By: Rasheem Johnson
It started with Kanye West. His first album, which many consider to be a decade defining classic, was structured around the main idea of dropping out of college and following your dreams. The album was laced with skits that aimed to debunk the myth that a degree = placement in the corporate workplace. To an extent this is true, many folks with degrees are working as a manager at your local retail spot. Still, it was exaggerated and spawned a new generation of “entrepreneurs” dead set on saying fuck school I’m going after my dreams.
Fast forward to the present. Everyone is online. Your mom is online. Your cat has a Facebook. It is being rumored that Jesus will make his return via tweet, and the revolution will not be televised but it will most likely be a trending topic. The Internet has become a global village where anyone can exercise their 1st amendment and laissez faire runs rampant. All those kids I mentioned earlier are now using the Internet to jumpstart their “careers”. I say “careers” and “entrepreneurs” in quotation marks, because many of these people aren’t making money. You have to make money in order to use either of these terms.
The worst part of it all, 90% of it all is terrible. Sure anyone can make an album these days, or set up a magazine site, or post a short film on vimeo, but that doesn’t mean everyone should. There is a reason why there are schools for audio engineering, journalism, and film. It’s because these things are skills that need to be honed and mastered. Now we’ve got music videos from people who don’t even know what mise en scene is, and articles that are loaded with fragments and terrible paragraph structure. Because the Internet is so easy to use and everyone is on it, the so-called entertainment business is completely oversaturated.
Let me let you kids in on a little secret America doesn’t want you to know. We cannot all make it. It’s illogical to believe that everyone can make it, when at the end of the day someone has to mop the floors of the big corporate building. It definitely wont be the CEO. With that said, America is banking on the failure of others in order to keep this machine going. If you all make it, then this whole thing shuts down, and no one can make money, and if no one can make money then no one really “made it”. Bottom line: over saturation is BAD.
The Internet has created a world where there are too many writers and not enough readers, too many directors and not enough viewers, and worst of all for me, too many rappers and not enough listeners. That guy that’s mopping the floor in the corporate building is supposed to use your magazine, music, or film as a form of escapism to get away from what he perceives as a pathetic life. The reason he feels his life is pathetic is because magazines, videos, and music tell tales of a life he cannot obtain in his own, or represents extremely beautiful people he does not look like. As long as our lonely floor mopper (not a word but whatever, it’s the internet people!) feels useless and pathetic he will continue to buy and support products from our entertainment world. It’s a sad truth but it’s the truth and it works people. If our floor mopper decides to start his own magazine online then we’ve just lost a customer. If many of the people like him do the same we lose even more customers.
Everything I’m saying in this article has been said before and stressed and heard over and over. Every aspiring rap star has heard that the game is getting more and more oversaturated because the Internet makes it entirely too easy to sell your music. So why are people still rapping? For one thing, our country has told us that quitters never win (the same country that is banking on our failure to keep things moving. Do you smell bullshit?). Secondly, we’ve got in our minds that we are different from all the other folks that have tried. When someone tells us to quit we say, “Hey man no one thought Jay-Z would make.” Great comeback, but not really. Using any rap artist as your reason for continuing your pursuit of happiness completely defies the laws of logical thinking. You don’t use that way of thinking for anything else, so why use it for consideration of your future. 
When someone tells you 3% of the people who eat chocolate die from heart attack you still go and buy that Snickers bar. You seem to have a grasp on how percentages work, yet you use multi-millionare rappers that only represent about 3% of the people who have tried to make in the rap world as your reason to continue your pursuit. Not very logical when you think about it. Don’t get me wrong follow your dreams and go for it. Put your all in to it, and try your best. 3% is still a chance, but please have a backup plan. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; get yourself a viable skill or a degree. Sure many folks with degrees are unemployed, but when there is a job opening in the corporate world, they are more likely to get the job than your non-degree having ass. If you fail, just remember you are still an important piece of the machine. The world needs more readers; we have way too many writers.
Yo that was a depressing true realization. U shot down mad dreams in their. But so true. That boy good
So its iheartdolla
I understand your point. You say “90% of it is terrible”, which, to a critic, is probably true. Woody Allen, who was nominated for a bunch, and won a few Oscars, never went to the ceremonies. He only first went to the Oscars after 30+ years in the business in 2001 to help support NY film making after 9/11. He said that competition between art didn’t make sense. I feel the same way. I think after ~1-3 years 90% of those rappers give it up. It seems like there are so many rappers because as soon as one moves on another one decides “you know what let me try this”. It’s all good. There are millions of people who are great guitar players who’ve never been on a stage. The people who don’t give it up – the ones who continue to practice are the one’s who will “succeed”. Hard work DOES pay off. That goes for any craft/trade/talent/skill.
I make music. I don’t do it for “success”. I’m going to quote two Beatles(because true music is universal, whether it is Hip-Hop or whatever) here:
(….for the janitor)
“I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping, while my guitar gently weeps” ~George Harrison
(…for the stagehands, the crew)
“You think you’re so clever, and classless, and free, but you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see” ~John Lennon
Music should make you think or soothe your mind. If you’re making music for any reasons beyond that then I don’t know what to say. Money is irrelevant. (besides – Jay-Z makes more money from FASHION than he does music) Aesop was a slave who owned nothing in the time of the Greeks, yet his words are eternal. I say to artists reading this, are you writing for tomorrow’s success or are you writing for generations to come?
yes, the world is full of writers…but if this guy could stick around just a little longer…maybe we could all live.
great fucking piece. kudos.
wow. good article.
Rasheem, you and I both know that the percentage of multi-millionaire rappers in the world is WAY less than 3%. The chance to win the lottery is similarly small, and yet people still spend ungodly amounts of money on lottery tickets.
Who’s to blame for the oversaturation? I think you give too much credit to the Internet and Kanye. It’s really the baby boomer generation and early Gen-X’ers who told their kids “You can do whatever you want when you grow up as long as you work hard and follow your dreams.” This may have been a well-intentioned lie, but clearly it was a lie.
Great article bro.
I agree. Yet, the internet has shown to be a great equalizer. But yes there should always be the practical plans and Plan B’s to follow.
yooooooooo…..wasn’t expecting that…great article, well written, and I appreciate how refreshing it was…cause I was thirsty..lol…jokes aside….DOPE.
that was cute. but please realize this is a fart that was smelled. we’re all teapots and kettles. it take a tuff guy to say it. it needs to be said but it’s a reminder rather than a revelation. thanks!!!
I wish everyone could be appreciated for their artistic abilities, at least 39 people.
it’s a good feeling worth sharing.
as a producer, i don’t think i can touch a lot of my peers, but I continue not because i want to make it big but because I am having fun. RAZ… gaining a skill other than rappin or djaying is crucial!!! great point!!! I have met a lot of teapots and kettles, and i love finding out what else they know about and what other skills they possess. I sometimes like it more than their music. we need more carpenters. THE CARPENTER!!!! ..heed my warning.. it’s coming
I think people know this deep down but like you said, America doesn’t breed quitters. It doesn’t breed people that want to have a regular job and family, cause if you’re the UPS guy and your brother is a “star”. Guess who mom s more proud of? Not you or at least not in that gush over you tell anyone who will listen way…
I’m thankful I have other skills and my degree (no matter how ornamental) cause I’m using plan B to fund Plan A. Either way, I win…
Good article Raz!
Thank your opening up the forum on a very serious topic – the saturation of hip hop entrepreneurs without back up plans. You made an interesting analogy by comparing the saturation of the internet and the rap game.
Although, I slightly differ with the internet as having too many writers and not enough readers (as a bad thing, I believe it’s a good thing)… I do agree that the internet has allowed too many rappers and not enough listeners.
Please allow me to clarify my thoughts about the Internet. I love the internet! It is producing a highly evolved society. In the past decade or so, the internet has evolved from Web 1.0, where the few publish information and users are just the recipients of information – to Web 2.0, where the users are the chief architects of information. Today, everyone is a contributor and disseminator of knowledge (insights and experiences). Although everyone seems to have a site and platform to share their talents, knowledge and entrepreneurial endeavors, Web 2.0 has created a more enlightened community, where everyone (at least the majority) is allowed to respond to what they read…. like this blog. I believe that the internet will never lack readers. I think it is great that we are living in an age where our children no longer have to passively accept information, they can respond and contribute information.
When it comes to hip hop… the internet has created more opportunities for aspiring rappers to share their talent and possibly try to make it big. YES, there are many that are delusional, and the truly talented artists are losing listeners because that delusional guy/ gal believes that they can get their hustle on and make it big because of the internet. It is a big dilemma, especially in the Black community, where you find the majority of the sisters attaining their post-secondary degrees while the brothers prefer to stay without because they are focused on their rap game without having a viable plan to support and build their community.
As someone with multiple degrees and a professional academic, yet BROKE, I understand where Kanye was coming from with College Dropout. His mother (may she rest in peace) was an academic, but she gave Kanye the educational foundation for him to be able to survive in this society without a college education, even if he was not in the rap game. If a rapper can’t spell, write a complete sentence or read, he definitely needs to pursue higher education or a valuable vocational skill. Most importantly, the rapper’s back up plan should always be to meet his/ her responsibilities within the community and in the lives of those who depend on him.
I hope your blog posting has enlightened many. I am a fan of yours… and I am NOT an aspiring rapper, so you are actually gaining listeners and now a reader… We are looking forward to more!
One more thing… TastyKeish’s post has a great strategy.
This is an great article! The truth that we all need to see
Excuse me, *The reality we all need to see
*applause*
As a journalist, I often hear fellow writers (up and coming or established) say that the internet has let many disillusioned and woefully illiterate people think that they can piece together an article (or a magazine). I completely agree that not everyone should have a magazine site or become video directors. The quality of work suffers. However, to me quality (or the quantity of the bad) isn’t really what people are complaining about.
The issue that journalists have is that they are becoming the janitors (or the floor moppers, lol). What I can charge for an article now is nearly one third of the price I would have charged a few years ago. Those job openings in the corporate world you speak of are hard to come by, so after going to school are 4 years to gain a journalism degree, you’re stuck fighting it out with other journalists who have twice your experience. Meanwhile the writer without a degree is making money off of online advertisements, and getting the connections you would kill for. So, the college educated journalists, audio engineers, or film directors find themselves in need of a backup plan because the overnight “entrepreneurs” are relatively speaking, succeeding.
It’s true: Everyone can’t make it. But, those who complain the loudest usually sound like they are saying: “I’m mad I’m not one of the people who did (make it),” or they are claiming that the wrong people are making it (again, not the group they are in).
Is the internet in a sense oversaturated? Sure. Is it a bad thing? You really only think about it when you aren’t one of those succeeding.
As far as rappers …I find that the most talented, rich or broke, often hate how they have to compete with the untalented. Though odd, its usually those who doubt their gift, that hustle the hardest. Talent isnt enough.
“Too many emcees and not enough mics.” was the first quote I thought of when I started reading this article. You are absolutely correct; not everyone is destined to “make it”.
There has to be a BALANCE with everything, and I’m glad that you gave the janitor ‘floor mopper’ icon an insightful example. See, I work in a supermarket. Now, there are people who work in the fields and pick all the fruits and vegetables and dont get paid shit for doing all that hard labor, yet supermarkets make dough off of their labor. Now, in all reality, people like you and I dont even want to think about doing shit like that [or janitorial duties, mentioned above]. if those laborers are gone, how are the produce depts in every supermarket across America gonna survive? What about the canned goods? They wouldnt survive.
always keep your options open. everyone needs to learn a trade or something. pick up as much information as possible. educate yourselves with stuff outside the “common” practice. set yourself far apart from everyone else. People will notice you.
Oh the irony…
Talking all that “There’s too many writers” talk only works when the author uses correct punctuation and an effective introductory paragraph, among other issues.
I love the support for this piece. Now go read the rest and keep the dialog flowing!
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