On February 21, 50 Cent uploaded on YouTube his latest jam The Funeral. Folks who love storytelling rhymes will definitely enjoy this. The story even includes women pulling weaves during the funeral. I hadn’t heard funny shit like since the 90’s.
According to Source magazine, 50 Cent left Shady/Interscope Records and headed to independent label Caroline. His upcoming album Animal Ambition is set to released June 3.
If you hadn’t heard, digital music sales dropped in 2013. Here’s five reasons why black people and black artists shouldn’t give a shit.
Borrowed from Sodahead.com
1.Sales for r&b/hip-hop didn’t go down. As everyone else is crying the blues, “black” music still sells. EDM was the only other music which made money.
2.Not one black artist had a number one pop single in 2013. Black artists reached Billboard’s Number One as guest stars on a white artist’s song. Seeing that black artists couldn’t reach number one on the pop charts, why should black people feel sorry for “white” music? Especially when “black” music still sold.
3. YouTube is rigged. Billboard now counts YouTube views as means for chart rankings. Yet, some folks have been caught rigging views on YouTube. Sure, you’ll hear about black artists. Yet, as you can see, they still didn’t gain Number One on the Singles Pop Chart. So, guess who else might have been cheating too. Not to say rigging is right. Still, if the rig wasn’t in the black artist’s favor, why should black people care about “white” music?
4.The media makes a big deal out of white artists. You see it all the time on the cover of music magazines. Always some music magazine tells you about so-called, important, white musicians you should pay attention to. Plus teen magazines are always spotlighting cute white teens over black ones. After all that hype, people still aren’t buying “white” music. So, whose fault is that? Black music lovers?
5.As a white rapper took home most of the 2014 Grammy rap awards, black artists still either won or were nominated in other genres. The group Alabama Shakes was nominated for Best Rock Performance. The group’s lead singer, Brittany Howard, is biracial. Her mom is white and her dad is black. Gary Clark Jr. was nominated for Best Rock Song. Darius Rucker won Best Country Solo Performance. As you can see, black artists still gain recognition, even in genres traditionally seen as white.
Something worth knowing about illegal downloads: Instead of blaming shitty music for sales dropping, music labels are blaming illegal downloads and streaming music. If illegal downloads and streaming music was such a problem, why didn’t sales go down for r&b/hip-hop? Some racists might want to say that crowd don’t know how to steal music. Well, if rock and pop fans want to pat themselves on the back for thieving knowledge, more power to them.
Another thing,it has been found AGAIN illegal downloading don’t hurt music sales. Actually, the ones who steal music also buy music. So, I guess hip-hop and EDM fans know more about music piracy than anyone else.
After my five reasons, why should black people and black artists worry about digital sales dropping? As you can see, “black” music still benefits. The music industry didn’t care about black consumers and black music. They kept focusing on white entertainers and lost money big time. As Justin Timberlake is considered r&b, even he didn’t sell as many albums as he used to. In seventeen days, Beyonce’s album reached 1.3 million. In seventeen days, she already made it half-way near Timberlake’s 2.3 million albums. So, why the fuck should “black” music lovers and black people worry about other genres and white artists not selling? If anything, some folks in the music industry need to be fired.
Last Tuesday, I performed another DJ gig at The Peacock Room, an Orlando bar. During my gig, a guy named The Shinobi MC was scheduled to perform. Truth be known, I was expecting another MC with the name Shinobi. Yet, this Shinobi’s performance did not disappoint.
The highlight of the evening was his performance with MC Shammers, an MC whose performance I witnessed before at a nerdcore event.
As the instrumental of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments” played, the two rhymed about being gangsta penguins.
The DJ Stone Crazy Spot 