Reign of Independence Pt. 2: My Low Budget Album is Better Than Your Big Budget Album

The year 2011 is starting off strong with its quality of hip hop albums. Saigon finally releases his Just Blaze produced, multi-year old album The Greatest Story Never Told. Raekwon unleashed Shaolin vs. WuTang, a long player that harkens on the sound of the Rza circa 1993. Pharaohe Monch gets the assist from Duck Down on W.A.R. (We Are Renegades). In addition, Cunnilynguists released Oneriology to the adoration of their worldwide fan base. It is only April. Yet, there are at least four albums demanding respect and critical acclaim.

The ironic thing is this: they are all independent albums.

Saigons’s album was released on Suburban Noize, known for its “greener artists”. Raekwon, with EMI distribution, was released on his own ICEH2O label. As mentioned before, Dru Ha and Buckshot put out W.A.R. Oneriology was released through QN5. Four great albums released to rave reviews under minimal budgets.

So, one may wonder about the major releases that has been anticipated this year. Well, we can look at two of those albums right now: Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers and Wiz Khalifa’s Rolling Papers.

Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers has been talked about enough by me. No more words need to be given for my dislike of it. Rolling Papers, however, is a different story. Wiz’s lyrics remain intact and the album is good. Yet, there are still some glaring differences between this album and his highly heralded Kush & OJ. The production on Rolling Papers is more “industry friendly” and less organic/experimental. Some of the songs are especially made for mainstream appeal. In the end, it can be said that some of the major label albums sound really “commercialized”.

Honestly, any hip hop listener shouldn’t be surprised by what they have witnessed.

Independent albums have the benefit of allowing artists to do what they do best: be them. In many cases, independents want to capitalize on the artist. They want the artist to make their music the way they make it. Independent sign artists to be themselves, not a concoction of a musician predisposed for super download sales and background IKEA soundtracks. In reality, it makes more sense to expand on what exists and not change the musician or the music.

The habit of independents making excellent music is nothing new. In the south, Rap A Lot was a long standing representation of great music. 2 Live Crew was independent also. Even in the west coast, many artists (Too Short, E-40, Mac Dre, the vast majority of the Bay Area, etc.) came up independently. Respectively, the independent route was the way non-New Yorkers made a living and succeeded.

Yet, just because New York and LA has major label offices does not mean that they never fostered their own independent movements.

The most notable independent movement for non-commercialized hip hop music showed up  full force during the late 90’s. Three labels come to mind: Rawkus, Fondle ‘Em, and Stonesthrow.

Rawkus was the most visible and successful commercially. Fondle ‘Em served as a boutique label for Bobbito Garcia. He liked certain unsigned artists and released their music. The same can be said for

Peanut Butter Wolf’s Stonesthrow. Although not a boutique label, Stonesthrow was a full independent force. The label would release seminal music from old funk artists, forgotten about songs, crate dug treasures, and hip hop artists that made music that they liked. With fervent focus, the late 90’s built a movement of music based on making music without caring what people thought.

The only label that tried to be commercial was Rawkus, which brought about its eventual demise. Then again, I knew things were going downhill when EL-P preferred sleeping sodomy to working with the label again.

So, why is being independent so much of a choice for today’s artists?

For one, it tends to not be a choice at all. In today’s musical climate, A&R (artist and repertoire) work is limited. As well, most labels sign artists that create their own buzz and music movements. Many major labels, due to decreases in profits, do not give the same advance money they gave in the past. Thus, artists today have to work for themselves or build teams around them. This tends to force artists to be more knowledgeable of the footwork needed for their own careers. In turn, present label practices make artists fend for their own success.

The second reason is the need for some experienced artists to thrive. There are musicians that are seasoned vets in need of career sustenance. They may have fallen out of favor with labels. However, they still have fans and still demand tour money. So, they can either let their careers die or keep working. Like any enterprising person, they choose to keep working.   

A third reason depends upon the dwindling sales of artists. Albums are not selling CD’s like they used to. Having an album that very few people may even buy is not cost effective on a major label. Independent situations usually bring better per unit money for artists. With that said, why go to a major label when your chances recouping your money are getting slimmer?

The last reason deals with technological advances of the medium. Technology has been the gift and curse of the industry. It has given fans faster/easier access to music. Yet, it is a significant part of the reason that sales are dwindling. File sharing allows fans to get music at the ease of a stroke across the keyboard. What many artists have done is kept releasing free music and mixtapes to gear them for an impending album release or just to build a following for successful touring and merchandise sales. Also, many artists don’t need major channels to get their music on internet sales sites. An artist can as easily contact I-Tunes or have a CD Baby account and be on all the respected digital download sites. In the end, technology has opened artists to the opportunity of truly controlling their sales careers.

If this has been a lot for you to read, consider this equation:

Past independent examples + need to survive + technological advances= more independent functioning.

Major money and major music are not synonymous anymore. Artists are finding themselves creating music with half the monetary hassle. They can also make their kind of music and master their own fates. The state of the music industry has only made independence more feasible. Thus, it remains to be seen how major labels will function in the future, if they exist as they once have.

Reign of Independence Pt. 1- Lupe's Fiasco

In my ominous, humbled opinion, Lasers sucks.

The most disgraceful thing about it all is that it has less to do with Lupe and more to do with Atlantic.

Lasers was supposed to be Lupe’s crowning moment. After releasing seminal hits with his first two long players, fans were clamoring for the third to be a masterpiece. Between his mixtape full of other artists’ tracks ripped to shreds (Enemy of the State) and a Soulja Boy response single (SLR), greatness was expected. Additionally, he was selling a single on I-Tunes. That single (The Show Goes On) eventually went gold. Thus, it was expected that Lupe would do what he is known for: complexity laced beautiful music.

Did he do that? No.

In fact, he went the route of irony. His album cut-turned-video “Dumb It Down” was his declaration of artistic independence. If Atlantic was the British, Lupe would be considered a leader in the Boston Tea Party. Rarely has a hip hop artist, on a major label, noted that they would do it their way. This type of action only came from your Jay-Z’s, Tech-9’s, and (hilariously) RA Da Rugged Man’s. With that song, Lupe had more juice than Bishop.

And just like the end of the movie, Lupe’s artistic momentum fell a ledge.

Why the big change up? Atlantic wanted to fix something that was not broke.

Artistically, Atlantic was not being intelligent. Lupe has a solid fan base of at least 300,000-500,000 guaranteed fans willing to buy his album. He can create a gold single. He can collaborate with almost any artist he feels the need to. He can even snag endorsements and get worldwide recognition. In the end, Lupe is productive enough to be the artist he chooses to be.

Which begs the question: what happened?

I’ll tell you what happened: Atlantic got greedy.

Due to the envisioning of dollar signs, Atlantic wanted more. They wanted more albums sold. They wanted more digital downloads. They wanted more radio spins. They wanted that Black Eye Peas money. However, they didn’t read the present memo: most hip hop heads don’t really care for the Black Eye Peas. Commercial music lovers clamor for them. Hip hop heads are still looking for the group that made “Falling Up”.

If anyone was observant, the warning signs were apparent quite early. Two artists serve as perfect examples of Atlantic messing up a good thing: Saigon and Apathy.

Saigon’s Atlantic relationship can be seen as rocky at best. Although he was signed under the Fort Knox imprint (Just Blaze), he still ran into drama with the label. Being shelved, he ended up in precarious artistic situations (beef with Joe Budden, beef with Prodigy, putting out subpar material, and losing momentum). Eventually released, Saigon found a label home with Suburban Noize Records. Repackaging the album, he put it out amongst a skeptical public.

After purchasing/hearing the album, it became perfectly clear that Atlantic was NOT the label for Saigon. With all intents and purposes, Saigon probably has one of the best (if not the best, depending upon public opinion) albums to come out. And this is material that is 3-5 minimum years old.

Apathy, on the other hand, has a whole different story. Signed directly to the label, Apathy never released anything for them. Ultimately, he got fed up and left. Afterwards, he has released a slew of material and is gearing up to put out Honkey Kong. Nifty title, if I say so myself.

The Apathy story is far from over.

In an interview with hiphoopdx.com posted in December of 2010, he noted that Lupe needed to “jump ship” and “go cake off your own s**t independently. Or go with somebody who completely gets Lupe Fiasco like Kanye West’s label or some s**t like that.”

The problem with major labels is that their business model is dysfunctional. Before, labels made money off of album and single sales. However, sales have decreased over the years. To make up for lost profit, labels now have 360 deals. That way, if you are a newer artist, they make money on everything you stamp your name on. This includes concert sales and merchandising.

Industry wide, veteran artists cannot fathom signing such a deal. This deal is especially ludicrous when major labels do LESS to promote and market their artists.

Another problem with major labels is that they did not take advantage of the digital download movement. When file sharing became popular, many execs either ignored it or chose to fight against it. Napster, a downloading forum, went through litigation hell (shout out to Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning). Even people were sued for file sharing. All of this hard work was all for naught. Physical sales have diminished percentage wise year by year. In fact, hard copy album sales peaked at 785.1 million units in 2000. In 2010, there were 236.2 million units sold. Yet, I-Tunes sales have increased year by year.

Oh, and did I mention that labels are losing like Charlie Sheen in the negative zone?

Then, there is the issue of free music. Many hip hop artists are technologically savvy. Some are opting to go the mixtape route to be heard. Others give out free music through free EPs (free(ep)s). This can be troubling for labels because they don’t make any real money. Also, too many mixtapes tend to be more musically sound than their album counterparts. In addition, there are artists that could care less about selling an album. Those artists have concert shows, endorsements, and merchandise to sell. Last, there are no labels for some of those artists to share in something they did not help acquire.

Lupe is going to be okay. His album is moving units. He will do shows and generate income. He will have side businesses to make money. Yet, his Atlantic contract is a hindrance. They either need to respect his artistry or set him free. He has too much of a fan base to deal with such. Lupe needs to leverage himself into a better situation.

‘Nuff respect and ‘Nuff said.