New Years is when everyone tells their last big lies of the previous year. This is going to be my year dog, watch! I’m going back to the gym! I’m going to stack paper! Then you fall back into the same habits, the gym gets further away than it used to be and that flat tire wipes out all the bread you thought was good. There’s a very simple formula for making 2011 different from 2010: stop doing the same old shit.
In 2011, Planet Ill may make some structural changes. We may add some functionality and we’re going to get our boards revved up and ready. But we believe in our vision. We write. We don’t just slap up every submitted song, drop three lines and on to the next one. We research. If we know the source of a sample we heard before, we’ll share it with you.
We do our best to reconnect people with music; Hip-Hop especially. It’s annoying as hell to hear people bash music when their only outlet is a broken radio system. They complain about the music but when you ask them about the dozen or so killer releases, they’ve never heard of them. When you ask about songs ,they can’t name any and then they wish for a time when Hip-Hop was corralled and boxed in. This year we have a few wishes for music and this industry that we would like to share with you.
We would like for artists that don’t have the proper handlers to get their ass off twitter and other public outlets if they don’t know how to handle themselves. The most glaring example of this is Chris Brown. Let’s skip how poorly his team handled the Rihanna incident. Kids in a dysfunctional relationship will be volatile. We’ll give him the mulligan. After his tearful return to the spotlight, it seems neither him (nor his mama) can control themselves. “Michael Jackson died so Chris Brown could live” is one of the dumbest things ever tweeted. His recent beef with RazB , full of anti-gay ranting, is even sillier considering recent tweets concerning the completion of a court-mandated ANGER MANAGEMENT program. Run from twitter, young man. As far away and as fast as you can.
Bloggers, “writers” and “journalists” please respect your craft. Our way of life will never be respected as long as those who cover it don’t’ respect it. Learn how to write. If you are an idea person that can’t write, hire someone. Some of these sites have writing that should be in crayon, and ironically they are always talking about rappers that can’t rap.
Rappers that can’t rap…the corners miss you. I know you got the hood on your back. I know you keep it real (grimy, gutter, gangsta, 
etc) but use some of that D Boy money to put on somebody that can ACTUALLY get busy. Big Shug took the rap for Guru and we got Gangstarr. You guys put wack rappers in the front and end up with your whole crew in jail. That’s hustling backwards. Also, when you can’t read regular shit, you can’t read contracts either. It’s 2011 and rappers shouldn’t still be bending over with no Vaseline.
Rappers that can rap, take control of your life. Time and again, we’ve seen rappers (both major label and indie) complain about their labels when their album goes tarantula piss. Even if your contract sucks you still are a partner with the label. Don’t be lazy. Be involved with your own project. Push it until you can’t. Monitor where they are shipping your product. It would be a good idea to do shows where they are pushing you. Famous and rich is annoying. Famous and broke is far worse.
Fans when somebody drops a record, change the first question from “How much did it sell?” to “Was it good?” That one question could change the entire music business. Also your mans and them are not better than Jigga and if you are a burgeoning rapper handing out burned cd’s with marker all over them, take yourself seriously or no one else will. If bootleggers that can’t speak English can make a cd with a cover, you can too. This means you Kooley High. I almost threw your very good music away.
Labels the sooner you realize how foul it is to charge the same price for an album that doesn’t physically exist as an actual CD, the sooner you will realize what a bad business model you have.
Conspiracy theorists, keep theorizing. Half of you are right and can’t prove it. The other half of you are bat shit crazy. Either way you seem to be the only ones at least thinking.
People with jobs, you aren’t lucky to have a job. If you didn’t deserve your job they would fire your ass. Do not be punked into submission just because the job market is tough. Don’t let yourselves be abused.
Singers, watch what you sing. Give us your real self and stop singing the same stuff every song. With every Michael Jackson and Teena Marie loss, we get closer to having a generation of computer aided singers who sing about nothing. Dudes, you’re not making love all night long. Chicks, love is not always a battlefield and it’s wonderful, not depressing.
To everyone that thinks they are being hated, even if you are, devoting songs, tweets or a single breath to haters gives them what they want. Let it go.
If you threatened to do anything to “Super producer” Solar…and didn’t do anything, please refrain from internet tough talking. You’re not gonna do anything.
Malice Intended:
I wish to see mainstream rap music grow and become more diverse, with many different types of voices being represented. I wish for the old school rappers that I know and love to be blessed with a second shot at the spotlight so that a new generation of fans can be exposed to them. I also wish for those same rappers to find ways of attracting new fans without compromising their integrity or remaining stagnant. I wish for Hollywood to finally realize that black audiences are just as diverse as anyone else, and can accommodate more than one kind of film at a time. I wish that black performers and black audiences would stop buying into the mindset that allows the Hollywood system to continue to marginalize us.
And there you have it. Live well. Drink much. Drive little. And have the Happiest of New Year’s from Planet Ill. Thank you for reading, thank you for supporting.
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“We write. We don’t just slap up every submitted song, drop three lines and on to the next one. We research. If we know the source of a sample we heard before, we’ll share it with you.”
So True !!!