Fenris Wulf. wrote on Sun, 30 April 2006 09:10 |
Hip-hop is more trouble than it's worth,
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Well, I've never worked on much (if any) R&B, but my business is about 70% rock and about 30% rap, and I couldn't disagree more.
Lately, I've had a big surge in business from rap and hip hop artists, so my last two weeks' work have been pretty much entirely rap. The one thing that stood out to me as a prominent difference between my rap clients and my rock clients is this: They don't argue as much. They're respectful of one another (and me) in a way that my rock clientele is not.
I have found that rappers, when treated with respect (both for them as valuable clients and their music as a valid art), are far easier to deal with than rock bands... and far less trouble.
I don't listen to hip hop or rap, but I'll gladly work on it. And if I MUST work on a kind of music I don't personally enjoy, I'd rather the clients be more like my rap clients than my rock clients.
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because of the large number of "artists" who behave like criminals. The "thug" culture is so pervasive in hip-hop (and in R&B as well) that I want nothing to do with it.
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Well, it's good to know there's no stereotyping going on here.
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Anyone who can play an actual instrument is welcome.
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That's all well and good, except:
1.) You know as well as I do that 90% of rappers are black, and probably somewhere between %70 and %80 of black artists either do hip hop, rap, or R&B. I would never accuse anyone I didn't know of being a racist. That said, the policy itself *appears* racist to me... and I'm sure it does to others as well, given that most of the clients you turn away, based on that policy, are necessarily black.
What do your other black clients (the ones who don't do rap and R&B) think of that policy?
2.) Who are you to decide that an MPC4000 isn't an "actual" instrument? Or that Bobbly Brown, or R Kelley, or Mariah Carey isn't playing an "actual" instrument when they sing? Or that rapping isn't a form of singing?
3.) Is this policy legal?
http://tinyurl.com/ochnuI'm sorry. I'm not really looking for a fight here, but I just had to ask about such a broad sweeping policy. Having lived my whole life in Bombingham, Alabamistan, where I see lots of subtle things like this, it just has a weird odor to it to me.
If you were a restaurant, I doubt your policy would be very popular (or as easy to hide).
DF