The Mindset Must Change…

If you don’t know it. I do PR, write and a host of other things so I receive a lot of music and request to interview artists. All that media blip. Yes Conscious is a massive fence straddler when it comes to this music business, all levels mainstream, indie and subsurface.

So, last night I received an email from someone doing promo for a veteran hiphop artist that is releasing new material on a crew album. Here’s the email correspondence following my receipt of the single that’s now circulating the net. I removed the name of the artist for obvious reasons.

Promo kat: What do u think of the “——” song from “veteran artist” ?

Me: Think it’s cool. Kinda lightweight for a single. I’d expect a lot stronger song from “veteran artist” especially on a collabo with “another veteran artist”. That chorus is eh… On a come back I’d hope to see more. I figure if you’re gonna come back you ought to be just as good or better then you were when you left. There’s a lot of heads making come backs and I feel like they need to come STRONG ! They have fans that look forward to their returns. Some kats are coming back and are disappointing to say the least.

Promo kat: I feel u on this…But as we know it, the fans are funny and artists need to find a way to stay in the rap game…

Me: Make good music. And promote it properly…
In 2007 there are so many avenues to take advantage of and network much more then the old ways. Artists old and new need to be aware of and exploit these methods. At this point, the most that limits a person to reaching a mass audience is the organization that pushes the artists. Sadly today everyone is calling themselves a ‘PR’ agent. Most they do is get a list and send out email blasts. The internet has music blogs, and tight knit music communities like Mog.com and Lastfm.com where you know who your fans really are (Just an example of some of the things going on online). I personally found Mog.com because I was doing searches and found a post with some members on the site talking about me. I was surprised. But now I’m becoming less and less surprised about occurrences like this because it validates what I already knew, that the people want good music, that music that they can’t find because the artists they love and respect can’t afford to pay off the mainstream radio to get spins. Neither do they have a million dollars to put up billboards everywhere and hypnotize the masses. But, we’re all supposed to be hustlers, we’re all supposed to know the street and know the business but yet we’re not all making the noise that should be heard. It’s re-evaluation time. All in all I’m saying it’s time for us all involved in this Hiphop thing to begin to think laterally. Out the box. Think with the same thought process that created hiphop to begin with. Advancement in hiphop is the same as advancement in life, it’s starts with the individual and groups of individuals connected and moving forward with the same ideals and bringing them into existence. Show and prove. Be the change you wanna see in the world.

I didn’t receive a response. Don’t expect to.

I spoke to a friend about the exchange and he simply said when they ask for feedback they don’t really want feedback. They want you to say it’s hot!

I’ll never lie about how I feel about music. Especially doing what I do.

I guess so folks do indeed want their egos massaged.

Oh well…

Figured I’d share something with you guys instead of bombarding you with nothing but my music.

Paradice: Intro to new album in the works called eN Moment...

http://www.zshare.net/audio/paradice-mp3.html <----- Click 2 Listen Inspired by the changes in my life that have been occuring through my own creation. Early this morning I decided I want to do a short record to kind of describe how I'm feeling. So I'll be placing together tracks for a EP with really peaceful music. Some rhymes, some songs, some spoken word.

Realizing the affect our music has on those that listen, I am now more then ever consciously seeking ways to push forward a certain vibe to share with folks. Don't get me wrong, everything I do will not sound the same and sound like I'm floating in space or anything but the movement for this project is going to be an easy laid back peaceful one. I want to share this feeling I have right now because I want others to experience it as well...

The following track is entitled, 'Paradice'. It is the introduction to the the album I will call eN Moment. I am living in the moment for that is all that we have.

A Discussion on Drugs : Crack Cocaine

When I was a kid living in Harlem I used to literally count the number of crack vials that lay scattered about the streets on the way home from school everyday. It was almost an adventure sadly and a thrill when stumbling across a color top that I wasn't used to seeing. Back then, I had no real understanding of the impact of what these small containers that once held small addictive rocks was. The ultimate result that their entrance in to the environment I lived in would cause. All I knew was 'Crack Is Wack', 'Say No To Drugs'. I understood at some point that both of my uncles ended up using it.

As an adult, with knowledge of the history of how this 'crack' became a dilapidating epidemic. Two questions still are left unanswered for me. 1. What company manufactured the majority of the vials back then that ended up housing crack rocks? 2. At what point did dealers stop distributing the substance in those vials, opting for tiny baggies?

Anyway I thought this was an interesting topic.

Today. Monday.

It’s about five minutes till five. I’m about to turn this light off and get this meditation music playing. I decided 6 am would be a good time to get my quiet time in.

Every morning, two cloves of garlic and a celery stalk. Some water flush it down…

Musically inclined fingers declined favors to broken guitars, wanting one last strum...