White Man’s Ice Is Colder
I had a client years ago. Queens dude. Was getting started in production when he got caught up in some shit. Ended up doing a bid for ten years. I didn’t meet dude until after his bid. Once out, he connected with his production crew who ended up being major players in the music game during his absence. My dude was one of the best producers I worked with. Beats stayed fires. Eventually the industry took notice. He dropped a mega rappers’ first single on his multi-platinum album. Then another one. Dude eventually became one of the most sought after producers in the game. We started locking down song deals with labels. Song deals is where a major like Def Jam contracts you in for like ten songs within a period of time, said deal coming with a hefty money advance. We had about five of those deals. Plus a publishing deal. Because my dude had been locked up, his personal life was fucked up. Living in the projects with his wife and four kids, one on the way. His personal studio, where he made beats was located in his project apartment. His crew of niggas stayed up with him in that project apartment, smoking blunts, dranking dark and white liquor, shit talking about what bitches they fucked the night before. Wife and kids in the other room.
We started making money, and I had to help my dude straighten his shit out. In one year he made over five hundred thousand ($500,000) dollars in up front money. I say we because he made the beats, I helped him find the deals. Stayed up in his project apartment with him and his wife, and kids many late nights. Walking them through how they NEEDED to change their environment. Got him to move into a huge ass house out in Jersey, over the GW Bridge. The kids had room to play, he had space to produce fire beats, wife had the walk in closet. It became more than client attorney, we became friends. Connected him with a financial advisor to help him stretch that money long in solid investments. Wives hung out with us, we attended family functions. I went out for my client like no other attorney would. I’m mos def certain in a manner no white attorney in my place would.
Problem was all them x pills. And all that money he made, going from ex con to having a bank account with all them zeroes. And all them industry parties that he attended. And all them chicks he and his crew continued to bang. How one morning at 5am, while I was asleep, his wife called mine on her cell, to see if I was home, because he had just told her he was out with me, and wasn’t with no chicks, and how she was just checking. Or how he smashed his brand new white Benz, 500 E class, because of the drunk driving. And how I made sure he had the best lawyer to get him out of jail, stay out of jail. How even though his license was suspended, I was able to get him to lease a brand new Range. A felon with a dunk driving charge driving out of the dealership on something silver and brand new. Friends making money to the end. Me always there as that one executive who made sure dude stayed in a position to feed his family, to live out his wildest dreams. And then some.
You probably read that Esquire article on Jay-Z. On how great he is. And how much better he is now that Damon Dash is no longer in his life. How Dame is jealous of Jay’s success. Salty. Plus not equipped to manage Hov 2.0, you know, New York Yankees Jay, Empire State Of Mind Hov. Like my people’s over at XXL wrote, not cool. I’ve had my say about Dame, but shady he’s never been. He was the cat that wanted me to register the Roc-a-wear brand way before Jay dropped ‘Reasonable Doubt’. Paybacks a scorned bitch, but Dame deserves better for how he made a whole lotta something out of nothing. Still, Black/ minority execs are easy targets to shit on. Cats still be talking, writing about how shady of a business man Sean “Diddy” Combs is. How his artists and songwriters stay getting jerked. How Fat Joe did Big Pun and his estate wrong. Irv Gotti even got some heat about his dealings with Ashanti, how their personal relationship might have compromised their professional one. Over the years, I’ve sat on the sidelines as Black exec after the next gets called out for being shady. Meanwhile, I’ve yet to hear anything negative mentioned about the white ones.
I will make an exception with Suge Knight. Dude’s been moving sideways from day one. He’s too easy, and see what all that bullshit brought him, where he is now. But other than their style in running labels, Clive Davis, Doug Morris, Lyor Cohen, Jimmy Iovine, Tommy Mattola (didn’t he wife Mariah Carey when she was a mad young newbie in the game?), Todd Moscowitz, you never hear artists beefing about them cats, starting no types of campaigns and tee-shirts about “freeing” so and so like how the Lox did a coupla years back. That bothers me. Truth be told, it’s kind of hard to blatantly jerk artists in the industry. Well, let me take that back. The industry, by nature, is structured to exploit artists to the fullest. Sony, Universal, their contracts are straight up designed to exploit an artist in every legal possible way. In addition, how the paperwork is, any production company or label doing deals with the majors are required to have contracts that fall in line with said majors. That means the Bad Boys, The Cash Moneys, The Murder Incs, the (former) Roc-a-fellas, all of their paperwork has to mirror the ones of their parent companies, but with numbers set so that the sub labels have room to make some profit. In essence, Bad Boy’s contract was for the most part identical to Puff’s contract with Arista, Atlantic and now Interscope.
If there’s a difference, I’d say it has nothing to do with ethics, more with a socio, economical, cultural difference. Iovine ain’t ever coming to the hood to build with any of Interscope’s artists. Doug Morris don’t ever ride the pissy project elevators to recruit that next rapper. For the most part, Black execs are required to go the extra length in creating a rapport, a relationship with their artists. From meeting their man’s an’ em, to getting their mom’s to extend family trust, to investing personal time to introducing artists to a different lifestyle, different places to shop, to wine, to dine, 9 out of ten, white execs aren’t that vested. There ain’t that many Jerry McGuires in the game B. When Chico DeBarge came outta jail, was getting back on his feet, Kedar Massenburg put him up in his luxury pad, just on gp, and on no homo status. A couple of years later, Chico started making allegations about how Kedar had jerked him.
Problem is, once you have a relationship based on friendship, based on business, based on friendship, once it comes down to business, 9 out of 10, the friendship is going to fall apart. When the money and the business come into play, feelings get hurt, accusations are made, bitch ass suckers getting in that ear, fingers start pointing. “That nigga be jerking niggas”. “Dude is grimey”. “Shady.” Which is fucked up, mainly because the industry by it’s nature is shady. But how else can Black execs build with talent? It’s almost natural that personal friendships will be created. And that’s almost always the beginning of the end.
Which is why I’ve always appreciated how Russell Simmons ran his label, back when he was. The relationship was always between Def Jam and the talent, never with Russ. And if there were any issues, Russ made sure talent would bring that shit to Rick Rubin, or worse, go cry to Lyor. Dude kept it cold business. True some artists did try to paint him as the devil, but after that divorce with the Beastie Boys, Simmons ain’t never trust an artist again. So who’s wrong here? The exec that gets to keep a healthy distance away from talent, or the exec that has a true interest in said talent’s well being? I once overheard some uber powered white execs at Universal joking, laughing at how one of their major artists had a stream of royalties coming in that they didn’t know about, that stream coming in now for over ten years. Said execs were laughing at how the label was stacking paper at an artist’s expense, and as long as that artist was in the dark, the label would continue to make millions from them, stacking, collecting all that interest. Staying in the Black. Grimey. Shady. I ain’t never hear a Black exec gloat like that. None of them have ever been in a position to steal monies like that.
Years after I left the industry, and after them deals dried up for my dude, after he and his wife got divorced, I ran into him one night at that New York APT club. Not having seen him for years I reached out to my brother, glad that I had seen him. His response, how I walked him into all them deals that ended up jerking him, how in fact, I had jerked him, and he needed me to go back an review all them contracts and “un jerk” him from all the foul shit I did. I kept it moving. Fuck that. And fuck him. Motherfucker would never say that shit to Lyor, to Doug Morris, to Jimmy Iovine, all them cats we did deals with from them years before. Him saying that felt like I lost a brother. Him saying that shit to me was another example of how we all perceive the white man’s ice as being colder. Most of us.
But it’s not.
Swear to whatever next time Im in new york Im buying the first round. Man dude. Effing awesome. Applaud him.
see it ALL the time in sports mgmt/sports agent, as well.
well said.
*Salutes*
So who’s wrong here> The exec that gets to keep a healthy distance away from talent, or the exec that has a true interest in said talent’s well being?
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A Catch 22
If the talent truly respects the friendship, they should understand that buisness is buisness.
*Salutes*
Classic indeed, CJ…
Co-sign Amp, a catch 22 indeed. Adult friendship itself is complicated enough, let alone factoring in money.
In a perfect world, folks would separate the 2 entities, but like you said, how do you do that? Friendships are organic. Dudes ain’t going to stop getting money together like, “yo, we’re becoming too good of friends, fuck this, I’m out.”
& I think a lot of times, cats don’t see passed the Black exec to blame the White face who signs checks. All they know is what they know, hood shit, or common folk logic, which isn’t much unless they’re educated to the business. It’s always easiest to blame someone else.
I believe each man should take ownership of their successes and their failures. Forming friendships with artists as an exec is hard not to do. On your pathway to success you spend alot of time with each other forging your road. In the studio for ungodly hours, discussing plans, breaking bread how do you not start to build a friendship. You both are relying on the other to come through with the goods. If both parties keep the business open for discussion and both do their due dilligence neither should blame the other on their shortcomings. Cats take running water for granted when the water stops running thats when cats get thirsty.
Great article!!! Always enjoy your stuff!!!
Love Life and Loyalty words to live by
you became friendly with a client, years later he complains about some business dealings you had, and it’s a race thing? hmm.
If that’s all u got out of this post, then either I wrote it wrong or u aint read it right. Either way, if u don’t see how race as an issue w/ how Blacks and minorities are perceived in this society, and differently from whith, then I can’t really help u friend.
Great article. Sorry to hear that your relationship with dude ended like that, and I appreciate you telling this story so others can learn from the situation.
[...] actually dictating this post to Caz from the bus station in Dubuque, Iowa (don’t ask, except White Man’s Ice Is Colder indeed, brrrrr), I can’t say for sure. Likewise, it’s unclear to me why Brian Berger [...]
This was some good material Combat Jack. Are you refering to Trackmasters/L.E.S?
That’s a heavy post, best one in a minute. ‘Let no good deed go unpunished’ holds true.
Excellent article.
But I don’t think it’s an issue of “friendship vs. business,” but more about “education vs. ignorance.” Artists need to be taught how to read a contract, with the precision of a shark lawyer. Because no matter what happens to them, it will always come down to that one piece of paper which cannot be disputed. And if they don’t like the contract they are presented, then they can be taught the nature of “the business/the beast” so that they can manipulate it to meet their needs. (Have they learned NOTHING from Prince?) If they go in FULLY understanding the business, then there is no way they can blame anyone else for their failures.
Soooo… to sum this post up in three words – “YOU’RE A RACIST”…
But I don’t think it’s an issue of “friendship vs. business,” but more about “education vs. ignorance.”
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Good point. If both parties are educated enough on the buisness part of things, there’s no reason to catch feelings when the buisness goes bad.
But people tend to lose rational thought when they’re looking for someone to blame.
CJ, you got a gift. Opening that curtain enough to get a glimpse, but not get blinded by the industry bullshit. Enjoyable as always.
I may be wrong but I believe what CJ is trying to say is that the underlining issue here is that “We” as Black people are quicker to call out our “OWN”(black people) who we think are doing us wrong rather than some of the white people who are actually doing us wrong. We end up feeling like the white man’s ice is colder….
We hurt and kill ourselves and our kids but we scream oppression from the white man… We have such a sub-conscious hate for ourselves than we take it out on our selves and our people. I am in no way saying we should shift the hate and the anger I am just saying we have to take notice and stop it. Fight for justice everywhere not just at our people.
It is easier to scream and fight with your own family who you think done you wrong than it is to go to work and scream and fight at your boss or co workers who have done you wrong.
Black people are quicker to call out our “OWN”(black people) who we think are doing us wrong rather than some of the white people who are actually doing us wrong.
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Cause we expect to get done dirty by someone else but it hurts a little more when the person screwing you over looks just like you.
Yes, it’s far worse when black execs swindle their own people. Far worse. I agree that Jay article was bogus, but the idea that Puff, Irv, Baby, etc should get a pass is bogus. If the black exec is gonna use the same shiesty tactics as the white one, what the point?
Damn CJ, I just got mad for you there.
Some people really do have to grow up and be men about things.
Just like Dre said a few posts up, Some cats take running water for granted.
One thing that needs to be taken into account here is that it is easier for a black exec/manager/attorney to use whitey to forge a trust-based relationship based on the common “other.” Unfortunately, things can fall apart just as quickly and easily without a true foundation.
Another lesson here is that people with poor values, drug problems and disrespect for family will always bring that noise to you at some point.
Love the story, CJ.
I ain’t black but I got your point because I’m from a certain country on an axis and it’s to a degree similar with us. When we’re abroad, we just keep it cool and real with whoever is local but keep jerking off our own people, shady deal, crooked deal, whatever, we do it to our own people outside of home.
On the other hand, whenever shit goes wrong, we blame it on our own compatriot, even if it wasn’t his fault. It’s some kind of inferiority/scare thing, the dude is local, powerful, I’m just a nobody, so if I have to go against anyone, it’s someone on my level, not anyone higher.
Guess it’s similar with what you say..that white dude is just too “powerful”, ivy, etc. while the “knicca” is another “knicca”, so whom am I going to blame?
Classic Post!!!
These niggas need to understand, if they expect the black execs to get where the white execs are then the black execs gotta play the game like the white execs and even learn to play it better…you think them white execs got where they are by singing kumbaya?…its hard enough for black execs to survive in the industry…but you want them to play the same game as the whites with one hand tied behind their back?….makes no sense
On the other hand tho……these black execs should be looking out for their own people…….but should they be lookin out for the same people who will turn around and shit on them the quickest?
“Bad Boy’s contract was for the most part identical to Puff’s contract with Arista”
I have told people time and again to understand their location in the food chain. If Puff is going through Arista and Arista goes through a distributor (which probably has a 60-40 deal with Arista) then in a fair and equitable world Puff would get 50% of 40% which is 20%. Puff can then only offer you half of his 20% which is 10% and not far off from what a major would have offered you upfront (somewhere around 12% after you recoup).
To me the problem is that recoupable game. Let the distributor, label and sub label take all the profits dollar for dollar until they break even then let’s do the “fair and equitable” thing. That nonsense about repaying 2-3 million at 12 cents a copy is robbery. Such a scheme definitely comes from the majors and the higher ups. The black face in front of you works for them too. Don’t blame him/her. It’s the people you can’t see that are jerking you. That’s why you don’t hardly see them.
I wonder how a E1/Koch deal breaks down, cause if the profit margin is drastically different, I don’t see why anyone would sign to a major. Why work for peanuts on a major if you can get a better cut of the profits on an indie?
“Why work for peanuts on a major if you can get a better cut of the profits on an indie?”
^^^
I wonder about that all the time. On top of the fact that it just seems like a hassle, extra hands in the cookie jar, per se.
I notice a lot of other genres have groups who go & stay indie their entire careers, & live good off of that. Seems like Hip Hop artists have more of a hustle mentality, where it’s money first, love for the art-if any, second.
The money’s art there, people support good product. That anxiety & lack of patience can put a person in a position of submission, then they’re flailing blindly out of frustration. All that’s a hassle, if there’s other, maybe not as equal but still lucrative options & opportunities.
Good read for a Monday.
“Why work for peanuts on a major if you can get a better cut of the profits on an indie?”
^^^ Better exposure to the public. Universal=recordings, movies, TV. E1 means a better percentage cut from sales, but you gotta work a lot to really expose the brand name, and you know cats do not like to work hard. They would rather pay someone else to do it while they relish in the glamor.
“once you have a relationship based on friendship, based on business, based on friendship, once it comes down to business, 9 out of 10, the friendship is going to fall apart”
whammy.
great drop CJ. that’s why you’re in the main folder in my Google Reader.
I try to say this to people every time they start comin’ with that shit like “Yo, Puffy a snake”, “yo Dame was a snake”, etc. Because the reality is, as you said, a lot of them old white execs who don’t even personally know half their roster wouldn’t do half the shit they did with their artists. Not saying that grants them a pass, but Puff said it best himself when the LOX went off on him on the radio- most execs wouldn’t have given a shit about them with that “let the Lox go” campaign and all that madness. Imagine Jimmy Iovine giving a fuck about what Styles thinks should happen, when he has artists bringing in way more money to the label. At best, he prob’ly woulda laughed it off and shelved them niggas just for being “difficult”.
-D!
this is that classic CJ rigtht here!! thanks for another great reading, wish you the best in 2010 for you and your family.
Great article CJ. Did you ever warn said artist of these unknown royalties that Universal was profiting from?
Imagine Jimmy Iovine giving a fuck about what Styles thinks should happen, when he has artists bringing in way more money to the label. At best, he prob’ly woulda laughed it off and shelved them niggas just for being “difficult”.
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But Diddy was concerned about his public image, which is why he finally let The Lox outta their contract.
Jimmy Iovine has no such image to uphold because he’s gonna be painted a villain from the jump cause he’s Jewish.
“Jimmy Iovine has no such image to uphold because he’s gonna be painted a villain from the jump cause he’s Jewish.”
^ True true
Great work black….This is the reason why I check your site….I’m real curious to find out what producer you are talking about..
Dude made over 500 G’z and still had the nerve to cop a plea, CRAZY…
I agree with alot of the post on here. I love my people to death but I think we do some troubling ish! Like the incident with puff and the lox and mase. I think had Puff been white he wouldn’t have did half the things he did for the lox their ship was sinking who cares what they want. It hurts me to say but the same for Big when he started back selling drugs they would have said to hell with you unless they really believed they could make some money off of him. And I really don’t think thats wrong in the sense of business cause I think “WE” get it confused all to often and try and be friends and be cool with someone just because their black so we instantaneously think we have an connection. I think if we were to see those relationships for what they were/are then a majority of these people crying foul now would be in better places financially. I think its cool that CJ hooked his friend up with someone to manage his money cause some people wouldn’t care. I would also say that if that doesn’t happen alot in the industry then it should and it shouldn’t stop there but they should give them classes bi-annually on how to invest, and so on and so fourth and I know that some will say well thats not their job and thats true. But I think its time people stop strewing over each other to gain a dollar! I think its time for those artist to start respecting their craft more and demand more profit than what they receive or just stay independent. I don’t understand some people fasination with fame over fortune! But, you see in alot of different areas of life when the authority figure is black we tend to treat them differently and have less caution about the way we move than what we do when that same authority figure is white or another race. I think it is something in us that we subconciously do this without thinking. People my people realize in order to come up and not just a select few but a vast majority “WE” will have to change our way of thinking towards one another and towards life as a whole!
It’s natural if you come up from hard times to expect others who also came up through hard times to have your back.
The other thing though, is -Clive Davis might play that whole “family” thing, but he hasn’t run around acting like A&R since the 70’s. It’s one thing to make the rare friend, but a lot of unprofessional activity gets tied into what is still a business. The artist is foolish to expect anyone to work beyond their 15% or whatever, and wipe their ass for eternity long after the deal is closed, or worse to really believe your record deal made you a part of a crew. It’s the artist’s fault for getting sucked into a necklace and a tshirt. Nobody owned shit until Jay-Z, and that’s recent. Nothing. They’ll all brag about how their the only ones to own their publishing, or masters, and it’s 99% bullshit…and even if they do, they’re still renting everything else in their life. It’s temporary, just like their careers. Only suckers rent furniture to own, or lease the latest and greatest car, trading it in yearly. Right? No, really, if you’re reading this, you know that right?
That’s the mentality though – and the only way that will change is if the people advising them don’t have that same mentality.
^ Great article CJ. Did you ever warn said artist of these unknown royalties that Universal was profiting from?”
I never repped the Beastie Boys. So no. (See what I did?)
haha sneaky!! but good to let dudes know!
friends is friends and business is business. if you dont cross the 2, theres no room for hurt feelings.
tryna be friends with these dudes is the problem here. its has very little to do with blacks and devils.
you in the club with these niggas, he bust his gun for you, because a dude throws money in your face and he gets a dime while you get away scott free. and you expect a nigga not to be mad at you.
I think the race comes in cuz the white exects dnt have to try as hard to break they’re artists or themselves into the business. So a black exect feels like they have to builed that repour with they’re clients as apposed to whites who,wether ur black or white, know that its just business when u fuck with em. It has a lot to do with culture also cuz blacks feel like they have to keep it real and authentic with others and that’s what most expect from them. Its expected for whites to b shady which is why people never get to attached with them when it comes to business. Other than that, black exects r more tangible to clients and to the public eye, jimmy, clive, doug, and tommy ain’t in the clubs poppin ciroc with artists so that relationship isn’t built.
“Jimmy Iovine has no such image to uphold because he’s gonna be painted a villain from the jump cause he’s Jewish.”
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actually, he has no image because he reps a record company, he doesn’t rep Hip Hop and R&B like our Black Execs !! See once you become a CEO and Black one at that, you’re set to a different standard because you know 1st hand how the game is because most likely, you were a artist ( Dr. Dre and LaFace) so screwing your artists should be a no-no !! You’re supposed to see what these artists are trying to do better than the white execs because you came from that. If you’re going to the hood to check for the next best thing, you’re already there !! That’s one of the reasons it’s so easy to call out our execs, you’re more like crews on the block than a company trying to be sucessful. Terror Squad- all hanging together, RocaFella- all hanging together, FlipMode- all hanging together. You didn’t see that with DefJam though !! All those artists was their own artist. Alot of these labels shoot themselves in the foot and when shit don’t go right or homie decides to leave the brand (Fat Joe & Jay-Z) then it’s a problem. All this is the Crack Era -”Put me on” factor. I also feel alot of out artist do complain when it’s a white exec but since it’s a white exec, who’s really gonna pay attention in the Hip Hop world ?LL had bars on the GOAT lp for Def Jam but that fell on def ears. It wasn’t until he mentioned Jay-Z that Hip Hop took notice.
I recall a time a few years ago when game and Chris Lighty, one the most powerful and influential black executives ever, were under the same roof for some Universal pow-wow. All the big wigs were there. (Doug Morris, Monte Lipman etc.)Game was looking for trouble with Chris and was on his way to step to Chris until Jimmy intervened and says to Game: “If I even hear a glass drop on the floor,you’re over.” I found it sad that a successful black artist can quickly set it one of the few black execs in the business with out a thought, but also be stopped DEAD in his tracks by the white exec benefiting the most from his beef with 50.
I can go on for days on what this says about hip-hop business, but more than anything its reflection of why we’re perceived the way we are by the white execs.
Let’s also not forget there are also a lot of non-descript Black execs in the industry who never get named checked, and aren’t even focused on Hip Hop or “urban” markets. There are probably as many of them as there are Puffy’s, Dame’s, etc.
I also know of a few industry legends with 40 year careers who go figure, were white, and 90’s Hip Hop pretty much ended their careers. They’re not getting invited to the baby christenings of any rock and punk bands they signed either.
Great story CJ. I recall a few years back reading an online interview with the Chicago rapper Bump J, he had recently signed a deal with Atlantic. He had a pretty decent buzz going with his “Welcome to Grimeyville” mixtape series and was being hyped as the “next” big thing. I remember him talking about the labels bidding on him and why he signed with Atlantic. He said he was impressed by T.I. (not the rapper) coming to his hood and being comfortable around him and his “goons”, even to the point of playing chess with them. For some reason that always struck me as odd. It seem like to me it was business and if the business is in the hood, that’s where you go. It just seemed like it wasn’t that big of a risk for T.I. He had the power to change Bump’s life financially, I serious doubt he thought any harm would come to him. I don’t know if Atlantic gave him the best deal or not, but if that was the deciding factor I felt it was a bad move. It seemed Bump J broadcasting that visit gave T.I. a tremendous amount of leverage. Bump was the talent, instead of playing poker face and realizing that T.I. came all that way, that he had to be of importance (from a business aspect), he allowed T.I. to win. Although this story is a sightly different perspective than the one you told I still think its displays the same sentiment in that “WE” often look at things differently when doing business with the “white man”.
Bump J now is in prison for 10 years for a bank robbery in 2007, I wonder how many times T.I. went to visit him and play chess since he went in
class and sick.
put that together.
if i need any more confirmation to NOT sign to a major…thank you my dude….excellent write-up…whus ur email?
When it comes to YT execs, I assume the Contrapositive(?) first. They have to prove to me they are not shady.
Great Read!!!!!
MaG
January 13th, 2010 at 2:45 pm · Reply
if i need any more confirmation to NOT sign to a major…thank you my dude….excellent write-up…whus ur email?
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
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See, that’s small thinking right there. Nowadays you can’t tell which is which or how they’re gonna treat you. Remember when it was all of a sudden cool
to sign to a Independent and they started to fold (Rawkus) or not even promote you ? You’re career will be just as empty as it started. It’s about handling your business. Def Jam, Tommy Boy, Jive, Bad Boy, Rocafella and Deathrow are the chosen few that are independent that were also sucessful with theirs. The diffference between Kurtis Blow signing to Mercury and GrandMaster Flash signing to SugarHill was the paper they signed the contract on. Neither career lasted too long in the game but they had sucess to some degree.
Most artist throughout the American musical landscape are too young, naive and ignorant to care about the business end. From Kashif to Donald Passman, many stories about the industry has been told and sold.
It is very unfortunate that many some execs get labeled being shady for simply acting in accordance with the standard operating procedure.
CJ, I believe Kashif discussed some artist royalties being used for a companies year end holiday bonuses. Great drop!
“Waiting on royalties takes too long” – Ghostface
You reachin here CJ. You act like Irv Gotti, Diddy and Dame Dash are the only black execs in the game. What about LA Reid, That dude Shakur something that died last year (RIP) and what must be countless others in the game that I don’t know.
What you’re overlooking/choosing-to-ignore-to-prove-your-point, is that all the dudes you mention (Diddy et al) pro-actively go out of their way to get in the spotlight and get exposure. You do that, you make yourself a target. All the others stay in the cut, stacking their paper. ie: the role of a true exec.
You come across as too self-satisfied with this shit, give it a break and get back to funny stories of smoking joints with Pac and shooting up casinos in Jam Rock.
Very impressive post. Sadly, these issues will continue to exist as long as non-white
artists fail to educate themselves and refuse to seek knowledge. Same goes for
Black executives. Unfortunately, these repeated patterns only reflect that the system that was created centuries ago is still in place. This issue does not only affect the entertainment industry, but also Corporate America, education system and the list is long. Thanks for the write, again, very impressive.
Great post… it’s a major balancing act carry on true business/true friendship relationships, and those who NEED you to be both simultaneously are the highest risk for future blow-ups.