Fuck my record label, I appear courtesy of myself aka you're only as hot as your hottest collab.

"fuck my record label, I appear courtesy of myself"
- Canibus

Bis summed it up beautifully. He always participated in retarded collab sessions. Thank god for the 4 Horseman, (Rass Kass, Canibus, Killa Priest and Rakim) the Fantastic Four pt.1, (Cam in his prime, Nore, Bis and Big Pun) 4-3-2-1, (LL, Meth, DMX, Redman, Master P) Desparados, (w/ the Firm) and Beast from the East among others.(A+, Redman, and the Lost Boyz)


So I get an email from a High Maintenance ATL about a kid named "Ball Greazy" who he proclaims as next to blow (who isn't nowadays?) and that Miami is the new breeding ground for hot artists. I won't really argue for or against either one of those statements but what bothered me was the next part of his sales pitch.

"But his fiery new single featuring Brisco and Ace Hood is a heater. Notice that both of the featured artists on the song are also excellent rappers that are about to explode onto the national horizon themselves in an instant!"

So..the cosign of artists who themselves aren't established is enough of a reason for me to check this dude out? better yet I'm retarded if I'm not feeling him because he did a song with these cats?

Sho you right.

I remember when Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick put out a record called "The Show"



Now here you had two dudes with a mutual respect for each other who got together to make good music. Neither leaned on the other. No A&R's made phone calls to other labels to agree to record it.

I remember Jay-Z and Biggie's Brooklyn's Finest.



Two cats who grew up 5 blocks from each other (Nostrand and Putnam down the block to Marcy on Myrtle) and really honestly fucked with each other. They record this among other collaborations to big up their hood. Instant classic created by two friends who both rapped.



We could go into collabs and guest appearances all day. James Todd Smith kept his career alive well after it should have died (after Momma Said Knock You Out) by smart collaborations that became hits. Who Do You Love f/. Total, The point is that they have evolved and lost their luster. I've watched A&R friends of mine (who's identities I will protect) fly out of town to negotiate collaborations. I've had friends of mine be paid to do songs with wack ass rappers to boost their credibility. I've watched everyone get a T-Pain, Akon, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown etc on their songs to make their songs credible and hopefully jumpstart their careers. Nowadays managers are on a mission to have their artist record with as many notables as possible in an attempt to introduce their artist to the collaborators fan base. Log on to hiphopdx or allhiphop and scroll through the lists of songs. The ones with the more familiar names have the most plays point blank even if the song belongs to MC Cantrap Forshit. We are now left with such notable collaborations as T-Pain and Two Pistols or Bubba Sparxx and Ray-J...

Even worse are the people you never heard of and don't want to who pay for collabs just so they can spam your email box and claim to be hot because of a co-dollar sign.

Thank got for Success... I'd been waiting on that my entire life.



Shoutouts to all the cats out there working together to get to the top.. the Justice Leagues, Skyzoo and Torae, Termanology, Donny Goines Big Lou and Sico Syrus, Esso, Clean Guns, Reef the Lost Cauze and all the other cats who make dope collabs with artists on their level or with their heroes.. either way its genuine and as a fan I appreciate the quality. Let's keep the collabs coming.