IT'S A SHAME

Allen L. Johnston – The Music Specialist
www.asha.com

I have been receiving a video link in my Facebook News feed for the past week. I finally looked at it this morning.

IT’S A SHAME

The video headline reads “Snoop Dogg Co-Sign The Unsign Artist Step-Ezz” (that’s just how they wrote it).

The video starts off behind a West Palm Beach outdoor venue, with Snoop taking the stage and starting his show. This hand held video pans the audience, then abruptly turns to the side of the stage and focuses briefly on a person that is sub-titled MS ELEGANT, then quickly pans to a wholly under lit, STEP-EZZ (you can’t see his face). After 20 seconds more of the backs of Snoop Dogg’s live show the video scene changes and the speaker said “We are in Snoop Dogg’s tour bus”

This is the funniest and saddest thing I have seen in months. For the next 4 minutes these clowns first want to prove to everyone that they are really on Snoop Dogg’s tour bus. They show some schedule on a wall, boast about being on the bus and then give the driver a free show. That’s right they brought there music and performed on the bus.

They show a 35 second scene (that you can’t hear) of STEP-EZZ standing next to a seated Snoop in some hotel room party. Then back to the bus with some security guy, nowhere do you see or hear Snoop talking about this artist.

OK, on the first watching I laughed, then felt so ashamed of the artist who wants to be Famous by Association to a Tour Bus. And this becomes the heart of this article, false dreams and low expectations of new artist within the entertainment industry.


IT’S A SHAME

Once you listen to the song, which is a chant over basic Miami Bass beats, you understand that it is not exceptionally good. It wouldn’t be so bad but the music has been done over and over for the past 20 years. This artist may have talent but it sure wasn’t in this music. Devastator, Clay D, Luke have all set the bench mark for this style of music. There is absolutely nothing new here.


IT’S A SHAME

When you take the money you have made, buy fake designer clothes, flashy jewelry and friends who support your music as long as you are paying their way into clubs, buying “bottles” and plenty of weed. This really shows how afraid of failure the artist has become and the dependency of being validated if only by liars. It also shows the weakness of the cooperative spirit that supports these actions.


IT’S A SHAME

The artist has no drive to learn how to write lyrics, how to use the lyrical content they currently understand to make a statement or even how to speak correct English. There is no ambition to attend school or increase educational opportunities, let alone finish post secondary schooling. One of the biggest deceits ever perpetrated on the music community is the concept that being educated has no place within the “REAL COMMUNITY”.


IT’S A SHAME

When you fool yourself into believing that a hand held video of a song, that has no radio play, no Internet fan base, no local or regional fan base would be of significant interest to anyone but yourself. Unfortunately this type of thinking completely ignores sales of any product, be it audio, video or merchandising. Major labels, distributors, managers, venue operators and music publications ALL use sales as the primary criteria for doing business.

The biggest shame comes from knowing that this artist will not read this, and understand that there is another way.