Who Gives a DAMN about a Dead Rapper?

Okay. This is a subject I've been holding onto for quite a while as well. Fitting it comes on the eve of a movie "remembering" the life of Christopher George Latore Wallace.


First let me share some background information with you. There have been many rap artists who have passed away, whether it be from a violent, accidental, or self-inflicted death.


Big L, Slim (formerly of the Cash Money rap group), Scott La Rock, Jam Master Jay, Proof (formerly of D-12), Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace are a few rappers that died at the hands of violence.



DJ Screw, Pimp-C, Ol Dirty Bastard, and Big Pun are artists that died of accidental deaths.



Exploitation:


This is what the music business is based on. The big companies use the performers talent to gain more wealth for themselves while they sign the artist to a contract that cheats he or she out of most of their money and ownership of their music. I'm sure you know of at least three of your friends who want to be a rapper and who is working on their mixtape, or "grinding". There is nothing wrong with having a goal, but the music business is on the decline. Well established artists cannot sell records so what makes an underground artist capable of doing so. Separation. The music industry has been flooded with the same type of music across ALL genres. Everybody is doing something similar and all those that are being true to themselves (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Immortal Technique, and many other artists) can't catch a break. The radio is not what you think it is. It's a machine used to promote the artist whose label pays them for a certain amount of spins. That's why you hear the same songs all the time. Not because people like them!



Superstardom:


The rappers dream! You've made it, you've went platinum, you're going on tour, you've got money that's ACTUALLY yours! What now? Then people start to hate you, they rooted for you when you were coming up but now they are tired, onto the next act! People will say you fell off, you were never any good. So what do you do? You sellout. What is selling out though? Making pop music? Making music different than what got you to the dance? I think some artists sell out and others succumb to the pressure. What would you do if everybody loved you for what you did for so long and then turned on you for that very same thing? You would do something else! This is why you get rappers who sing, who use autotune, who beef. It generates sales and what makes sales makes the company happy.



Sometimes:


Sometimes though, things don't end like that. Sometimes the beef becomes too serious, people don't let go of the bullshit and just make their music. People get threatened, beat up, or killed. Then what? No more music is coming from you if you're dead, but wait! Posthumous records! With the magic of the studio now you're saying rhymes you never said! You're alongside artists you probably wouldn't have gotten along with if you were alive! Who cares though right? It's just music! Or is it?

I don't like it one bit how dead rappers are exploited to boost record sales or hype up artists. Let the dead rest in peace and make music own your own merit!

What do you think???

**Fueled by passion, driven by pain before I die the world will know my name**

- JioVanni