( DISCLAIMER: Some names have been changed and/or ommitted as to not clown )

I am speaking from the perspective of someone who takes this "music game"  seriously, an overnite success dont usually happen overnite.. takes years and years of dedication and hard work.....if your new to the game we all gotta start some place, got to pay them dues, when ya get to that point , what Im sayen will then make since & apply to you.. right now I’m speaking to my folks that work hard...

Before I start, let me say that my views, my opinions are strictly mine.. I don’t speak to try and change anyone’s mind, I speak only in the hopes of opening a mind. I have never been the type to accept a situation when it’s wrong. Has it/ Will it turn out a hata? Probably… Will it stop me? Hardly…


I’d say I am an artist advocate. I’m so passionate about this music and what we have to go through as (serious artists) that I forever have your backs. What I wouldn’t do myself I would never ever accept or expect another person to go for.

Which brings me to “The game these days being for the birds”.. One aspect of the game of course, performing. If done right, one could make a good living off purely performing. On the flipside, If you’re an artist and your paying to perform, you doing things backwards.

I’ve spoken on this subject before and my sheer ditestment to it. But I was recently hit up to do this tour that’s been going on. It’s a line up of the top Hispanic artists’ out right now. It’s not a car show. Just a straight concert. You know which. Not to many all Hispanic tours out there. (It is not the Lowrider Magazine Tours! They treat the artists great! Respect to them)

Any how, the booking manager hit me askin if i wanted to get on the line up... SOUNDED COOL ... TILL THEY HIT ME W/... “BUT WE ARE SELLING 10 MIN SPOTS!"....



SAY WHAT? I ASK...
WELL SINCE ITS A TOUR...THEN LET ME ASK YA THIS....
"HOW MANY SPOTS DO I GOTTA GET? CAN I BREAK THAT 10 MINUTES UP AND HIT THE TOUR TWICE? DO ONE JOINT @ EACH STOP? OR HOW BOUT I CHOOSE MY HOMETOWN, SO I CAN PAY A COUPLE RACKS TO PERFORM FOR MY FAMILY.. NAH NAH, TO HELL W/ IT.., I'LL PUT IT ALL ON ONE CITY AND HOPE THAT TOUR STOP CRACKS!!!!"


HMMM...

"... WHATS THE COST? TO PLAY THA BOSS?? FOR 10 MINUTES??"
" …. UPWARDS TO A FEW G'S...FOR A 10 MIN SPOT!.."


(((( believe me when I say it, they are hardly the only ones operating like this..... every other promoter is working the same way)))))




REALLY THO....

Since the birth of hip hop up until a few years ago with the birth of companies such as “S. Healy Presents” It was the promoters job to put on the illest events and have them packed out, which is how they made there money. They would accomplish all this by having the Hottest Talent on the bill, which is what Got The Tickets Sold! It was never the artists job to be running around slangin tickets for the promoter?.. (side bar: “I mean shit… I already gotta write the songs, buy the beats, pay to record the songs, perform the songs, on top of that you asking that we hit the streets and sell your tickets?! They are trippen)

Some genius along the way got the idea that you can reverse the process, and make money off the sheer unbreakable desire these artist’s have to succeed.

ITS HALF FUNNY HALF LAZY...CHARGE THE ACTS INORDER TO PAY THE HEADLINER.. QUESTION TO THE WISE.. "IF A "PROMOTER" CANT AFFORD TO PAY THE HEADLINER B4 THEY BOOK THEM, THEN WHY ARE YOU PUTTING ON A SHOW".....

TO MAKE MONEY.

RUSSELL SIMMONS STARTED OUT AS A STRAIGHT PROMOTER...(READ HIS BOOKS) HUSTLED EVERY DAY TO MAKE SURE HIS EVENTS WERE PACKED OUT... AND DID IT W/ OUT CHARGING THE ACTS... HE ACTUALLY PAID THEM... AND THATS WHY WE KNOW WHO RUSSELL IS TODAY..


BUT CATS IS CONDITIONED THESE DAYS TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE...

I WILL NEVER AS LONG AS IM IN IT, GIVE AYONE MY MONEY TO DO SOMETHING I COULD DO FOR MYSELF, INORDER FOR A SPOT TO PERFORM... THIS IS SO BACKWARDS, DEFEATS THE PURPOSE, I WANNA GET ON CAUSE IM HARD, CAUSE IM ONE OF THE BEST.. NOT CAUSE I PAYED..

SOME CATS GO FOR IT... I UNDERSTAND WHY TODAY WE WANT SO BAD TO “MAKE IT”… BUT THAT’S NOT THE WAY TO DO IT… WE INSTEAD GOTTA RE DEFINE WHAT "MAKING IT" IS...
(IM NO JACKSON, BUT I'VE BEEN ABLE TO GENERATE A PROPER DOE FLOW FOR MYSELF & FAMILY OFF OF MUSIC, ITS TAKEN YEARS OF HARD WORK, BUT NOW IM GOOD & TO ME THATS MAKING IT.....)


BASICALLY

I TAKE THE WHOLE "GIVE YOU MY MONEY" IDEA AS AN OFFENSE.. ITS LIKE.. "WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME? DO I LOOK LIKE I'D BE DOWN W/ SOME DUMB SHIT?.."

"EXPOSURE"....I GUESS... BUT SHIT THESE DAYS AINT ALL BOUT PERFORMING AND BEING "DISCOVERED"... ITS ABOUT YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND HAVE NOTHING ELSE ON YOUR MIND EXCEPT SUCCEEDING.. AND WHEN YOU RUN YOUR OWN BUSINESS... (YOU THE ARTISTS) WILL BE PAYING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, PAYING TO PRESS UP PROJECTS, PAYING FOR BEATS... YOU WILL NEVER EVER CONSIDER GIVING SOMEONE YOUR MONEY TO PERFORM....

THE GOAL, INSTEAD, IS TO INVEST THE MONEY INTO YOUR SELF, WORK ON YOUR CRAFT AND PUT OUT GREAT WORK THEN FOLKS WILL WANT TO SEE YOU PERFORM..

THERES A WAY FOR EVERYONE OUT THERE TO GET PAID, PROMOTERS, ARTISTS... W/ OUT HAVING TO TAKE.. USED TO BE JUST ABOUT THE MUSIC.. SOME WHERE ALONG THE WAY IT BECAME ABOUT THE MONEY...

WHEN YOU SEE ME PERFORMING, WHEN YOU SEE ME ON A FLYER... WHEN I DO A FEATURE... BETTA BELIEVE I WORKED HARD TO GET THERE...I AINT BUY MY WAY IN, THE HOMIE DIDNT HOOK IT UP, NAH IT AINT NO FLUKE, ITS HARD WORK, DEDICATION AND PAID DUES.

PEACE