A small cog in the music factory. Active since 95. Quality archival products. consultant for labels. Grammy Nominated. Bay Arean New Yorker stuck in Portland.
Universal Rhythms
Joined June 2009
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The Key Chain retweeted
Artists often want their album out right away, then blame the label when it underperforms. Tinashe presented Popstar to Atlantic IN JANUARY. It was released in September. With 9 months of runway, it became her biggest debut. Campaigns require planning. Your team needs time!
The Key Chain retweeted
Neither Cartier-Bresson, Banksy nor Cold War Steve could have come up with such an image. Absolutely perfect composition and lighting (even the road signs are perfect)! 😍
The Key Chain retweeted
Thought experiment:
In the late 90s Def Jam bet on alpha street types who already knew how to get to some money.
He gave them power, resources and major DISTRIBUTION.
Don’t sleep on that last part.
Ruff Ryders. Roc-A-Fella. Murder Inc.
That bet paid off handsomely.
Universal abandoned that model in favor of hiring “nice” Black people who understood corporate, understood the culture and, most importantly, could be controlled.
They still wanted access to Black people. They just didn’t want Black people having wealth and power.
And to the coons who will undoubtedly feel the urge to ask, “Why is it always about race?” to show out for their white “allies”: this is a thought EXPERIMENT, my bros.
No need to get your panties in a bunch.
The Key Chain retweeted
All of you that are Twitter music industry experts should absolutely be tracking all of these mass layoffs just as much as you do album sales, charts, views and gossip.
You wanna know why your favorite artists aren’t dropping music? It’s because the black side of the label office is empty.
The Key Chain retweeted
90’s rap music is the greatest thing we ever gave this raggedy planet.
Thank You RZA
The Key Chain retweeted
arguably, the samples in rap communicate the history of music clearer than any books
The Key Chain retweeted
And this part should sound familiar to just about everyone. So Mobb Deep, OutKast, Jay-Z & Beyoncé all found inspiration from this one Prince song. It’s why whenever someone says “I never listened to Prince” I’m always like yes you have. His fingerprints are on so much.
The Key Chain retweeted
And since the new twitter rules are we can’t discuss Mobb Deep without discussing OutKast now, the soliloquy at the end of If I Was Your Girlfriend always felt like such an inspiration to Andre 3000’s whole aesthetic. It’s The Love Below condensed to 90 seconds.
The Key Chain retweeted
One of my favorite Mobb Deep loosies used Prince’s If I Was Your Girlfriend beat. Didn’t chop it. Didn’t slow it down or speed it up. Just let it ride and hopped in the booth. That beat is perfection.
The Key Chain retweeted
same thing happened in jazz and when those fans became dominant it ironically slowed the evolution of the music.
The Key Chain retweeted
sometimes it feels as if our most talented young people who oughta be starting indie boutique labels for LOCAL artists in their own cities, are too busy talking into little mics about first week sales, “rollout” strategies and industry gossip to actually BUILD anything.
