I vented about certain types of music fans already…now I have a bone to pick with the insecure artists out there.

Every artist started out as IS a fan. Don’t get it twisted people, fans are your peers. You aren’t their superior just because they’re on the consumer side of music. SO ARE YOU. You’re a consumer the same exact way that they are. You listen to music and have your favorite artists just like they do. Not only are you in the same boat as them, but you also know how it feels to love an artist and to have them acknowledge you…and to have them ignore you. So even if you are on some sort of pedestal to them, why take advantage of that? Why not respond?

You should feel blessed to have people that support your dream…Any forward momentum is due immensely to them….and so is any backwards momentum. Keep that in mind as you ignore their comments/messages. People say “I don’t owe anyone anything, I did this all myself. I have the talent, I worked hard for this” which may be true…to an extent. You can do all the hard work and have all the talent in the world, the only way it’s going to amount to anything outside of you making music for yourself is if people support you. “Fans”. Without them, creating music is nothing but a hobby. THEY are the ones that can help you turn it into a living.

Think about it in a more general sense. You’re a creator right? You create music that people enjoy/consume. Okay. Chefs are creators too, yea? They create food that people enjoy/consume. How would you look at a chef if you went to thank him after he made a meal that you really liked… and he ignored you? What if after a class you got a lot out of in school you went up to the teacher to discuss the lecture with them and they responded with “please stop trying to have a normal conversation with me like we’re some sort of friends. I give the lecture, you listen to it, maybe occasionally I’ll take your questions in class if they’re relevant..you should appreciate the fact that I even say anything”. 

Back when you had 20-30 people listening to your music, I bet you responded to every tweet you got on twitter and every message on facebook. Every fan mattered to you…you couldn’t afford to lose a single one. Now that you have more people supporting you, they’re disposable. You don’t NEED them anymore, you don’t have to WORK to keep fans anymore. All you have to do is make the music and put it out…right?

It’s understandable that as your fan base grows to tens of thousands+ of people you can’t possibly respond to everyone, but please exit this delusion you have where they’re the ones that need you. Do you know how many artists these people have access to now that the internet exists? Do you know how disposable YOU are to THEM? You should be grateful to them for choosing to call themselves a fan of your music over everything else out. They’re repping you.

Be humbled by the fact people support you, not arrogant about it. How much you let it get to your head is directly related to how insecure you truly are.

[end rant].

Generic thing for a rapper to rant about, yeah? Except I’m not really going to address the haters, they’re doing their jobs as I’ve grown to expect them to. This is to the observers.

Firstly, hi. I love you. You’re idiots.

I’m curious as to why EVERY negative remark in today’s hip-hop society is labelled “hate”, and why everyone with a negative opinion is now a “hater”. Personally, I blame sensitive egos that caused you all to create this annoying little defense mechanism.

If someone says “I don’t like her flow”, it IS possible that they just..don’t like my flow. Not everyone in the world is going to have the same musical opinion, music is one of the most subjective things imaginable. People listen to music for different reasons, many times for multiple different reasons in multiple different situations. I respect the fact my music is not going to appeal to everyone who listens to it. Not everyone is going to relate to the words, and not everyone is going to be drawn to my sound. This is why I make my music for two groups of people: for myself, and for the people who enjoy my songs. Why waste the time trying to please everyone else? It’s pointless.

There’s a difference between “I’m not a fan of her lyrics” and “lolol GIRLS CANT RAP go make me a sammich B@#$%!”. Most “haters” aren’t particularly bright, it’s usually easy to tell whether someone is just stating an opinion or saying something they may or may not believe just to get a rise out of the person. For example, “hate” comments may include things irrelevant to whatever he/she is addressing (ie. negatively mentioning gender/appearance when talking about music) in attempts to offend someone. Of course there are those “haters” that are better at subliminally camouflaging their hate as opinion, but it’s almost always detectable in the wording. 

That being said, responding to negative remarks - whether hate or opinion - doesn’t always mean you are “letting it get to you”. I’ve never been one to base my response to something on how it looks to other people. If me responding to someone who says “you’re trying to sound like (insert rapper name)” with “that’s strange since I’ve never even heard (insert rapper name) before” makes you draw the conclusion that I’m “letting the hate get to me”, that’s on you. I respond to something because I have something to say. Whether it’s me wanting to correct someone who is misinformed, or laugh at someone who said something ignorant, I’m not going to bite my tongue just to look good. I’m confident enough in my music, I don’t need to worry about how I look when responding to certain comments. Ignoring it may be more effective in the sense that it isn’t “giving them what they want”, but frankly I’m not concerned with what they get out of it.

As I said, it’s all love. Just felt like free-writing another rant. I have a feeling that’s what 90% of the shit posted on this is going to end up being anyways.

Peace.

Let me just start by saying I plan to address this issue again in the future, probably on my upcoming EP. However, I would like to briefly rant about it since it is something that’s been striking a nerve as of late. Also, this is not to ALL underground rap fans, this is to a specific breed. You’ll know who I’m talking about as you read further.

First off, stop yelling at mainstream rap fans. Stop thinking you’re better than them, stop thinking you know more about rap music than they do because you listen to “real” hip hop. And please, for the love of GOD, stop making fun of them for following trends. Do you not realize you are doing the exact same thing? Only listening to artists that aren’t in the mainstream?

Just because Immortal Technique doesn’t have as much public exposure as Eminem (this is not my personal opinion by the way, just picking two random artists) doesn’t make him automatically a better rapper. This isn’t to say mainstream rap isn’t at a shitty place as of late, because it clearly is, but just realize that you only liking underground rappers is following a trend just like you yell at all the Taylor Gang kids for doing. (again, not necessarily my opinion, just picking a random trend. I’d say all the Barbies but then you’d probably say I’m a hater.) I feel the need to repeat myself, this is NOT to all underground fans. If the majority of artists you listen to are underground artists, that’s different than only liking underground artists and writing off anyone else.

Also, as I’ve said multiple times, there’s a difference between selling and selling OUT. Just because an artist is on MTV or getting spins on bigger radio stations doesn’t make him/her a sell out. It makes them a person who is trying to make a living. How are you so self centered as to say your favorite artists aren’t allowed to reach more ears and make better money just to maintain the “cool factor” or being less known? Shouldn’t you be happy for them? You’re supposed to be their fan.. Don’t fans usually support an artist they like? Grow up. Please. As long as they don’t sacrifice the content in their music, why the HELL wouldn’t you want them to have more success? 

Honestly, all I wanted to get through your heads was the fact only listening to underground music and disregarding all other music is just as bad as the kids who follow mainstream trends. That and the fact that being successful isn’t selling out. I understand a lot of artists do sell out after making it “big”, but not all artists who make it big are sell outs. Stop with the ignorance please. I love you guys, this has nothing to do with the response from my fans. 

What I know:

I know it’s too late to apologize, and in that I’ll never hear your forgiveness. I know for the past year as I was mad at you for not continuing to try to “win me back” into your life, you couldn’t. I know it wasn’t your fault, I should never had given up on you. I know why you did what you did, more so now that your brother told me about the conversation you had with your dad about me. I should have known enough not to blame you. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today, both musically and personally, without you. I know I’ll never connect with anyone the way I did with you. I know I’ll never fully recover or move on from this, and I know I don’t want to. I know now what I had in you, and what I’ll never have in anyone else.

That’s what I do know.

What I don’t know:

I don’t know why it took me so long to try to reach back out to you, maybe if I wasn’t so stubborn things would be different. I don’t know why I let you push me away knowing exactly why you were doing it. I don’t know if what happened is partly my fault, and I don’t know if I could have changed it by being there. I don’t know why I didn’t admit to myself how much I missed you until I found out you being out of my life is permanent. Honestly, I don’t know much of anything at this point.

I wish I could change it all. I love you, rest peacefully my Martini.

I’m holding on to that saying that says history repeats itself. I miss the 90s far too much.

“Alyssa Marie is the next Nicki Minaj!”

“Why is Nicki Minaj signed and Alyssa Marie isn’t?”

“Nicki Minaj goes harder than Alyssa Marie”

“Alyssa Marie is a wannabe Nicki Minaj”

“Alyssa Marie sounds just like Nicki Minaj”

 I could go on all day. I expect these are similar to comments Nicki Minaj received when she first started putting her foot in the game. The only thing that ever changes is the names.

“Nicki Minaj is the next Lil Kim!”

“Why is Lil Kim signed and Nicki Minaj isn’t?”

“Lil Kim goes harder than Nicki Minaj”

“Nicki Minaj is a wannabe Lil Kim”

“Nicki Minaj sounds just like Lil Kim”

 However, it isn’t always in regards to gender. Race and skin color are other physical components that people use to compare one artist to another.

“Asher Roth is the next Eminem!”

“Why is Eminem signed and Asher Roth isn’t?”

“Eminem goes harder than Asher Roth”

“Asher Roth is a wannabe Eminem”

“Asher Roth sounds just like Eminem”

 I think you get where I’m going with this. 

As an artist you have to get use to comparisons, positive and negative. It comes with the territory. The more listeners and attention you gain, the more you will be compared to other people. Whether someone says Rapper A has the same flow as you or uses a similar style to yours, people will always use comparisons to catagorize you. Some people may genuinely feel as though you sound like Rapper A, but there are also those people who use comparisons to make themselves appear as if they know more about rap than they really do. These people will usually hear or read comparisons other people have made between two people and use the same comparisons, playing them off as their own.

Some people, though, don’t even bother going through the trouble of using other peoples comparisons. They’re too smart for all of that. Instead, these geniuses compare rappers to each other based on their physical appearance. They’re both white! And the other two are both females! Therefore, they are the SAME! They fall in the same category because physical appearance has everything to do with rap. Nothing beyond that matters. Who cares about how the rapper flows? So what if one of them raps about sex and money and the other raps about God and politics? And honestly, what do rhyme schemes even have to do with it?! Rap isn’t about all that, it’s about skin pigmentation and sex organs. How do you not see that?!

Lesson is, kids, if you’re going to compare me to another rapper, be more creative than Nicki Minaj and Jean Grae. It’s the most shallow comparison you can possibly come up with, for it proves that you know nothing about rap deeper than gender and race. Congratulations, though. You have mastered preschool anatomy. You know the difference between a boy and a girl. 

What’s good? 

I realized I have a lot I’d like to vent/talk about that people on my YouTube, twitter and Facebook probably don’t want to hear. So….I started one of these blog things. For myself, but also for anyone who wants to take the time to read it. I already have something written that I’ll post up tomorrow and a lot of other stuff on my mind that I want to get off it. So stay tuned if you’re interested. Peace!

-Alyssa Marie