Be Careful Who You Vouch For

There a lot of artists that I like, but very few that I will personally cosign and endorse with my name and reputation. I will always protect my brand so I am extremely selective when I consider endorsing an artist to listeners, fans, other DJs, companies looking for music or potential sponsors, etc. A lot of artists have a dope single and there are quite a few that have dope catalogs of music, but for me to endorse and cosign an artist 100% it takes more than just a hot single or a dope album. For an artist to get my endorsement the artist has to bring a total package.

What separates one artist from another is a mix of crucial components that too many ignore. The first thing I listen for is the music and specifically the artist’s flow and cadence and delivery. Is the artist working with unique styles that are far different from the majority? I listen for a signature sound that is easily recognized as that specific artist. Take the speedy tongue twisting flow of Eclipse for example. While I know that he is not the first or the only artist rapping at warp speed, he is the best – especially in the current pool of artists. Most of them are swimming in the shallow end of the pool and Eclipse is simply rapping circles around them. Listen to Future as he takes his flow up and down like a lyrical yo-yo. His name fits his flow and the way he constantly flips from one cadence to another and slides his pitch from screwed to normal to robotic. Yes, I vouch for both Eclipse and Future.

The second thing I listen for is overall flavor. Is their overall swag something that I believe is on some next level shit? This is something I pay attention to when listening to the artist’s entire music catalog. Do they have a unique style overall with not only their flow, but their subject matter? Most rappers fall into lyrics built around lies about 3 things: money, women/sex, and/or street shit. I’m not mad at songs with that content, just bring it with some kind of unique style and keep it real. Eclipse and Future both have not just unique styles, but the way they deliver their subject matter is refreshingly honest and something that I can endorse with a straight face to any age group, any crowd, and form of media.

The third thing I look for is marketability. Is the artist marketable, meaning – would they be successful endorsements for products & services? Do they have the looks and demeanor to reach across other media forms like video or print? I’m not going to endorse an artist that just looks out of touch with the target audience. Future and Eclipse are both extremely marketable artists from their looks to their clothes to their overall style. Both of them could easily represent a clothing company/store for example. Neither will embarrass a potential sponsor with the things they say or do or deliver in their music.

Once I have found an artist with all of the above, then I check their work ethic. This is the number one thing that separates the artists I honestly support and those that I actually endorse and cosign across the board. Real life can get in the way for an artist so it’s important for an artist to set priorities and handle the top priorities quickly, but with their very best. It may be something as simple as drops for DJs, or a verse or hosting for a mixtape, or a collaboration, etc. For me as a DJ, if I bring a project to an artist requesting a verse or collaboration - that artist can be sure that I only brought it to them because I saw it as an opportunity I didn’t want the artist to miss. It may be working with an established artist like platinum-selling Donell Jones or a verse for a mixtape that is being sponsored by a potential endorsement for the artist, or simply something that is a top priority of mine and I reach out asking for help. I have to move fast often so I need to know the artists I cosign can keep up. I bring things to an artist, but I also watch to see what the artist does on their own. Are they booking shows? Are they promoting live gigs, radio shows, mixtapes, etc that they are a part of? I see a huge number of artists that don’t promote things that include them and I can’t wrap my head around that laziness. If your name is on the track listing or on the bill for a gig or your music is in the mix on radio stations it is in your best interest to promote heavy. Build your resume with mixtapes, live gigs, magazines/website features, radio spins and prove that you are good for business to those that are trying to represent for you. I will never endorse a lazy artist or one that can’t see priorities when they are juggling their daily life schedules. I see the grind from both Future and Eclipse and appreciate the work they put in and THAT is what separates them from so many other artists that I really do support, but just can’t endorse and cosign. I have to protect my brand so I won’t vouch for anyone that might flake on something that will eventually come back to reflect poorly on me because of my endorsement.

Be careful who you endorse because those you cosign reflect directly on you and your brand. I say this all the time, but I have watched so many DJs jump too fast to throw their names behind an artist that later comes back to make them look like straight ass. If the artist does or says something stupid then you better believe the second person I will distance myself from after the artist is the person that endorsed that artist. Now I question the DJ’s judgment and will always keep my guard up when that DJ comes back with the ‘next big thing’. I will also hesitate to attach my name to anything that DJ does because I don’t want to look like I’m on the team with some bullshit. This is why my list is a short and selective list. I am extremely protective of my brand and won’t vouch for anyone unless I am confident they are bringing unique styles and a work ethic that matches mine. With that said, I fully cosign Eclipse and Future.

The Best Advice I Can Offer

I recently spoke at a panel conference about how an artist self-destructs; covering points to focus on when promoting a single and/or an album. There are a lot of things artists should do such as network and build relationships with DJs, PR firms, Magazine/Website owners & editors, fans, etc. I discussed the importance of building a core group of people not just within the industry but also fans who will willingly offer help with promotions and request line blitzes. I discussed how you should never burn your bridges and how the artist must understand that people within the industry talk amongst ourselves as to which artists we support and even those we do not. AS a DJ I consider myself part of a tightly knit fraternity. For instance, if an artist disrespects a DJ many more DJs will rally around that DJ simply for the fact that we are a brotherhood by craft. If you diss one DJ I will undoubtedly think “who’s next?” The one thing I did not discuss nor did I hear discussed was all of the work that precedes the release of a single and/or album. Tonight I witnessed how an artist can destroy any hopes of a career in the music industry before ever getting to the point of pushing their first single, much less an entire album. So let me offer the best advice I can when beginning your album:

• Be VERY selective with the production you choose. Don’t listen to a beat for 30 seconds waiting to see if it will eventually flip and grab your attention. A&R’s won’t do that, DJs won’t do that, and listeners (radio/club/mixtapes) won’t do that. If the production doesn’t stand out as unique and immediately grab your attention within the first 8 bars – move on. You could even trim that down to the first 4 bars, but I’ll give ‘em 8 bars.

• NEVER select a beat with the mindset that this beat is not great but could be good filler material. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GOOD FILLER MATERIAL! An artist should never even consider wasting time with any filler material. Every song on your album should be dope and have the ability to stand on its own as the best single from the album. Never waste track space with filler material - EVER. DJs won’t play it, radio stations won’t add it to rotation, clubs don’t want to hear it, and most fans/listeners will simply press “next” and move right by it. If every song on your album does not have hit potential then you are not done working and need to either fix that or eliminate any ‘filler’ material.

• This brings me to my next point. When you are creating a song both from a producer and an artist’s perspective you need to think ahead and consider where this song has value or potential. There are basically 4 targets for a song: radio, clubs, streets, and bedrooms. When you create a song, where do you hope that song will land and are you reaching for the ultimate difficulty of straddling all four? When you are evaluating production you should already be considering where it will be successful.

• For an independent artist this next point I feel is the most important: think bigger than your zip code! If you are making music with the mindset “this will be hot on my block” then you have just narrowed your potential to the 4 corners of your block. No touring and no radio play and DEFINITELY no support beyond your block which all translates to no earning potential beyond your block. You should never thumb your nose up at any region. Doing that will simply lock your potential to the narrow demographic that everyone else in your city is targeting. If you make an entire album repping New Jersey, then you have already guaranteed no spins in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, LA, Miami, St Louis, Kansas City, etc. Majors can get away with this to some point (i.e. Jay-z and Alicia Keys hit “New York”), but an independent artist needs their music to reach way beyond their own zip code and well beyond the 200 mile radius of just their city. Think of it this way: you need radio stations to spin your music in Dallas and clubs to spin your music in Dallas so that you have enough buzz to eventually make a successful tour stop in Dallas. You can plug any other city in place of Dallas. The point is; you need to reach the widest audience possible to drive record sales, merchandise sales, touring opportunities, sponsorship/endorsement potential, and exposure/branding.

• Now for those who are not the actual artist, it is your responsibility to give honest and constructive reviews of music. If you truly support an artist and honestly want to see them succeed, then be completely honest with your feedback. Don’t bite your tongue, don’t blow smoke up their ass and tell them how great the song is, and don’t follow the pack of people with their own agenda and hopes of getting on the album with placement as a producer or a feature. If the beat is wack – tell them. Fuck the producer’s feelings. That producer should take it as a sign that they need to step their game up. If the lyrical delivery and rhyme patterns and cadence and wordplay is wack – tell the artist. Fuck his ego. He needs to go back and get a pen and a fresh writing pad and start fresh. This is where the thin line between ‘hater’ and ‘true support’ comes in. Take the time to be specific about what it is you like and/or don’t like. Saying “its wack” isn’t very helpful, but explaining that you don’t like the snare or the synths looped over an entire track is helpful and could possibly allow the producer to make changes to fine-tune the track. Telling an artist that his delivery is not unique and he needs to develop his own signature flow is helpful. I always tell artists to think of Ludacris or Busta Rhymes or Jay-Z or Rakim or Lil Wayne. These artists are immediately recognizable because o their unique styles, whether its their lyrical patterns or cadence or simply voice inflections.

So that’s the LONG somewhat detailed advice, but in a nutshell the best advice I can offer: find 10 DJs with actual credentials (radio/clubs/touring/mixtapes) from 10 different cities and hold a listening session with those 10 DJs. No one has more experience as to what is hot or not than the DJs who’s number one responsibility is to keep listeners tuned in to their radio shows, people dancing at their clubs, and hits/downloads of their mixtapes.