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I am a white boy (I'm more than fly for a white guy). I know my music. I love rap. No, Vanilla Ice isn't my hero and I didn't buy Eminem's CD because of the color of his skin. I have been listening to rap since the days of Run-DMC, Grandmaster Flash and when LL Cool J really was the greatest of all time.
I have noticed a trend. More and more rappers are putting out CDs as fast as possible in order to cash in on their success before a bullet cashes in on their life. The only problem is that it seems like no one can repeat the success. And often times an artist's, second or third CD is a lame attempt and consumers end up wasting their hard earned money and time.
I believe the rap industry has caused more and more people to flock to Napster (See last month's article on Napster ). Why? Let me explain. When Musician A comes out with his/her first hit CD, it totally kicks ass from start to finish. Barely six months go by and 'bam,' a new CD is out, and it still kicks ass, but not too much. Mostly the CD is filler songs and only four or five really good songs. Still, that's good. (It fills my status quo for a good CD). So, now Musician A has money, success and mad people rushing him/her to get another record out before people forget about him/her. Musician A is then scheduled to release a third CD, so a single is released several months before the LP goes on sale. What a song! Great beats, phat rhymes, some children singing the hook. As soon as it comes out, 'wham,' my money is on the counter, the CD is in my hand and I'm off to my house to give it a listen.
Whoa! Skip that song cause it sucks. The next song isn't any good either. There's the single that was phat. Here is where the CD gets good, after this song, all the others are going to be great! Nope. I should have gone to Napster and downloaded that phat single, I heard months ago, instead of putting down $14.99 or $19.99 for this crap. It seems like almost no one knows the art of improvement.