Article: Why do I make Hip Hop?
Do I want to be famous? Do I want a lot of money? What do I WANT? This is the first question I asked myself before I decided to dedicate my life to creating hip hop. In my opinion, this is the most important question you can ask yourself as a hip hop trackmaker. Asking yourself this question will shape your entire sound, motivation, and creative process.
Every once in a while an artist writes an opinionated article for us. This time producer Kuroisoul talks about his music and the motivation to create Hip Hop music.
Do I want to be famous? Do I want a lot of money? What do I WANT? This is the first question I asked myself before I decided to dedicate my life to creating hip hop. In my opinion, this is the most important question you can ask yourself as a hip hop trackmaker. Asking yourself this question will shape your entire sound, motivation, and creative process.
In my opinion, music is the only thing that is a real experience in life. This may sound extreme to some, but it is the only thing I have ever been able to truly rely on as being genuine and pure. When I have encountered the times when I could not even trust the closest friend with my truest feelings – there was music. When I have felt the greatest feelings and joy ever – there was music. A man in a 10 million dollar home with 25 rooms has music. A man on the streets with no friends nor family, ignored by the world, has music.
It is the one form of expression that every single human being on this Earth can relate to.
So, before I sat down and decided to drop everything and dedicate myself to learning and mastering the art of sampling and creating hip hop, a form of music which is built from the canvas of generations past, I asked myself – WHY am I making hip hop? To tell you the truth, I don’t want lots of money. Like anyone else, I only need enough to get by and not suffer debts. I know reality and what is important in life. I know that money CAN buy you happiness, but that happiness is not lasting at all.
I don’t care for popularity. My actions in the last few years attest to this. I have secluded myself and it took almost 2 years of making beats before I showed anything to the world. I constantly take websites and accounts on and off the internet because one day I want my privacy and the next I feel like sharing. I know that being popular is great on the surface, but it does not mean anything in the end. I can count the true friends I have on one hand, no matter how many friends and followers Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter says I have.
The mindset I possess is a genuine one, but it is also a battle in the current industry climate. Many hip hop producers and artists are struggling to get by financially so that they may support their passion and achieve their dreams.
I once told a fan of my music who took the time out of their day to send me a message of thanks, that I will always offer my music for free because that is what I truly BELIEVE is the right thing for me to do. I then went on to release 2 online collections, a few mixes, and 2 hours of my first attempts at making hip hop.
I intend to keep that promise going forward…
If I ever release anything officially in stores or online, it is simply for the chance to expose my music to the world. I will not make much money from it even if thousands and thousands of copies are sold. 10% of CD sales. Maybe 20% of online sales after everyone takes their cut. How many people are really buying CD’s? How many people are really buying music online?
We all know the answer.
This is also after taking the risk of being sued if an artist I sampled didn’t appreciate that fact or the art of sample-based hip hop. Meaning, I could possibly lose more money than I began with simply to sell my art. I would make more money and enjoy more stability in life working at a standard retail establishment and working my way up over the years. These days, you don’t get into the hip hop industry because you feel you will become incredibly rich. At least not once you learn the truth of how things work. That reality of overwhelming wealth is reserved for the very few who experienced a unique and rare set of circumstances and chance. Among those few, a lot of them are presenting an illusion.
What I truly want is to express myself and leave something to this world that lasts long after I no longer exist. I decided from day one that this is what I am going to do, so you will always find a feeling in my hip hop that cannot be compromised or explained. When there is no motivation and influences from money or fame, the only thing left is the true art of music. This is what I want. I want to make true art.
Real HIP HOP.
