Is crowd funding your album any better than being a corporate shill?
No Country For Old (Rap) Men: De La Soul and Jay Z are two sides of the same coin
20 thoughts on “No Country For Old (Rap) Men: De La Soul and Jay Z are two sides of the same coin”
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I just read your article while listening to that answering machine song.
You reached and you failed w/this bullshit article Robbie….and then you use Morrisey ( the pissy emperor of entitled assholes ) to validate your opinion!?!? …. The amount of money raised is irrelevant ( and people fixated on it are petty Mothafuckas to say the least ) …. Bringing back unique Sampling technique to HipHop is the IDEA that people funding the De La project got behind…… THA FUCK that has to do w/ Jay & TIDAL and the clear corporate business move of a concert tacked on last minute after rollout disaster!?!? Rhetorical Q brah….the answer is nothing.
I agree on the gamble of shelling out 250 for an album that very well might be wack but I don’t see anything wrong with De La crowdfunding for an lp knowing what they contributed to hip hop and how fucked the record industry is..
I got my De La autographs free from sandbox when the grind date came out. I like the album but shit ain’t the same as having them sign one of the first 3 lp’s…
U and Morrissey got a point though lol
$600,000 to record a De La album? Come on, that money is going straight into their personal bank accounts and they’ll make the same boring ass album for 25k and use a bunch of middle aged Stans to engineer the thing. These guys haven’t brought anything new to the table since ’91, this is a bigger con than Jay-Z’s Tidal service.
I don’t understand the cynicism toward De La’s Kickstarter, especially from the commenter above me. Firstly, they only asked for $110,000. And according to a recent interview from De La, their goal was originally higher, but they lowered it due to concerns of being perceived as greedy. If the fans themselves chose to contribute more than 5x their original goal, that’s not De La’s fault. It just goes to show that the fans have faith in their artistry.
Secondly, on the day that their Kickstarter campaign closed, they mentioned that they may tour because of the overwhelming response. Plus, I’m pretty sure De La plans on releasing a couple of other projects (Premium Soul on the Rocks mixtape and/or AOI 3) in the near future.
Thirdly, it’s not like those who contributed to the Kickstarter have to come outta their pockets again once the album drops. If you put up at least $15, you get the album. It’s just that simple. How is that different from pre-ordering an album from iTunes or wherever you choose to purchase music? And as for the above commenter’s presumptuous attitude about De La’s upcoming project being boring or not innovative, I think it’s safe to say that he didn’t even take a glance at DLS’s Kickstarter video. What they’re doing is taking recordings from various jam sessions, listening for sounds that catch their ears, and essentially sampling themselves. That’s not creative and innovative? Aight, dude.
@bboycult: You don’t find it weird that you can pay money to hang out with them in several of the Kickstarter rewards?
“I certainly don’t like the idea of spending $250 for a signed album and 7″ that I might not even like. Blind faith and loyal fandom are chips that can be cashed like any other and by relying so heavily on the goodwill of their supporters, Jay Z and De La Soul are more alike than they may care to admit.”
That’s exactly why I’m cynical when it comes to people going on kickstarter to raise funds for albums, movies, etc. What if I don’t like the product? And how I know they’re not gonna take people’s money & put it in their pockets…
@ Robbie ….I like every single thing @ Meh said ^ … It’s like this; they never asked for 600k point blank period. You, me and the rest of the Unkut massive only care about the actual album and seeing the live show… We’re not the people that are going to pay to have De La Soul @ the Batmitzvah, right? Those are the people paying $250 + for blah blah whatever….So what do you care!? Those people are gonna spend that money on bullshit anyway! @ least this way WE get to hear some creative HipHop shit again.
Yo…you should feel the opposite about Kickstarter; you know rappers is SLAVES b! How many U2 mixtapes came out before they were allowed to rape your Apple devices??…Answer: Zero. How long Lil Wayne been crying that he can’t release Carter 5?? …Answer: All Mothafucking Year and counting!?! Shit’s fucked up b!
Thanks, bboy! As for the paying up the meet/hang out with De La, I don’t see how that’s any different from artists who offer both regular priced concert tix for those who simply wanna see the show and more pricey tickets for the super devoted fans who wanna meet an artist they love. Their cash to spend, their prerogative.
And again, I don’t see much difference between this Kickstarter campaign and pre-ordering an album through other services. That’s just the chance you take when you decide to put up cash in advance. I personally have tons of faith in De La’s project because (to me, anyway) they’ve never dropped a wack album.
@bboycult: I’m not arguing that they shouldn’t have done it, it’s clearly worked out great so far. But it’s still a form of whoring yourself out, as many of us have been guilty of in one way or another.
The reward I thought was odd was the top level award. Giving away your platinum plaque is strange. Also, they said there are only 40 copies of Buhloone Mind State in existence?
most of these people are paying for the idea of de la soul having a “we’re still independent” kickstarter campaign rather than the actual music, since they sure as hell haven’t been buying it for the last ten years. my guess is the novelty of a de la kickstarter wouldn’t last through a second album.
there are plenty of dudes who get it done on small labels (roc marciano, big shug come to mind). but de la wouldn’t be de la without the prolific music industry whining.
@doughjoe I highly doubt De La is doing this to see large sales figures. They’ve never been that type of group; why would they start now. They continue to make music because it’s what they love to do.
And De La has stated that they prefer not to be tied down to any label right now. I say that at this stage in their career, it’s a smart move. Also, when and where exactly have you seen De La pissing and moaning extensively about how jacked up the industry is? Aside from on some of their songs and a couple of interviews over the years, how exactly has De La been “whining” about the music industry in a way that many artists haven’t already?
The article is definitely thought provoking.
With De La, I feel like their approach comes off a bit entitled – The whole project would feel more sincere if they worked towards whatever they needed by touring and taking the risk of using their own money without asking for it from fans. Its a bigger risk, but the project wouldn’t have a “funded by Kickstarter” stigma…Its great that they want to make a sample based album, but its kind of ironic given the circumstances of “3 feet” and “Paul’s Boutique” … both parties got sued and while the Beasties didn’t follow up with a solid hip-hop album, they immediately took the approach of sampling hundreds of hours of session music (their own). Granted Beasties endeavor, was funded by Capitol…On the other hand, De La’s Kickstarter campaign is a pretty great PR move that has us all thinking about them in this digital age
With Jay, its sort of the same. Its a good PR move for his relevancy and business BUT – he’s going back and it feels more sincere. I personally hoping for “Who You Wit” amongst the aforementioned primo cuts. I would prefer it was a real tour in smaller venues across the country but I’m willing to pay for a month’s worth of Tidal to check it out.
I cosign Meh…To son that said something about de la releasing boring albums..i don’t know what u been listening too..that song that samples the wu that they released a year ago tops many recent songs put out..as as whoring..I think this is a way for fans of real hip hop to be able to get this without the labels involvement.. I mean def jam will never let Nas release an all primo album but if he did a kick starter to fund that project…he got my money cuz I know every time them two link up..its good money..
“ten year backstage pass… ” that’s allot of faith in their longevity – on both sides of the transaction.
I would be happy to hear another strong album from de la but could not bring myself to purchase without a listen.
I got burnt buying dud albums on the strength of previous good releases too many times (back in the 90s when I was collecting albums on wax) to do that again.
@Meh & @untaintedbeats
To me, De La Soul is coffee shop rap. If you like to write your autobiography on a macbookpro, while sipping soy latte’s in the trendy part of town, then De La Soul is a great soundtrack for your life. Without the innovative beats from Prince Paul, I doubt I would’ve ever liked this group. That is just my opinion.
I like my music with a little more “fuck you” to it.
My issue is with them seeing they aunt getting bread from the campaign. That’s bs and i don’t see an issue wuth profit as long as folks their copies. Cutting out the middleman always means more profit and in essence a kickstarter is generAlly a complete pre-order. These campaigns are ideal for veteran artists who have a fan base but won’t work in today’s musical landscape
If you dont see the fuck you in delas music then you missed out