Kno said:
when I am the engine behind the single most prolific hip-hop group in the past ten years behind The Roots
A little presumptuous don’t you think? Yeah, CunninLynguists as a band is probably one of the top three most prolific hip-hop groups in the past 10 years, but implying you’ve had more of a profound impact on hip-hop or music as a whole than a group like Kronic is just absurd. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and start blaspheming the legends and true pioneers of rap. You guys are good, but not THAT good, deal with it. Sometimes it just beez like that.
Kno said:
when I am the engine behind the single most prolific hip-hop group in the past ten years behind The Roots
A little presumptuous don’t you think?
You obviously have no idea what prolific means. Snark fail.
Did I say top 3? As far as I’m concerned you guys now rank somewhere between New Boyz and ICP. And as a random dude on the internet, I think we can both agree that my opinion needs to be taken seriously.
Kno said:
when I am the engine behind the single most prolific hip-hop group in the past ten years behind The Roots
A little presumptuous don’t you think?
You obviously have no idea what prolific means. Snark fail.
Did I say top 3? As far as I’m concerned you guys now rank somewhere between New Boyz and ICP. And as a random dude on the internet, I think we can both agree that my opinion needs to be taken seriously.
I’m just wondering: what does an artist have to do in order to reach a larger audience? I’m fascinated to know the process- which I’m sure can be arduous.
You should get one of Oprah’s African schoolchildren to fall in love with QN5 music; it’d be subtle yet effective. Or Markie Mark.
But in all seriousness, I’m curious about the marketing process.
tak08810 said:apparently one way is to rap really fast while flipping pancakes
sorry but i’m sort of curious to see how tone and rest of qn5 feel about that ( i assume people know what i’m talking about)
You actually beat me to it. I’ve been following Deacon and Mac Lethal since the 90s. I think Qn5 missed many opportunities to do something like this and really blow up. I know Qn5 has always been hesitant to do “gimmick” things to try to blow up, but the reality is if you dont have a budget to pay for advertising, then you have to do certain things like what Mac did which was free to do in order to expand past word of mouth of people like us who are their core fan base.
Imagine if Tone did his fast rap stunts like Mac Lethal but then follow them up with releasing serious songs as well? Imagine if EFamm used Squiggee videos more aggressively. QN5 artists always had a knack for making funny songs and skits, but always seemed to stop short of using them to reach a wider audience. I loved the NWL skits, the CL Nas album title clips, the Megashow clips, etc…
I’ve supported Qn5 for a long time and defended Qn5 on several hip hop boards where people hate on Qn5 because they say QN5 attitude of “being the new hip hop” etc was “uppity and reaked of arrogant artistic douchebaggary” and even the fans acting like they are “above the all of the other hip hop listeners intelligence and taste. It’s just something to think about.
All of the Qn5 artists are extremely slept on, but so was Mac Lethal. He makes serious music and playful and obnoxious music as well. He used is creative playful side to make entertaining videos on his own terms that he also thought would attract people who dont even like rap music to watch his youtube videos. Qn5 has that same exact playful side, and I think you guys should use that side more for marketing purposes in order to get new audiences to you, then wow them with your incredible artwork this is more serious and you will have them hooked.
Really? You think Mac made a good choice? Would you prefer being known to a lot of people as the “nerdy white rapper who flips pancakes” or known to a smaller audience as a talented rapper with artistic and personal integrity who doesn’t resort to self-humiliating gimmicks in a feeble attempt to “make it?”
Mac came off as a douche in that clip. It might get plays and it might make him a novelty act, but it won’t get him fans.
Kno said:
when I am the engine behind the single most prolific hip-hop group in the past ten years behind The Roots
A little presumptuous don’t you think? Yeah, CunninLynguists as a band is probably one of the top three most prolific hip-hop groups in the past 10 years, but implying you’ve had more of a profound impact on hip-hop or music as a whole than a group like Kronic is just absurd. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and start blaspheming the legends and true pioneers of rap. You guys are good, but not THAT good, deal with it. Sometimes it just beez like that.
neverbetter said:Really? You think Mac made a good choice? Would you prefer being known to a lot of people as the “nerdy white rapper who flips pancakes” or known to a smaller audience as a talented rapper with artistic and personal integrity who doesn’t resort to self-humiliating gimmicks in a feeble attempt to “make it?”
Mac came off as a douche in that clip. It might get plays and it might make him a novelty act, but it won’t get him fans.
Maybe to you, but then again that is the point that many people are claiming about fans like you. You are very naive and sound like the one being the douchebag. Mac now has about 10 million people who know who he is just off of that pancake video, got a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest and gaining new contacts every minute. He is already making a killing off of selling his back-catolog for $20 dollar digital downloads, is going to release his last independent album on New Years eve to a huge new internet follower who liked him on facebook, youtube, and texts from bennet tumblr, who are curious before finally signing a record deal that will make him a lot more money than he is now off of his do it yourself Black Clover Records. People clowned him for how he left Rhymesayers and how his boy Grieves left him and took his place on that label, but look at him now.
If you want to get Qn5 to that level and get Chico and The Man, CL, Tonedeff and the rest of the roster to that level, you need to do something different. It’s the same message of “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity” statement. It needs to be creative, funny, and have mass appeal to both hip hop heads and to music lovers in general who dont even listen to rap. Chico and the Man could do that with very creative advertising and preview-like you tube clips that take the “work for it” theme but make it more easy to follow so it can go viral. Some people on here may call that gimmicky, selling out, but when it comes to business its just called marketing. Just something to think about.
Kno said:
when I am the engine behind the single most prolific hip-hop group in the past ten years behind The Roots
A little presumptuous don’t you think? Yeah, CunninLynguists as a band is probably one of the top three most prolific hip-hop groups in the past 10 years, but implying you’ve had more of a profound impact on hip-hop or music as a whole than a group like Kronic is just absurd. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here and start blaspheming the legends and true pioneers of rap. You guys are good, but not THAT good, deal with it. Sometimes it just beez like that.
Acapollo said:Maybe to you, but then again that is the point that many people are claiming about fans like you. You are very naive and sound like the one being the douchebag. Mac now has about 10 million people who know who he is just off of that pancake video, got a radio interview with Ryan Seacrest and gaining new contacts every minute. He is already making a killing off of selling his back-catolog for $20 dollar digital downloads, is going to release his last independent album on New Years eve to a huge new internet follower who liked him on facebook, youtube, and texts from bennet tumblr, who are curious before finally signing a record deal that will make him a lot more money than he is now off of his do it yourself Black Clover Records. People clowned him for how he left Rhymesayers and how his boy Grieves left him and took his place on that label, but look at him now.
And on the other hand, some would point to this as the comparatively problematic mindset. Something that has always plagued hip-hop in particular as a genre is the inappropriate conflation of musical value and business savvy.
How many people do you think objectively thought this video was god-awful but publicly applauded it for the specific reasons you cited above? (To be perfectly transparent: Yep! Liked it. But I liked it because it made me laugh, not because dude is out getting his as a result. The few “actual” joints I checked out afterwards, I wasn’t impressed with.)
You are right, and it’s unfortunate that QN5’s commitment to separating its output from extraneous bullshit can be interpreted as pretentiousness. But I think we can talk about how to change that without becoming apologists for those who practice reductio ad hustlum. The folks who cast good records to the side because their creators/fans care too much are not victims of poor branding; they are part of the fucking problem.
My point is simply that a strict population size is less important than the margins for conversion within that population. If QN5 wants to write music that takes time to consume and digest, I think that there is a particular audience of people who are prepared to do just that; it certainly is not limited to the people who visit this site (hence the need to take a few months to prepare and execute a strategy), but we’re talking a fixed budget, and either a shotgun approach targeting 20% of the trollmass that liked “Friday” or a focused approach targeting 80% of dispersed individuals who might “get it” but just aren’t in the know.
ITT: Venn Diagrams
After reading all that, you are missing the overall point of why Kno and Tonedeff are not releasing Chico and the Man this week. You want them to keep doing what they have been doing, and only reach the same amount of people and not get recognized by a larger mainstream artist. Maybe you should go back and listen to Tonedeff’s song “Last to Know” because it seems like you are the guy he’s referring to yelling “Keep it underground for life” and you also seem like one of those selfish fans who wants to keep Qn5 for yourself, and will brag that you listened to them before they got big and will even scorn them if they do.
Either contribute an ACTUAL idea to help Chico and The Man and Qn5 get to a larger audience and commercial success, or keep your selfish long-winded posts that completely misses the point to yourself.
TheNotoriousBigL said on Dec 10, 2011:
artistKno said on Dec 10, 2011:
TheNotoriousBigL said on Dec 10, 2011:
artistKno said on Dec 10, 2011:
CSolipsism said on Dec 10, 2011:
houstonz said on Dec 10, 2011:
Bisora said on Dec 11, 2011:
tak08810 said on Dec 11, 2011:
Acapollo said on Dec 11, 2011:
neverbetter said on Dec 11, 2011:
Juanka said on Dec 11, 2011:
Acapollo said on Dec 11, 2011:
pen said on Dec 11, 2011:
deStructuralized said on Dec 11, 2011:
Acapollo said on Dec 11, 2011:
JLee said on Dec 11, 2011:
artistPackFM said on Dec 12, 2011:
artistTonedeff said on Dec 12, 2011: