My horrible birthday weekend..

 

Jesus, where to start? Well I’m writing this two or three days late because this is the first time I’ve been out of bed in about 30 hours. My body has been beaten up over the last week both inside and out. I’m currently fighting off what seems to be a cold that refuses to get out of my system. Accompany that with the fact that I stepped on something (might have been glass?) that had my foot bleeding saturday night and can hardly walk and you can imagine that I’m a sight for sore eyes at the moment.

For those that don’t know, my birthday was September 14th.. and I don’t see how it could have went down more horrible than it did. Quite possibly the worst birthday I’ve ever had. I spent the entire weekend calling my friends and family, praying to God that they all survived hurricane Ike. I was born on Galveston Island, and 90% of the people I know on this earth live within 10-15 minutes of Galveston. Needless to say it was a pretty shakey time for me and my family, but everyone seemed to turn out okay.

A lot of people I know were directly affected by this disaster. For those of you who forgot my birthday, I don’t blame you.. but instead I’d ask you to simply donate $10, $5.. anything you can give to make sure these people can get the medical care they need and get a chance to rebuild their homes. If I could even get just $1 from every friend I have on Myspace, that’d be over $40,000 to assist Galveston in its relief. Thank you for your time and I hope that you can see it in your heart to give a small donation to help this effort.

To donate, go to my Myspace page at www.myspace.com/ejthemc. There’s a donation widget for Music For Relief on my page.

By the way, I spoke with my mother today (who lives 5-10 minutes away from Galveston) and she told me that not only can they not find gas anywhere in the area, but people from Galveston are literally camping out at gas stations, sleeping in their cars, because Galveston is still blocked off by emergency relief vehicles. They’re still without electricity, 4 days after the hurricane is over. These people need our help.

We All Reppin’ Fake 2 The Grave

This video has been circulating around the net of Akon backhanding a fan off a stage at one of his recent performances.

Most people watch that video and say “OMG!” and all that jazz over him slapping the woman. There’s another video that shows him helping her back on stage, though. So its clearly an accident. But I watched the video and thought something totally different. Which was.. how and the hell does this guy still pack a crowd after its been announced that he’s as fake as a three dollar bill?

Source: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0416081akon1.html

For that matter, how is Rick Ross still relevent after we all found out he’s just as fake?

In the 90s the world seemed a lot less forgiving, to me at least. Don’t we all remember Millie Vanilli and Vanilla Ice? Whats changed so much since then that we can suddenly accept being lied to by major artists and keep them in the spotlight? Now we got a hundred million rappers claiming they’re “keeping it real” .. but we still all jam fake people’s music? Sounds a bit hypocritical to me.

The other night Pizon and I were discussing how stories really make artists in the music industry shine more than their actual music ability. In order to be a good entertainer, you have to have the background to play the part. Eminem was a trailer trash kid who couldn’t fit in and had a drug dependant mother. Kanye was the producer who nobody would give a chance to so he put up his own money and with the little help of a near fatal car crash became an overnight celebrity (no pun intended). 50 Cent was the hustler who got shot nine times and bounced back. Its all these over-dramatic stories of the underdogs that America falls in love with more than the actual music nowadays. So why shouldn’t that work in the opposite? If your story is fabricated in order to make you look like an underdog.. you should very well be black balled for that. Am I wrong?

“TV went real, music went fake” – Joe Budden

My whole family’s on the grind

For those that have been living under a rock, The Fam album is soon to be finished. So close, in fact, that the creative process has come to an end. We’re done recording. This is a huge milestone for me, because Family Business is my first full length album. My official debut into the business. Oh, and by the way, if you don’t buy this album.. I’m never speaking to you again.

Last weekend was pretty hectic for me. Friday my lovely job informed me that they needed me to work Sunday. Saturday and Sunday were suppose to be our final mixing days for the album. Meaning I was suppose to drive out to Long Island to the engineer’s crib and go through all the songs to make final adjustments before it gets sent in to be professionally mastered. This is something I couldn’t skip, and delaying it would have meant the whole album process gets delayed. I couldn’t have that. I was determined to have my cake and eat it too.

Saturday morning I woke up early (thats like noon for me) and drove out to Long Island. Thats a decent 1 1/2 to 2 hour trip from my house. I didn’t realize until after I got there that one of the tracks for the album needed to be completely re-recorded. So that took a couple hours. After that and the drive, I was tired.. so I took an hour nap on the couch in the studio. I woke up and we went through the other songs, tweaking what needed to be done, then we burned all of the songs for the album on a CD and gave it the road test. When you’re mixing an album, its important to hear it from as many different types of places as possible (in a car, on studio speakers, in headphones, etc.) to get the best quality mixes. After the hour long ride around town in my car it was like 2 AM. I still had a song I wanted to record for my solo album, so we worked on that and got it out the way.

Its like 4 AM when I’m ready to leave the lab, but when I get out to my car my damn GPS is broke. GPS might not be important for most people, but I’m from Texas and don’t know my way around New York for shit. So I had Pi print me up directions from Mapquest. The only reason I mentioned this is.. can you imagine how ridiculous I looked trying to read directions AS I’M DRIVING in the dark? Swerving all over the place.

This album has taken us a year and a half to complete. Its been a Long Hard Road, to say the least. But as happy as I am to release my first major product, I’m even more pleased that I’ve had this opportunity. So to Pizon, Timid, Mr. Porter, Gary Botello, Xplosive Productions, Beatz on Deck, Brady, Domingo, Mister KA, Millz, Sermstyle, Jacob, Fedarro, Amanda, I-Dog, Bam and Aday.. thank you. Some of you were a pain in the fucking ass to work with, but it was all worth it in the end.

FAMILY BUSINESS IS COMING SOON!

Two nights in the most haunted room in America

I should probably start this one off by mentioning that I firmly believe in the paranormal. Ghosts, spirits.. whatever you’d prefer to call it. I’ve had enough close encounters in my life to make me a believer. However, as much as I like to go to a place and prove its haunted, I also believe that people overreact a lot of times and that most hauntings can be debunked. A lot of paranormal experts believe in orbs and all that jazz.. I’m not buying it. Even if all that is true (which it just looks like dust half the time to me), I wouldn’t even call that an encounter. But my philosophy on the paranormal isn’t what this post is about.

A couple months ago my fiancee approached me with the idea of a vacation. She works two jobs, I have my regular full time job and music on the side. So I agreed, after a year it was about time we took a break. We both are into the paranormal somewhat, so I asked if she’d be interested in staying somewhere haunted. The hunt began. I was very particular while we were searching the internet for a place to stay. If they advertised directly on their page, I immediately removed them from consideration. I wanted a genuine haunted hotel that wasn’t trying to sell you purely on the fact that its haunted. Then we hit the gold mine, the Logan Inn of New Hope, Pennsylvania.

The Logan Inn not only had a ton of reports of sightings and experiences from outside sources, but their main website didn’t make it seem like you were staying the night in a paranormal fun-house either. I was intreged, so I started researching the place. It was built in 1727. Just to give an idea of how old that is, George Washington wasn’t born yet. It had reports of all sorts, from a little girl spirit greeting guests in the parking lot to a soldier from colonial times who walks the second story balcony in full uniform. New Hope also had its own TV special, crowning it “the most haunted city in America.” Every article I read said that the Logan Inn was in fact the most haunted building in New Hope.. but there is no room in the Logan Inn as haunted as room six.

Meet Room Six.

On Aug. 14th and 15th we had that room. We stayed there three nights, but we had to switch rooms on the third night due to someone else booking the room before us. Before we get into what actually happened, I’d like to say that if you ever get the chance to visit New Hope, PA.. for your own sake, do it. I don’t see too many towns that still look like its the 1800s. All of New Hope’s buildings are how they originally were with no commercial franchise companies (well, I lie.. there was Starbucks, only one though). Where Logan Inn is sets you right in the middle of the strip of old stores, so we literally didn’t even use our car most of the three days. Just walked up and down the strip.

On the first night I distinctly remember Phoebe saying before bed, “I’m gonna go back home and nothing happened.” Watch what you wish for. She went to sleep around midnight or 1. I was up til 6AM. I usually don’t go to bed until 4-5AM on normal work days, so this isn’t unusual for me. I watched TV all night and didn’t turn it off until 6. I didn’t see any ghosts.

The next day Phoebe told me she was attacked by a ghost. She said that she woke up to the voice of a man saying something like “Is this what you want?” When she looked up, at the foot of the bed was a man with dark hair and a beard. She described it as an Abraham Lincoln beard and added that he was a pretty goofy looking guy, but very pissed off. Also she mentioned that there was different furniture in the room that wasn’t there previously. To be more specific, on an empty wall in-between two windows she saw an old dresser (probably from when he was staying there). She went on to tell me that he jumped at her and went through her, taking her breath away and rendering her unable to call out to me.

Now, I’m not the kinda guy to believe this stuff without some type of verification. Phoebe’s never lied to me before and I didn’t think she was now. She obviously believed that it happened to her, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure she wasn’t dreaming this. Stay with me, it gets better.

The second night I was determined to see something. So much that I left Phoebe downstairs in the bar, went up to the room, turned off all the lights, stood in complete darkness and tried to provoke the ghosts. Nothing.

Later that night, I was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, with the door cracked open enough that I could see Phoebe sleeping on the bed. I figured they were either scared of me or didn’t want to show themselves to me so if I kept an eye on her, she should be safe. From where I was sitting I could see her in the bed and the TV remote on my side, on the nightstand. I had the TV turned up so I could hear Jon Stewart. All of a sudden, it goes mute. For at least 60 seconds I sat there, didn’t make a sound, listening to complete silence. Then, as soon as I called out for Phoebe, the sound came back on. Weird.

On the third night, even though we weren’t in room six anymore, we decided to on New Hope’s Ghost Tour. The first thing the lady who ran the Ghost Tour did (after she took our money, of course) is ask us how we heard of it. We told her we were staying across the street at the Logan Inn and she asked if anything had happened. After Phoebe told her her story, she responded with “Ya know, the last woman that happened to left with bruises across her chest.” Okay, that verifies that. So I told her mine and she went into detail about how the TV has been known to shut off on people. Yep. Its probably also worth mentioning that Phoebe asked the lady who ran the Ghost Tour if it usually only happens to females (since I couldn’t get the ghosts to come out) and she said “I really never thought of it that way, but its true.. most reports are from women.”

I’m not saying her stories are or aren’t true. In fact, I won’t even repeat what she told us here because we all know what happens to a story when it gets told over and over. This is just what happened to us on our vacation in the most haunted room in America. Aside from all the spirits.. if you don’t want to see them but like history, you can choose one of the Logan Inn’s other rooms. We stayed in sixteen on the third night and nothing happened at all. Room six has the most activity. We enjoyed our stay and I’m sure we’ll be going back sometime in the future.

See, the indian likes it..

Souljah Boy vs. Ice-T

In case y’all haven’t been following Hip Hop’s Clash of the Generations…

Ice-T: “Souljah Boy single-handedly killed Hip Hop.”

Souljah Boy responds:

Kanye chimes in:
“Soulja boy is fresh ass hell and is actually the true meaning of what hip hop is sposed to be. He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song. He had all of America rapping this summer. If that ain’t Hip Hop then what is? A bunch of wannabe keep it real rappers that ain’t even relevant, recycling samples trying to act like it’s 96 again and all they do is hate on new shit? *****s always talk about the golden age but for a 13 year old kid, this is the golden age!!! That song was so dope cause everything he said had a hidden meaning… that’s Nas level shit… he just put it over some steel drums which is also some Nas shit if you had the 2nd album cassette with the bonus track “Silent Murder” on it. In closing… new *****s get ya money$$$$$$$$$$ Keep this shit fresh and original…. ain’t no fuckin’ rules to this shit and that’s what real hip hop is to me”

Ice-T apologizes:

Pizon’s thoughts:

Last night, I was talking to Timid about this before the show, and we agreed that Souljah Boy got the better of Ice (this was before he issued the apology). I’ve met Ice-T before, and he showed me love and gave me some positive career advice. He’s a legend in Hip Hop and I have nothing but respect for him. But he sounded like a bitter old man in that first clip, and was out of line for telling a 17 year-old boy to “eat a dick.” I agree with most of what Kanye said, although comparing Souljah Boy’s lyricism to Nas’ is almost as insulting as, well, being told to eat a dick. It’s not exactly hard to decipher the double meaning behind “Superman dat hoe” but at the same time it’s funny/sad that young girls across America were singing along, completely oblivious to what it meant. I don’t know if that’s a testament to Souljah Boy’s brilliance as much as it is America’s stupidity, however the point stands that the kid hustled his way into the game and should be commended for that. The reason Souljah Boy won with his response (sophomoric gripes aside) was that he 1) didn’t try to rap, and 2) challenged Ice to stop complaining about Hip Hop and do something positive with his time. There’s really not much of a better defense than “so give me some pointers” when being told by an elder that you suck. At least the kid has perspective.

Now, Ice’s “apology” video changed the dynamic of the situation. Having his 16 year-old son repeat the eat a dick line at the end renders the apology itself useless, but the rest of what he said is hard to dispute. As a true artist, and someone who holds the artform of Hip Hop so close to my heart, how could I NOT fight the battle of trying to bring lyrics back into prominence? Every time I write a verse, I’m fighting that battle. I think that’s the underlying point here. It’s easy to sit back and say “XYZ killed Hip Hop” but what good does that do? Shouldn’t we focus our energy on “saving” it by doing positive things instead? When so-called activists march in front of record labels complaining that they’re only putting out “negative” artists, they aren’t helping matters any. Why not march in favor of a good artist? March for me. And someone should sit down with Souljah Boy and teach him how to write a rhyme. He may be garbage, but he wants to learn how to do better. That’s more than we can say for most people.

Would you like fries with that?

When did music become so much like the fast food industry? I mean, I remember the days when you’d wait a year or two for your favorite artist to drop an album and you’d run to the CD store to pick it up because it didn’t happen every week. Now if that same artist doesn’t drop two mixtapes in the same year as that album, you’ll say he’s fell off. Whats wrong with that thought is.. since he’s gotta drop three CDs in a year now, its ruining the integrity of his big album. Not only is it not so special anymore, but that artist is rushing through products due to the demand being so high. A lot of this the mixtape DJs should take credit for. Great thing you’ve came up with. Not only is it forcing the big artists back against the wall and assuring us that we’ll have very few truly inspiring albums to choose from on the record shelf, but now your giving birth to every idiot who can afford a $10 radioshack microphone and can’t afford beats for his album to consider himself an MC. Pat yourself on the back.

The mixtape DJs aren’t the only ones to blame though. Hip Hop producers are especially ignorant. Leasing beats? Are you serious? I get the concept, but this is just ridiculous. Hopefully they’ll wait until after I’m dead to just start putting beats on the shelves at Blockbuster. Honestly, this is hurting everybody in the game. Yes, producers.. whether your ignorant ass can see it or not.. this is hurting you too.

Before I get further into this discussion, for those of you who aren’t in the game, now instead of selling beats straight up to an artist for one amount of money (as producers did in the old days.. and REAL producers still tend to only have this one option) now producers are basically renting (leasing) the beats out to artists for a much smaller amount of money.

Lets say for instance I lease a beat from a fellow named Jackass Producer for $25. Nevermind that I could buy exclusive rights to a beat from Domingo (a respectable individual who has produced beats for Eminem, 50 Cent, etc.) for $50.. instead I was off the reservation that day and decided to rent Jackass Producer’s beat for $25. I want to lease it simply because I don’t know if the song is going to turn out to be a success or not. Thats not my line, producers have actually told me thats why they lease beats. Anyway, so I make a single for my album with that leased beat. I push it to the radio for a year or two (because thats how long it could take to push a real single without a major record deal.. for you ignorant producers who don’t know shit off of soundclick) and I FINALLY get the record in regular rotation on the radio. What are the odds that I can go back to Jackass Producer at this point and buy the exclusive rights to that beat? What are the chances, after a year or two, that he hasn’t sold the rights to that beat to someone else by then? The problem is, the MC he sold the exclusives to don’t want to sell them.. and he won’t make a hit record with it. So at this point I’d have to take my single back OFF the radio because my lease only covers up to 5000 copies of my album being sold (by the way.. what the fuck is that about? I shouldn’t lease your beat unless I plan for my project to fail?!). At this point Jackass Producer earned his name, because by leasing out beats he just fucked himself out of ever messing with major label artists due to the exposure my single could have gotten him. Good job, Jackass.

While we’re discussing producers, who’s coming up with these prices? Do y’all just write a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper between $100 and $100,000 and throw a dart? Why are cats who haven’t done anything trying to charge me $2,500 for exclusive rights to one beat? At that rate you’d have to take a mortgage out on your house to finish a fucking album.. and for what? To have some fairly nice beats on it by a producer who hasn’t done anything? If you don’t have some credentials, you have no business charging more than $250.. and thats only if the beat is a GUARANTEED hit record. If your not making enough money to live off of.. here’s a concept.. instead of trying to rape MCs by charging ridiculous prices.. how about you.. MAKE MORE BEATS.

It may be bullshit, but we can fix it.

As you may be aware, the homie EJ recently wrote a blog called “The New York Hip-Hop Scene Is Bullshit” in which he had some pretty harsh things to say. Obviously frustrated by a lack of fanfare in the birthplace of Hip Hop, he went as far as wishing that those who didn’t come out to shows would get ran over repeatedly by a bus, bitches (his words). Now, I understand you’re just trying to rile people up, E… but I won’t wish that on people. Not a bus. Maybe a two-door Coupe de Ville. But not a bus.

In all seriousness, I understand where he’s coming from. We’ve had conversations about this. The first step to fixing a problem is to acknowledge that it exists, and I think we can all pretty much agree that NYC Hip Hop is on life support (other regions as well, but New York is the mecca). Yes, the fans’ refusal to come to shows has a lot to do with it. This relates to the “chicken-and-the-egg” argument about buying music and serves as a microcosm of the entire music industry. Consumers say they no longer support artists since their output isn’t good enough. Unfortunately, even the good artists are affected by this trend: They stop putting their all into the music since people aren’t going to support it anyway. In the end, no one wins. I often hear, “CD sales may be down, but at least artists can still make money off shows.” When people stop coming to shows, it’s easy to see why we’d be tempted to put the mic down and get behind that wheel. Don’t do it, E. Not just yet anyway.

IF YOU’RE A FAN…

Here’s my plead to the fans: Support the artists you like.

As much as we like to hear how much you love us, that doesn’t pay our bills. You may look at it as a selfish thing on our behalf, but it really isn’t. More than anything else, we want to do our part to entertain you and improve the state of music. Unfortunately, we can’t do that without tangible support. I’m always hearing things like, “I wish more people like you would make it to the mainstream.” Don’t wish. Do something about it! You know that business is all about the bottom line. Record companies (ie, the corporations with the real money and influence to impact change directly) are only concerned with numbers. By purchasing my album, you’re not just putting money in my pocket so that I can continue to make music, you’re also showing the industry that there’s a demand for good Hip Hop music — every sale gets scanned and tallied.
I realize I’m largely preaching to the choir since many of you reading this have already bought my album, but if you haven’t: What the hell are you waiting for? And it isn’t just mine you should be buying. It’s any artist you like and want to see succeed.

More than that, come to the shows. Some people are going to claim that they don’t have money for a CD (lame as that may be), but everyone goes out sometimes. Let’s stop with the excuses. If an artist you like is doing a show in your area, go. I’m tired of people telling me they’re my “number one fan” yet I have not once seen their face at a show. Conversely, there’s a dude from Baltimore named Brian (what up, Truplaya?!) who has traveled to see me perform in THREE states — NY, PA, and MD — joined the street team, purchased every project I’ve released since day one, and not once claimed to be my “number one fan.” Don’t tell me you love me. Show me.

The power to turn this around is in YOUR hands. I think people are short-sighted and don’t understand how their contribution makes a difference to the big picture. Barack Obama just became the first African-American to be nominated for President by a major party. He beat the machine because people believed that every vote counted. Which leads me to my next point…

IF YOU’RE AN ARTIST…

Artists, don’t half-ass it.

Senator Obama was only able to beat the machine because he convinced people that he could. I’m not going to try to convince you that you aren’t the next great hope, but give people reason to be excited. There’s a reason fans aren’t buying music and coming to shows anymore. Yes, it’s easy to get discouraged, but it’s our job to turn up the heat. Use the recession as inspiration. This game is ripe for the picking.

Now, beyond those vague pointers, there are fundamental things you keep doing wrong. First of all, stop empowering these wack “promoters” by paying them money to perform (this includes audition fees, having to sell tickets to your friends, and any other scam they can cook up). Have some respect for yourself. You’re the artist. Your job is to entertain. The promoter’s job is to promote. Sounds crazy, right? I’m not saying you’ll cake off every show, and you should absolutely promote yourself, but don’t be conned into doing someone else’s job for him. The reason I stress this is because this has much to do with the Hip Hop scene going to shit. I’ve not once paid anybody to get on stage. It’s always been the other way around. And if you’re thinking, “Yeah, but Pi, you’re signed to a label that was a subsidiary of Universal with gold and platinum albums, you’ve been on MTV, you’re a star,” consider this. Back in 2004, when my biggest claim to fame was producing some songs that got played on the radio in the Bahamas, I was getting paid $500 to do college shows. Don’t believe me? Here’s a paystub:

If the thought of anyone paying you money to do your thing on stage seems weird, step your game up. If you aren’t able to perform your songs live (adlibbing over your recorded tracks like a fool doesn’t count), you aren’t ready to take the stage. If you don’t have original production, you aren’t ready to take the stage. No one wants to see you do karaoke. If you don’t know how to engage a crowd and give them their money’s worth, elevate your craft. My first show was in January 2002. I recorded my first song in 1999. I waited three years before I got on stage because I wanted to be ready, and there’s nothing wrong with that. When I did think it was time to get on stage, I flew myself to Tallahassee to perform with people more experienced than me in front of a Hip Hop crowd who could give me some real feedback. Why? Because I cared about what I did. Granted, I was a little tentative my first time and didn’t have much showmanship, but I held it down. Running drills won’t get you the same experience as spending time on the court, but that doesn’t mean you should skip training and start as a pro. The difference between me and many artists is that they haven’t been doing it three years and already think they’re entitled to be a star. Pay your dues.

If artists took their craft more seriously, the fans would come back. Quite honestly, if more artists realized what was expected of them to be an artist, many of them would go back to being fans themselves. This is a full time job. How are you gonna treat it like a side hustle and expect people to spend their hard-earned money on it? Even when I get on stage in front of a crowd full of haters who wished they were in my position, they grudgingly show love because I’m well trained in the art of moving the crowd. There is not one group of people on the planet who I can’t get to shout “I’m getting head from my homegirls” back at me, and I take pride in that.

For real, son. I could do a show at the Vatican and get that response.

So, the solution is two-fold. One, fans need to support the artists they like (buy my album, bitches), and two, artists need to stop being douchebags and try harder. There’s no reason to keep your arms folded and front like you should be in my shoes. You shouldn’t. Or else you would be. I worked hard to get where I’m at, and I’m still working harder than you now. Embrace that fact and leave this alone, or step it up and provide that healthy competition that kept us all hungry in the good ole days. Then we’ll start seeing more fans at shows with their hands up, rushing to the merchandise table between acts.

Let’s make Hip Hop fun for everyone again.

Peace,
Pizon

The New York Hip Hop Scene Is Bullshit

Although that subject line was simply made to grab your attention (and obviously worked) its also a very honest description of how the scene is in New York at the moment. Not JUST in New York, as it was the same in Texas before I left. However, New York is the birth place of Hip Hop. Its not suppose to be the same here as anywhere else, or as it is now.. less than anywhere else. New York is suppose to set the example for the rest of the world. Instead, it may be the worst place to be a Hip Hop performer at the moment.

Why? Well, there are quite a few reasons why. I’m going to list a few and simply get them off my chest. The fact that half of you will only read the top paragraph of this post and another 25 percent won’t even open it is a good place to start though.

The Crowd

Am I the only one asking where all the fans went? I mean, either I’m at a showcase event and I got a crowd of 30 fake thugs wearing bright (translation: gay as hell) colors on with their arms crossed because they’re simply waiting for their chance to perform.. or I’m doing a real show and only ten percent (and thats being VERY generous) of the people who said they would come do come. For you other MCs, don’t say stupid shit like “its because your wack” .. I’ve seen half of your shows and its the same shit. Pack FM doesn’t even draw a crowd anymore, so he doesn’t do shows in NY.

I don’t mind that its just a group of rappers staring at me who didn’t practice their sets nearly as long as I did.. its not their fault. But don’t be fucking staring at me like I got the world’s largest pimple on my face. If I ask you to put your hands up, do it. If there’s some call and response shit, respond. Act like you’ve been to a Hip Hop show before and show some respect to somebody else doing their thing. When I come off stage, shake my hand.. criticize me. Why? Because I’ll do the same thing for you when you come off stage. I don’t mind getting in front of the stage and acting a fool just to show another artist some love. I still remember the days when I was a FAN of this music BEFORE I was a rapper.

Don’t think the rappers are the only ones to blame though. The fans that like to say they’re coming and never come out.. go fuck yourself. I hope you spend the time you were suppose to be at my show getting ran over repeatedly by a bus, bitches. Yeah, I’m harsh. Why? Because your bullshit. As far as those girls who like to say “I’m not no groupie” I’d like to send a special “suck my dick” out to you. No, your not a groupie. Groupies are real fans who will actually buy merchandise. Groupies will actually come to shows. They get more love than fake fans.

Bullshit Promoters

I’ve discussed this before, so I’m just going to slide through it and say I hate promoters who try and make you buy tickets to sell or audition.. or pay to perform. I’m not doing any of the three. I won’t audition because that means you haven’t checked my credentials. Meaning anyone can audition and simply be judged on their performance, not by stature in the Hip Hop game. I understand that its an audition and that the best performance should win, but at the same time your trying to book the best event possible. So if Johnny No-Name comes along and puts on a slightly better live show than Jay-Z, your gonna book him instead? I’m not buying tickets because packing the crowd would be a promoters job. Your wack. Go kill yourself.

Over-saturated

If your just doing this as a hobby, quit. There’s no shame in saying that you didn’t make it as a profession. Hold your chin up and walk away with dignity. If your not a good promoter, your not going to make it as an MC. If you don’t have a budget, your probably not going to make it as an MC. If you schedule shows and cancel them constantly, your not only fucking over promoters, your fans and making a bad name for yourself.. your not going to make it as an MC. There are too many people who want to be called rappers, but who don’t want to put in the effort or the money. The reality of the situation is, your gonna put in more money than you get back for a long time. Your gonna put in a lot of effort and bullshit fans aren’t going to come to your show.. and your gonna feel like giving up. Either deal with it or please quit and get the fuck out of my way.

This is what sets apart RAPPERS from MCs. A rapper will put on his favorite bright (translation: supreme faggotry) outfit and go up there every week on stage in front of his crowd of 5 dudes he knows from the hood, do his best Biggie or Tupac impression and act like he’s the star of the show. An MC is gonna notice there’s something wrong with that and call you out.

A Proper Introduction

With this being my first post, I guess this would be a good time to introduce myself to those of you who don’t know who I am or have never heard of me. So allow me to lift up that rock you’ve been under for a second and grasp your attention.

I’m on the right, Pizon’s on the left.

I’m EJ. One third of the international Hip Hop supergroup The Fam, along with my partners Timid and Rawkus Records recording artist Pizon. I’ve been making Hip Hop music for the better part of a decade. Most of that time has been spent studying and learning the different styles of writing and recording music. Yes, for most of us who truly have a passion for this art form it isn’t simply a fast food market (I’ll get more into that on another post). For more on me, visit www.myspace.com/ejthemc

The sole purpose of this blog is to accomplish two things. One is to act as my personal autobiography and record the events and adventures this career path has taken me on (or will take me on). The other is so that I can vent and express my opinions on said career path. I hope you enjoy what you find here.. and if you don’t, I hope you decide to leave your frustration on a comment. Haters welcome.