From being that younin’ in the hood with that dream of being the biggest in the game, from bedroom studios and freestyle sessions to that first track you ever done that got you thinking you the ish.
To many more tracks, to your first mix tape, airplay, getting featured, media coverage and first album. This sounds all too awesome but is not the story of many.
When i started writing this piece the initial topic was MCs/Rappers who threw in the towel before being made. I flipped it when i started thinking, no one ever quit. Well, we never got the official word. So instead i decided to put word out as to how difficult it is to get made in this game
I got thinking of many MCs that once were and wondering were they at. I’m sure I ain’t the only one. I remember wondering where homes like Insaney where at, till i saw him do his thing on Shiz Niz for the Mixtape Competition. Also another lame I thought of was Wikid, then i read on his twitter line that “Still In Rehab” is STILL due to drop this year (and congrats to lame and mommy for the lil one, no sleep for you). Still don’t know where the Skool of Hip Hop dudes are at.
The music industry is a tough one to break into, the hip hop market even harder to conquer. We still have record labels not showing support hundred, leaving many with the option of taking the not so easy independent route. Promoters ain’t booking as much, and when they do it’s the same old artists but big ups to those who look out and give a chance to up -comers. And we have the fans, the supporters who aren’t as loyal as they should, could- buying more foreign than their own.
While some MCs a-have stuck it out and are on that road to hitting it the big time, many have left us wondering what they doing with their lives and if ever they’ll ever return to the game. Truth be told, this game ain’t easy. I know enough to can tell. It takes lots and lots of consistency, hard-work and presence. You have to convince the fans and the media that you worth them and earn respect from game players. It requires more guts than Big Show does to enter the arena in that body suit. As they say nothing worth having comes easy, lames like Khuli Chana, Blaklez, Sean Pages, L-tido, Jay Stash and Reason can easily attest to the struggles of a Rapper on a mission
We shouldn’t be having talent be put off because there’s no resources and support. Some might argue that if you are good enough, you will make it no matter what. But i think it’s all about the right networking, knowing the right people, making the right contacts, the people who can recognise talent and skill and put in their time and help a rapper climb up.
Record labels still refuse to play their part; we got more Rappers who are independent compared to signed ones, especially by big names. Being independent should be an option, not the only way, that at the end many rappers can’t pull off and end up giving up. Distributors and music stores still don’t believe in the sales power of hip hop and the fans....Yall sometimes are just too cold for winter man, you can judge and call a rapper whack not even having heard any of his tracks. You break a lame down when he’s just as well tryina make his mark. The spirit of brotherhood in the game ain’t so much visible, you show love to cats only when they made.
I think we should just give props to lames that stuck it out and made their mark, lames that came back and tried their luck and to lames who didn’t give up when it got too hard. But maybe homies are just taking time off and gonna throw us off when they come back to the game and take over. Many disappeared in the background shades of new, fresh talent that came out and caused major uproar
The memo never got out about any rappers retirement, it ain’t official. So we’re still holding up to see who comes back. I just hope they do come take another shot, the circle ain’t that bigger that we should already be loosing rappers. Hope wherever they at, they on some serious power packing and preparing to get back coz somewhere in the world someone is bumping Wikid’s award winning album and wishing they were still in the game.
u put it though as if there is a market for local hip hop as if a rapper comes through tight and all people will rush to buy shit. There is little demand for local hiphop, there are a few local hiphop fans. I make a distinction because i know many people that will but an American rapper album, but they wont even take a free mix-tape of a local Rapper.
ReplyDeleteListenership for local sound were not properly developed before cats started sounding like Lil wayne, we were on the right track with Lee Club and Rap activity Jam, but niggas started feeling them self they started sounding like wayne and them, now if i have cash would i want to spend it on a wayne knock off or on the real wayne?
I still believe the secrete lies in that skwatta tape, the one e e nale Manyisa le Rau rau. everybody who bought that shit were genuinely buying local shit and local dope shit, period, they(skwatta) failed to capture that magic ka Moya, i still tell the story how in that year Manyisa was out i went to some remote village ko Limpopo there was this guys riding through on a bicycle with a tape hooked to a battery anwas playing skwatta, tears come to my eyes, i thought yeh SA hiphop here we go, but thats all she wrote. shit this bitch is too long and is getting boring haller if u want to know how the story ends.