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  • » Name: William E. Ketchum III
  • » Location: East Lansing, MI
  • » Member Since: 04/12/07
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Speech Is My Hammer...

Armchair A&Rs, Sit Down.


July 22, 2008 | Tags: none

So some cat emerged this week saying that he's stolen Rhymefest's iPod, and that he's leaking dude's upcoming album El Che track by track until the ‘Fest and the label releases a single, a video, etc. Click here to read his manifesto; props to Eskay for posting this in his Nah Right Lite sidebar.

I'm definitely eager to hear new Rhymefest material, and I can sorta respect the bootlegger's intentions, esp. with him only leaking a song per week until the album's completely out there. But it's still disheartening to see cats bootleg albums online, add a tag of the crew that ripped it, and post a sentence in a .txt file that nobody reads to encourage downloaders to buy the album. If you're gonna bootleg, at least be real about it.

First off, it's not your place to determine what's "helpful" to an artist if it's obviously something that he doesn't want to be done. You're not their parents, loved ones or career advisors, so "tough love" doesn't apply. If they don't want something leaked, it's more respectful to let them do what they want to. And to those who'd want to trap me for my support of other major blogs, remember two things: A) Most of these sites work directly with the artists and record labels more than you'd think, and B) They rarely, if ever, give a link to an entire album that's going to be sold in stores. Otherwise, if it's a story like Rick Ross getting busted as a corrections officer or an artist getting sued for sample usage, then they're actually documenting/reporting on what's happening instead of directly helping them.

IMO, some of this blame falls on 50. Record sales were always somewhat relevant, but nowhere near how they were once Curtis started using them as primary ammunition for his beefs. Now that numbers are back in the spotlight--ironically, once they're less and less relevant due to this same bootlegging--fans feel like they know enough about the music business to effectively help artists out. Don't get it twisted: a lot of these record label cats don't know what they're doing either, but these artists have entrusted their careers with these people. The last thing artists (ones that I've spoken to, anyway) need is for these armchair A&Rs to take matters into their own hands when they don't even know the artists' plans anyway. Besides, most of these cats are just using this as an excuse to boost their e-cred and spread music to their friends, anyway.

And the latter two reasons are actually half-decent justifications to bootlegging. If you just want the world to hear incredible music, then spreading links makes sense. If you want to bring more hits to your web site or be an e-god in a message board/forum, then this method is effective. Hell, even if you're doing it to get money in your pocket somehow, that's an authentic reason. I'm not here to tell people to stop bootlegging; I'm here to tell people to stop bootlegging and trying to make it seem like you're some music industry vanguard while doing it. I wonder what this guy would say if Rhymefest approached him, like, "Yo fam, I don't want to direct my career this way. Please stop leaking my album." *Update: Actually, that's essentially what Rhymefest did.* Will dude respond like, "Nah 'Fest, it's for your own good!" Riiight.

Want to help? Contact these artists/labels and ask how. When I talked to G-Unit/Talib Kweli/etc. producer Nick Speed, he asked me to spread around he and rapper Danny Brown's new album, Hot Soup (download here). Incredibly talented KOCH Records emcee Niles (formerly known as Alias, I've blogged about him before) has asked me to spread around his YouTube page to people, so I do that. Start a blog dedicated to the artist/label. Apply for an internship somewhere, so you can get a glimpse of how the industry works.

If you want to help the artist, help them legitimately. Otherwise, help yourself. Either way, just be real about it.


The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

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