so i started thinking about this yesterday when i heard rappin 4tay "playaz club" on the radio... everyone keeps saying "the bay is back, the bay is back" - but in my mind, this seems like the first time the bay really has potential to blow on it's own...
let me start it off by saying i don't think the bay is back YET. we're doing great regionally, but in terms of national/world-wide attention and sales, there is still a LONG way to go. not to knock what anyone is doing, we all know they're doing their thing... but the reality of the situation is hyphy hasn't reached the mass-hysteria point that crunk did a couple years back (not saying that's what i want to happen either... please believe!).
but in comparisson to the last bay run on the national charts - in the mid-90s - this movement seems like it's actually FOCUSED on the bay, and i think it's the first time that has happened... think about '95 - the "i got 5 on it" era... those songs didn't have anything to do with the bay. even the bay all-stars remix, which we hear all the time out here, never did anything nationally... no one cared about bay artists on a national level - they just liked the few songs that hit (i got 5 on it, i'll be around, things'll never change, etc)... and probably the only reason people looked at the bay in the first place at that time was because it was right on the tails of l.a.'s domination of rap starting in 92 with "the chronic."
even in Short's early days, the Hammer-era, those cuts were never really about the bay. in Short's case, it was pimpin (and Oakland). in Hammer's case, it was - well, whatever. E-40, the one dude who has ALWAYS repped the Bay, was always seens as a regional artists... not really doing much west of Denver or outside of the South. lots of people HATED 40 because of his bay swagger.
anyway, my point is this... as much as it is deserved, the industry attention focused on the Bay right now is PRICELESS. i think it's the first time we've ever seen such focus on our region and i really hope artists are smart enough not to let the opportunity fall away, because if it goes away, it WON'T be back. we keep hearing rumors about Bay artists being signed to majors, but it always ends up being a distribution deal of some sort - or they haven't been offered enough money, etc...
my advice is go for the majors, even if the money isn't ALL right. i know independent money is good, but it will be even better down the road if you're known and respected nationally as an artist. suck it up for a little bit, you might have to take it in the ass for an album, but the attention that will ultimately be given back to the bay, as i've said, is priceless - and well worth it...
aight, i'm done. your responces?
let me start it off by saying i don't think the bay is back YET. we're doing great regionally, but in terms of national/world-wide attention and sales, there is still a LONG way to go. not to knock what anyone is doing, we all know they're doing their thing... but the reality of the situation is hyphy hasn't reached the mass-hysteria point that crunk did a couple years back (not saying that's what i want to happen either... please believe!).
but in comparisson to the last bay run on the national charts - in the mid-90s - this movement seems like it's actually FOCUSED on the bay, and i think it's the first time that has happened... think about '95 - the "i got 5 on it" era... those songs didn't have anything to do with the bay. even the bay all-stars remix, which we hear all the time out here, never did anything nationally... no one cared about bay artists on a national level - they just liked the few songs that hit (i got 5 on it, i'll be around, things'll never change, etc)... and probably the only reason people looked at the bay in the first place at that time was because it was right on the tails of l.a.'s domination of rap starting in 92 with "the chronic."
even in Short's early days, the Hammer-era, those cuts were never really about the bay. in Short's case, it was pimpin (and Oakland). in Hammer's case, it was - well, whatever. E-40, the one dude who has ALWAYS repped the Bay, was always seens as a regional artists... not really doing much west of Denver or outside of the South. lots of people HATED 40 because of his bay swagger.
anyway, my point is this... as much as it is deserved, the industry attention focused on the Bay right now is PRICELESS. i think it's the first time we've ever seen such focus on our region and i really hope artists are smart enough not to let the opportunity fall away, because if it goes away, it WON'T be back. we keep hearing rumors about Bay artists being signed to majors, but it always ends up being a distribution deal of some sort - or they haven't been offered enough money, etc...
my advice is go for the majors, even if the money isn't ALL right. i know independent money is good, but it will be even better down the road if you're known and respected nationally as an artist. suck it up for a little bit, you might have to take it in the ass for an album, but the attention that will ultimately be given back to the bay, as i've said, is priceless - and well worth it...
aight, i'm done. your responces?
