When It’s All Said and Done…

This is taken from Akrobatik’s blog on myspace. He’s a rapper from Boston. A really good rapper, I like him.

“…we will have no one to blame but ourselves for the death of hip-hop as we know it.

My album has been out for a week now, and as it looks there is good news and bad news. The good news is that I am among the top independent artists in the nation in terms of album sales for the week. The bad news is that my sales, along with everyone else’s, are pitiful.

I can only speak for myself here by saying simply that when there are no more good artists left putting albums out in hip-hop the fans have no one to blame but themselves. For every person that comes up to me or writes me to tell me that they think I did a great job on this record, I wonder how many of them actually bought it? Certainly not a high percentage. Most artists have it even worse.

It’s too bad, really. To hear almost unanimously across the board that my album is “bangin”, “solid”, “classic”, “amazing”, and all the superlatives I hear thrown around, I would think that the people who most want to see me succeed would actually support the cause.

Think of buying a CD as casting a vote. Just to SAY you support a candidate does not do much for their cause; you have to actually cast the vote.

Simply put, if you want another Akrobatik album, BUY THIS ONE.

If you don’t, it’s all good. I have other ways to make money. It’s just a shame that the very technology that makes it so much easier to support your favorite artists (you don’t even have to leave your fucking couch to buy an album) is the same technology that is allowing hip-hop ‘fans’ to kill the very music that they claim to love by stealing the product of hard-working, talented artists. I for one will not put my blood, sweat, and tears into another expensive-ass project that brings me to the edge of sanity just to have it stolen and passed around as if I got a 3 million dollar advance or some shit.

Don’t be surprised when there is nothing left but bullshit commercial music to choose from. And when that happens, the same people who stole an Akrobatik album, or a Little Brother album, etc, will be the ones complaining that “hip-hop” is dead. YOU ARE THE ONES KILLING IT!

Check out my Lipton Iced Green Tea commercial on the radio when you get a chance. Then ask yourself why I did it. Then pop in your CD-R with my name and album title written in Sharpie that your man gave you and bump that shit. You’re missing out on some great artwork, but hey.. fuck it.. I have other things to do besides go on a one-man ’save hip-hop’ crusade.

But I would love to hear back from you, the fans. Do you think you shouldn’t have to pay for music? I KNOW for a fact that thousands upon thousands of people have “Absolute Value”, and only a small percentage of those people bought it.

Good luck to every other artist dealing with this current fiasco (no pun intended).”