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faux_rillz
14,343 Posts
Shawnna dropped!
faux_rillz
14,343 Posts
Comments
Her comments about Def Jam make interesting reading. There seem to have been an awful lot of Def Jam releases in the last 12-18 months where, once they've tanked, the artists have gone public with lots of salty remarks about misfiring marketing campaigns, lack of promotional muscle and such-like. Now, even if you factor out the possibility that all those Def Jam bricks were just plain bad (which isn't true imho), then someone's still fucking up. If you're a label that chooses not to get behind a record because it sucks, then it does kinda beg the question; why are you releasing so many crappy records in the first place?
Well, I think the real question is why put out albums by the likes of LL, Method Man, the Roots and Shawnna at all? I guess in the hopes of squeezing whatever money you still can out of their contracts--it has occurred to me that resigning LL to a big contract was intended as an act of sabotage by Kev and Lyor on their way out the door. But if you are going to put these albums out, why throw good money after bad in promoting them? Female rappers don't sell, period. Ass-hurt forty-year-old New Yorkers don't sell, period. Self-righteous "hip-hop bands" fronted by one-note battle rappers don't sell, period.
On the flip, Def Jam has been responsible for a disproportionate number of last year's commercial successes in the rap market.
Although if you ACTUALLY talk to anyone at Def jam they are very well aware of the Roots and their sales figures. They KNOW that they sell consistently over time, where artists like Shawnna can't sell after the first week. Just sayin their are different goals depending on the artists.
The last Roots album was good.
And still sells.
Yes, but there's a clause in the contract that you have to mention it on every track.
yeah. Faux's on point re: Meth and Shawnna I guess. but the Roots -- any "self-righteousness" aside -- make money for Def Jam.
Do the Roots themselves know this?
I never really understood what all the ass-hurt was about because I thought the whole philosophy of the deal that they gave the Roots was that promotion would be minimal--they do their own promotion via touring--which would keep upfront costs down, and that the album would sell over time.
You're right that they shouldn't be clumped in with those other acts I named, though.
I think alot of the ass-hurt-ness comes via their manager who is kind of a pain to deal with. Also pretty much every artist outside of a major artist last year was pretty ass-hurt over their falling sales figures... ie Shawnna