Far too often I see artists, Dj’s etc….Pulling each other down to get to the top, but at some point you have to come down, and those people you pulled on your way up will be more than happy to crap on you as you descend.  There is no need for unsigned, upcoming artists to beef from one state.  Here is a news flash in case you didn't notice.  YOUR ALL UNSIGNED, and not getting any real money.  There is a reason why in some states the ones who make it never come back and lend a hand.  Its called honesty, loyalty, and gratefulness.  That's right something that is missing from today's game.  The actual industry is already cutthroat enough, without having to fight with people in your own city that should be supporting you, and vice versa.                

 I heard that artists should be concerned with perfecting their own craft instead of collabing with artists, and using their buzz…That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  That is business first of all.  Every artist on every level does it…They create great songs together, and it helps them get better, because they put effort into the collaboration to not sound like the week link, and you open up to a new fan base.  No one wants to see the next man succeed….instead of focusing on how much pub the next person is getting create a network to properly break artists in your state.  Gather key people and resources.  The industry can't hear one person screaming, but if you scream in Unison you have a better chance of being heard.  Try this world….

Instead of asking “what can you do for me; ask what I can do for you?” 

The Mic Fiend
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Whats up everybody, once again this is “The Instant Classic” Shod Harris as I prepare for a couple of different projects that I will be working on in the next couple of weeks I have been doing a lot of listening to classic music.  I have been listening to everything from the whole Jay-Z catalog, Nas – Stillmatic, the whole Kanye West catalog, Biggie and Eminem.  For some reason listening to these albums made me think of an old interview that I saw with the producer No I.D. where he stated that the secret to get a classic album is to have one producer or one set of producers.   At first I thought this was probably the craziest thing I have ever heard because there have been a lot of albums and mixtapes that I was feeling that had multiple producers.  But I then had to keep in mind that those albums I was just FEELIN and not in love with like The Blueprint, College Dropout, and the Marshall Mathers LP. 

Even though these albums were created by artists who are completely different they do have one thing in common, they all kept either one or one team of producers throughout the whole project.  Jay-Z had Kanye West, Just Blaze and Bink working together on every track and inspiring one another.  Kanye West was keeping all of his greatest beats for his self.  Eminem had the great Dr. Dre on his side.

The reason that I feel that a single producer makes an album sound complete is that as an artist when you are working with just one producer you all will have the same vision for the whole project.  Instead of dealing with 8 producers and everyone has a different vision for your project.  That helps to make an album sound like a complete album and the songs flow together instead of it sounding like a compilation album with random tracks just being thrown together.  I have heard this happen multiple times when an artist has multiple producers on an album.  You can be an artist from the Midwest, and by having different producers you can have some tracks that sound like they belong to Young Jeezy, some that sound like the Neptunes created them and some that are extra soulful.  So your album would sound completely off.

This technique has even worked for mixtapes lately.  I feel that 2 of the hottest mixtapes of the past year have all took this advice and they have made masterpieces.  First Wale used Best Kept Secret for his whole Mixtape About Nothing mixtape and he created a very soulful project that still had that DC bounce to every track.  Even when he put instrumentals on it, it still flowed with the original tracks.  This year Drake had arguably the hottest mixtape and buzz of the year.  His mixtape, So Far Gone, featured his producer 40 who crafted beats and put together instrumentals that fitted the eerie and haunting sound that Drizzy was going for to relay his feelings and deep emotions.  If he had another producer on the tape they probably wouldn’t have been able to fully understand the music that he was creating and wouldn’t have been able to come up with the background for such a classic mixtape.  So I told you this technique definitely does work.  I bet even if you look further at some of the classic albums throughout the years they have shared this same technique.  This is just one technique that could help you create that masterpiece; I will be writing more about what I believe can help you with goal as well.  So definitely stay tuned for more CLASSICS.

-Shod Harris   

Good day to everybody this is "The Instant Classic" Shod Harris I usually don't write too many blogs.  I usually only write one when I get truly inspired.  And guess what?.......... ( You waiting!!!!!!).  Im INSPIRED!!!!!!!  There has been something that has been happening over the past couple of months that has really PISSED ME OFF.  The thing that has got me to this level of pisstivity (thats a word, look it up) is that everybody is getting upset over somebody's opinion.  From my understanding the definition of the word OPINION is a belief not based on absolute certainty or positive knowledge but on what seems true, valid, or probable to one's own mind.  To break that down for the people that were unfortunate to get out of the 4th grade that pretty much means it is just what you think about something.

So the first instance where someone was having a problem with somebody's opinion was when Joe Budden just happened to stumble across a Vibe magazine and it had a tournament for who the Best Rapper was.  He started to go down the list and he started to name names of who he THOUGHT he was a better rapper than.  He named a couple people that made the list like Melle Mel who shouldn't even have made the list in the year 2009.  Then he made an observation about another name on the list and that person was Method Man.  He started to say that as far as just rapping, not making songs, money, catalogs, or albums, but just rapping in the year 2009 that he was better.  I would personally have to agree.  Method Man hasn't really been hot as far as music is concerned since like '98.  And eventhough I feel that Budden can't really make a hot song he can rap his ass off and I don't think nobody can take that away from him.  But everybody saw the road that this took Joey.  He was threatened on multiple occassions by people calling him disrespectful and saying they were going to slap the shit out of him.  Which to me is far more disrespectful than somebody saying that they want to battle you to see who is the better person.  This also led to him getting punched in the face on the Rock The Mic tour by one of Raekwon's weed carriers.

The next example and the most recent one is Mr. Outspoken himself, Kanye West.  He has been known to voice his opinion about any and almost everything.  My girl actually said that he just got this way after he made a couple of albums.  I had to make her realize that he came in the game this way.  I don't think she remembered when he threatened to do something crazy if he didn't win a Grammy for The College Dropout.  But at the VMAs this year when Taylor Swift won the award for Best Female Video, Kanye came up and stated that Beyonce had the best video that year with her Single Ladies Video.  I personally thought it was toss up between her and Lady Gaga but thats MTV for you.  After this happened there was all sorts of backlash from this event.  It went as far as the President calling him a jackass.  He has apologized numerous times because he has hurt Taylor's feeling and took her moment.  Don't get me wrong he was dead wrong for coming on stage during her acceptance speech, but he shouldn't have to apologize for what he said.  I was actually thinking the same thing.  Her video was regular as hell.  I could have made that video in my old high school and the girls' field hockey team.  This has been on the news and the entertainment channels for the past week.  All he did was gave his opinion about something that he felt strongly about.  Its real bad when we are ridiculing somebody for their independent thoughts.  Since then I have started to encouraging people to just say whats on your mind.  I have started to say exactly whats on my mind and it makes me FEEL GREAT.  I would like to see more artists express their opinions more.  If someone feels that Eminem sucks then they should definitely say it.  If someone feels that Shakira can't dance somebody should battle her to a breakdancing contest.  If somebody feels that 50 Cent is a bitch they should tell him that (Ummmm with that last statement, that might not be a good idea).  But really though speak what the hell is on your mind and DON'T APOLOGIZE for the way you FEEL about something.  Now thats CLASSIC!!!!!!!

-Shod Harris

  It's been a while since we last spoke.  I think about you all the time.  What you're doing, where you're at, and if you're happy now.  You don't need to apologize for your absence from us.  You were right to leave.  We took advantage of you, and didn't even pay you proper respect.  We took it upon ourselves to try and fix you, but the fact was you weren't even broken.  Since you have been gone we have had many attempts to imitate you.  Some have worked, but most have failed.    

  Majority of the world is waiting for your return where others are capitalizing on your departure.  The new wave of music is consumed with money.  They will sing Jimmy Crack Corn in order to make a buck.  No morales or integrity in the industry anymore.   No more making a good album just a catchy song.  No more selling platinum or gold.  Only selling ring tones and singles; I really can't remember the last album I bought. Well now BP3,  The radio has brain washed us into thinking that they break records…Artists send out endless music for free but It's illegal to download.  The Mixtape isn't an occasion it just clogs my inbox.  Gone are the days of DJ Clue, DJ Whoo Kid, P-Cutta, DJ Drama, & K-Slay Mixtapes that you couldn't wait to come out.  Now you just visit a blog site, and scroll through.  Everyone is too scared to hear something new so they just download the same artists, and throw them in their mixes. Same songs on the radio, same songs in the club; everyone is a record breaker, without actually breaking a record.  I don't blame them though.  We have lost guidance and understanding of what it truly means to be successful.  There is a preconceived notion that success is measured by your bank account.  Success is different for a lot of people we in music have become shallow.  We no longer do it because It's an art.  We no longer make music to express…we make music for money, which is weird, because I thought we sold music for money. 
               
  We have strayed away from loyalty, instead we turn our backs on our closest friends, we pretend to be someone else, because who we are isn't good enough, and we disassociate where we are from, and forget the people that have gotten us here.   We took a once community culture and made it a solo act.  We let money, and status change us, and what we stand for.  So even though my heart hurts for your return HIPHOP…I understand.  You saw it coming long before we did and tried to warn us.  We didn't listen…Just know you still have fans waiting for your arrival.......Until we meet again…………………

Yours Truly

The Mic Fiend

By the time I attended high school, hip hop took over my entire life from the way I talked, the way I dressed, and somewhat to the way I thought. Growing up as a teenager in the Golden Age of Hip Hop, I was blessed with hearing classic albums such as "The Chronic", "Illmatic", "Enter The 36 Chambers", "Ready To Die", "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx", and "Reasonable Doubt".

Hip Hop was thriving as the newest and most popular genre of music. Everyone was winning. The consumers received a great product and businesses received huge profits. But with anything great, someone is gonna find a way to maximize the profits, even if that means striping away the elements that made the product good....the love. People began to involve themselves in Hip Hop not because they loved the music, but because they saw the pot at the end of the rainbow. Eventually the classic albums became more rare, record companies spent less on artist development, and everyone needed a radio single already packaged just to get signed.

As a DJ, its our duty to keep the music alive. Its our job to break records by individuals who LOVE the music, not because someone paid us to do so. Of course everyone has to make a living, but the money should be a bi-product, not your motivation. Ringtone rappers didn't kill hip-hop. Southern rappers didn't kill hip-hop. Expanding its commercial appeal didn't even kill hip hop. What's killing Hip-Hop is greed.