Bum A$$ Rappers & The Free Money Mentality

14 years ago view-show 916,344

I’ve been planning on writing this article for awhile now.  Then this video dropped of Nelly defending himself against accusations from former St Lunatics member Slo Down (the guy who wore the mask) that Nelly wasn’t sharing the money and realized the time for this post was now.  I thought Nelly articulated his point awesomely.

You work with people and the first thing some people do is thank you for the opportunity…the opportunity…the word there is opportunity.  Thank you for the opportunity for allowing me to make something of myself.  Somewhere along the line the word opportunity became reliability.  You see what I’m saying?  It stopped becoming an opportunity, and you start relying on someone to makes something of yourself.

Now this particular beef between some douche who used to proffesionally wear a mask and Nelly is irrelevant to my point.  The point is that there is the “Slo Down” thought process throughout hip hop.

Throughout my tenure in the rap game I have had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with people demanding absurd amounts of money for their “services”.  I don’t know if these people have just been watching to many rap videos or simply have no comprehension of how the music business works.

It is a phenomena that me and some co-workers have labeled as the “free money mentality”.  And it’s based on the basic principle that when some people create something, they for some reason feel automatically owed something.  Just because you spit some bars or made a beat does not necessarily equate into a large sum of money.  There has to be a demand for it.  And people overvaluing their demand is a whole other post.

In this game you have to make something of yourself, and in most cases you get taken advantage of a little bit in the process.  I don’t care if you are a rapper or a lowly blogger.  You are going to get pimped before you are put into a position to pimp other people.  That’s just how it is.  Life isn’t fair.  The music business is much like any other business.  You have to pay your dues.  You have to work hard, and most importantly you must have a skill set that is in demand if you want to make money.  Let’s say I’m cool with the illest baker in town.  The baker makes phenomenal cookies.  Then that baker decides to give me an opportunity to make my own cookies.  But my cookies suck, and no one wants to eat them.  Does that baker owe me anything?  Hell no.  But according to the Slo Down’s of the world the baker is supposed to subsidize my fail of a life merely for being associated with me.  My point is don’t be one of those people hanging around “the man” looking for handouts.   Become the man yourself.  It will take A LOT more time and work to become “the man”.  But like my man Tip say “Adversity will make you great if you’re willing to go through it“.

Also check the video of Nelly’s wisdom below.

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Comments

  1. Excellent article; it really shows how people, not only in the rap game, but citizens in general have a fragmented sense of hard work, integrity, and independence.

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