Published: Monday - January 7, 2008
Words by Donny Goines
Blog by Donny Goines (Photo: Don Michaels)
Back in the beginning of 2006, I saw where the internet and music were both headed (if only I had been rapping seriously before then) and realized that if I was going to make a career out of this, I had to embrace it. It still puzzles me how artists today don't use there foresight, knowledge and logic to determine the future and trends of the business. They don't know how to "stay ahead of the curve."
It's a common saying and I'm sure you've heard it before. Have you really applied it to common practice though? Many of your favorite rappers and producers were practitioners of this art. Think about it. Don't you remember when so and so came out and you heard them you thought "Damn they sound like there ahead of there time?" There's only three possible ways this can happen musically. One, a natural gift (self explanatory). Two, an accident (you use one sound instead of another, a mishap in the studio, etc.) Or the third, you follow the trends, study the game and figure out what's missing at the time. Most people make history with the latter. Simply put, if you want to succeed in the game you need to figure out what's missing and fill the void.
"How can you do this?" you ask. Honestly, there no right or wrong way to go about it. You can try many different things but in my opinion your best bet would be to follow the formulas of your predecessors. Think of it as an RPG (yes, I'm a geek), but role playing games are a good analogy in this case. When you are playing an RPG, your moves determine the outcome of the story. Now you can follow the typical path and get the typical ending, but imagine if you notice or observe the trends? You'll realize that if you changed certain things in the story your ending would bring about a new future. The only way you'll know to make these changes though is to pay attention to your surroundings and take the necessary actions to alter the future. It sounds a little far fetched but all my RPG players have a good idea of what I'm talking about I bet. Long story short, you need to stay ahead of the curve in order to change the future or at least, survive in the long run.
You see, I realized early on that if I didn't embrace and utilize the internet, I wouldn't have a good future in my music career. I looked at the trends, the past and my predecessors and determined that the internet was a viable route and the wave of the future. Imagine if I didn't stay ahead of the curve though? I would have been behind it.
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