People coming up to me in parking lots and on the street with this spiel…
“Hey man, what kind of music you listen to?”
“You ever listen to hip-hop?”
“Yo, check this out: me and my brother, we been doing this for years, recently did a concert that Ice-T was at, we got [some familiar sounding name] to remix it, and it’s right here on this walkman. Take a listen.”
“That’s good, right? Five dollars.”
“How about I throw in this other one we did? Seven dollars for both.”
Homeless rap guys — if you’re good, go out and perform.
And realize that tattooed white guys with rainbow hair probably favor a different genre.
That doesn’t happen too much in the O.C…
nor in maine…
Sounds like good business to me. Most of those guys aren’t homeless, and indeed are out performing — in the few amount of venues that will book unknown hip hop artists regularly, and most likely on nights when you’re seeing other bands perform. Hip Hop began on the streets and so it makes sense that upstarts would approach people on the street to hopefully connect with them directly. Name most of the acts you’re familiar with, who first gained notoriety in the late 70s, 80s, and early 90s and you’ll likely find they were among the forefathers of the tradition – selling CDs… on the streets and out of their trunks. I’m positive even your beloved Vanilla Ice, had to do it. One of the best hip hop CDs I ever owned was purchased for $5 in a McDonald’s parking lot on LaCienega and Sunset, by two young, motivated artists. I didn’t wanna part with my $5, as I didn’t want to take a chance, being that I only had $20 to my name at the time, but fortunately for me, my ignorance and poverty didn’t get the best of me. Dave Lopez has since borrowed the CD — and I never got it back.
And it’s not much different from you selling yourself to people you don’t know outside of this Website. You’re hungry, and so are they.
And they do have it right – white dudes with rainbow hair and tattoos do tend to listen to hip hop from time to time. I’ve seen a significant amount of hip hop in your collection as well as hybrids… and I think members of Linkin Park, Korn, Limp Bizkit and many other bands owe their careers and lifestyles to that fact.
P.S. And anyone coming to any of our Websites, is the equivalent of someone allowing themselves to be stopped on the street for even a moment to hear about what we have to sell. Just a different venue is all it is. We just think it’s fancier… because it looks fancier. In reality, we’re all whores.
P.S.S. … SUCKA!
I would posit that it’s a bit more like a pop-up ad than a website.
“do tend to listen to hip hop from time to time,” yes. Buy it from someone we’ve never heard…not so much. Buy it when we’ve already told the person doing the selling that it isn’t our favorite genre, and having them continue to hard sell anyway…definitely not.
And most of the ones approaching me ARE homeless…or at least have a good fake story about being homeless. One of them claimed he was England’s original rapper.
Yea, I’m no fan of the hardsell of the parking lot, regardless of any other factor.
Not to mention that when Run-DMC or NWA sold tapes out of car trunks, there were no albums like those available in major stores or heard on the radio.
Nowadays, however, it’s pretty easy to find a disc (or free mp3) of someone talking over a synth-loop, if I so desire.
I see what you’re getting at, but your take on this issue surprises me. What curmudgeonly yuppie spirit has possessed my LYT? : “someone talking over a synth-loop”, “no albums like those available in major store or heard on the radio”, from “someone we’ve never heard”, etc. You know as well as I that Hip Hop genres can be just as diverse, as rock, and similarly for every hack there is, there are also true artists capable of doing more than putting together pre-assembled backing tracks.
The CD I mentioned… well, there was no album like *that* available in stores or heard on the radio, either. And for me to have assumed otherwise based only on the fact they told me it was hip hop, and were charging $5, would have been ignorance on my part. Theirs was imaginative, with insanely catchy hooks and unique lyrical style — made me wanna dance. Never heard anything like it available in a store, or as a free Mp3. No, you can’t take a chance on spending your hard-earned on everyone’s CD (especially “England’s original”). But as an independent artist, I tell you that it’s a thing to ask people to take a chance, even when you’re giving away something for free. The MP3 revolution is awesome but poses a similar dilemma to your record store scenario – with all these free Mp3s and Websites… why do you think I should want *yours* over the others? And it’s the job of the indie artist to tell exactly why. And what better way than in person. No, you might not have liked these particular guys’ level of aggressive, but on a general, the guerrilla street sale is awesome, because if you allow yourself to be open to it, then you can’t say you never heard of them before… they’re telling you who they are. I’ve heard of The Strokes, but I was happier when I bought a record from an unknown hip hop act than I was paying three times as much and being sorely disappointed with the album of an over-hyped band. No one’s heard of me either, but I’m confident that anyone who takes a chance on my record, won’t put it in the discount bin as fast as they will most purchases which are available in stores and on the radio.
I know you don’t think Websites have much to do with this, but you’re the only person I know who is a walking billboard for your Website. You, in effect say, “Even if you don’t ask me about it, you’ve got no choice but to notice it and if you do ask about it, I’m going to implore you to take away time from anything else you might wanna do, and come visit it”. No, you’re not asking for money, but you’re “aggressively” asking for investment of time, that you hope will translate into something of greater value to you – sales in your shop, attendance/rental/purchase of movies you appear in, acting/screenwriting jobs, ass, independence etc. Similar desires, similar approach. Genuine homelessness and/or scams are one thing, but if someone believes in themselves enough to promote themselves with that kind of confidence I’m willing to consider buying that CD, memorizing that Web address from a t-shirt, and spending some of that discretionary time and money that I’d normally spend on stupid stuff anyway, and take a chance that I might stumble across something good, and maybe be part of the solution to ending all the hackery everyone complains about. Maybe, as an independent artist myself, my little $5 spent will be the thing that makes that guy go home with more confidence that he can make it – and maybe, just maybe, he’ll be the next Dr. Dre.
Jaye, I think you’re making an assumption…that I didn’t listen to this stuff. I did. It has never been like the unheralded gem you apparently found. It’s been guys talking over simple synth loops. So I stopped.
If these guys want to stand on Venice Beach or wherever with a boombox and sell stuff there, I support that — some do this on Hollywood Blvd. Or put on shows, and sell stuff there (there are avenues to do this now that there weren’t when hip-hop was unknown). But if you ask me what kind of music I listen to, I tell you that I’m not interested, don’t give me your life story. Don’t hard sell me, and especially don’t do it when I’m on my way to something else and don’t have the time to stop and listen to your iPod, putting headphones in my ears that have been worn by I don’t know how many others that day. You have an iPod, you have web access.
You’re welcome to seek out the diamonds in the rough. I personally don’t buy or consume that much music a year — I tend to go for sure things these days.
I like my pop-ads to vanish after I’ve clicked “No” once. Respawning six times doesn’t make me click “yes.”
If I were these people, I would consider possibly handing out free CD singles, with a web address where someone could buy more if they wanted, or failing that, a place the band will be playing next. Costs more money, but it’s a much more effective tactic, I would think.
“in person” isn’t the best way to sell your stuff if you’re not personable. And at least in the entertainment biz, unsolicited seldom works either.
There’s a difference between a walking billboard and a walking telemarketer call, no?
They had an ipod, or a walkman? There’s a big difference.
Why do they do that way? Because it works sometimes. You used to try out new stuff like that? Well maybe they’re looking for someone just like you who hasn’t turned into a burned out and bitter cynic yet.
Does anyone really like advertising? Have you ever seen an ad on some surface where no one had ever thought to have an ad placed before and said “wow, I’m glad they did that!”
But it’s how our system works on large and small scales, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. It’s the american way, commie.
Well, people like corporate logos on their T-shirts — Nike, Hilfiger, etc.
But regarding new ads in new places — I was at a mall food court the other day, and they had a new TV monitor up there. It was showing a montage of cats falling down and getting hit with stuff, usually because they’d pulled it on top of themselves.
I was briefly entertained. If someone wanted to sell me a $3 DVD of that, I might go for it.
i am basically with jaye on this one. hustle it. it is what we are all doing.
taste is another story. luke, you’d pay for video falling cats.
admittedly, right now i cannot afford to buy anything anybody’s selling, whether it’s some cloying hippie girl with a guitar on the street or that awesome record scratcher on venice beach, but it makes me happy to think of folks hustling their stuff. one in a hundred, that folk is some kind of unheralded genius. i know some. i don’t believe in the sure thing in this modern entertainment industry. so often the “sure thing” is some kind of slick crap with nothing to it. but again, that’s just tase at work, and my opinion is only mine.
right now i’m trying to push some work that some folks think is low-budget and unprofessional and unsellable, but i know otherwise, in terms of what lasts, and what makes a mark that will be considered a long ways down the road, past what’s hip and “sure”, and i’ve only the future to hope for.
even when it is just crank, i appreciate the act.
Technically, I’m very much with Jaye and Justin, although I share LYT’s frustration at having subpar material foisted so cloyingly upon one’s ears. If you’re hustling it, more power to you, but it helps to have some tact, especially if your material isn’t that great (noting that taste is, indeed, subjective).
The last time some guys offered to show me their hip hop stuff on the street, it was actually really good stuff. I was broke, but I gave them my card and told them I could shoot a video for them. Vice versa self-promotion.
There’s no way I would let some stranger in a parking lot talk me into sticking their cootie-covered earbuds into my ears. That’s just disgusting.
I forgot to mention that I understand if you just didn’t like it, and full-on badgering is not the best way to present oneself. I was addressing, though, that you nourished some stereotypes in the process, that have historically and repeatedly been proven wrong in this industry, and appear to be making an exception for yourself.
No, you’re not an ass about it, but you also pitch yourself to people that on the surface or in actuality, the same thing could be said about – that they probably watch and listen to different things than you – but you still make the pitch and sometimes they take it. Your site is called LYTRules, you publicly wear shirts with 8″ initials and the address on it, and sell panties with your face on ‘em. My eyebrow was raised about you giving someone else the beat-down, for pushing themselves out there with non-subtle methods. You’re the last person I would expect to not be able to appreciate where they’re coming from, even if you don’t care for the particular style of delivery. Most of what you consider a sure thing, likely became a sure thing because someone somewhere along the lines used questionable and/or aggressive methods to make sure you knew about it, and sometimes it’s not as fun, unavoidable – or legal as a guy giving you the Non-Stop on the street.
I’m finished with my Oprahfication now.
Good point, Slick. hahaha
Wait – they’re homeless but have web access and iPods, and libraries of “synth loops”?
That said, I guess the thing I’m most confused about is why you can’t simply say “no thanks” and keep walking? That’s what I do (the question of whether or not these guys may be super talented is beside the point for me – there’s plenty of rap, etc. that I KNOW I love and want and can’t afford yet, so I can’t do much gambling with my green).
I also admire creative approaches to self-promotion, even if there’s an admittedly fine line between ingenuity and obnoxiousness (see Dennis Woodruff, “Melrose” Larry Green, Motherfucking ANGELYNE, etc. etc.)
Also, please accept my order for one DVD of cats falling. AMEX 6753 7899 72625 880000 exp 8/03
Okay, clearly some people need clarification:
SOME of those who approach me like this seem homeless. Others less so (the “original English rapper” can make his own CDs yet doesn’t have the money for lunch at Subway). Some have ipods. Some have Walkmen. Some of these synth “loops” may just be riffs done on cheap Casio keyboards. You CAN say “no thanks” and keep walking (when they aren’t standing in front of you), but you have to say it about eight times in a row, especially if the light doesn’t change quickly enough.
And marketing this stuff to me will not help anyone’s music career one iota.
Everything clear now?
It’s clear that you hate free speech, capitalism and america, pinko.
i’m still unclear.
when do you show ‘em your cock?
Max is the one defending George Clooney’s objectively pro-commie film.
just sayin’, in case the NSA is snoopin’
george danlge-youb bush, dressed like che guevarra, came up strong and aggressive on me tonight in the parking lot of the lincoln/rose laundromat trying to foist on me an 8-track of something he called “rhetoric spittin” over an applause loop.