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DocumenTORAE

DetracTOR

Well, well, well I guess I knew this day would come. I didn't know exactly how I'd feel about it, but I knew it would be something I had to deal with when it arrived. What day you ask? The day my album leaked.

Hip hop artists, technology & the fans are engaged in a war right now & unfortunately us hip hop artists' are losing. That's not to say that we don't embrace the new forms of media & other outlets to get our music & content to the people because we do. Hell if it wasn't for the internet buzz I have, I'd have no buzz at all. But at what cost does this come?

This week I saw 3 incredible albums hit the internet for fans to download & share amongst themselves with total disregard for the artist who put in time, energy & most importantly money to make. Please don't think doing an album is inexpensive by any means. There are studio sessions to be booked, engineers to pay, producers to pay, mastering houses to pay, photographers to pay, graphic designers & so on & so forth. So for these albums to leak and people just grab 'em up and comment on & and not give a damn about everything that went into making this album is wrong. Imagine you went to work for a week or two weeks depending on how you get paid & on your pay day the boss said sorry your check is on the internet people downloaded it so we can't pay you. You'd be pissed the hell off right....exactly!! Now again I'm all for the net & downloading legally, it's an incredible way to get you product out to the people. It's immediate, it's accurate & it has instant gratification for the purchaser. Hell I'm not even opposed to illegal downloading as long as you still support the artists' and the product once its made available for purchase. I myself have downloaded a few albums over the last couple months. I also went out & bought those albums when they hit the stores as well. Perfect examples are Kanye & Little Brother. I'm a huge fan of both of those acts so for me not to be curious about the album or not to download the album & check it out once it leaks is asking me not to be human. However if I genuinely dig these guys & the music they're making how could I not invest in their investments. People have to understand, we don't rap on the side. THIS IS OUR JOB, this is how I pay my rent, and my light bill. This is how I eat. So when you go on the net & download my album or any other album for that matter understand that that's money out of my pocket, which means I have to find other ways to get cash, which means less time creating the music you 'claim' you love which means there will be less music for you to enjoy. Now take 'me' out of that scenario & insert you favorite artist. Same outcome people. Why do you think 'ringtone' rap is winning, why do you think companies invest in hit singles over great albums? It's because the consumers are showing they don't care about supporting the music industry, therefore the music industry doesn't care about supporting us. Yall got Ghostface on youtube telling yall he's gonna quit. Sean Price talking about walking away from music because all the work we put in isn't paying off at the end of the day.

I'm not writing this because my joint leaked but the other 2 leaks of the week affected me as a fan and friend. I was in the studio while these records were being made. I saw the efforts put forth by these individuals. Late night sessions, mixing, remixing, reremixing until everything was right and for yall to just go on the net & download it and not give a damn about what it took to make that product is wrong. Then yall have the nerve to 'review' it. C'mon with that you wanna give your opinion of the record give up that $10 or $15 and make all the comments you want. "Yo this album is banging" then cop it. "Definitely one of my favorite albums in the last 12 months" then cop it. Cause if not guess what, there won't be any good music coming out for you to enjoy.

Listen I understand everybody aint always got it to spend on a CD or legal download but when you do, you should. I went back & copped the joints I missed cause my funds were low when they dropped. This helps keep the cycle flowing and makes sure the artists' can go back in the lab and hit yall with another banger. If you love the album & aint got $9.99 cop a .99 cent single or two. Cop your favorite joint, cop the instrumental & rap over it just make sure you purchase something so heads don't end up in Wal-Mart working instead of in the studio....

P.S. there is nothing wrong with working in Wal-Mart, I was just using it as an example. Love is love....

- Tor

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