Wow. So Talib and Ebro just had a long, super informative discourse about radio play and a whole bunch of related topics. If you enjoyed Ebro on Combat Jack or want some real, real talk about the industry, this is a fantastic watch. Most intelligent discussion I've seen on this. Knowledge punted.
Topics covered:
- New York radio not supporting New York artists and the reasoning behind it
- Rappers not being able to distinguish facts from the reasoning behind them RE: radio play
- The role of a dedicated fanbase for him being an independent artist, from a business perspective
- Talks how all the people hip-hop hates (Lil B, Soulja Boy) changing the game from a business end that new MCs need to take notes from. "You don't have to like their music.. they're going to be caked up for the rest of their life off of one album because they did it the right way"
- Talks artists not knowing how much it hurts them putting out MP3s on the internet that aren't mixed right in this day and age, how people will actively work
against general BS from artists
- How hiring an independent promoter helped Talib get his shit played when it wasn't poppin' otherwise (read: DJs getting paid off)
- Payola vs. loopholes
- More talk about research supporting what spins work, people being deceived by what's hot in the clubs
- Clear Channel and MS (sp?) playlists
- Future being super tight @ Hot97 because his music performed poorly and yet they still gave him looks
- Personality-driven radio stations and how that affects artists
- Ebro talks about artists coming up to him like "yo I got something that's perfect for the radio" and why that's a bad thing
- Backlash of Talib going on tour with Macklemore, "how could you be disrespectful to someone who's helping put your favourite artist out there to an audience?"; people caring more about tenure than business
- Talib talks Kanye being the only one tackling social issues of black creative value/white privilege in the mainstream outside of Macklemore
- Black and hip-hop leaders appreciating Kanye being the "spazoid"
- What Kanye couldn't articulate to Sway about empowering yourself about exploitation
- Sway, etc. not understanding issues of classism and racism that Kanye faces because he receives it in a space that nobody has been before, and that being part of why he can't articulate it
- Talib thinks Drake brings elements to the game that purists really want but the way the industry has embraced him makes it
- Talib thinks Yeezus is lyrically powerful
- Audience bugging at 808s at the time, and now those records have the biggest response, similar reactions to Andre 3000 when he started looking crazy. "These artists see more than what you see, they're visionaries"
- On the "just make better songs" critique of smaller artists needing to do to get put on: "I take the Pepsi Challenge with any of my content"
- The "Crack" business model "I don't need to push it; it sells itself", also earlier they related this how to get people to buy shit uncertain of whether it's going to be quality or not
- Dismissive hip-hop media (also talked about at the very beginning a bit)
Watch it here.
Oh shit this is going to be buried at the bottom of this page -.-
