Education and Bragging rights

[HERESY]

School is not for everyone but you'll never know unless you try. For some people school is a waste of time because they don't have the DISCIPLINE it requires. Another thing they may lack is MATURITY. A lot of colleges have kids fresh out of high school and they still have the high school mentality.


With school you MUST enjoy LEARNING. If you are NOT at the stage were learning is an enjoyment and you're NOT constantly seeking some type of knowledge it's futile.


Honestly I don't know of any REAL hustler who has looked down on a person who went to school. They simply had the "do you" mentality. Why? Because they understand that school is THE hustle for THAT person. These type's of hustlers are BUSINESSMEN. They might not know all the LEGAL aspects of "business" but they are businessmen. They understand supply and demand. You ever wonder why you have a 10 d-boys on a corner, they each have a quarter ounce of yola, but none of them are able to dump it all so they can re-cop? They don't understand supply and demand and they don't understand ORGANIZED crime. They understand crime but anyone can be a criminal. The people who make a living/career out of crime are able to do so because they understand ORGANIZED crime. So why are the d-boyz at the bottom of the food chain, taking the most risks while the higher ups are making big money with little to no risk? One understands the business (it's illegeal business) and treats it as such. The other....well he thinks it's cool to be viewed as a hustler.


When it comes to rap music intelligence is out of place right now. You may be asking yourself why or how but its true. Intelligence has no place in rap on a grand scale because the NEED for intelligence has not been stressed by the PEOPLE. During the mid 80's to late 90's you had a NEED for intelligent rappers because people were going through it and rap was a powerful TOOL one could use to be heard. A money making tool? Yes, but a political tool also. With that being said intelligence is NOT as marketable as cooning and being stepin-fetchit. The corporations understand this and they exploit it for all it's worth.


You have to understand something and I don't want to make this a race issue, but being an educated black male is something RACIST white america fears. Knowing these large corporations are mainly comprised of RACIST WHITE AMERICANS do you HONESTLY believe they will promote and market intelligence NOW? That would be self defeating and cause them to loose billions in revenue. They already have the majority hypnotized so why change it? They won't unless the PEOPLE demand change and the labels see a profit in changing, marketing and promoting to those who require the need.


Another thing to consider is target audience and who you're trying to reach. At the end of the day you have to make choices that will make or break you. Can you live with knowing the fact that you created music that leads to corruption? Yeah you're getting paid but how does it feel to know you're contributing to the problem by not adding any substance? If you're music is not "street enough" but you're trying to hit the streets you have two choices:


A.) Change the target audience.


B.) Change the subject matter and production.


Both can be done without falling off or crossing over IF you spin it the right way.


Another thing you have to ask yourself is what do you want from the music business as a PERFORMER?

 

[XianeX]

@UNKUT- Drugs and Hoes..The music business can be a waste of your time also IF your not dedicated and about your shit...The music hustle is something that your really have to wan't eat and breath it...there are waaaaaaaaaay to many people wanting to get into the same arena ...but If you do your shit right then ..you can get lucky!

That's with any business LOL

 

[D-Boy]

i read a book called Learning to Labor that talks about the working class mentality that rejects formal education and formal society in favor of their own values, such as, you don't need a certificate as long as u have the know how, etc. the working class kids in the book rejected school and the pursuance of formal education and looked down on the other kids in their classes who "conformed" to the education system. in the end, the working class kids were selling themselves short because they were basically raising themselves to be the ideal workers of factories and industry.

the most interesting thing is that this book is about the British working class in the 1970s, but much of what i read is applicable to the US today.

 

[XianeX]

@ Heresy - THAT was a brilliant post. I totally agree!

Like heresy said DISCIPLINE that is the most pertinent word you can ascribe to school FOR REAL! If you can't control yourself or your mind YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED IN COLLEGE! This I promise you.

@ stepin-fetchit - OMG!!! ROFL

"Another thing you have to ask yourself is what do you want from the music business as a PERFORMER?"

Not to be a performer if you ask me. unfortunately this music shit requires the same discipline as school. thus it is hard to find people you can trust to stand behind. I'd LOVE to put niggas out and all I do is write, produce, and publish but FUCK, you can't trust niggas to be professional as you when they don't look at the game the same way.

the funny thing about your A and B options is that the C option is just as much of a compromise. By 'C' I mean spinning. Oh yeah you got smart muthafukas like Talib and Common but guess what they take the SAME 'C' compromise by slipping some of the degenerate shit into their songs too. I did it. It's like mixing alchohol with your energy drink. you do just enough to give niggas a buzz trying not to completely taint the integrity of your work.

Shit I look at Jay-Z records as the hiphop quran, and his interviews and actions as the hadith. talk about changing target audiences WOW did he ever. Talk about getting a pass for saying the same shit every other niggas says in a song. shit . . . he did. I think that's why I'm not mad that I'm mostly selling to white folk and japanese people. hell they the ones that make and break careers now anyway @ whites.

(upper class whites)
a nigga can't rely on niggas to make money without the risk of dying. white folk tend just to want entertainment. they don't really care how "real" you are as long as you maintain the illusion well and give a good show.

 

[XianeX]

@ d-boy - exactly. listen to the state of hip hop. it's grooming folk to be productive working class citizens. the struggle in hip hop today is to "be a good idiot and afford yourself to be so" it's like 20 rappers really making money in the game being stupid and a jillion copycats that will return to being broke if they aint already.

"Systematically, lets make the uniformed more uniformed with mis/disinformation and so that we don't have to compete with more intelligent muthafuckas suchas ourselves" this is the way of americas elite.

Its the process of "let's be friends, we're all that we need, they aint important, so keep them right there" ideology that pervades the upper echelons of the system.

 

[Junebug]

It is very unfortunate that it seems the point of colleges is to train us to be good little "eichmans" or technocrats for the corporate structure. Not having money, and a place to stay are things most people have to deal with it and school seems more unreachable every year for those that live check to check like me. I fuckin hate school as well but have to give my propers to those that can endur it or get loans that they pay off for years.
It's sic that people across the globe are listening to shit like Paris and K-Rino. I wouldn't have thught rap was going to be so big as a kid.
We have to be wise as consumers as well and support artists that do positive things.

 

[MOSA]

@XIANEX- NOT REALLY....HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD IS TRYING TO GET INTO THE MUSIC BUSINESS???..HAVE AN IDEA..HOW MANY ACTAULLY MAKE IT??..THERE ARE BUSINESS THAT YOU CAN START WITHOUT ANY EFFORT IF YOUR AREA OR LOCATION IS IN NEED. SO NOT ALL BUSINESS CALLS FOR EFFORT ...NOT LIKE THE MUSIC BUSINESS..IT'S TOTALLY DIFFRENT BALL GAME. =)

 

[the dreamer]

note-killa mike(big boi's brother) and stat quo (aftermath) both had college succes.degrees n shit. Xianex-I know it's tough making music that is true to the message you wish to get across and sell units at the same time. but think about it, if you blew or truly affected some listeners but you dilouted your message, how would you feel. they migth feel it, but what do they feel? half of you...

 

[XianeX]

@Mosa - I know there are a ton of people trying to get into the "rapping craft" but few of them are trying to get into the music business or the business of hip hop. Only few make it to the top of any business.

Honestly, I'd like to know about some of these effortless businesses. I will start a few myself TODAY .

@ dreamer - I agree, that's the beauty of having an independant label, I can drop a record anytime I feel like it. I can always do a correction album if necessary . I really think my record is indicative of me just like I do in school and in this forum the bullshit/real shit are smeared together with word plays and "semantics". I always treat my words like law adding suspicious clauses and caveats.