Once upon a time, Joel Ortiz signed to Aftermath and a few years later, he was dropped. But came back with Slaughterhouse and signed to Shady Records.
Once upon a time, Murs signed to Warner Bros to release Murs for President. I believe he's still there but he really hasn't released anything significant since that.http://thewellversed.com/2010/11/16...ning-with-a-major-label-vs-going-independent/
Once upon a time, Little Brother signed to Atlantic Records to release IMO one of the best breakthrough hip hop albums to get exposure in the mainstream in the "Minstrel Show". But after Getback, they departed from Atlantic and went on to continue making Independent music.
I pulled these guys up, because each person have a huge independent following and each were unsuccessful in achieving the so called "big album sales" of their mainstream counterparts. All of the above are very talented, each are different, and they are only three different stories of a popular underground hip hop artist who tries to get mainstream attention for the intent of "balancing hip hop" and are unsuccessful. There are many others who have tried, some go on to remain mainstream, some don't and go back to independent.
Kendrick Lamar is one of those stories and I say let him find his way, because he's one of the next generation artists who are fitting to change things. I've listened to a few tracks, I think he's talented, but to sign to Aftermath...its not the signing that I'm disappointed about, let that artist find his way...but its if he could do the music that he wants to do when he's signed to Aftermath. And this story of signing to a major label can be told by Murs up top, but it has been a story told by just about any legend in the game right now (LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Ludacris, etc.). But one person's story that caught my eye recently is Too Short. And if you've read his interview
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/...stry-wide-plot-to-shut-down-conscious-hip-hop
You'd know that the many hip hop stories forementioned are part of what he revealed about his own experience. Check it out, but to give you a short summary, Too Short wanted to create a positive album but when he brought this to his then newly signed label, they wanted him to make the most nastiest album that he could make. So he made a deal to do it and then do the positive album and they never let him do it. One quote that I believe should not only summarize his experience but could also reflect the many other stories including Kendrick Lamar's..." Once I did what they wanted, they would never let me do what I wanted."
So Kendrick Lamar congrats, but understand the game that they play in the mainstream as well. Personally Aftermath is what I call a "dead label" anyway, Shady Records is getting shine right now because of Slaughterhouse, and really the only labels that are getting attention in the radiowaves is Young Money and Maybach Music, lol.
Once upon a time, Murs signed to Warner Bros to release Murs for President. I believe he's still there but he really hasn't released anything significant since that.http://thewellversed.com/2010/11/16...ning-with-a-major-label-vs-going-independent/
Once upon a time, Little Brother signed to Atlantic Records to release IMO one of the best breakthrough hip hop albums to get exposure in the mainstream in the "Minstrel Show". But after Getback, they departed from Atlantic and went on to continue making Independent music.
I pulled these guys up, because each person have a huge independent following and each were unsuccessful in achieving the so called "big album sales" of their mainstream counterparts. All of the above are very talented, each are different, and they are only three different stories of a popular underground hip hop artist who tries to get mainstream attention for the intent of "balancing hip hop" and are unsuccessful. There are many others who have tried, some go on to remain mainstream, some don't and go back to independent.
Kendrick Lamar is one of those stories and I say let him find his way, because he's one of the next generation artists who are fitting to change things. I've listened to a few tracks, I think he's talented, but to sign to Aftermath...its not the signing that I'm disappointed about, let that artist find his way...but its if he could do the music that he wants to do when he's signed to Aftermath. And this story of signing to a major label can be told by Murs up top, but it has been a story told by just about any legend in the game right now (LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Ludacris, etc.). But one person's story that caught my eye recently is Too Short. And if you've read his interview
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/...stry-wide-plot-to-shut-down-conscious-hip-hop
You'd know that the many hip hop stories forementioned are part of what he revealed about his own experience. Check it out, but to give you a short summary, Too Short wanted to create a positive album but when he brought this to his then newly signed label, they wanted him to make the most nastiest album that he could make. So he made a deal to do it and then do the positive album and they never let him do it. One quote that I believe should not only summarize his experience but could also reflect the many other stories including Kendrick Lamar's..." Once I did what they wanted, they would never let me do what I wanted."
So Kendrick Lamar congrats, but understand the game that they play in the mainstream as well. Personally Aftermath is what I call a "dead label" anyway, Shady Records is getting shine right now because of Slaughterhouse, and really the only labels that are getting attention in the radiowaves is Young Money and Maybach Music, lol.
