West Coast Connection Forum
DUBCC - Tha Connection => West Coast Classics => Topic started by: Hack Wilson - real on February 27, 2014, 09:50:21 PM
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http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.2120/title.kurupt-opens-up-about-foxy-brown-relationship-reconciling-with-dmx
this interview here (which is a damn good interview btw) has Kurupt mentioning that "for my niggas and my bitches" was originally a DPG track but because everyone contributed their best material to whoever was dropping at the time, Snoop was thrown on for a quick hook and I guess somehow Rage got on there for a meaningless verse too. This was done obviously to showcase the rest of the rappers on Death row but I always thought this song was out of place since Snoop is barely on it. Great ass song though.
I also remember Snoop saying that "every single day" was made during the Chronic sessions but was intended to be his first single for Doggy STyle. obviously never happened. can't find that interview at the moment though.
Post more doggystyle facts....with links if possible
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Wasn't there something about how Doggystyle wasn't actually done (at least not to Dr. Dre's liking for a completed product), but then Death Row had a deadline and had to submit whatever they had? It came out great anyway, so it's interesting to think what it would have been like if Dre finished everything, whether it was something as minor as mixing or maybe recording some different songs.
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here is my Doggystyle fact this forum is the only place where Doggystyle gets talked about every month since the beginning of this forum
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Wasn't there something about how Doggystyle wasn't actually done (at least not to Dr. Dre's liking for a completed product), but then Death Row had a deadline and had to submit whatever they had? It came out great anyway, so it's interesting to think what it would have been like if Dre finished everything, whether it was something as minor as mixing or maybe recording some different songs.
I remember reading that too. Supposedly Interscope gave them a now or never so Dre took all the records they had, mixed them, then threw in some hooks to fill in the blanks. Meaning Dre was taking his sweet precious time even back in 93 lol
They should've released a Doggystyle 2 EP just to really stretch Snoop's success. An EP with Doggystyle, Every Single Day, The Next Episode, etc :o
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here is my Doggystyle fact this forum is the only place where Doggystyle gets talked about every month since the beginning of this forum
Hahahaha, true that. Still my favorite album of all times, but come on now.
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here is my Doggystyle fact this forum is the only place where Doggystyle gets talked about every month since the beginning of this forum
i'd give you a prop if you weren't the same dude who keeps discussing the Realest all the time...
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Wasn't there something about how Doggystyle wasn't actually done (at least not to Dr. Dre's liking for a completed product), but then Death Row had a deadline and had to submit whatever they had? It came out great anyway, so it's interesting to think what it would have been like if Dre finished everything, whether it was something as minor as mixing or maybe recording some different songs.
I remember reading that too. Supposedly Interscope gave them a now or never so Dre took all the records they had, mixed them, then threw in some hooks to fill in the blanks. Meaning Dre was taking his sweet precious time even back in 93 lol
They should've released a Doggystyle 2 EP just to really stretch Snoop's success. An EP with Doggystyle, Every Single Day, The Next Episode, etc :o
Yeah, Interscope was probably smart enough to know that they had to strike while the iron was hot, with all the attention on Death Row while Snoop had a huge buzz. The first week sales proved that, since it went unchallenged for seven or eight years as the biggest first week sales. (I think that second Nsync CD beat it out for biggest sales, while Eminem's second CD beat it around the same time for the biggest solo album first week sales and also biggest hip-hop first week sales too.)
That hypothetical EP would've been dope, but mostly just because we know now some of the songs that would have been in the vaults at that time, along with how the Death Row story ended with everyone eventually jumping ship and a lot of tracks basically being lost forever ~20 years later. But it wouldn't have been realistic, with Death Row proving to be a powerhouse and signing on more acts who should also get their shot too, since the Death Row name would've guaranteed at least gold status. Plus there was all that legal trouble, particularly Snoop's trial. But had he been found guilty and went to prison, then I bet Death Row would've put all that shit out.
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I remember reading that too. Supposedly Interscope gave them a now or never so Dre took all the records they had, mixed them, then threw in some hooks to fill in the blanks. Meaning Dre was taking his sweet precious time even back in 93 lol
They should've released a Doggystyle 2 EP just to really stretch Snoop's success. An EP with Doggystyle, Every Single Day, The Next Episode, etc :o
Bad idea. Death Row was not No Limit Records. Death Row was quality over quantity. They kept people wanting more. In fact the main reason Dre left Death Row was because they started signing artists without his approval and he wanted to maintain a high standard for any artist or album released on Death Row.
Now we are in the days of mixtapes where artists like kendrick have a 1,000 songs floating around and Snoop does songs with the Pussycat Dolls and it certainly waters everything down.
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GREAT idea
a late 1994 doggystyle 2 EP of the following songs would have gone multi plat (2-3x)
Doggystyle
It's On (with Rage)
Poor Young Dave
Every Single Day (with Kurupt)
G's Up Hoes Down
(insert semi-funny skit here)
Next Episode (with Dre)
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Bad idea. Death Row was not No Limit Records. Death Row was quality over quantity. They kept people wanting more. In fact the main reason Dre left Death Row was because they started signing artists without his approval and he wanted to maintain a high standard for any artist or album released on Death Row.
That's inaccurate. Dre didn't necessarily have a problem with who Suge was signing aside from Hammer (since it's not like Dre listened to those newly signed artists' demos and declared them to be garbage), but more so with the fact that Suge was taking control and not really getting Dre's input. Dre felt deprived of control when new dudes would show up at Death Row greeting him and talking about how they just got signed and that he was supposed to do the beats for their album. It doesn't mean that it was quantity over quality.
EVERY label, especially within the hip-hop industry, signs on more acts than they need to, and sometimes their stuff gets shelved or put on the backburner. No Limit doing all that shit was actually pretty successful for them, particularly with how their CD booklets were basically advertisements for their upcoming albums with art and everything, which was pretty smart compared to most other labels just putting a little line at the bottom ("Coming soon -- new album from [insert artist]"). But No Limit's demise wasn't because they had too many acts, it's because that New Orleans shit got played out while No Limit was putting out EVERYONE'S album. Death Row wouldn't have done that, especially not with input from Interscope, whereas No Limit's distribution deal gave them more control. That's why within the span of a little more than a year, we got a Dogg Pound album, two Pac albums and a Snoop album. While Rage should've gotten a release around that time too, it's not like we were getting releases from Foesum or something.
Now we are in the days of mixtapes where artists like kendrick have a 1,000 songs floating around and Snoop does songs with the Pussycat Dolls and it certainly waters everything down.
That happens because music is a lot easier to record and distribute on a larger scale these days. Back in the 1990s, even just to put out a mixtape, unless you only were releasing it within your city, you had to actually plan it out and figure out the distribution network. Now, you can just upload it. That's why it seems like today's rappers record a lot more, because it's easier for their scrapped tracks to see the light of day with minimal cost to them, versus 20 years ago when they'd have had to press the material and then put it out at mom-and-pop stores.
Not that I disagree, but hBad idea. Death Row was not No Limit Records. Death Row was quality over quantity. They kept people wanting more. In fact the main reason Dre left Death Row was because they started signing artists without his approval and he wanted to maintain a high standard for any artist or album released on Death Row.
Now we are in the days of mixtapes where artists like kendrick have a 1,000 songs floating around and Snoop does songs with the Pussycat Dolls and it certainly waters everything down.
Hip-hop is becoming more and more mainstream (overall a good thing, when it's done right), and crossovers are going to happen... just like when Run DMC linked up with Aerosmith, or when Onyx linked up with Biohazard, or when Bone Thugs linked up with Henry Rollins (not to mention Mariah Carey and Phil Collins), etc. These are just once-every-so-often crossovers... it's not like those people are changing their styles completely.
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http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.2120/title.kurupt-opens-up-about-foxy-brown-relationship-reconciling-with-dmx
One of the best kurupt interviews I've seen/heard. He doesn't always give good ones but this one was great
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I also remember Snoop saying that "every single day" was made during the Chronic sessions but was intended to be his first single for Doggy STyle. obviously never happened. can't find that interview at the moment though.
Colby Colb show from 1994 where they play Every Single Day
http://uploading.com/f5191a48/SNOOP-DOGG-Interview-On-Philly-s-Power-99-Radioactive-Radio-Show-With-Colby-Colb-4-22-1994-mp3
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I also remember Snoop saying that "every single day" was made during the Chronic sessions but was intended to be his first single for Doggy STyle. obviously never happened. can't find that interview at the moment though.
Colby Colb show from 1994 where they play Every Single Day
http://uploading.com/f5191a48/SNOOP-DOGG-Interview-On-Philly-s-Power-99-Radioactive-Radio-Show-With-Colby-Colb-4-22-1994-mp3
thanks for posting this...this is a gem
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I also remember Snoop saying that "every single day" was made during the Chronic sessions but was intended to be his first single for Doggy STyle. obviously never happened. can't find that interview at the moment though.
Colby Colb show from 1994 where they play Every Single Day
http://uploading.com/f5191a48/SNOOP-DOGG-Interview-On-Philly-s-Power-99-Radioactive-Radio-Show-With-Colby-Colb-4-22-1994-mp3
4-22-1994...my 7th birthday ;D
Thats interesting. Why would he play this in Philly a year AFTER Doggystyle was released?
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the radio DJ says he bought a bootleg with Gin and Juice, Every single day and Niggaz don't give a fuck on it. probably the OG niggaz don't give a fuck too.
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the radio DJ says he bought a bootleg with Gin and Juice, Every single day and Niggaz don't give a fuck on it. probably the OG niggaz don't give a fuck too.
I emailed colb bout this back when he put the audio up. He says he got another og tape with Kurupt (guessin it had 40z and bud etc on it) in the stash but couldn't put his hands on it. Said he used to spin the bootleg tracks on his show back in the day
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It's funny how Snoop and Kurupt give props to 2pac for supposedly showing them "How to work. How to go in and get like 4 tracks done in one day".
...Shit, I could record 100 tracks in a day, it doesn't mean any of them would be dope. All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
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But it was probably more about them just dicking around in the studio and taking all sorts of time to record a song and thinking that's how everyone else worked too. It's inspiring and motivating when you meet someone else who does the same thing that you do but at a far faster and more efficient pace. The bar gets raised, and it makes other people want to reach it too.
But at the same time, the period you referred to as being their best material was also when they were hungry rappers trying to make it and prove themselves.
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But it was probably more about them just dicking around in the studio and taking all sorts of time to record a song and thinking that's how everyone else worked too. It's inspiring and motivating when you meet someone else who does the same thing that you do but at a far faster and more efficient pace. The bar gets raised, and it makes other people want to reach it too.
But at the same time, the period you referred to as being their best material was also when they were hungry rappers trying to make it and prove themselves.
You make a fair point but look at Dr. Dre. Even in spite of all the money he has made he has still maintained a standard of quality over quantity. He's been making money since the NWA days and he has still managed to put out quality and never put out throwaway verses. Half the verses on the album Kuruption were throwaway verses, shit like... "I'm tyrranical tyranosaurus dracula crack ya back"
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I've always felt the Pac influence was on work ethic and not just how to make a lot of tracks quickly. I believe one of them, pretty sure, it was Kurupt, said he would come with whatever verses, even if they didn't fit the sound, and Pac was telling him to be more versatile.
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I've always felt the Pac influence was on work ethic and not just how to make a lot of tracks quickly. I believe one of them, pretty sure, it was Kurupt, said he would come with whatever verses, even if they didn't fit the sound, and Pac was telling him to be more versatile.
Okay that's great.. but then why does everything Kurupt spit on Dogg Food sound fire, and everything Kurupt spit on Kuruption sound lazy, rushed, and unfocused?
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But it was probably more about them just dicking around in the studio and taking all sorts of time to record a song and thinking that's how everyone else worked too. It's inspiring and motivating when you meet someone else who does the same thing that you do but at a far faster and more efficient pace. The bar gets raised, and it makes other people want to reach it too.
But at the same time, the period you referred to as being their best material was also when they were hungry rappers trying to make it and prove themselves.
You make a fair point but look at Dr. Dre. Even in spite of all the money he has made he has still maintained a standard of quality over quantity. He's been making money since the NWA days and he has still managed to put out quality and never put out throwaway verses.
But Dre doesn't have "throwaway verses" because he doesn't write anything. He's always had others (Snoop, RBX, J-Flexx, Jay-Z, Hittman, Eminem, Crooked I, T.I., etc.) do it for him, so lyrics-wise it'll generally be decent and not tired, half-assed shit. Plus Dre only puts out actual songs (meaning he is rapping on it) once every blue moon, so it's not hard to go for quality when you're putting shit out once every decade.
As far as Kurupt goes, he's a monster freestyler and probably did that more often in the booth than you'd think (sometimes because what he spit off the top was just that good), but the drawback with freestyling is that no matter how good you are, wack shit will come out at some point. And for guys who enjoy freestyling, that's going to happen. If you ever followed battle rap, you probably know who Jin is (the Chinese guy who came up on BET's 106 and Park then got signed to Ruff Ryders and still battled on Fight Klub, Jumpoff and Smack). He killed the freestyle shit (and was even beating guys who came with writtens, which at that time was frowned upon anyway), but the battles that he lost, he lost BADLY and his freestyle game was off those days. It's just the risk that they take.
I've always felt the Pac influence was on work ethic and not just how to make a lot of tracks quickly. I believe one of them, pretty sure, it was Kurupt, said he would come with whatever verses, even if they didn't fit the sound, and Pac was telling him to be more versatile.
Okay that's great.. but then why does everything Kurupt spit on Dogg Food sound fire, and everything Kurupt spit on Kuruption sound lazy, rushed, and unfocused?
Look at the situation. Kurupt had left Death Row to form his own label (and was likely fulfilling duties as a rapper AND a record exec, likely learning a lot of things on-the-fly), had just seen Pac and Biggie die and was pretty much on his own and not under someone's tutelage like Suge, Dre or Snoop. He wasn't able to focus 100% on making lyrics like before and may not have been partying 24/7 like they did on Death Row.
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^ cute theory but no. Judging on how unsuccessful he's been as a CEO / president and how much he's fallen off lyrically - it's clear drugs played a huge role on the demise of Kurupt the Kingpin.
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^ cute theory but no. Judging on how unsuccessful he's been as a CEO / president and how much he's fallen off lyrically - it's clear drugs played a huge role on the demise of Kurupt the Kingpin.
dude u can't assume why a rapper can't be a good CEO tho. not everyone can be a businessman in the game...some artists should just stick to what they do best
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^ cute theory but no. Judging on how unsuccessful he's been as a CEO / president and how much he's fallen off lyrically - it's clear drugs played a huge role on the demise of Kurupt the Kingpin.
...which means that the decline in his quality wasn't attributed to the whole work ethic aspect of pumping out songs back-to-back
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^ cute theory but no. Judging on how unsuccessful he's been as a CEO / president and how much he's fallen off lyrically - it's clear drugs played a huge role on the demise of Kurupt the Kingpin.
...which means that the decline in his quality wasn't attributed to the whole work ethic aspect of pumping out songs back-to-back
I think it's just motivation. Kinda like hunger at the start pushes rappers. I didn't change is still probably Kurupts best track since he left death row. The story bout Kurupt sittin in his car with the pad and then just bustin it on the mic is crazy. He was on one.
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
Some producers will fit the sound to an established artist. Others will mould an artist to fit their vision of the record like you say. That neednt mean the artist is doing something wrong. I'm talking about producers in the old sense, not beatmakers
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
Some producers will fit the sound to an established artist. Others will mould an artist to fit their vision of the record like you say. That neednt mean the artist is doing something wrong. I'm talking about producers in the old sense, not beatmakers
Snoop (like Dre before him) is the type of artist that needs a "boss" in order to keep him focussed and on track. Pac on the other had was more self motivated.
Different strokes for different folks... As long as the end product knocks who cares.
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
Some producers will fit the sound to an established artist. Others will mould an artist to fit their vision of the record like you say. That neednt mean the artist is doing something wrong. I'm talking about producers in the old sense, not beatmakers
Snoop (like Dre before him) is the type of artist that needs a "boss" in order to keep him focussed and on track. Pac on the other had was more self motivated.
Different strokes for different folks... As long as the end product knocks who cares.
Cool ok. Motivation is another thing.
Nas said if he's working on a track too long and somethings just not making it work, he discards it and moves on. Creative mindstate is another factor, even at his level
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
Some producers will fit the sound to an established artist. Others will mould an artist to fit their vision of the record like you say. That neednt mean the artist is doing something wrong. I'm talking about producers in the old sense, not beatmakers
Snoop (like Dre before him) is the type of artist that needs a "boss" in order to keep him focussed and on track. Pac on the other had was more self motivated.
Different strokes for different folks... As long as the end product knocks who cares.
Cool ok. Motivation is another thing.
Nas said if he's working on a track too long and somethings just not making it work, he discards it and moves on. Creative mindstate is another factor, even at his level
Yup, but you can see how with Pac it was always about the first take/raw emotion. That's what he sold you. Snoop on the hand always aimed for more of a sprezzatura performance.
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All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
Dre also made Snoop retake songs again and again and again till he was happy with the product or it matched the vision in his mind. Artists of a certain calibre, that have something valid to say in the first place and not just bumping their gums, can one take or drop multiple tracks on the same day.
The rest of the regular folk need to get back in the lab and take their time to craft something.
Some producers will fit the sound to an established artist. Others will mould an artist to fit their vision of the record like you say. That neednt mean the artist is doing something wrong. I'm talking about producers in the old sense, not beatmakers
Snoop (like Dre before him) is the type of artist that needs a "boss" in order to keep him focussed and on track. Pac on the other had was more self motivated.
Different strokes for different folks... As long as the end product knocks who cares.
Cool ok. Motivation is another thing.
Nas said if he's working on a track too long and somethings just not making it work, he discards it and moves on. Creative mindstate is another factor, even at his level
Yup, but you can see how with Pac it was always about the first take/raw emotion. That's what he sold you. Snoop on the hand always aimed for more of a sprezzatura performance.
Oh yeah I totally agree with u. I was just pointing out a 'true' producer giving instructions to an artist doesn't 100% mean they aren't capable in their own right. Producers and damn near anyone else critiquing an artist is what classics are born out of. Pac was exceptional on the mic, but tell me you've never felt deja vu listening to him. He could've gone much further lyrically had he had the chance (RIP)
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dude u can't assume why a rapper can't be a good CEO tho. not everyone can be a businessman in the game...some artists should just stick to what they do best
Exactly. Kurupt has been talking all this CEO nonsense since 1998, and to my knowledge he's yet to release even one artist other than himself. I still remember him on Rap City in 98 bragging about he he understood the game and understood business, and CEO this and CEO that, and he opens up the album saying....
"THIS IS FOR ALL YOU 500,000 SOLD ASS MUTHAFUCKAS, GOOFY, DUSTY, DIRTY, PUNKASS MUTHAFUCKAS"
And Kuruption ends up selling..... 500,000!
...So it doesn't make sense when Kurupt is always talking about how wise he is compared to his days on Death Row, yet on Death Row in the 90's everything he ever did was a critical and commercial success.
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Snoop (like Dre before him) is the type of artist that needs a "boss" in order to keep him focussed and on track. Pac on the other had was more self motivated.
Different strokes for different folks... As long as the end product knocks who cares.
exactly. Pac could pretty much run his own ship. He could tell his producers, engineers, co-artists, all what the fuck to do. Nobody would ever question Pac's motivation and hunger.
...The Dogg Pound is a totally different breed from Pac. Their shit is all about being a G, not giving a fuck, laid back shit....They needed someone like Suge or Dre over their heads to make sure they didn't just mail it in and actually put out some quality. They aren't your punch the clock 7 days a week, hard working type of rappers. And if they say they are now that's only because they've become spoiled and they don't know what real work is.
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Oh yeah I totally agree with u. I was just pointing out a 'true' producer giving instructions to an artist doesn't 100% mean they aren't capable in their own right. Producers and damn near anyone else critiquing an artist is what classics are born out of. Pac was exceptional on the mic, but tell me you've never felt deja vu listening to him. He could've gone much further lyrically had he had the chance (RIP)
He started to... XXL touched on that topic a while back. Though of course a lot of the bootlegged material from the second half of his tenure at Death Row showcased some of that. Definitely not quite on any next level type of stuff, but certainly huge leaps from his usual attempts at lyricism. But that's just how he was... he wanted to take as few takes as possible and then do something else (not because he had ADD but because he already had another idea and didn't want to dwell too much on one single project). That was something that he and Jim Belushi clashed about when filming Gang Related. Pac just wanted to film and move on to the next scene, while Belushi was said to want to take as many takes as necessary to get that right one, though he later admitted that he knew Pac was just doing all sorts of things within such a short amount of time (movies, music, videos, performances, etc.) and was always on the go, and not just some lazy guy who was on some "Here it is, take it or leave it" kind of mentality.
Dre was a perfectionist (which is partially why it takes him so fucking long to do anything), which in itself is a gift and a curse, though when Snoop was introduced to the rap game, he was under Dre and did whatever Dre wanted. Same thing with everyone else on the label. So they all fell in line and did what Dre wanted, and it worked, and that was their model that they followed. Yes, they all collectively did a ton of recordings together, but I bet that the total amount of stuff recorded at Death Row from 1992-1995 isn't far off of what Death Row recorded in 1996 alone.
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Funny thing is, when I was 16, seeing Kurupt on Rap City talking about CEO this, CEO that, and business this, bussiness that, about having patience and doing good business, I remember being inspired, thinking...
"...Wow, this is a genius, he knows everything about business, I need to follow the same principals and I'm going to go far in life..." LOL
That was a big marketing technique back in the late 90's the whole rapper/CEO hustle. Master P marketed the hell out of that concept and a lot of his fans just admired his hustle.
...What got lost in all that was the art, and the actual quality of the music suffered. When Em finally came out he put the focus back on the lyrics and the craft but I was buying into a lot of hot air in the late 90's rap era.
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dude u can't assume why a rapper can't be a good CEO tho. not everyone can be a businessman in the game...some artists should just stick to what they do best
Exactly. Kurupt has been talking all this CEO nonsense since 1998, and to my knowledge he's yet to release even one artist other than himself.
I think Spooks was the biggest other artist to come out of Antra. They had several hits in the UK and the album sold 120k here (can't find international numbers)
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Funny thing is, when I was 16, seeing Kurupt on Rap City talking about CEO this, CEO that, and business this, bussiness that, about having patience and doing good business, I remember being inspired, thinking...
"...Wow, this is a genius, he knows everything about business, I need to follow the same principals and I'm going to go far in life..." LOL
That was a big marketing technique back in the late 90's the whole rapper/CEO hustle. Master P marketed the hell out of that concept and a lot of his fans just admired his hustle.
...What got lost in all that was the art, and the actual quality of the music suffered. When Em finally came out he put the focus back on the lyrics and the craft but I was buying into a lot of hot air in the late 90's rap era.
The problem is that too many rappers are overzealous and think that just because they watched someone else handle the business aspect of the record industry, that they can handle it too. 50 is probably one of the more successful rapper-turned-businessman examples, but his track record as a label exec specifically was mediocre, as most of his money came out of the Vitamin Water deal. Same thing with Jay-Z, he brought on a couple acts (Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Amil), but none of them really blew up, and he stepped away from that Def Jam exec position.
The same thing can be said for even the battle rap emcees too. I watch a lot of it and all of their blogs. They are starting to get some nice bread ($5,000 and up for a battle, with some guys clearing low/mid five-figures too), but a lot of them call themselves businessmen and know that there's money out there, but they make ridiculous demands that aren't supported by the financials, and the numbers that they present are totally unrealistic. I'll save the explanations for that, unless you guys want them.
dude u can't assume why a rapper can't be a good CEO tho. not everyone can be a businessman in the game...some artists should just stick to what they do best
Exactly. Kurupt has been talking all this CEO nonsense since 1998, and to my knowledge he's yet to release even one artist other than himself.
I think Spooks was the biggest other artist to come out of Antra. They had several hits in the UK and the album sold 120k here (can't find international numbers)
Shit, I forgot about them. They had a nice little buzz with that "Things I've Seen" single, but again, they never got big.
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what battle rappers are making outragous demands?
you mean like Okwerdz acting like an A-lister, asking for everything from grape swishers to steak dinners? (joke...based on a Rone line)
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what battle rappers are making outragous demands?
you mean like Okwerdz acting like an A-lister, asking for everything from grape swishers to steak dinners? (joke...based on a Rone line)
I got the line.
It's more about Loaded Lux and Murda Mook.
Murda Mook wanted $25k to come back, and he ended up settling for $20k to battle Iron Solomon at Summer Madness 2 in 2012. I give him credit for putting together five rounds, each being five minutes, and not slipping once (at least not that I can remember), but that battle didn't really have any replay value, and it wasn't all that good. People blame Iron for coming with some weak shit, but one-sided battles can still be good as long as the other guy brings it. But Mook was aight. Then he said he wanted $50k for his next one, so I'm guessing he's getting it (or something near it) since he's getting back in the ring in May against...
Loaded Lux got something like $12k or whatever to come back when he battled Calicoe at the same Summer Madness 2 event. Most people feel like he won (and it just depends on who you give the second round to), but his third round was very memorable to the point where his "new" slogan ("You gon' get this work") was being tweeted by Jay-Z, and he also ended up getting a spot on the Howard Stern Show about the battle. I think it ended up being Smack/URL's highest viewed video to date (with upwards of 3 million views). Smack was trying to set up Lux vs. Hollow (who as you probably know was in jail during SM2), which was a highly anticipated battle, but it was well-known that Lux's upfront demand was $40k.
Unfortunately, the financials of a rap battle don't really support it at this time, when that's damn near how much they spend on paying ALL of the battle rap emcees, or at least a handful of them, yet the venues they use are likely not going to get much bigger since the physical crowd these events attract are still limited to maybe a thousand or two, and they're already charging $100 a head. But the overhead still has to include the organizers getting paid, the venue getting paid, the film/sound/stage crews getting paid and also the other emcees getting paid. Lux's counter was that his video got 3 million people to watch it, and that they could do a PPV stream and generate some money since he figures even a small percentage of people would pay. He calls himself a "businessman," but his argument was extremely flawed -- 3 million views doesn't mean 3 million people watched it (as it could be 100k people who each watched it 30 times), and those views didn't occur overnight but over the course of a year and a half. Plus YouTube is FREE to watch. Put a price tag up, and a lot of these fans won't pay and would rather wait for it to drop. So on top of the numbers being okay (yet you still have to pay a ton of PPV fees, even if it's streaming online), people can still crack the code and find a way to record it and upload it themselves. Also, yes, the money from YouTube views is there, but it's back-end money that may not accrue for a while, yet Lux wanted a shit ton of money up front AND reportedly wanted a percentage. Hollow addressed this in their battle, which eventually happened on UW, but it was uploaded the next day by someone anyway. I'm sure UW took a hit on that one, assuming that Lux performed since he got what he wanted. And his performance sucked in my opinion.
And that's what I mean... dudes think just because they want more money or make those kinds of demands, they think that they're businessmen. Or when asked for the financials, they just provide some irrelevant numbers that don't really prove their worth. But it's kind of like that TV show Shark Tank... people approach the millionaire investors with their ideas and lay down their business proposals. One of the investors was like, "Why do you think that your company is worth $1 million when over the past three years, you have only grossed $60k from it?" Get your money right.
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Just checked out Loaded Lux, he's the shit 8) 8) 8) 8)
Do he make music doe?
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Yeah. It's decent stuff but nothing I've really gone out of my way to listen to.
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But it was probably more about them just dicking around in the studio and taking all sorts of time to record a song and thinking that's how everyone else worked too. It's inspiring and motivating when you meet someone else who does the same thing that you do but at a far faster and more efficient pace. The bar gets raised, and it makes other people want to reach it too.
But at the same time, the period you referred to as being their best material was also when they were hungry rappers trying to make it and prove themselves.
This isnt facts. Everybodys different. Fast does not equal better.
Maybe thats how Snoop & nem created their best material, by fucking around. I would assume so. They had a certain personality to them & a flavor so them fucking around helped them create. Its like a comedian testing out his jokes in a room full of other comedians or his writers. They even said that alot of their skits or lines came from stuff like that (ie. "Deez Nuutz" opening & alot of other stuff).
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But fast doesn't equal worse either. Plus you can spend plenty of time and money on a project, it doesn't mean it's quality. I guarantee that Detox isn't going to be 15+ years' worth of effort, and it won't live up to what we were expecting for it to have been delayed time and time again. Similarly, look at how Guns N Roses (particularly Axl Rose) burned through a ton of money and studio time, and they didn't really put out anything.
At the end of the day, if you're a record exec, who do will you appreciate more -- the guy who does three or four songs a day, versus the guy who maybe does one or two songs a week? Who will make you more? Who will cost you less? Those are all things to think about, considering that running a record label has overhead.
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I wanna see Rone vs Thesaurus
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It's funny how Snoop and Kurupt give props to 2pac for supposedly showing them "How to work. How to go in and get like 4 tracks done in one day".
...Shit, I could record 100 tracks in a day, it doesn't mean any of them would be dope. All of the greatest Snoop/Dogg Pound material is from before Pac, in the days when they were supposedly "lazy" and didn't know how to "work".
GREAT POINT, I CAN RELATE
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what battle rappers are making outragous demands?
you mean like Okwerdz acting like an A-lister, asking for everything from grape swishers to steak dinners? (joke...based on a Rone line)
About Rone... I heard that URL is throwing an event in Pittsburg (I forget what the event is called but it has "Steel City" in it), and I guess it's going to be Rone's URL debut, since he's wanted to battle at one of their events. Not a bad idea to have it be at his own city, so he can have a following. If his first one were at a bigger event in NY or something, white boy would get booed fast. Good to have him build up a fanbase within that crowd.
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Rone is a beast. Easy target himself for being a white boy who ran track for Sandusky but he is a monster with personal disses to others.
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Except he got slapped around by Fresco and was damn near crying in the post-battle interview, talking about how the Penn State references were below the belt. Not a good look when the gay guy whoops on you. Remember when Fresco beat Illusion Z on Grind Time? Illusion Z was embarrassed as fuck and gave him a half-assed handshake.
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fresco did kill him on that last verse lmao
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Are you talking about Rone or Illusion Z? Or both of them?
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Y'all gettin' real off-topic right now.
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Y'all gettin' real off-topic right now.
yeah, because a thread with actual replies on dubcc is such a horrific thing these days, right??