Six Degrees Of Separation: “Difficutlies In The Industry” Sheek Louch, Jazze Pha, Chamillionaire…

15 years ago view-show 632,709

six-degrees-blog-coverQ-Tip immortalized this line on ‘Check The Rhime’ from A Tribe Called Quest’s classic album, The Low End Theory back in 1991.

If the lyrics escape your memory, weren’t born yet, or too young to have comprehended Hip-Hop at the time, the phrase in question goes something like this, “Industry rule #4,080/record company people are shady.”

That little tid-bit of information stills rings loud and clear almost 19 years later. For those trying to secure the life of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, not all that glitters is gold.

In this edition of Six Degrees Of Separation [Click for other editions], Sheek Louch from The LOX, Houston MC Chamillionaire, platinum producer Jazze Pha, the New York trio of Brooklyn Academy, and Mr. Moore from the MobillionaireZ all talk a little about the imperfect world of entertainment… So after reading this, make sure you take a second and third look at the fine print before signing your name away on the dotted line… [Click on names for individual interviews]

iHipHop.com: What would you say has been the toughest part of this game for you so far?

sheek-1Sheek Louch: That’s a good question… It’s so old, but I think dealing with our publishing and Diddy, just dealing with that. Just knowing that all these hot songs and records that we [The LOX] wrote and recorded and all that—the money is going somewhere else. I would think that’s the one. Not all the “so-called” beefs or none of that. It’s more mental when you think, “Damn, every time I write this song, it’s going somewhere else.”

chamChamillionaire: That’s a good question man, a good question… I think the most difficult part is the creative side of it. It’s definitely a business, and the business part of it can mess you up, or mess up your whole career if you’re not on point.

There are a lot of people that deal with this, and the fans don’t actually get to see what’s going on behind the scenes.

They might have no idea why Roc-A-Fella split up, or why Lil Jon disappeared for a little bit. A lot of the time, business can effect the direction of an artist, from songs on their album to everything.

When you first get into it, you think that you’re just going to be making music, but you get a reality real quick when you get into this industry…

jazze-2Jazze Pha: I don’t know, I never thought about that… [Laughing] But really, I think one of the most difficult things is dealing with people’s opinions—especially because a lot of my records haven’t been playing on the radio within the last year.

I’m still doing music, but truthfully I’ve been doing a lot of TV, and that’s more time consuming… Also I’ve been creating my own situation, instead of just producing a whole lot of other people; I’m just doing my own stuff…

brooklyn-academy-1 Mr. Metaphor: The toughest part is when your fans wonder why you haven’t gone gold, signed to a major, or had a video on MTV—and you just don’t have an answer…

Pumpkinhead: This damn recession, and people are not buying music like they used to…

Block McCloud: Unfortunately we finally get a chance to drop something when people are losing their jobs, and struggling to pay their bills. Beside that though, we can’t really complain…

mobillionairezMr. Moore: We think the most difficult thing up to this point was just finding the right people to work with. The music game is very cut throat, and it’s hard to find the right team to work with. We have been burned a couple of times already in this industry because a lot of people are all about themselves and a quick dollar.

We are very thankful and bless to be able to work with Wendy Day; someone who has been around this game for a while so we can learn first hand from her who to mess with and who not to mess with…