« Proe @ The Red Devil Lounge
Back To The Future. »

Chick-o-Stick pick of the week. 2008 EDITION #5

So I got into this whole thing with one of the opening acts at this weekends Too $hort show regarding the whole idea of “Pay to Play”. Those of you unfamiliar with the terminology I’ll break it down real quick. Bands/Acts get a set amount of tickets to sell.. they sell em’ and turn in the money for the tickets sold. Some promoters give the bands excess tickets to work with so they can make profits. I use quotes around pay to play because pay to play only exists for acts with no draw..meaning, nobody gives a shit about your group or your fucking shit ass music! I mean really, if you and your band can’t get 30 people out to a show…you should probably quit.

This is what allot of groups don’t understand about promoters. 1. We pay for the headliner, their hotels, transportation and rider. 2. We pay for the venue, rent, bar guarantees and staff 3. We are solely responsible for the loss if the show does poorly at the box office 4. We pay for promo, flyers, ads and radio spots. We don’t want shitty shows.. or shitty opening bands. But it’s sometimes unavoidable. With home studios and the advent of auto-tune aka Studio Magic a shitty live act can sound great on a CD and ass on stage. On a personal note I hate the idea of high presale tickets but if I ask a group to sell 30 tickets with a month to do so and you get to be direct support for fuckin Too $hort on a Friday night in the Bay! You better fucking move those tickets bud because it ain’t that hard. How do I know this? I had to do it for nearly 2 years in L.A. Where I had 5 existing homies and my wife! I went out there and sold the shows..contacted ticket brokers, built relationships, put flyers in windshields, stuck comp tickets in L.A. Weekly’s and stood out side of shows I should have been watching handing out flyers and selling motherfuckin tickets! Why? Because I earn my shit.. nobody came to me saying we’ll give you x amount of dollars to play with so and so.. this market is far too competitive. It’s built on relationships and hustle. Something allot of these bitch ass rappers don’t know shit about. Because now, now I’m golden. I can walk into just about any venue, any night no matter who’s playing and check the scene. I can call almost any booker in this town and book my group..because I built the relationships. Because we killed it when we got our one chance and because we’re respectful and everyone from bar staff to the door guy knows us by name. It sickens me when I hear groups crying about having to put work in. As if just making the music was enough to warrant a windfall of success and money. Sorry honey bunches but shit don’t work that way. Now there are always going to be exceptions.. but no act has ever just popped up and gone far without at the very least, building key relationships…that’s my rant. Have a great week.

Here’s some music. Two of my favorite verses one from Pharoahe Monch and the other from the Bay’s own Lateef the Truth Speaker.

CLICK TO HEAR

organizedkonfusion.jpg

Po’s verse is no slouch either but, how are you gonna come off after Monch destroys like that?!

CLICK TO HEAR

ss006_small.gif

Both verses on this song are equally impressive for different reasons.. I can’t call it. Have a great week and please feel free to dicuss any of the above with me.. I hope ya’ll do.

-Steb

Posted by No Wonder on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 3:34 pm.

10 Responses to “Chick-o-Stick pick of the week. 2008 EDITION #5”

Sorry I made that Wu thing so complicated.

Left by Rich C. on February 25th, 2008

Big up for highlighting the best verses the above artists ever did…if either was suffering at the hands of the Canibus Syndrome, those verses would be to blame. Pharoahe Monche got Rhyme of the Month in the Source for this Bring It On verse (if I recall), and it’s probably (in my opinion) the best example of that flibbity-bibbity vocabulary flow that sucks so bad in the hands of those who can’t handle it correctly. But OK kills that style all over their second album. Eat your heart out, Aesop Rock (just kidding, big fan, let’s collab, et cetera).

And the Wreckoning is my favorite Lateef song by far, better than all the Latyrx stuff and everything else that followed — maybe because it hews a little closer to the “classic”, less-experimental-and-abstract hip-hop mode that I prefer. The track (pretty music + hard drums = my favorite beat-style) and the rap (here’s a great way to start your verse: “Look, bitch…”) combine to form a soothing song which is, at the same time, a savage beast. “Perhaps it’s best for everybody if we just cut short.” What else can you say? This song is so tight, I don’t even mind that the whole second verse about a rotting corpse (normally not my cup of tea).

Nice picks, B…

Left by Grip Grand on February 25th, 2008

I feel like I read part of a new “Entourage” script…Chico is a boss

Left by Q'm on February 25th, 2008

Actually Richie..you are and this whole crew is an example of hustle done right! Using all your resources and getting it done. To be fair ya’ll should have had the opportunity to make some dough off that show…

Left by Steb on February 25th, 2008

who is steb?

Left by shalem on February 26th, 2008

Steb is our good friend Steve from the popular hip hop group Ostrichhead that you might know from their Good Morning America appearance. He is also the reason that the Rec opened for Wu Tang and Digital Underground in recent weeks. He is a General amongst Privates and let it be known that Richie Cunning hereby vouches for him.

Left by Richie Cunning on February 26th, 2008

roger, roger. i agree with everything steb wrote. i have to say i am not a fan of the “pay to play” it crosses a lot of lines. i think an artist should have enough pride in their work/show to demand to BE paid. i agree with steb about “you should probably quit” if it comes down to paying to do shows.

it’s also similar to another phenomenon that is pretty exclusive to the rap world… paying an artist (rapper/producer) who you don’t know to work with you. there really isn’t any integrity in that.

more times than not opening acts detract from the experience of the entire night… i would prefer a dj. i’ll take a mediocre dj over a mediocre rap group any day.

Left by shalem on February 26th, 2008

I hear what your sayin shalem… but try pulling that pay me shit in L.A. as a new group and be prepared to have people laugh at you while their closing the door in your face. Now if you’ve already established yourself in another market and that has resulted in significant buzz, then yeah..get paid, I know you’ve played all over the world and have gotten paid i’m sure, You’ve earned it. Payed your dues. This market (Los Angeles) just rarely allows that to happen. (NOTE: I don’t want to see it in the Bay ever again!)

Here’s a perfect example: The now huge and famous band One Republic has always had ties to Timberland but, that wasn’t enough in L.A. When they started playing out in this market..they sold tickets. Not only sold them but blew them out and usually walked with not only a sold out show but, a grip of cash they otherwise wouldn’t have received. Eventually they were able to turn that into door splits and soon guarantees..then, when they needed favors like say an 8:00pm showcase at the Viper for Sony, Warner and Universal Music all they had to do was call and next thing you know their signed. And their single reaches number one even though it’s four years old. Anyhow, the point is many groups start there and while less reach the end game desired it’s the process that has been in place since G&R. Now further down the road her there’s a little hipster community called Silverlake. Silverlake has a penchant for breaking really good or just weird bands and sending them on their merry way.. Arcade Fire, Silversun Pickups are some recent alum. But even more bands fizzle out and just dissapear.

Left by Steb on February 26th, 2008

no doubt, if you want to talk about over-saturated music markets it has to be LA, NYC, and ATL. I would want no part of LA if I was just starting out trying to “make it”… you know what other market is not my cup of tea… the bay. After moving back to the East coast and djing for a couple months i’ve realized just how much i really don’t like “hyphy” music.

*richie i LOVED that verse you did on the drum pt. 2. especially the part where you made fun of all the hipster/hyphy clothes. You really broke em down. you are going to get some funny looks bringing hardcore NYC rap to frisco… it’s great. by the way, there are some lines in there that sound familiar, like maybe you wrote them to an incredibly amazing beat…

Left by shalem on February 26th, 2008

fuck LA

Left by your mom on May 5th, 2008

Something to say?