Sell Out or Nah?

What up MM, what’s cracking? So me and my boy were sitting down the other night and a question popped up “Would you change your philosophy for fame and riches.” This is a topic that will produce many opinions and can vary depending on the factors included, but I just wanna break it down. You either have a price tag or you don’t, but don’t make your decision too quick.

I’m sure many of you have had this discussion, either with yourself or a fellow producer. The fact is some of us are likely to change our opinions when there’s a cheque being waved in your face. Until that moment arrives its very easy for us to sit back and say “NO! I’m not a sellout, I wont change my style for some corporate record label, I will stay true to myself and Hip-Hop”.

Only you truly know if you are strong enough to turn down thousands of dollars to stay loyal to Hip-Hop. I’m a fairly strong-minded person and I have principles that I wont allow to be broken. I truly feel that if some chump in a suit waved a $20 000 cheque in my face and asked me to producer Justin Biebers next album I would be able to turn it down. It’s a no brainer. What if the ante was increased, say $50mil for 5 albums. Just like a great J. Cole lyric I will ask you “Could you run away from $50mil like Dave Chappelle”. I will hedge my bets and say no, some of you will cave in. That’s a serious amount of money.

That’s you pretty much setup for life, all you need to do is produce 5 albums and sell your soul to a little kid that everyone hates. Not only will you sell your soul, your entire entourage will be like, “This guys a sell out”, but you’ll have $50mil in the bank. We all know that a broke person doesn’t have haters, but a successful one does. Would you consider producing 5 albums for Bieber successful? I’m sure a lot of people would.

There are so many factors that could swing your decision, the artist, the terms and conditions in the contract, genre of music and clearly MONEY! Don’t answer too quickly, as this is a life changing decision. Carefully think what this can do for you, can you live without a soul? Or can you live without the money? I believe that if I sold out I would regret it for the rest of my life and a huge void will be left inside of me, which could never be filled. I also think all the Hip-Hop greats will look down and say shame on you, I couldn’t do that to them. Imagine if you go to heaven and J Dilla’s there giving you s**t for selling out. I’m going a bit far, but imagine it.

Only you can answer the question, be true to yourself and like I said, its easy to sit here and say NO, but when the cheques in front of you, what will you choose?

MONEY or HIP-HOP???

Leave a comment below as I look forward to hearing your opinions. Until next time you can catch me at @UKAntSmith

Peace!