Solo Releases Nowadays Not Living Up To The Name

[Blutarski]

Is it just me or does it seem like everytime a solo album comes out from someone there is about a million people featured on it? Take the B.A. album - Block Report. He only has 2 tracks on there that doesn't have anyone featured on it. On top of that he has some old material. Then there are albums like the Jacka who has a shit load of people on it too.

On the opposite side First Degree only Brotha Lynch talking on a couple of tracks.

To me a good solo album is one that doesn't need a shit load of featured artists on it to make it good. It's all good if there is an artist or two featured on it, but when you get to the point that there is multiple people featured on almost every single track then why even call it a solo album? It's more like a compilation that has a specific artist on every track.

I don't know if it's just me or not, but I think that it show a poor confidence in yourself as an artist. It's coo to have someone featured on say 5 out of 15 tracks on an album, but when it gets to the point that 14 out of 15 tracks have multiple features it really shows the lack of confidence an artist has for his music. To me it shows that he is relying on other artists to sell his product.

I want to get some of your opinions on it please, know how others feel about so called solo releases.

Late!

 

[Croccefixio]

when artist in tha bay are 2 a point in their career where they got hella homies that rap its almost mando 2 put em on 2 show luv or cuz they put them on before. Almost all tha rapperz in tha bay are coo folx so they just drop shit 2gether. aint nuthin like tha bay! holla

-Cross

 

[imported_MASTERED_TRAX]

SOMETIMES ITS HARD TO DO A SOLO WHEN ALL YOUR HOMIES RAP, AND LETS SAY YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE GOOD CONNECTION WITH A FEW KNOWN RAPPERS, ITS HARD TO KNOCC OUT AN ALBUM AND NOT HAVE FEATURES, JUST CUZZ IF YA HOMIE WANT ON THE TRACC, AND HE GOT FLOW, ITS HARD TO SAY NO!!!! ALSO, ALOT OF "EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS" DONT HAVE FAITH IN THEIR ARTIST SO THEY FILL IN SONGS WITH KNOWN FEATURES TO HOPEFULLY GET MORE ATTENTION TO THE ARTIST HE IS DROPPING..... THEIR IS MORE TO IT THAT YOU WOULD ONLY KNOW ABOUT IF YOU ACTUALLY DROPPED AN ALBUM..... AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NOT THE ONE PUTTIN MONEY BEHIND IT... ALOT OF TIMES THE ARTIST HAS VERY LITTLE IF ANY INPUT AT ALL ON HOW THE ALBUM GETS DROPPED.... ITS NOT LIKE ALL RAPPERS HAVE A STUDIO WHERE THEY RECORD FOR FREE, AND JUST FILL THEY ALBUM UP WITH PEOPLE FOR FREE..... EVERYTHING COST MONEY OR SOMETHIN IN THIS GAME... AND IF YOU GET SOMEONE OR SOMETHING FOR FREE, YOUR GONNA USE IT..... SUCH AS A FEATURE...

SO TO SAY A ARTIST DONT HAVE CONFADENCE OR WHATEVER IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH IN MOST CASES.... CUZZ LIKE I SAID, THE ARTIST DONT ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE ON WHAT GOES ON THE ALBUM.... MY FOLX BLAC DID LIKE 30 SONGS, AND THE PERSON DROPPIN HIS ALBUM CHOSE LIKE 17 SONGS THAT HE WANTED... BLAC HAD NO CHOICE ON ANY OF THAT..... I MEAN IF YOU INVESTING YOUR MONEY IN SOMETHING OR SOMEONE... YOUR GONNA DO YOUR BEST TO MAKE SURE IT DOES WELL..... ALSO, ALOT OF DISTRIBUTORS THESE DAYS ARE LOOKING AT FEATURES ON ALBUMS, AND IF THEIR IS NOBODY THEY KNOW ON THE ALBUM, ITS ONE STRIKE AGAINST YOU.... AND SOMETIMES THEIR ARE SOME DISTRIBUTORS THAT WONT TOUCH IT UNLESS YOU GOT A COUPLE TIGHT ARTIST ON YOUR SHIT..... SO LIKE I SAID THEIR IS SO MUCH MORE TO IT.... YOU GOTTA GO THROUGH IT AND EXPERIENCE IT BEFORE YOU CAN REALLY UNDERSTAND HOW AN ALBUM GETS DONE...

BUT I KNOW WHAT YOU SAYIN... CATS ARE FLOODING THEIR SOLO'S WITH ALOT OF PEOPLE.... BUT LIKE I SAID, WE DONT KNOW WHY, SO I CANT JUDGE... BUT I DONT CARE IF SOMEONE CAN HOLD AN ALBUM DOWN AND HOW MANY FEATURES THEY HAVE... AS LONG AS THE TRAX BANG AND THE RAPPERS COME TIGHT AND THE ALBUM LOOKS AND SOUNDS CLEAN... THATS ALL I NEED...

 

[MrFreeze]

features are what make people who havent heard of you check out your album. the only problem is if you have a shit load of features and not alot of solo tracks it makes your shit look like a compitlation so i agree with you on that. i say if you have a 15 track album its cool to get features on like 8 tracks-give or take a track.

 

[Amaretto]

i think solo albums should be str8 solo, maybe with 2-3 features. if a rapper is gonna have features on every track it's more of a compilation, in my opinion.

 

[Blutarski]

Yeah I feel all your arguements. I know that features are needed a lot of the time to attract people to an album, but in some cases they go way beyond having a feature or two. There are some albums out there that are just full of features and some more than one artist featured on a track. I know that artists have confidence in themselves, but it just seems like they don't when they have so many people on their album.

Like if you were going to start a new tv show you might have a big name star on the first episode of the show, but you wouldn't flood a show with tons of big name actors or else you would run the risk that people would watch the show just for the big stars.

The same goes for a solo album. If people see lots of big name guys featured they'll pick it up, but if there is too many they pick it up and talk more about the featured artists than the actual artist who put it out. I think as good as features are to help out in getting your name out there they also can hurt you if you overdo it.

Just my $0.02. Thanx for the replies folks.

Late!