Ebro Says He Got A Call From Record Labels Saying “It Should Be Noted Many Major Record Labels Have Deprioritized Signing Rappers”

[maxamusa]

"They" aren't responsible for passing down musical traditions to coming generations thats on you.

"They" not stopping you from listening to Al Green, James Brown, Louis Armstrong, Howlin Wolf, etc. If the Black youth wanted to be more in tune with their musical heritage its never been easier its a finger tap on Apple Music or Spotify away.

Dominicans of all ages dance to batcha. Haitians still listen to kompa. " They" still retain their heritage. Why the fukk can't you? Instead of bytchin and crying about it like a victim...its unbecoming of a man.

"White man stole my music and tells me to listen to only rap, now they taking it away we not gonna have no more music" victim ass nikka

Do better

Bachata was a dead genre. Aventura SAVED it. a bunch of Dominicans from the Bronx. They paid homage and remixed it and SAVED it. They were legit with the talent, original, and paid homage staying close 2 the roots. They brought that shyt current 2 new heights. went mainstream for the first time in the history of the genre.

 

[Ziggiy]

Rap will NEVER die. Its an international genre with so many sub genres now its ridiculous.

The major labels are upset because they can’t FORCE these prepackaged bullshyt wack rappers down our throats like they thought they could and the artists who are worth a damn already have they’re own movements and don’t give a flying fukk about a Major Label 360 deal when they can create and sell their OWN merch, organize their OWN tours, and release whatever and whenever they want on streaming networks. Its rappers out here with millions of views on Youtube that most of us have NEVER heard off that can eat of shows and merch

The artists signed to Major Labels seem to do WORSE than the independent rappers. Benny The Butcher signed with Def Jam and his album got pushed back. Since when the hell has ANYONE on Griselda had to push back a project when they were independent? Freddie Gibbs signed to a major and sold LESS than his previous album which was independent. Nas won his first Grammy as an independent artist after 14 nominations as a Major Label artist. Kanye’s wild ass put out an album on a fukking STEM PLAYER rather than resign with Def Jam. Joey Badass has had starring roles in THREE pretty big tv series, why would he want to share that revenue with a Major when he’s probably barely scrape 50K first week with meager marketing.

The majors don’t really offer much of anything unless your young, broke, and desperate for a chance. And we all know how those stories usually end. And even with that it seems the Majors are going against their OWN self interests by investing in novelty acts with only a 1-3 years of “star” potential. Does anybody REALLY think Ice Spice is going to be a nig name 15 years from now? Will Megan Thee Stallion go down as a rap legend? Will anybody give a fukk about a Cardi B album 10 years from now? Hell will anybody care about Lil Baby five years from now?


If anything, without Major Labels, rap would go back being a bit more regional. Local rappers will be the stars of their city/states and probably carve out more sustainable careers than the rappers of right now. Hell that might be whats best from a content perspective.

 

[Jasonmask]

Rap is fine. But I definitely believe XXX, Pop Smoke, and Juice World dying in a short time span did huge damage to mainstream rap and if they were alive things would be different rn.

Labels are playing around right now. All these women rapping yet I'm not seeing any of them reach Nicki or Cardi status when it comes to truly making money (sales, tours, merch, etc). So the labels are just playing around with attention. How much attention can they win by sampling [insert popular 80s-00s record]. How much attention can they win with the latest video curated entirely for viral moments.

Look at Drake's tour and the masterful way its being shown on social media, including him releasing album details. Look at Kendrick's album release, videos, and tour last year, culminating in that (amazing) Paris show filmed on Amazon. Look at Travis' album, which I don't fukk with but...the spectacle is what I'm talking about. There's a difference between gaining attention and creating moments. You need actual artists to create moments. Until the labels get back to trying to find actual artists, we're gonna be stuck in this circular firing squad between men mumbling over the same piano melodies and women vomiting the same 5-10 words over something Diddy sampled 25 years ago.

That’s true but this has happened in the past and we bounced back. shyt when Pac and Big died that’s like two drakes dying within a year and DMX, Eminem, and others stepped up and kept it going. The ones who tried to take that mantle couldn’t (Trippie Redd, Ski Mask etc) or got cancelled before they even got on like Tokyos Revenge. May be a hot take, but I didn’t see those artists still being relevant like that this year or the next. Juice music and X’s music was already losing that sauce that people liked while they were still alive, I don’t think it was going to get better.

These artists need to start caring again Lil Baby was supposed to have that title but dropped Mid last year.

 

[HollywoodP]

Well rappers have deprioritized signing to major labels so this doesnt seem like such a big deal. If a label sees you as marketable and superstardom is what you seek and the effort is put forth on your end...labels gonna call.

 

[sneakers&sex]

The whole investing in latin music thing now is the labels are seeing these latin artist blow up big while being independent.

Mind you independent and dominating in other country’s

You know how much daddy yankee raked up with gasolina before interscope came knocking on his door.

Its not the same independent like a local rapper from the usa.

Labels now are going for the big fish

Look at 69 he turned yailin in to a superstar and kind of revived himself through the latin market.

Hip hop has a lot of catching up to do if they want to be the biggest fish in the game.

Also add to the fact that rap has done it all already

Boom bap
Gangsta
Southern
West coast
Underground
Emo rappers
Backpack rappers
Soul sample beats
Trap beats

Everything has been done already

Final nail in the coffin is the drill rap and thot rap we have now

 

[WaveGang]

Feels like they deprioritized this long time ago.
Most rappers getting in are either connected to some big dog or made their own buzz before the labels came through.

While pop, rock and all that are basically signed “outta college” and developed by the labels

I’d agree but I think you’re wrong

I’d say cole, drake, yak etc had deals wayyy before they had public deals… that’s just off the top of my head but way more.

 

[FappleMeOff]

There’s definitely a lack of good party music in this era of hip hop. But I do think the pendulum will swing back around sooner rather than later, it always does.

Plus there’s so many more ways to access music and get discovered. Don’t really need a major label to succeed.

 

[In The Zone '98]

Don’t really need a major label to succeed.

Once you hit, they're gonna come scoop you up with the promise of more.

Can't escape them nikkas.

 

[frush11]

Y’all have valid points. The UK is a little different because as far as black folk go there’s an extremely strong African and Caribbean presence over there even more so than here. I compare afrobeats and Latin music at their peak to soccer. The whole world can recognize it as the biggest sport but here in America we do not give a fukk besides the World Cup when people pretend like they’re into it. Afrobeats and Latin music will never move the dial culturally because we do not really resonate with it outside of immigrants and first generation immigrants.

The thing is, it's more about investing into those markets.

The industry would be a fool to not invest into the African market especially Nigeria(just for the population alone) and South Africa(they'll be one off the most important hubs for Black music soon, if not already lowkey)

You got the youngest continent on this Planet

 

[Harry B]

I’d agree but I think you’re wrong

I’d say cole, drake, yak etc had deals wayyy before they had public deals… that’s just off the top of my head but way more.

That's 15 years ago.

And Cole was signed by Jay for his new label, Drake by J Prince and Birdman. And Yak, is he even signed to a major? I know he's on Thugs label but what else?

 

[Yagirlcheatinonus]

I don’t really listen to worldly music

 

[RichYung]

Lol @ this shyt

 

[RichYung]

Rap music is not making any stars anymore and rappers are falling off quick.

Nah the issue is these guys/girls come into and think they’re stars because their social media followings and blogs make them FEEL like stars due to visibility…. And their ego causes them to over shoot what they truly are.

 

[Hood Critic]

That would make sense that a label wouldn't want to sign any new acts in the climate where tickets aren't selling and shows are getting canceled. Can't put new artist in motion if you can't get them in front of perspective fans because they're not spending the money on developing the artist or allowing artist to do mixtape runs. Labels want to leverage social media followings which aren't real for the most part, so an act can catch fire and then fizzle without much return.

 

[Striving For Greatness]

It’s drake fault

And y’all done sucked his cock for too long