On the road to riches and diamond rings, urban artists often lose their way from the media which helped to propel them there. Notice, I’m getting right to the heart of this edition. Because I know that “they” don’t care about “us” anymore; they’ve made it now. You see, every artist enters the game, green. Or so it seems. They have the music, and we as media have the platform to expand their brand. But once we grow the grass and groom the lawn, “they” dissert “us” for greener pastures.
Who are “they”? “They” are the artists that once were on the cover of urban magazines, in the offices of urban media hustling their groundwork along. “They” are the artists which appeared in every urban radio market for interviews and stuck around for meet & greets. “They” are the ones that cherished their first awards from us, when the mainstream hadn’t a clue of who “they” were.
But once “they” receive a taste of mainstream media attention, suddenly, urban media becomes next-to-none as a priority. Suddenly, a new album or movie is set for release, and unless you are “cream of the crop” urban media, you will learn your position when you don’t have access to the talent. Yes, the same talent that once camped out in front of your building for a feature. That one. “Us” becomes old news, unprofessional news; beneath them.
The brighter their star becomes, the more likely that their publicist will not take your calls. Then you must wonder, “Is it his or her publicist that don’t want the hit from your media outlet, or is it the artist that has better things to do with their time?” All I must say is this: if that artist really cared about their media roots, they’d make time for “us”. “They” just don’t want to. So “they” slowly cut their appearances to urban events and award shows; “they” don’t do any favors to get “us” access to their concerts; “they” look at “us” like third world countries on red carpets. THIS IS REAL.
Why are “they” through with “us” once “they” get their first taste of stardom? Because who knows them better than “us”? We know their true origins, their hustle, when they had nothing and possibly if they still have nothing. “They” want to move forward from “us” to control their media. However, “they” need our continued support even if they could care less about our need to cover our talent. So “they” throw bones at us, knowing that we must cover the story to appease to our fans. Isn’t that a b*tch…
Nowadays, the chosen few are more advanced, early on in their career, gaining urban media coverage like badges on Foursquare in order to build their interviewing experience for mainstream outlets. They don’t really care about us…
Mainstream hip-hop artist are now taking it to Twitter to gain more control over their media. Urban media bites on it and retweet these messages, almost desperate to have anything to do with this artist.
And don’t let their star fall… once their star falls, guess who comes running back to the people that made them. And guess who will leave for mainstream pastures after we lift that ingrate back up? They don’t really care about us… and they show it every day, blatantly in your face and you take it. It hurts to see…
And this is just one of the reasons why I made the decision to walk away from all this. I love the Hip-Hop Culture… it is the greatest and most influential movement on the planet. Yet, there is no “we” – there is “they” and “us”… there is no loyalty to the platform that has placed food on many of tables over the past 30 years. The “every man for himself” mentality has torn “us” apart. Where is the fight?! There is none. So when I say that they don’t really care about us… that “they” has become “us”.