buying, but obviously the material was lacking.  I remember in school, one of my neighbors (a nerdy white kid who oddly used to play Mariah Carey and wasn't really into hip-hop) was all into Gangsta's Paradise.

And if it was really Tommy Boy's fault, then when he started putting out material outside of Tommy Boy, then it should've been hot... but it wasn't.

Not saying that Tommy Boy was necessarily doing everything they could to make the album a success, but I really don't think that it's nearly as bad as Coolio was making it out to be.  Remember that at that point in time, not many artists who went platinum or better on their first try were consistently finding similar success later on down the road.

Good point on his non-Tommy Boy material. Some of that stuff he did is beyond horrid. I've always liked Coolio so I bought the El Cool Magnifico album and there might be two songs that met the quality of any of his first three albums.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

one thing Coolio could do is make mutherfuckin hits... but after that his albums were pretty weak.  And it's true that a lot of nerds loved his songs... like "1,2,3,4" that was the only song I really disagreed with the nerds on... I couldn't hate them for liking Gangstas Paradise because you have to be honest, that shit was the bomb the first time you heard it.  Maybe it got played out and too many wack fans started to like it... but that's not Coolio's fault.

and as a person I always thought Coolio was a cool homie

[Sccit]

Coolio already sounded cracked out in the other video of this same interview; this just makes him sound even worse.

It's not to say that companies are eager to give money away, but an album that they put out being commercially successful means that they are making more money, even if they end up bumping up the artist's pay.

Besides, it's hard for a company to purposely sabotage an album, especially when they have to invest money into making it in the first place.  Coolio had a lot of momentum going into his third album since his second was so huge... not even a label could undo that.  But the album just wasn't all that, but he still had plenty of exposure... from It's All the Way Live being on the Eddie soundtrack to C U When U Get There being on the Nothing to Lose soundtrack, his music was still being played to mainstream audiences.  But the reality was that the music wasn't all that, and the fans caught on, and not all of the fans who picked up Gangsta's Paradise kept buying, but obviously the material was lacking.  I remember in school, one of my neighbors (a nerdy white kid who oddly used to play Mariah Carey and wasn't really into hip-hop) was all into Gangsta's Paradise.

And if it was really Tommy Boy's fault, then when he started putting out material outside of Tommy Boy, then it should've been hot... but it wasn't.

Not saying that Tommy Boy was necessarily doing everything they could to make the album a success, but I really don't think that it's nearly as bad as Coolio was making it out to be.  Remember that at that point in time, not many artists who went platinum or better on their first try were consistently finding similar success later on down the road.

his point was that they had an agenda goin in, and unless we really know the ins and outs of the contracts the way coolio does, we cant really sit here and say whether he's right or wrong...dont put it past these record companies to sabotage artists for their own gain, because it happens all the time.

[Sccit]

one thing Coolio could do is make mutherfuckin hits... but after that his albums were pretty weak.  And it's true that a lot of nerds loved his songs... like "1,2,3,4" that was the only song I really disagreed with the nerds on... I couldn't hate them for liking Gangstas Paradise because you have to be honest, that shit was the bomb the first time you heard it.  Maybe it got played out and too many wack fans started to like it... but that's not Coolio's fault.

and as a person I always thought Coolio was a cool homie

his first 2 albums were really dope..3rd was solid, as well.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

his point was that they had an agenda goin in, and unless we really know the ins and outs of the contracts the way coolio does, we cant really sit here and say whether he's right or wrong...dont put it past these record companies to sabotage artists for their own gain, because it happens all the time.

But his claims don't hold weight when a lot of his post-Gangsta's Paradise stuff was wack.  The record companies might pick and choose what songs go on or tell you what to rap about, but they can't make you write garbage rhymes.

[Sccit]

his point was that they had an agenda goin in, and unless we really know the ins and outs of the contracts the way coolio does, we cant really sit here and say whether he's right or wrong...dont put it past these record companies to sabotage artists for their own gain, because it happens all the time.

But his claims don't hold weight when a lot of his post-Gangsta's Paradise stuff was wack.  The record companies might pick and choose what songs go on or tell you what to rap about, but they can't make you write garbage rhymes.

he didnt have the same funding...it's much easier to make dope music when you have the resources.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Funding doesn't mean that you have to write shitty lyrics.  Or if Coolio were half as smart as he thought he was, he'd have just found some new production talent that didn't charge an arm and a leg.

[Sccit]

production value overall has a great effect on quality of music..and by production value i dont mean makin beats.