The Roc is G.O.O.D

Wow, these days it just feel likes behind the scenes Hov' ain't missing a beat. Even while finishing up his tour with the Wifey he is still managing to make power moves. The latest news for the Roc Nation CEO is that he has officially signed G.O.O.D music artist Big Sean to the Roc for management. For Sean, this may have been one of the hardest and greatest decisions of his career. It's totally obvious that Sean models himself after Kanye West. You know, "keeping it true", "having fashion sense", and even capitalizing on shoe deals with Adidas. But leaving G.O.O.D for management had to be a monumental decision in his career.

But let's weight this decision out. In regards to his personal career, this was a great decision. It was clear that although Sean had a lane, he could not separate himself from the shadow in which he stood behind (being that of Kanye) in the way Drake has done in regards to his situation of coming up behind Lil Wayne. This departure breathes new life into Sean's career and places the playing field on level grounds in retrospect, because he is no longer competing from behind Kanye anymore. He can now come out and show how much he is really coming for the throne.

Also leaving G.O.O.D Music's management will allow him to escape the pressure there is to be a G.O.O.D Music artist with your CEO making it difficult to do business with "Corporate America". Not saying that this is Sean's flavor, but when you stand behind someone that claims to be getting crucified, a few nails are "bound 2" come your way as well, eventually. However, now Sean can just focus on the music and prove why Kanye said he signed Sean because he would be the greatest rapper of all time.

Kendrick, We Waiting...

It's been a minute since anyone has heard anything from Kendrick Lamar. He has been steady, doing slight features but nothing major since the collaboration smash with TDE Label mate SchoolBoyQ on the song "Collard Greens". As you can see many fans in the hip-hop world are "dying of thirst" in waiting for the next Kendrick single. The self proclaimed "Return of Makaveli" is leaving all of us in the wing while he does his thing and all we can do is speculate as to when he will be releasing any new material.

Kendrick Lamar has definitely established himself as an artist that is hungry and on the prowl for the crown. He has made a huge wave in pop influence and culture and in the underground hip-hop scene. His control verse was one of the most vintage and prolific hip-hop verses of this era putting a stamp on the type of level Kendrick would like to see the game go to or for some, go back to. As we all know, Kendrick's biggest competition is none other than Aubrey "Drake" Graham who is always busy at work in the studio popping out hit after hit after hit, so it just makes me wonder if Kendrick is just a man of patience or if he is struggling to find that one single right now.

Personally, I fail to believe he is struggling right now, as an early adapter of Kendrick's music, he has always been the type of artist to focus more on making a complete project rather than spilling out material, however I just hope this absence of Kendrick doesn't take away the waves he made with his debut album GOOD KID M.A.A.D CITY. But as always you have to let the greats be great and I'm just thrilled to see what Kendrick has in stored for his fans and hip-hop, but if you could Kendrick, maybe just a snippet....

J Cole to Ferguson

J Cole Visits Ferguson to show support for the Michael Brown killing. It's easy to credit Cole as one of the few artists out here who still feel a need to be an activist in the communities in which they choose to reach. By no means am I knocking individuals who chose not be there for that is there prerogative, but I do find it tasteful that J Cole found it necessary to be among his people for this. Cole is an avid voice for ill politics in America and what the Black experience looks like on U.S. lands. I want you as a viewer to take a look at this conversation between Cole and an interviewer from Complex magazine and tell me if you can feel Cole speaking from his heart. It's beautiful to see that there are still entertainers in the game who believe they can have a huge role to play.

Rap Vs. Hip-Hop

Today there is the constant struggle between listeners as to if they are listening to rap or hip-hop today. The answer for some may just be a subjective rationale, however I personally feel that today's popular rap is just what it is "rap" and not "hip-hop". Rap is the music for the have's of society. Rap is the expression for those who have seen the fruits of life and enjoy a lifestyle that others envy. Not saying that rap music is bad, because it can be good I will have to say that today's rap music to me lacks character and substance. However, for those that like today's rap music, they may enjoy it more because it is something they can relate too.

Hip-Hop however was the expression for the have not. Hip-Hop told the story of the impoverished and left astray. Hip-Hop was and is the voice of the people that feel that they live in a world where the powers that be don't care about the circumstances in which they are left to live in. Hip-Hop told the story of what we consider the lower class of society. Sometimes it could come off really aggressive, but it was rooted in enlightening the people, inspiring them to reach farther than what's in front of them, and constantly taking jabs at the ill politics that plague America. 

Now this is not an article to bash today's music or say that Hip-Hop is dead or what have you. This is just an article to distinguish for some the differences between the two expressions and what they stand for. So that the average listener can know for a fact which one is hitting their ear. If you have thoughts about my opinions on the differences, feel free to DROP YOUR BARS! 

The New Muscle

Now I don't know whether this is a situation we're in where major pop stars are trying to show just how impactful their names are or if they just got lazy. But why is it that major acts like Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Beyonce and others just felt this year they could drop their albums without marketing them at all and they would do just fine. Well, I guess something went right because they all were successful albums. Now the typical rhetoric for an album release is promotion through single releases, then a couple prime time appearances, moving on to dropping the videos to singles that have received high praise from critics or the pockets of consumers. After this process is complete, you get the album cover, a "leaked" album track listing, followed with one final appearance, then a couple days before the official release, the album is "leaked" and available for illegal streaming over YouTube right before they're pulled down just days before the average consumer has cashed their check and can buy the official album. But the artists above and those with pull just like them didn't do that?

I ask why? I can only speculate but here are my thoughts. Their could be a sense of arrogance and ego on their behalf to show that their names are so heavy that they could literally drop a project and go platinum. Now if that's not a blatant showing to their competition of how great they are I don't know what is. This type of action proves that they are aware of the type of power they have as artists and that they know that there aren't many other artists out there that are on their level. But in a way one could argue that by not having the typical marketing campaign they were still partaking in the art of marketing. Could this have just been a campaign that was simply a "rage against the machine", with no pun intended. 

Or was this something bigger. Were these artists trying to take a stand against "the corporation", (yes I have seen the BBC and Sway In The Morning interview with Kanye West, fore I realize I do not have the answers) by saying that they didn't need their power promotion or resources anymore. That their names now were more relevant than whatever label was packaging and distributing their material. If so, could this be an unorthodox but intelligent step to ridding away with the controlling system flow of the music industry? I guess only time can tell just exactly if this is so, but I'm interested to see what you would think. Feel free to DROP YOUR BARS! 

Guerrilla Marketing

Everybody is making music these days. It's almost impossible for a day to pass without something new dropping from someone, somewhere. Whether it's mainstream or underground there is always something fresh coming out. Now some would say, why you tripping, don't you like the fact that there is always something new coming out? Don't you like feeling you're no longer sucked into figuring out when you're going to hear the latest from your favorite artist? My answer is split. Half of me is excited all the time that I know I can surf YouTube and find someone new putting out a video or trying to plug their music by lying and advertising their audio as the new Drake, Kendrick or J Cole song. Sometimes you're disappointed, but other times, rarely however, you run into someone actually with some talent and skill on their hands.

Also it is encouraging to see that everyone is trying to find ways to express themselves and get their thoughts, emotions and stories out to the world. It's compelling to see how people are trying their hardest to hone in on a craft and do something with it. However, I soon get tired of having to find that diamond in the pile of trash. Like I said before, everyone is making music and to be honest, if we all had to keep it 100, everybody can't do music as their art. With that being said, the over saturation of music, especially in the hip-hop genre is for lack of a better description, "killing" me. This is making it hard for me to appreciate the constant and overly steady flow of music coming out every day. Sometimes I wish things were back to the days of just having to wait on the artists you want to listen too, to drop their next project. At least you knew that to some extent their would be a highly probable chance it was worth the wait.

But I know you're asking what does this have to do with the subject of this blog. Well, with this over saturation in music, the competition to stay relevant is ridiculous. You have people all over the world that you're competing against to stay trending and hot. With that being said, artists have no choice but to surprisingly bombard viewers with visuals, snippets, unannounced interviews, even appear on shows that they clearly have no artistic connection with, just to stay on our mental. And after a while it starts to become real mechanical and the art of advertising is lost. However, I can only share my thoughts on the matter, but I would love to hear what you think. Feel free to DROP YOUR BARS!

Who Has The Game On Lock?

Is it fair to say that in hip-hop today, the game is super polarized when it comes to the new school of rappers. I mean it feels like Drake is obviously killing the charts in comparison to his competition between himself and other male hip-hop artists. Along with that his Young Money label mate Nicki Minaj, is definitely in a stratosphere of her own when it comes to herself and competition with other female hip-hop artists. But, I wonder if it's because they have the best music out or if they are just reaping the benefits of being constantly pushed more consistently than others they're competing against.

The nature of hip-hop is competitive. Every emcee is constantly on the prowl to prove they are the best. You constantly had to enter the battlegrounds of showing how sharp your skills were because someone was always "gunning" for your position. With that being said, are there any emcees right now that's challenging both Drake and Nicki Minaj. It's all really a subjective conversation, but when we start talking numbers, the conversation turns in the favor of these two individuals. Outside of Kendrick Lamar, no male hip-hop artists is coming close to the numbers Drake does in the same time he does it. And it looks like T.I. struck a little gold with signing Iggy Azalea because she is the only female hip-hop artist that may have Nicki looking out her rear view window for a second or two. 

I personally feel that we are just on the brink of something spontaneous and organic to happen. Hip-Hop is about to enter into an era where everyone is putting out masterpieces. There is heighten sense of aggression and passion that was lost in the art of emceeing for the past few years, but it's showing up again and as a fan I'm loving it. Still, I can't turn on a radio station and not hear a Drake or Nicki song 3 to 5 times within one hour, but I feel we're on a verge where all artists are going to make a serious bid on claiming the top spot. But for now Drake and Nicki got the game on lock, which could lead one to ask did Lil Wayne accomplish creating another Roc-A-Fella? Until next time, be on the look for the next cypher, but for this one, feel free to DROP YOUR BARS!