Straight off I would like to say that I am seriously getting tired of the music scene in Connecticut. By scene I mean artists. By artists' I mean all the Tom Dick and Harry's that do music, if you want to call it that. I am very lucky to have the AFA in my life, instead of Tom's Harry Dick. (No Homo)
I'm just having a hard time understanding how there could be so much ego at local venues when your performing there alongside people that are grinding just like you. I try my best to lead by example and do things for other people because I know how it feels to be alone, seriously. So if I support your whack ass album or show because I want to help you, don't you dare look over me as if I'm some sort of groupie peon. The fact of the matter is you need my help and you need that support to keep doing whatever it is you do. I understand this, how come its so hard for others to hop on this train?
.JPG)
I'm going to cover a real life situation and you tell me how you would feel if this happened to you. Ill change the names to protect the innocent but everyone who was there will know what I am talking about.
I go to this event out of pure love for my friend,(we'll call him Longshank), I could have stayed home and blew a load on the couch but I even took a shower and put on cologne for this.Anyway I get there thinking I'm gonna walk in and get started with setup, wait for my friend to get there so we can build about the set that I'm gonna help him with,talk merch and all that good stuff that goes with promoting an album. I walk through the front door and the girl says "I.D.", I show it, she says, "$5" ,which is all good. But I'm suppose to be on stage tonight. I tell her this like," Yo I'm performing with Longshank tonight." Theres no problem and she proceeds to let me go. Next thing you know some regular,fat, Kid Capri lookin mutherfucker comes out of nowhere. In fact my bad Kid Capri, you don't look this bad. Whatever we'll call him BubbleNeck. So BubbleNeck tells me, "You gotta pay the $10 dollar cover fam, Thuhh". For those that don't know, Thuhh is a 14Th century term used by the Africans from Madagascar, which consolidates the sentence DO YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING. THUHH!
Great!
BubbleNeck tells me this so I feed him the same line I fed the girl at the door, " Im with Longshank". He then proceeds to hold up the flyer and tells me I'm not on it. JERK.I already know I'm not on the flyer. I assumed he was special so I told him nicely, "Ohh I'm not performing dolo, I'm just hype for LongShank." By this time I know for sure he's special cuz he repeats himself, to assure me that I am not on the flyer. Then he tries to offer me a deal: Bubbleneck " OK well, just throw me five and carry this flyer and we'll be all good, this is my peoples event...blah blah" I was too busy looking at this chicks ass to really pay attention to what he was saying. For the record I know that when Aerosmith rocks a show they don't just let in Aerosmith and then charge their manager for admission because he/she is not on the FUCKING FLYER.
I'm all set I give him the five dollars cuz whatever the case may be I CAME TO SUPPORT. I was really trying to save that $5 bucks for a beer.
Anyway, after that fiasco, I see another friend we'll call him Uncle Jesse. Uncle Jesse is a sick graff writer and graphic design artist. Like me he comes to event to support. He has a new T- shirt out that I'm wearing right now, so I BUY ONE right in front of Bubbleneck, just to piss him off. Ha!
As I'm building with Uncle Jesse some other character known as Fat Little John With A Gold Bottom Grill walks over. Yeah that's his full name. I'll assume he was one of the organizers involved in the event. Uncle Jesse introduces us, so I tell him who I am he's like,"hi." But he doesn't even look at me and gives me the old frail hand limp dick fagot dap. You know the type where you don't even catch all the hand its just the four fingers and it slides off instead of snapping. I would have preferred a nice manly handshake if you cant get that right. Uncle Jesse starts to elaborate a little more on what it is that I do to try and establish a connection. But this dude is looking over us with this superiority complex, like there's something wrong with his eyes. Whatever I blew it off, If your a musician and you don't want to build with people who are like you theres something wrong. I got the same look from a person who I considered myself cool with that very same night. Now this guy had a pretty hot single on the radio,there were rumors he was on BET. A swagger may be necessary. But this guy who I thought I knew talked to me as if I've never laid down vocals in my life. STOP STUNTIN, WE ARE BOTH AT THE SAME BAR!IN THE SAME TOWN WE WERE BOTH BORN AND RAISED IN, YOU DO NOT HAVE A MAJOR RECORD DEAL,EVEN IF YOU DID, SO WHAT! I have a hard time understanding.....fuck it
The night goes on and Longshank arrives, and he fought valiantly to get my beer money back, but to no avail. Then I find out his set is only ten minutes long. What a bummer, so my hype man duty was not needed, which is understandable......
Now all of this may sound funny but lets analyze the situation. I go to show to support my friend and maybe meet some people but the dude at the door over charges, each act is ten minutes, and the people involved are not interested in anything but themselves. The crowd is 60% artists who feel as though if they clap for someone else they are dick riding. THIS IS A FUCKING PROBLEM WITHIN OUR CT HIP HOP COMMUNITY. STOP! HATING! STOP! STUNTIN!
I have no problem recognizing my level because I know that with hard work I can improve. Artist please recognize your level, if your still rocking the same in state venues your not that important. If we run into each other on the streets while hustling Cd's your not that important. AFA realized that almost 2 years ago. So we helped each other and performed out of state multiple times over. We sold each others material. That's what Hip Hop is about SPREAD LOVE AND STOP BEING A FUCKING ASSHOLE THAT WILL QUIT 6 MONTHS DOWN THE LINE.
peace
THEPROTEGE
