Never scared to be long winded, Braille absolutely killed it, and I decided my work was done.
Hope this helps you in making wise decisions for your next project.
#WOHM
What do you think are some of the pros and cons of featuring guests on an album?
* PROS * – Sometimes working with other artists, especially ones more seasoned than you can bring out the best in you, challenge you to push yourself harder, and place you in a position to learn some new things.
* PROS * – Healthy collaborations are often ones where both parties are excited to do it and the fan bases of both artists are excited to hear the results.
* PROS * – Producers might be prone to take a newer artist more serious and offer higher caliber tracks if they have a few high profile collaborations.
* CONS * – If your goal is simply to feature a known artist on your song to try and draw more attention to your music it could backfire. Just because an artist is known – doesn’t mean their fan base is going to like what you do.
* CONS * – Is the song you’re getting your feature on a good fit. Basically… if you are just getting 16 throw away bars on a generic hip-hop song it probably isn’t going to make any impact. In what ways do you relate with the artist you’re featuring? What kind of song could you make with them that would be unique and stand out not only on your record but also within their body of work.
* CONS * – If you’re featuring an artist way more seasoned than you it could do more to reveal your weaknesses rather then develop new fans. Does their verse make your verse sound really amateur? Again, this could be a learning experience… but it also reflects the fact that you haven’t rightly assessed your own skill set accurately.
The last factor to consider….. are you a fan of this artist and simply arranging the collab for the personal experience. In that sense, maybe it’s worth it to you to fork out some dough for a chance to collab with one of your favorite artists. In that case, not only do you get the experience but the money you pay for the feature is also directly supporting the artist you’re working with and helping them to continue in the music industry.
What factors do you take into consideration when asked to be featured on an album?
I’ve went through a lot of different seasons as an artist…there are three main factors that drove me towards various collabs.
1. HUNGER – when I started out I was just hungry. If someone wanted to get me on a song – I was excited at the opportunity to get back in the studio and test myself. Being featured caused me to rap about new topics and rap over beats that I normally wouldn’t pick for myself. So in the early days…as long as the song wasn’t atrocious, I’d be down to jump on it simply because I was hungry.
2. HUSTLE – Around 2004 after I put out Shades of Grey music became my full time career. This happened from a combination of record sales, touring and guest appearances. During that season it just depended on when folks hit me up. If I was too busy or my bills were cool I might turn down a paid opportunity simply because I didn’t want anything else on my plate. In other cases I’d accept any offer I got just to make sure I got groceries. haha. So when you’re in hustle mode you just take each situation as it comes. There was a period in my career where a lot of indy artists wanted to feature me and I was in my mid-20s just writing raps every day anyway. So I’d charge between $150 to $1,000 depending on my relationship with the artist and I probably did over 100 features in my mid 20s. In many cases those features were keeping me afloat. It’s not always ideal to do that many features, but when it’s sink or swim you become thankful for every opportunity that comes your way. So in that sense, I was thankful for all the artists that were willing to pay to feature me on a song. It kept my music career going through the ups and downs.
3. HONOR – At this point in my career I’m getting a lot more picky with collabs. I’ve been rapping for 16 years or so – just quick verses don’t really inspire me anymore. I like to take time on each song and make it the best it can be. Sometimes I spend 17 hours writing one verse so I can’t flip songs as quick as I used to. It’s really hard for me to do a song that doesn’t excite me. Guest appearances aren’t really a hustle anymore; it’s not about the money. I’d rather do five meaningful collabs in one year and not get paid for any of them then do 20 paid features that don’t really reflect the best work I can do. Recently I’ve had a few artists feature me on projects and the artists honestly were dudes already more established than me. At that point, it’s just an honor to be asked to get on the song. At that point it’s not about the money – because making sure the song turns out good does more for everyone involved then one little pay check could. And I guess I’m talking from an indy perspective. In some cases a mainstream act might get hired by a label to make a hit for another artist and get paid crazy for it. That’s a whole different kinda hustle, but since no one is really paying an indy rapper like myself $500,000 or even $20,000 for a guest appearance, the best case scenario once the money is out of the way is that the collaboration would make an impact. That both artists would be happy with how the song turned out, that both the fan bases would be excited about the collab and it would bring more interest to both artists’ catalogs.
When working with younger artists, what advice do you give them if they are interested in reaching out to more established rappers for features?
I look at it from a lot of angles. If a younger artist is just making music as a hobby I’d just tell them to have fun. If they want to spend their money working with artists they look up to then it’s all good. They can enjoy those experiences. For a young artist that’s serious and trying to develop their brand it’s a whole different conversation. It’s a matter of understanding who you are as an artist – what direction you’re going in. Having a realistic perspective of your skill sets and a good understanding of what type of artists you’d sound good on a song with. I don’t want to get too deep cause I’ve already said a lot. haha.
What is your thought process generally like when deciding who to feature on your own projects?
With my own projects I’ve rarely featured established rappers on my songs. I’ve always been more prone to feature established producers, but that was just my preference. In terms of rappers, I would typically feature the artists who were on the same label as me (I’ve been involved in running two different labels). It was more an overall investment – having my artists on my records because they were my good friends and because it helped promote their records as well. That was a total synergism happening. With Beautiful Eulogy (the group I’m now apart of), we’ve been getting more into cross-genre collabs. Working with artists that we are fans of who have similar qualities to their work but exist within different genres. Those type of collaborations are exciting because they produce songs which are unique within both parties’ catalogs.