R.eal A.nd P.ersonal
Why You Aren't Signed: It Takes One, to Know One
By: Deshair Foskey
Last updated July 20th , 2010

A little over eight years ago, I was just like you; in position to never get signed by a major label. Yes, I was a boneheaded, cocky, know-it-all emcee with daydreams of making it. With so many other things I could had wasted my time doing, I was in and out of basements, performing twice if any a year, writing music for an arm length fan base and with ten years in, not one red cent made to my name.

I did it for the love; that's what I told people. It wasn't about the money; that's what I told people. It's a business and money is what you're in it for; that's what my aunt told me. But when you're an emcee trying to make it, you don't hear logic. If anyone is going against your grain, you call them a hater, right? Well how can a person hate on you, with facts? That's impossible. Saying that I did it for the love was my living excuse. I'd give anything to ride a personal jet to a sold-out show just about anywhere in the world. I wanted to buy my mother a house. I was delusional.

I've fallen for the talent shows that you're signing up for now. Yes, the shows that you pay a fee to audition - you forget your lyrics and still get chosen. Yes, the shows that you must sell $300 worth of tickets just to perform (after you murdered the audition, literally). And when you fall short of selling your tickets, you end up covering the difference and chalk it up to your love for the game. Yes, the shows that tell you big time A&R's will be in the building. You get excited, until someone asks you what A&R means.

It takes one to know one. As an emcee, you hear the stories about recording artists getting screwed for their publishing. Guess what, you don't have any publishing. And the A&R at these talent shows, are looking for talent; talented song ideas to take back to the artists on their roster. Six months later, you hear a song similar to yours on a mixtape and you're furious. Your song was stolen and you want to sue. Wait, you didn't copyright any of your songs. You didn't register any of your songs. Your songs aren't even yours.

I am shaking my head because I am very sure we have some 30+ year old emcee's out there that never sold a record or got paid to perform and won't stop until their big break arrives. The big break will be your heart when you look back on your life and realize how much of it you wasted trying to be a rap star. This industry is barely for the people that are in it. In other words, it isn't for everybody. Allow for this column to spark the epiphany your life desperately needs. Especially if you have a wife and children. If having a family hasn't enhanced your drive to a point that you get noticed, nothing will.

Take a wild guess of what I am doing with my life now ... you're reading it. I'd wish you luck, if I actually believed in it.

[Tags] Hip Hop, Rap

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