I'm adding a new section of posts, the Downloads post. This is for artists who've asked me to put links to their projects on the site. I'm more than happy to give a helping hand to those who ask for it. No way to get help if you don't ask for it and that's the only way you're going to get known and get your music out there to the people. Expect download links to come soon. Dual Downloads post coming very soon. Be on the look out.
Shade
On the Grind: Who is Bizness?
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Follow Bizness: @Bizness516 http://www.bizness516.com/
Follow Idoitforhiphop: @Idoitforhiphop
Who is Bizness? It's a good question. He's an up and coming MC out of Westbury, Long Island, New York. A talented artist who is also multifaceted, Bizness dropped a new mixtape entitled The Suburban Dream on January 18th. The 17 track mixtape, excluding bonus tracks, gives listeners a view into Bizness' vision. In order to fully understand that vision, I met up with him during the mixtape release party at First Class Clothing in Westbury and spoke to him for a little while.
In the short time that we talked, I was impressed not just by his talent, but by his outlook on a number of things.
Bizness is both an MC and a producer. Rapping since around 11 and making beats since the age of 15, he has an insight into at least two of the many sides of the creative process. This isn't his first mixtape, but its the first to really go into the "Suburban Dream". As he put it, a lot of people are afraid to be from Long Island, because it doesn't fit in with the stereotypes. But he's trying to show people that there's a struggle there too, and that there's talent as well that deserves a chance to shine and be heard.
The tape features all original production from Bizness, with samples used on "Jealous", "Suave", and 100 Ft. Casso. Originally the mixtape was going to be titled Suburban Revenue, before the title was changed to the Suburban Dream to focus people's attention on how he's trying to touch the history of the suburbs and the life that people live there, through the history of Westbury, nicknamed Westmoney. It was done to be just another way to show people that artists coming from the suburbs are worthy of the same amount of time and attention as those from anywhere else. We talked about the tape for a while, before we moved on to other topics.
When I asked him who his favorite MCs were, he heavily favored fellow NY emcees such as Jay-Z, Fabolous, Jadakiss and late NY greats the Notorious B.I.G. and Big L. He also named people like Drake, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross. Because of his love for NY and NY emcees, I asked him how he felt about the current state of NY Hip hop. Its a question that you might not consider apt because he's from Long Island, but that's just another reason why Bizness made The Suburban Life and started the Westmoney movement. He spoke on how there isn't any unity in NY Hip hop and how it seems as though some of the artists in the NYC area have a problem with others making it.
He noted that in the South, when there is beef and there are problems, they're worked out relatively quickly. He said that was something that doesn't happen that much in NY Hip hop.
I didn't have a large amount of time to talk with him, but from what time I did have, I got a good picture of the artist, and I think I can answer the question of who is Bizness?
Bizness is a MC with skills from Westbury, Long Island. He's someone with rhyming skills that surpass the average and someone with something that a lot of MCs lack: Vision. He's the kind of artist that needs a deal and now.
Make sure you check out his mixtape, the Suburban Life and check him out on twitter and on his website. I was able to get a copy of the tape and there'll be an official review coming soon.
Follow Idoitforhiphop: @Idoitforhiphop
Who is Bizness? It's a good question. He's an up and coming MC out of Westbury, Long Island, New York. A talented artist who is also multifaceted, Bizness dropped a new mixtape entitled The Suburban Dream on January 18th. The 17 track mixtape, excluding bonus tracks, gives listeners a view into Bizness' vision. In order to fully understand that vision, I met up with him during the mixtape release party at First Class Clothing in Westbury and spoke to him for a little while.
In the short time that we talked, I was impressed not just by his talent, but by his outlook on a number of things.
Bizness is both an MC and a producer. Rapping since around 11 and making beats since the age of 15, he has an insight into at least two of the many sides of the creative process. This isn't his first mixtape, but its the first to really go into the "Suburban Dream". As he put it, a lot of people are afraid to be from Long Island, because it doesn't fit in with the stereotypes. But he's trying to show people that there's a struggle there too, and that there's talent as well that deserves a chance to shine and be heard.
The tape features all original production from Bizness, with samples used on "Jealous", "Suave", and 100 Ft. Casso. Originally the mixtape was going to be titled Suburban Revenue, before the title was changed to the Suburban Dream to focus people's attention on how he's trying to touch the history of the suburbs and the life that people live there, through the history of Westbury, nicknamed Westmoney. It was done to be just another way to show people that artists coming from the suburbs are worthy of the same amount of time and attention as those from anywhere else. We talked about the tape for a while, before we moved on to other topics.
When I asked him who his favorite MCs were, he heavily favored fellow NY emcees such as Jay-Z, Fabolous, Jadakiss and late NY greats the Notorious B.I.G. and Big L. He also named people like Drake, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross. Because of his love for NY and NY emcees, I asked him how he felt about the current state of NY Hip hop. Its a question that you might not consider apt because he's from Long Island, but that's just another reason why Bizness made The Suburban Life and started the Westmoney movement. He spoke on how there isn't any unity in NY Hip hop and how it seems as though some of the artists in the NYC area have a problem with others making it.
He noted that in the South, when there is beef and there are problems, they're worked out relatively quickly. He said that was something that doesn't happen that much in NY Hip hop.
I didn't have a large amount of time to talk with him, but from what time I did have, I got a good picture of the artist, and I think I can answer the question of who is Bizness?
Bizness is a MC with skills from Westbury, Long Island. He's someone with rhyming skills that surpass the average and someone with something that a lot of MCs lack: Vision. He's the kind of artist that needs a deal and now.
Make sure you check out his mixtape, the Suburban Life and check him out on twitter and on his website. I was able to get a copy of the tape and there'll be an official review coming soon.
Cudder
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Thursday, January 14, 2010
This is the day and age where many rappers and MCs are attempting to make an album a year to try to get sales. Its an interesting tactic and one that, if I had the time, I'd go into further, because there's a part of it that not many people see and realize, and just gloss over. Many people just complain that the overall quality of the lyrics and the songs have gone down because of this, but you have to remember that this is a business in the end, and a lot of these artists, despite being "artists" are not in fact, "artists". One person who is not like that, is Kid Cudi. From day one, he's shown passion, hunger, and most importantly, the ability to rap the way that Kanye West wanted to on 808s and Heartbreaks, without making it sound partially retarded. He dropped his debut album in 2009 (Feels awesome to do that, let's get it in 2010), towards the end of the middle of the year. After 3 months of his record being on physical and digital shelves, it has sold roughly 230k copies. Now, I'm not going to talk about how those are horrible numbers for a debuting artist, particularly one like Cudi who had major advantages going for him.
This is a recession and very few people are selling. Rap album wise, only Jay-Z and Eminem went above platinum in 2009, I don't count the Black Eyed Peas. And that's Jay-z and Eminem. I'll leave it at that. Cudi's debut put up strong numbers, maybe not the numbers that he had hoped for, and that his label had hoped for, but strong numbers, nonetheless. Day N Nite, that smash hit of his, went to number 3 on the charts.
So, why the second album so soon? I could give a few reasons, but I'll go with the one that makes the most sense and is the most obvious. It makes "cense". He's looking at it from the perspective that he's getting another chance to make music, music that people may want to hear, and music that for him, he has something of a need to make. His labels are looking at it from the perspective that, despite the fact that he didn't sell a huge number of records (So Far Gone EP, here's looking at you), he's still selling majorly well.
His sophomore album may not sell as many copies as Man on the Moon did. But he and the marketing division at UMG are smart. They're not calling this album the sequel to Man on the Moon, they're calling it Cudder, and its not a Kid Cudi album, per se. Its a collaboration album, which means that they're going for a broader audience, and they're going to try to allow him a chance to make his unique sound even better by mixing it with people from different genres of music.
Thus, when he gets to a proper sequel to Man on the Moon, he'll be ready to go all out and make an album that not only will sound good, but will sell well, at least for the year that it's released in. And you can't ask for much more than that.
Uncle Snoopy
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Monday, January 4, 2010
I'm not looking at this one from the perspective of sales numbers. If I did, the tone of this article would probably be even worse than it will be. Malice n Wonderland, Snoop Dogg's tenth studio album sold roughly 60k copies its first week out. I'm kind of upset by this, because from the tracks that I've heard, its a pretty good album. Not to say that I'm praising Soulja Boy, but the Pronto record was actually decent. I Wanna Rock is being remixed by everyone and their mother, potentially the new A Milli. Gangsta Luv wasn't a huge hit, but it was pretty decent, and it brought The Dream into a more hardcore territory than he had really been in before. Maybe that was the problem with that record, but after Sexual Seduction, it seemed as though Snoop was suited towards that kind of sound. Maybe he really wasn't.
Snoop didn't get, in my opinion, the push that he needed to get from his record label. Priority didn't exactly go all out. The video for That's the Homie wasn't exactly what you might have expected. Sure it might have connected with fans, but for a single that's being released, is that really the right video look? I would look for that to be done if the song released wasn't a "real" single, but a web video that you put on WorldStar. Kinda like Rick Ross' underground media campaign, turning like 5-6 songs from Deeper than Rap into SpiffTV helmed videos.
One of the main questions is whether or not Snoop has lost his touch when it comes to rhyming. Of that, I'm not sure. I don't think he's really fallen off, but I don't think that he's where he once was. Personally, I think he should take a little bit more of a backseat, maybe get into the elder statesman role that he should. Its not like there aren't people in the game from the West Coast that can't get on. Nipsey Hussle is doing his thing, and Game has enough hate in his blood towards 50 to make at least another album after R.E.D. 40 Glocc will attempt to rob like 5 more people to convince 50 Cent that he deserves a big G-Unit push.
The problem here is that how many of Snoop's acts have really broken through? Nate Dogg and Warren G did good, but for the most part Warren G wasn't really one of Snoop's artists. Nate had a much bigger connection, at least to me, but even then, he stood on his own. DPG is the only real one of Snoop's acts that have broken through and become a major force, and they're pretty much gone at this point in time.
So how do you become an elder statesman who puts on artists and really is a boss, when your track record is definitely not the greatest? It's pretty damn hard.
But let's take a look at Malice n Wonderland itself. If you look closely, the album is basically a West Coast version of Jay-Z's idea behind The Blueprint 3. What did Jay do when it came to guest features? Hot, up and comers, mixed in with some people already established, along with some fan favorites. Going through the three setups, that means: Mr. Hudson, Drake, Cudi, J. Cole, then Rihanna, Young Jeezy, Alicia Keys, and then Kanye West and Pharrell.
What did Snoop do? The same thing. First you have Jazmine Sullivan, Nipsey Hussle, Soulja Boy, then you have The Dream, Brandy and then you have Pharrell and R. Kelly. Kokane is the only odd one out, but chalk that up to being somewhat original.
He did, in a sense, the same thing that Jay did, except that Jay kinda did it better. Either that, or that's what his label made him do, and they did a piss poor job of it. Either way, Snoop's got some decisions to make. Because if he keeps making albums that do numbers like this, he's only embarrassing his catalogue, which has some amazing albums in it.
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