"life is the bitch, and death is her sister
sleep is the cousin, what a fuckin’ family picture
you know father time, we all know mother nature
it’s all in the family, but I am of no relation
no matter who’s buying, I’m a celebration
black and white diamonds, fuck segregation"
The Doc said...
Hmm... idle speculation, here, but could this new nick,
"LilTuneChi" be Wayne's "Makaveli" moment, where his label informs him
that they own his name, so he can leave if he wants to leave, but the
name stays there, so he starts putting in place a new handle for when he
jumps labels. I recall a mixtape where Wayne ends a verse by saying,
"And no it's not a rumor, it's The ROC." Right around the time the Wayne
signs with Jay-Z rumors were everywhere. Then I think he went to jail
and it died down for awhile.Hope Drake's got a ratchet under his coat, cuz somethin' tells me Baby would be just about as drastic as Suge if his golden goose were to try and fly away. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I hear ya Doc.
But let's think about that.
Are "labels" even relevant in the modern context of Hip Hop?
The "label" is an artifact from an ancient business model. Distribution is a commodity. Marketing is king. Suge and Tupac were playing checkers. Today's Hip Hop is 3 Dimensional global chess.
Death Row was in the business of selling records.
Wayne couldn't give a shit about records.
Might be 10% of his income.
These cats sell memes.
With Multiple Revenue streams.
Birdman and Weezy and Slim are doing in business what corny Ivy League Plantation Negro MBA's don't think they have permission to do.
Savor the irony:
Former drug dealers from Magnolia project are better educated, more effective and more empowered than 'A student Negros' out of Harvard.
The Impending Irrelevance of School.
Hustle Hard.
17 comments:
really DV? really?
i guess we all have our guilty pleasures...
LOL.
What up RB?
I feel you man. I feel you.
Different strokes.
But this is how we get down at DV.net
Later for arguing.
If you got a hotter joint ... drop a link ___________________ ?
I know a few...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH3dJuBH89k
KP
This is embarrassing.
Does anyone over 16 years old even buy this...eh...music?
Hmm... idle speculation, here, but could this new nick, "LilTuneChi" be Wayne's "Makaveli" moment, where his label informs him that they own his name, so he can leave if he wants to leave, but the name stays there, so he starts putting in place a new handle for when he jumps labels. I recall a mixtape where Wayne ends a verse by saying, "And no it's not a rumor, it's The ROC." Right around the time the Wayne signs with Jay-Z rumors were everywhere. Then I think he went to jail and it died down for awhile.
Hope Drake's got a ratchet under his coat, cuz somethin' tells me Baby would be just about as drastic as Suge if his golden goose were to try and fly away. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Doc,
Hold on...the record label OWNS his NAME? That can't be true...can it?
If it is...maybe he's not the Lil' Genius, you think he is...if he's not "educated" enough to read the fine print and loses HIS NAME. Sure, sure he can always change it, but with taste in music, especially hip hop being as fleeting as it is, how much revenue will he lose?
Now DMG, remember I said that's just idle speculation on my part. I was thinking back to when Prince changed his name due to a dispute with Warner and the fact that they legally owned the name Prince. (He sold 100 million records for them, and they had the audacity to come back and tell him he owed THEM money. Naturally, a thorough audit of their books proved the very opposite.) And I think the same could be said for Tupac and his 2Pac name. Death Row owned the rights to it; allegedly Pac was in the process of forming his own label, Amaru records, under the name Makaveli.
And we all know Baby's track record when it comes to artists. Wayne is literally the last CM member standing. Every other artist left citing unpaid monies owed. That says a lot.
These music contracts are a beast, DMG. There's an old music industry joke. An out of towner comes to visit his music industry friend. The two of them are walking down the street catching up on old times and suddenly they see two men talking on an overhead balcony. Suddenly, one of them grabs the other by his heels and threatens to drop him over the ledge. The out of towner is naturally shocked, but his friend doesn't bat an eye. So he asks him, "Hey, what's going on there?" And the music guy says, "Contract re-negotiations."
It's no mystery that I'm not a fan of Wayne. At all. Not because I hate...it's just my opinion he's a rather weak lyricist and worse MC. Again. MY opinion (so the rest of you save the yammering, I don't want to hear it).
That said I'm glad this isn't news but rather idle speculation. I would really hate to see someone lose their NAME to some shady business dealings...especially after putting in all that work.
Thanks for the clarification.
Oh, and as an addendum-- the whole "Young Money" as a sub label of Cash Money thing. All classic signs of an artist whose unhappy with his situation.
But I co-sign DV, labels are antiquated at this point. Artists make their money off side deals nowadays, promoting clothing lines, drinks, cars, etc. They hardly see a dime off record sales. The funny part is, now labels are doing something called a 360 deal. They saw how artists like Jay-Z, Fifty, Master P were using the music as stepping stones to branching out and making bigger money through other avenues, so now the new deal is, the label gets a cut of everything. Your music, commercials, vodka/clothing/what have you deals, everything. Mind, the labels aren't going to do anything to facilitate these deals, or help you find them, but once you do they feel entitled to a portion of the proceeds.
Most times the labels are too inept to even properly promote an artist's cd, meaning many don't sell nearly what they should, but when the artist goes out, ON HIS OWN, and arranges various side deals, the labels still want a piece of the action.
Ghah, "who's" unhappy. Typo. Dammit.
Actually, "labels" matter as a marketing tool. Death Row was a label that meant something, the same way Motown and Stax were labels that signified a certain sound and style.
But they are very badly run. The may not look it, because there's so much cash in the business, but there's a reason the music business is a corpse.
The idea of them getting into everyone else's business (touring, licensing, etc) when they couldn't even run their own competently is hilarious.
Why do they even exist? Because the artists are so stupid, so barely competent that they make the labels look smart.
DMG said...
"It's no mystery that I'm not a fan of Wayne."
lol
Average cats didn't get Picasso, Miles, Pollack or Basquiat either.
Come on D.
Don't play yourself.
You don't UNDERSTAND Wayne.
Don't try to play it off like you don't "like" Wayne.
lol.
That's like Leon Spinks talking about he "don't like" Thelonius Monk.
Yeah Doc.
360 Deal is everything.
"that dude said...
"Actually, "labels" matter as a marketing tool. Death Row was a label that meant something, the same way Motown and Stax were labels that signified a certain sound and style."
What up Dude?
Thing is man.
Death Row .... was 15 years ago.
Which had might as well been a Century ago in this Web 2.0 age.
Whole new ball game.
Artists stupid?
Whaaaa?
I don't know how you figure that.
Successful rap artists are the most successful marketers in the world.
What Jigga tell 'em?:
"Baby I'm a boss, I don't know what they do
I don't get dropped, I drop the label"
Cats reinvented the business model.
Think about it.
Master P.
Cash Money.
Drug dealers selling tapes out of the trunks of their cars.
Go on to own their masters and their publishing.
Stevie Wonder aint never do that.
Lionel Ritchie aint never do that.
Ivy League Negros aint never done that.
I'm telling you man ...
School is keeping Negros from being successful.
Oh, of course I don't "understand" Wayne.
Ask dem hoes, yea ask dem hoes,
Ask dem hoes about me, ask dem hoes,
Uh huh yea ask dem hoes,
Ask dem hoes about me
Ima beast, ask dem hoes
Ima dog, ask dem hoes
Ima beast, ask dem hoes
Ima dog, ask dem hoes
Bitch ima beast, ask dem hoes
Hoe ima dog, ask dem hoes
Bitch ima beast, ask dem hoes
Hoe ima dog, ask dem hoes
No. I don't understand that.
You act like you AREN'T average. As I've said before, you are as deep as sidewalk spittle in summer.
DMG, I gotta say i'm not the biggest fan of Lil Wayne, but I can't deny his talent. Dude has completely reinvented the concept of what rap is. His flow is so unorthodox, and has spawned legions of imitators.
He doesn't have much deeper substance (least, I don't think) to his lyrics, which is why I can't really get with dude sometime, but I think of him in much the same way I would an abstract artist. (And even he surprises me sometimes, like with that "Shoot Me Down" song, or the "Georgia Bush" track.) His rhyme style is free association; you can literally watch sometimes as something he says in the verse before kicks off another thought that informs the rhyme that follows. I'm not his biggest fan, but I can't deny the man the can rhyme.
Heh, but he's still a self-hating, ignant ass fool. (Heh, sorry DV.)
Doc,
I don't think he's anything more than average. Would you listen to his songs as poetry without music? He strings together nonsensical words and sentences and calls it hip hop. He's like the dude who spread elephant excrement on a canvas and called it the Virgin Mary...and "art". If that's art everything is art, and at the same time nothing is art.
He's chewing gum. The box is better than the toy inside. I really don't care to get into a discussion about Lil Wayne. Why waste time?
I do find it odd that our host, the man who is supposedly so meticulous about what type of food he puts into his body, listens to the equivalent of junk food. Strange indeed.
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