Jay-Z Talks Roc Nation Artists : “You Can’t Come Off The Street And Make a Classic

[DayDay34]

lol this nigga j.cole is a internet flop nigga. big sean took his spot. drake about to take all his buzz away next month. poor cole lol.

 

[MeekMonizzLLLLLLe14]

lol this nigga j.cole is a internet flop nigga. big sean took his spot. drake about to take all his buzz away next month. poor cole lol.

poor day day ducking a dodging bets that he could easily win....."run!run to your freedom boi!

 

[FlightKing]

My main beef is that it's happening, but it's not happening at the level it needs to be...now whether the labels or fans are more at fault is up for debate, I see it more as the fans fault more than the labels to tell you the truth...it's like if you put out a song that's even seen as half decent niggas expect a full album 3 weeks later....that's what stagnating artist and forcing this rotation of 3-4 one hit wonder's per year...granted it's rare in ANY genre to have an artist stick around for 10 yrs+, but damn in rap it seems like fans ONLY want a rapper for 2 albums then it's "Ok, nigga is too old...next...and give us the album next week"

I think this is the Wayne effect. He set this standard of delivering so much music and he became hot off of that. I don't think it's the fact that niggas expect a full album 3 weeks later, but rather, "I expect whatever that album/mixtape that song you just put out, to drop next week". Everybody wants the shit now. Back in 92-93, all Snoop did was drop on that Deep Cover and he was good. Then he dropped his first single and niggas patiently awaited Doggystyle. But you know what else? People who really fucked wit music and loved music were behind Death Row and Interscope then and they couldn't wait to push the album out during the buzz. And Source Magazine was worth a shit and had credibility and they couldn't wait to write about Snoop. And YoMTV Raps was buzzing and they couldn't wait...see what I'm saying?

Artists these days don't have the benefit of that. We got mixtape DJs and club DJs for the street niggas and blog sites and Twitter/Youtube for the other kinda artists. The labels see rappers as products, music as means to move that product - not as artists who need to put their music out and see what songs work where and how and follow that up. Paying producers made that shit more complicated, so young artists think they something like Jay-Z or Wayne if they get a million different producers and just make a bunch of hits. They don't go in and make music that's about them as artists cause they don't know who they are. Rather than chase hits, just make songs and let your audience determine what a hit is, shout out to Rick Ross having MC Hammer and BMF on an EP and wanting Super High to blow up...and Gucci for having Wasted on a mixtape but having to put the remix on his album cause it was the biggest shit he had.

Niggas don't know the game for real so it looks fucked up, when in actuality, rap was best when it was independent and then also when the corporations got them and didn't know what to do with them so they threw millions at them in the mid 90s to 2000s. It's gonna take for rap to hit rock bottom money wise for labels, they stop supporting us and we go back to how it was. Even now, nobody fuck with a rapper unless he got a name cause "everybody wanna rap" so the passionate ones get grouped with these wack ass drug dealing, gun toting 15 year old rappers. You can't develop kids and dumb rappers, btw.

 

[FlightKing]

lol this nigga j.cole is a internet flop nigga. big sean took his spot. drake about to take all his buzz away next month. poor cole lol.

Naa, I don't think so. They don't have the same spot. Big Sean is kinda being forced. All I hear from this nigga is some silly shit, some radio shit. Drake...ehh. He popular but everything he about so far, is disposable. J.Cole has the best fanbase and best come-up versus all three, from a fan perspective but Cole gonna lose his own spot if he keeps playing this game he's playing about being his own reason to blow. He's already that. They won't release the album cause he doesn't have a cross-over hit and all his songs sound the same.

If he makes 3 singles that don't sound like typical lyrical J.Cole, then the album will be out 3 weeks ago.

 

[blackrain]

I think this is the Wayne effect. He set this standard of delivering so much music and he became hot off of that. I don't think it's the fact that niggas expect a full album 3 weeks later, but rather, "I expect whatever that album/mixtape that song you just put out, to drop next week". Everybody wants the shit now. Back in 92-93, all Snoop did was drop on that Deep Cover and he was good. Then he dropped his first single and niggas patiently awaited Doggystyle. But you know what else? People who really fucked wit music and loved music were behind Death Row and Interscope then and they couldn't wait to push the album out during the buzz. And Source Magazine was worth a shit and had credibility and they couldn't wait to write about Snoop. And YoMTV Raps was buzzing and they couldn't wait...see what I'm saying?

Artists these days don't have the benefit of that. We got mixtape DJs and club DJs for the street niggas and blog sites and Twitter/Youtube for the other kinda artists. The labels see rappers as products, music as means to move that product - not as artists who need to put their music out and see what songs work where and how and follow that up. Paying producers made that shit more complicated, so young artists think they something like Jay-Z or Wayne if they get a million different producers and just make a bunch of hits. They don't go in and make music that's about them as artists cause they don't know who they are. Rather than chase hits, just make songs and let your audience determine what a hit is, shout out to Rick Ross having MC Hammer and BMF on an EP and wanting Super High to blow up...and Gucci for having Wasted on a mixtape but having to put the remix on his album cause it was the biggest shit he had.

Niggas don't know the game for real so it looks fucked up, when in actuality, rap was best when it was independent and then also when the corporations got them and didn't know what to do with them so they threw millions at them in the mid 90s to 2000s. It's gonna take for rap to hit rock bottom money wise for labels, they stop supporting us and we go back to how it was. Even now, nobody fuck with a rapper unless he got a name cause "everybody wanna rap" so the passionate ones get grouped with these wack ass drug dealing, gun toting 15 year old rappers. You can't develop kids and dumb rappers, btw.

funny thing about the Wayne effect, Wayne also had to wait before he dropped Tha Block Is Hot as his debut...Cash Money had and still has a long standing policy of making artist wait a little while before they put them out...that's why Turk's solo album took so long even when the Hot Boys were at their peak...they made him wait...so even the very artist who can be seen as part of the catalyst for the increased level of impatience amongst fans was an artist who had to wait years before his debut...hell even before Wayne's Behind THe Music I'd heard interviews where Mannie Fresh said they made Wayne wait so much that the entire album was written before they even stepped into the studio...I agree that too many artists, especially new artist, are chasing hits...the lack of sales, due to once again fans feeling the need to bootleg EVERYTHING, is forcing labels and artists to try and cash in as quickly as possible and the best way to do that is through singles...I'm not defending the labels, I honestly just feel like as fans, we have the ultimate control because we speak w/ our money...whatever gets bought is what will be replicated by the labels and if more fans bought albums instead of just singles and supported more artists then you'd see more effort put into developing artist so they at least have the potential to be around for more than 5 months

 

[FlightKing]

*applauds*

Got dayum I hope niggas is taking notes.... sooo true & great observation fam. Thanks for the lesson real talk.

You're welcome.
BTW, your songs are FIRE...fire. But, where the links to your other social media/social network shit? You got the bandcamp as your only web link, it should have all that shit up. I like the music, I wanna add you on Twitter or I wanna lurk on Youtube and see what you got on there too. This might be an accident that I saw your link but I'm trying to follow up on you later. Fix that, cause your music is an atomic bomb [/Rick Ross].

Your next move should be getting pics and definitely music videos. Your name looks kinda weird to me so you'd have to show me cause right now, it ain't tangible. I'm talking like this cause IMO, you should always think about the muthafuckas who won't get it right off. Eyerone + In Vitro = you get Immortal Technique treatment UNTIL you SHOW ME and I hear the Saddity track (fire). You dig?

 

[FlightKing]

funny thing about the Wayne effect, Wayne also had to wait before he dropped Tha Block Is Hot as his debut...Cash Money had and still has a long standing policy of making artist wait a little while before they put them out...that's why Turk's solo album took so long even when the Hot Boys were at their peak...they made him wait...so even the very artist who can be seen as part of the catalyst for the increased level of impatience amongst fans was an artist who had to wait years before his debut...hell even before Wayne's Behind THe Music I'd heard interviews where Mannie Fresh said they made Wayne wait so much that the entire album was written before they even stepped into the studio...I agree that too many artists, especially new artist, are chasing hits...the lack of sales, due to once again fans feeling the need to bootleg EVERYTHING, is forcing labels and artists to try and cash in as quickly as possible and the best way to do that is through singles...I'm not defending the labels, I honestly just feel like as fans, we have the ultimate control because we speak w/ our money...whatever gets bought is what will be replicated by the labels and if more fans bought albums instead of just singles and supported more artists then you'd see more effort put into developing artist so they at least have the potential to be around for more than 5 months

Yeah, that shit is probably why he had the run that he did. CMR had no interest or even know-how in developing a young street rapper who loves the game. Wayne developed that for himself by rapping. CMR was low and that shit he was doing on Block is Hot and Lights Out was so fake - niggas bought into it cause he was a Hot Boy and if you talk about street shit over street beats, niggas will listen. It's like stroking their ego or something. Thing is, the real Wayne is the one we got now, RIGHT NOW. The nigga is a goofy, music loving, sports fanatic who can't stop fuckin these hoes. What's crazy is that, what happened to him back in the day is what he did to Curren$y and now Curren$y is better after that shit. Maybe that's the move for New Orleans rappers.

Rap gonna have to hit bottom before it gets better. Or niggas at the top, like Jay-Z, Wayne, Kanye especially, are gonna have to lead the charge and go back to more independence. I think the game too money hungry for that though. 50 is done unless he goes independent, but he'd have to grind like he did when he was 26, so IDK. Fact is, the rap audience had to be trained, intentionally or non-intentionally, to be like this so they'd have to be trained to not be like this for it to work.

 

[J. Rob]

FlightKing is dropping some serious knowledge in this thread

 

[onepunch]

considering thta Jay Z executive produced ALL of mephis bleeks albums.....i don't trust his judgment..his ear for talent is not that great!...put the album out and let the fans decide.....one album don't make a career

 

[J. Rob]

BEYONCE; Now Jay baby, this boy do got a point.

LMAO...slept-on post

BTW, all the people who knock Jay for what he did to Bleek and Beans....that shit was OVER A DECADE AGO.....you don't think he might gotten a little wiser by now?

 

[FlightKing]

FlightKing is dropping some serious knowledge in this thread

...............

 

[usmarin3]

I really think the fans and their short attention span (ADHD) is a big part of the reason why the music has such a quick turnove, and also no one is making an effort to be unique which makes it much more interchangable. If something become hot in rap, yo get 30 versions of it (see HARD IN THE PAINT)

 

[south4life]

Artist development is a key component that's missing in the game, so I agree with Jay on that side....

And if I'm not mistaken, Ne-yo, Rihanna, Rick Ross, & Jeezy all signed to Def Jam under Jay (correct me if I'm wrong)... And they're all still relevant years later..

So maybe he knows what he's talking about...

Guess we'll just have to wait & see

L.A. Reid and Shakir Stewart discovered and signed Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, L.A. Reid discovered and signed Ne-Yo and Rihanna was already out before Jay-Z became Head of Def Jam. The people Jay signed are no where to be found. Remember Aztek Escobar, Grafh, Teairra Mari, Tru Life and Uncle Murda?

Yeah exactly, that's the artists that Jay signed when he was Head of Def Jam. The only reason Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy had success was because of L.A. Reid and Shakir Stewart, not Jay-Z.

 

[FlightKing]

I really think the fans and their short attention span (ADHD) is a big part of the reason why the music has such a quick turnove, and also no one is making an effort to be unique which makes it much more interchangable. If something become hot in rap, yo get 30 versions of it (see HARD IN THE PAINT)

There's more than a few big reasons but those are valid reasons. I think those branch from other bigger reasons.
The copying another rapper issue is probably cause most "rappers" in the game are really niggas who should be big fans of rap instead of participating in it.
The 30 versions of something hot, is...accessibility to recording and trying to emulate Wayne and 50. IDK what to say about that. Sometimes it's cool, sometimes it's not.

here's what one should ask.......................Is Jay-z known to invest in something with the intentions of failing at it?

...Is this a serious question?

 

[gee757]

Jeezy came off the street and dropped a classic. 50 had 2 of em. Fiend had 2 of em. Its countless artists that did.

woodface was not a nu face n 03 that muuunkee was on columbia b4 he became feminemz pet muuunkee on shady! i dont like when people act like woodface was sum brand nu artist back n 03 smh

 

[adagreat]

i kinda dig what hes tryin to say cuz hes saying that a person maybe need experience in the game and how to handle themselves in front of the press and cameras before they come out wit an album, get seasoned*shrugs* couple features here and there etc. but on da no1 come of the streets with a classic thats a bunch of camel shit! cuz dmx did it wit his first cd IMO!

 

[Trollio]

Jeezy came off the street and dropped a classic. 50 had 2 of em. Fiend had 2 of em. Its countless artists that did.

...........................

 

[blackrain]

Yeah, that shit is probably why he had the run that he did. CMR had no interest or even know-how in developing a young street rapper who loves the game. Wayne developed that for himself by rapping. CMR was low and that shit he was doing on Block is Hot and Lights Out was so fake - niggas bought into it cause he was a Hot Boy and if you talk about street shit over street beats, niggas will listen. It's like stroking their ego or something. Thing is, the real Wayne is the one we got now, RIGHT NOW. The nigga is a goofy, music loving, sports fanatic who can't stop fuckin these hoes. What's crazy is that, what happened to him back in the day is what he did to Curren$y and now Curren$y is better after that shit. Maybe that's the move for New Orleans rappers.

Rap gonna have to hit bottom before it gets better. Or niggas at the top, like Jay-Z, Wayne, Kanye especially, are gonna have to lead the charge and go back to more independence. I think the game too money hungry for that though. 50 is done unless he goes independent, but he'd have to grind like he did when he was 26, so IDK. Fact is, the rap audience had to be trained, intentionally or non-intentionally, to be like this so they'd have to be trained to not be like this for it to work.

I think it was like a year or so ago I read some interview where Baby said they had to make Wayne dress in white tee's, girbaud's and reeboks to fit the Hot Boys image...Baby said Wayne dressed like a NY nigga and was in NO wearing Timbs, Air Force 1's, shit like that...he said Wayne has always been out there and the weird ass music he's making now he always talked about making and listened to on his own...he was the way he was back then because CMR made him...

Even a nigga like Kanye West, people love to swear up and down that Dame Dash "discovered" him and wanted him to be a huge rapper on Roc-A-Fella...Dame signed that nigga for his beats, he's said so in many interviews, and planned to initially put out a compilation album and to make Kanye happy let him rap on a few songs...that's why Kanye had to pay for the Through The Wire video on his own...nobody at Roc-A-Fella really thought he was going to make the album he did w/ College Dropout so he took his ass in the studio, took his time, and make a great album....

edit...as for 50 he black balled himself out the game...he has dissed damn near everybody he's worked with at some point...he's alienated himself damn near

 

[blackrain]

L.A. Reid and Shakir Stewart discovered and signed Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, L.A. Reid discovered and signed Ne-Yo and Rihanna was already out before Jay-Z became Head of Def Jam. The people Jay signed are no where to be found. Remember Aztek Escobar, Grafh, Teairra Mari, Tru Life and Uncle Murda?

Yeah exactly, that's the artists that Jay signed when he was Head of Def Jam. The only reason Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy had success was because of L.A. Reid and Shakir Stewart, not Jay-Z.

LA Reid didn't discover Ne-Yo he'd been around for a little while already...Ne-Yo had a deal with Colombia, got dropped, then started writing songs for other artist....Tina Davis made him perform for LA Reid on some random shit one day in their offices and they signed him to Def Jam as an official artist

"I wasn't really looking for a record deal, but by the time I left the building, I had performed for Tina, I had performed for Reid, and I walked away with a deal," says Ne-Yo

 

[Focal Point]

i kinda dig what hes tryin to say cuz hes saying that a person maybe need experience in the game and how to handle themselves in front of the press and cameras before they come out wit an album, get seasoned*shrugs* couple features here and there etc. but on da no1 come of the streets with a classic thats a bunch of camel shit! cuz dmx did it wit his first cd IMO!

in the interview he said only few have done so, he didn't say it didn't happen