When I was 18 years old, I had officially entered the blogging world. Throughout my time thus far, I’ve come across a couple good artists, but a whole lot of bad ones. My goal was always to promote the good ones, of course, but I soon came to realize why both good and bad artists fail(ed) to get the exposure they think they deserve. So, instead of keeping this to myself, I’ve decided to share a couple reasons with you guys. Check it out below.

1. YES MEN: There’s always that one rapper in the city who thinks he’s bigger than life. You wanna know why? He has too many ‘yes men’ on his team. Those guys who agree with everything he does, gas’ his music up even though he sucks, scared to tell him the truth, all because they wanna reap whatever benefits he (or she) may or are receiving. Prime Example: Meek Mill. When Drake dissed him last summer TWICE, Meek Mill has us wait damn near a whole month to hear his TRASH response on Hot 97 via Funk Flex’s show. Now, who do you think allowed him to release this trash response? NOT NICKI MINAJ! It was his circle. Most likely they gassed him up and told him it was the best diss of all time; and looked what happened? Not only did the diss backfire, but Meek Mill was sued for using Undertaker’s intro, and ended up getting into legal troubles a couple months after. So, in conclusion, know when you got ‘yes men’ on your team and remove them IMMEDIATELY.

2. SPAM: I’ve tweeted it, mentioned it in interviews, and ranted about it on Snapchat, time and time again. STOP SPAMMING – whether it’s via e-mail, Twitter, Instagram comments – STOP IT. We see the notifications, we get it. But, artists fail to realize that constantly doing the aforementioned tactics will get you BLOCKED with a quickness. If we don’t want to click our submission, we won’t; plain and simple. I know for me, I only go through submissions if I literally have nothing to do, or, I’ll plan ahead and send a tweet out saying I’m going to listen to music send submissions, and mentally prepare myself to do so. A lot of the times we don’t listen to submissions is because we simply do not have the time, but understand that you spamming us isn’t going to make us listen any quicker.

3. FAILURE TO INVEST: I can’t stress this enough. If you aren’t going to invest in yourself, how do you expect others to? I will never forget a time where an aspiring rapper I knew spent $50 on a video shoot that was ultimately TRASH. I stopped watching after the first 30 seconds, when I should’ve stopped at 5, but I wanted to give him a shot. There was no video production, the voice over was horrible, it was ridiculous. For $50, I could’ve gotten some business cards made … but, back to the topic at hand. You need to invest in yourself – whether it’s spending money on a music engineer, a mananger, PR person, artwork, studio time, etc. If you’re serious about your craft, you’d spend to damn near your last penny to make you dreams come true. Am I wrong?

4. EXPECTATIONS & CONSISTENCY: This honestly should’ve been number one. Since becoming a blogger, I’ve realized everybody wants to become a rapper; and when those aspiring rappers are your friends, they expect a lot from you with no type of token of appreciation in return except a shout out on Instagram or Twitter. Just like rapping is a business, so is blogging. There are people like me who genuinely wanna help, but only for so long. Once we see you’re taking advantage, we either cut you off to fend for yourself or we inevitably start charging. Too many of you guys are expecting handouts just because you had one poppin’ single in the city. It may work for some of y’all who have people slobbing on your knob, but for the rest of y’all, what excuse do you have? WHO ARE YOU!? Y’all have a lot of nerve. Not to mention, you lack consistency. You drop a record one month, and don’t return for another six. What were you doing for those six months? I know you weren’t working on a mixtape and I don’t see a music video. 90% of the time, people think there’s no more work to do after getting poppin’. Failing to realize that there’s a lot more work to be done. Not only do you have to solidify your name wherever you from, but you gotta start thinking about how you’re gonna get DJs to play your music in other towns/cities/states, not to mention website placements.

5. FANS: The most important thing on the list, the fans. A lot of artists of Boston decided to leave and play their music where they knew people would love it. Once they became who they are today, they returned to their home base where they finally started getting the love they deserve. Whether you live New York, London, Boston, Atlanta, it’s okay to leave your home if you truly believe you can make it, but your home town isn’t showing you love. However, if you lack the funds, try really hard to make a name for yourself wherever you reside – whether its reaching out to radio stations and DJs, e-mailing submissions to local blogs (FOLLOW THE DAMN RULES), or booking shows. It’s always best to start where you came from – that way, people believe you’re authentic and relatable.

Overall, I want you to believe in yourself and don’t forgot why you started. If it’s for the money, this business isn’t for you. People can tell if you’re doing it for the love of it versus doing it for the benefits. Stay true to yourself bih.

P.S. Do us all a favor and stop posting your shit on World Star, paying $600 +. All you’re getting is fake views and broken dreams. The money you’re paying keeps the site going, remember that.

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