Cozmo D

Welcome back Sweet! :jus4coz:

Congrats man! :jus4coz:

:word:

Yeah, we've definitely returned to the singles dominated days of the '70s and 80s, this is true. However, there are reasons that both Rap and RnB have been hit the hardest.

The numbers don't lie son.

EXACTLY!!! :wiggle: BTW, don't worry about getting "signed", what you should be pursuing is a singles deal. :thumbsup:

RnB and Rap are handled by the same departments at the majors, and thus are churning out the same bland, redundant crap! Only 2 things can happen from this, both of them good. 1} The majors will wake-up to the fact that now people have almost unlimited choices of where and how to hear and get their music, and that they are choosing to pay only for music they really like. This will force them to start rejecting the formulas and instead move towards talented artists with unique and original material. 2} The majors will jettison the genres all together, and Rap and RnB will return to independent labels and artists. Frankly, I think that without serious restructuring in their business models the majors are doomed in the music industry anyway. Their parent conglomerates won't tolerate the losses much longer.

I agree with everything except the part about the labels doing the leaking. They would NEVER do that, it's like cutting their own throats! Believe me, there are Music Industry Anarchists EVERYWHERE! You'd be surprised at how many of us there are who remember well the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, and who long to bring about a renaissance! :pony:

My friend, the correction is well underway! OUR day is coming! Keep those skills sharp now! :1-say-yes:

Albums sales plunged in 2006, but digital downloads soared Hip-hop decline is just a bad rap R&B sales slide alarms music biz :wiggle:

Thank you! :shakehead:

I'm watching it to represent for Serch. Turns out I know John Brown and those Ghetto Revival cats (their leader, Dred Scott, lives across the street from me). I like Dred, and he's got OK skills as a producer, but damm they suck on the mic. I did them a favor once and engineered a track for them in my studio, they couldn't PAY me to do that crap again. He was bragging to me about his boy being on that show, and how it was gonna blow their clique up. Looks like they're being made into a joke instead. Embarrassing! :paperbag:

Nice new forum design Tim! Keeping up with the Joneses? :4-only1ha: Yeah, I prefer the Mocha myself as well. My eyes are getting too old for all that darkness... :biggrin:

why bother arguing with comments that are as thoughtful as a 12 year olds ramblings on myspace.. :sleep2: Please explain that, guys. I wanna know what you mean by that. Please explain the difference between Rap and Hip Hop to me. I don't get the point. It's all the same to me. A beat and a rhyme. And I'm listening to both old stuff and new stuff and I like both. Rap is a genre of music. Anybody can do a Rap record. Adam Ant made a Rap record. Mel Brooks made Rap records. Richard Little and Rodney Dangerfield did Rap records. Hip-Hop is a culture. Hip-Hop Music is the music of that culture, and not all of it is Rap, and not all of Rap is Hip-Hop. For one thing, some essential ingredients of Hip-Hop Music has always been originality, creativity, and authenticity. It has always been an extreme violation of Hip-Hop culture to "bite" somebody else's "style". In the Rap Industry biting the style of others is the rule rather than a violation. When Hip-Hop ruled Rap no two groups sounded alike, now they almost all sound the same. That is NOT Hip-Hop. The bottom line is, if a Rap artist is not true to Hip-Hop culture then he is NOT Hip-Hop! If his records are not rooted in Hip-Hop culture then they are NOT Hip-Hop either! When Bob Marley made "I Shot The Sheriff" it was Reggae. When Eric Clapton remade "I Shot The Sheriff" it was NOT considered Reggae even though he used the same rhythm, because he was NOT rooted in the culture.

WHAT? NO NEWCLEUS??? :arg:

I think the main problem in this argument may be that many of you don't realize that there is a huge difference between Rap and Hip-Hop. Rap is a genre like Pop, while Hip-Hop is a culture. Perhaps it's for the better anyway, enjoy watching your Rap world devour itself. :shrug:

all i can say is that this is everyone has an opinion but he still is better than 90% rappers out today and ludacris is also highly skilled but forever slept on , and albums aren't sold on word play but good songs Albums are sold on MARKETING! marketing and word play are not exclusive and two different things Don't get your point. :sipread: You said that "albums aren't sold on word play but good songs". I am saying that YOU ARE WRONG, albums are NOT sold on EITHER! MARKETING is what sells albums today!

Agreed... but we weren't talking about putting out good music... or being a musician... or putting out records... WE WERE TALKING ABOUT HIP-HOP! :shakehead:

Then you are judging him as a recording artist, but NOT as an MC. It's similar to judging a singer. Just because you put out great song after great song doesn't mean you are a great singer, just that you are a great recording artist.

all i can say is that this is everyone has an opinion but he still is better than 90% rappers out today and ludacris is also highly skilled but forever slept on , and albums aren't sold on word play but good songs Albums are sold on MARKETING!

I REST MY CASE ! ! ! ! ! :shakehead: :shakehead: :shakehead: :shakehead: :shakehead:

Nothin' wrong with any of that. But we're not talking about music in general, or R&B, or entertainment, or the industry, we're talking about Hip-Hop. When you talk about "The Industry" I can get to your point, because I have made my living in "The Industry" for 23 years. From that view point I have no problem whatsoever with getting one of my artists some help or a ghostwriter if they're weak or lack skills. The object in "The Industry" is making hits, and selling little round pieces of plastic and binary files of information. When it comes down to that viewpoint I will do what it takes to achieve this to the best of my ability, including getting my rapper help with his weaknesses. This may even include getting some chicks to shake their booty in the video, and at other points in my life, going along with violent and misogynistic content. Just ask Tim, when it comes to "The Industry" there is no shame in my game, or anyone else's for that matter. This is precisely why I have become a Music Industry Anarchist, because "The Industry" is destroying music in it's pursuit of the almighty dollar. What we have been talking about is Hip-Hop, which is about a MUCH higher standard than "The Industry". No, that is completely different. These guys are musicians, and musicians have always commonly brought in other musicians on their songs and projects. Apples and oranges.

Could be, but I bet the first person he played it for said to him "yo, you sound like Rakim on that joint". :3-laugh3:

Seriously man, you're way off. They DO have similar cadences but that's where it ends. Their phrasings and inflections are completely different... except for "Summertime".

Well said!