Waka Flocka’s lame!

I’ve been gone from my blog for a while due to my frustrations with music. I’m fed up with both the lack of indie artist exposure via terrestrial radio and the general willingness of the public to accept dumbed down rap as the new standard for good hip-hop music. What is going on here people? Chris Rock once said in a stand up routine that it was becoming hard to defend being a rap music fan due to the mindless content.

Well, in my opinion, it’s no longer “becoming” hard, it just is.

One of the new rappers on the music scene goes by the name Waka Flocka Flames. I know, his name sounds like a move from Street Fighter 5 : The Fozzy Bear edition. He is most known for his self-proclaimed influential drug dealing thug song “Oh let’s do it”. If you’ve ever heard it, the chorus sounds more like he’s yelling “Yeah…Olay doway! Hey! Olay doway!” In the song he talks about robbing and/or shooting rival drug dealers and influencing thugs with his music. Now I’m not over simplifying his “message” due to bias, that is really all he has to say. When he was asked about criticism he receives from hip-hop fans that prefer at least semi-intelligent lyrics his response was, “No one wants to listen to dictionary rap…”. He has gone on to say that lyrical rappers aren’t getting shows and making money like he is. If you take a moment to look at what is popular in rap lately, a lot of the new music seems to support his claims.

Today’s rookie rapper is more likely to talk about turning their swag on or promoting the new flavor-of-the-month dance move (and I use the word dance as loosely as possible). There are a few new rappers that care about lyrics, but they don’t get a lot of play on the radio, at least not in Baltimore, MD they don’t. Outside of Drake or Wale, they don’t play a lot of lyrical music from the new class of rappers.  Even with Drake the listener might have to endure Birdman, Lil Wayne or the rest of the Young Money/Cash money roster. There also isn’t a lot of social or political commentary in rap music on the radio either, just a lot of materialistic swag talk. So it seems that Waka Flocka is right, but what does this say about rap fans? Have our standards really gotten that low?

In his short few months on the scene, Flocka has been shot and robbed and he was injured in a brawl outside of a popular clothing store in Atlanta, GA. Most recently eight teenagers were shot after one of his concerts due to his hype man reportedly pitting the east side of the city against the west side . Eight TEENAGERS, ranging in age from 14 – 18, were SHOT after one of his concerts!! To call this unacceptable is an understatement. But the radio keeps playing his song which supports his claim that he is what the people want. I’m all for freedom of expression, as a rap artist myself that is a freedom I openly promote. However I’m also about balance and fairness. Being a part of the indie music scene I know that rap has more to offer than swagger songs, dancing and drug dealing thug motivation music. So why aren’t positive and intellectual artists given the same air time as the ones promoting violence? I know my answer to that, but these are just my thoughts. What do you think world?

Radio vs. Performance Rights Act

All pictures belongs to their respective owners.

So the big question on the radio lately has been: Should AM/FM radio broadcasters have to pay royalties to song performers for music played over the airwaves? And if so, how much should they have to pay? After all, radio stations do benefit financially from the songs these artists sing. Stations make money from advertising revenue and having more listeners makes your ad-space more valuable to advertisers. Basically it goes like this: the most popular music  X number of listeners  = the value of the ad space.

Ever since 1923, broadcasters have had to pay royalties to songwriters, but not song performers. However, Internet radio, Satellite radio, and MP3 download sites pay royalties to songwriters AND song performers. In the interest of equality for all broadcasters a new bill called the Performance Rights Act has been brought before congress.

Some radio broadcast companies that are angry about the Performance Rights Act have formed the Free Radio Alliance (FRA). The FRA opposes any legislation that would require AM/FM radio broadcasters to pay performance royalties. The Performance Rights Act would require Small Commercial Broadcasters defined as broadcasters with less than $1.25 million in gross annual revenues to pay a flat performance royalty fee of $ 5,000.00 per year. Noncommercial broadcasters (defined as public, educational or religious broadcasters) would pay a flat performance royalty fee of $ 1,000.00 per year.

For years performers have desired to receive performance royalties for radio airplay, but radio says that paying the performers isn’t their job. They say it’s the record company’s job.

We’ve all heard time and time again about the singers who were robbed by their record labels for one reason or another. Honestly record companies have made themselves an easy scapegoat due to their shady dealings over the years. But radio isn’t completely innocent either. Does the term “payola” ring a bell?

Having gone through all of this, here is my opinion: Singers should receive royalties when their songs get played on the radio. Sometimes songs that are just okay become huge hits because of who is singing them, not because they have great lyrics. I defy anyone to tell me that “Umbrella” by Rihanna is a lyrical masterpiece. If you read the words by themselves, it’s a dumb nursery rhyme styled song. However, due to Rihanna’s fame (and a Jay-Z co-sign) Umbrella won a Grammy and helped her sell millions of albums.

All pictures belongs to their respective owners.

Radio stations played it into the ground at the request of their listeners who were targeted by various commercials both before and after the song went off. Every time that song got played, money was changing hands with everyone except the person whose voice made that lame song a hit! And the person who was left out of the money generated by their gift is the singer.

That’s not fair in my opinion, but these are just my thoughts… What do you think world?

Mic check 1,2..1,2!!

Turn my mic up a little bit…Okay, that’s better!

What’s up world? How’s everybody doing out there? I hope you’re all getting off to a great start in this new decade!

Welcome to  “Just my thoughts”, it’s a new project for me to share my thoughts and opinions on music (mainly rap/hip-hop) and music related issues. I’m also very into movies and politics, so occasionally I will touch on those topics as well.

After this entry, I’ll start off by posting weekly blogs about everything from radio play for local artists to slumping record sales. What makes a rapper a great lyricist? Is hip-hop really dying? Why aren’t record labels adjusting better to the changes in the music market? I read and research a lot about  rap/hip-hop music as well as the artists, but I don’t claim to know it all. I’ll share my points of view on these topics and a lot  more and I sincerely encourage you to comment and respond as well.

Since I’m an artist, from time to time I’ll upload some of my music and I want you to feel free to give me your constructive criticism. I’ll do my best to be as open-minded as possible with any comments regarding my music, meaning I won’t hold a grudge if you don’t like it. However, if you’re disrespectful just for the sake of being a jerk, your remarks will be deleted.

As far as your comments go, I enjoy free speech as much as the next guy, but I do ask that you keep it PG.  Also please try to stay on topic and respect each other while your in my space. I’ll try to answer questions and respond to your comments as often as I can in an effort to promote better interaction between us.

Well, that’s basically it. Later on this week I’ll start off with a topic on the so called the radio performance tax.

Thanks for coming by! DJ cue the record, I’m going in!