“You’re never as good or bad as they say you are.”
“Never too high, never too low.”
There are a few quotes like these which I feel every artist should live by if they plan on making music a career choice. There is a path to success, but it isn’t a straight one, and it definitely isn’t paved though a blog post. So why do we (and other respectable hip-hop blogs) get the same reaction from artists when we post a top-ten list? There are 745389024738203.99 rappers in the NW alone (UPS is hiring), and they can’t possibly all fit on one (1) list of ten (10) people. #MATH
Yeah, we at WOHM mention Portland-bred rappers like Luck, Mikey, and Illmac regularly, but they sold out a show this year as headlining acts by themselves. Please use the space below to write down a list of the shows you’ve sold out as a headlining act. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Moving on. So we’ve established that you’ve never done this. Well how about touring? Have you been anywhere outside of your neighborhood city? State? Country? No? OK, that’s no problem. You might still be able to make that top ten list that – for some reason – you cared so much about that you created your own top ten list on Facebook in response. When is the last time you released a project? If you had to think about it, then you might want to get on that. There is still hope though. You can still make this coveted list. Have you released any music videos lately, or are you still riding high off that banger from 2009? Oh… it’s the remix? #stilldontcare
Well, let’s say you’ve answered yes to some or all of these examples, and for some reason you still care about being on a blogger’s top ten list. I’m going to let you in on a little secret:
These lists are not for artist validation.
These lists are created for the same reason we post music every day. They are for fans who want to discover new music from artists that we believe represent our region consistently, correctly, and (probably most importantly) wouldn’t get mad if we didn’t include them because they’ve already got a solid fan base that watches their YouTube videos, pays to see them rock a stage, and buys their merch… in real life.
One last thing to keep in mind. Blogs thrive on one thing: unique page views. [Editor’s note: Truuuue.] This means that if you hate on a blog post enough to share it, the blog still wins (#MATH). So if you don’t care about being included in the list, why take the time to post about why you don’t care that you weren’t included on the list? Why waste time reacting to something that wasn’t even written with you in mind to begin with? Positive energy begets positive results, so why even bother? Focus on making your fans’ lists, not ours.
*100 emoji*
#OutHere