Top 5: "Worst Things About Being An Aspiring Musician"

None of us have posted on here in a while. 

You'll have to get over it, as if there's any getting over to do. We've all been out working on our various projects for the past couple months, which brings me to my next post.

Top 5: Worst Things About Being An Aspiring Musician.

I'm sure most of you that might stumble upon this probably make music, of some sort.
If you do, it will be inevitable to relate. If you don't, this will at least let you in on the things that most of us deal with on a daily basis.

So, without further ado.

5. No one believes in you

This could apply to a lot of things. Your parents, friends, family, etc. Most of them think you're wasting your time, or could be doing something better. But most of them don't understand the passion you have for it, because they've never been passionate about anything before....which is pretty sad.

4. You have to trust your own gut

If you weren't aware, most people, in general, have the aptitude to lie. This truth is even more evident when you ask someone an opinion on your song. People will lie to you about their opinion to avoid hurting your feelings, but honestly, it sucks more when someone wont say your music is trash & you can tell by how they say it. "its cool" "i like it" or the most popular "nice song!" is the surefire way to tell someone their song sucks without actually saying it. Some people wont even listen to your stuff & just say something positive to avoid being a dick. So in that case, you have to observe what people would want to hear from you. 

3. Locals Wont Support You Even If You're Good

This happens all too often to local rappers down the street all around the world. Word of mouth is a dying trend, especially with the relevance of social media & the internet. Someone could like your music, but wont go the extra length to show other people just because they know you personally. It's kinda depressing. It's funny though, when people want new music but wont listen to what's being chucked in their backyard. 

2.People Think What You're Doing Isn't "Real Music"

People love to think that they 'know what real music is' and that they 'have a good taste in music.' And because they only listen to popular over compressed music, they think that all music should sound like the stuff they hear on the radio. So if your music doesnt sound like Tyga or for the more "tasteful, original" people, they think your music should sound like Kendrick Lamar or Tyler The Creator's. If it sounds like any thing different, they block it our and it's not real music. Then they bash you for making and not being popular.


1. The Lack of Attention People Give You

There is literally nothing worse on the planet than being ignored. And yes I know that you can't come up over night when making music, but god damn. People are just such ass holes about paying you any form of attention. While I understand that they don't owe me their attention or anything, they should at least have the decency to glance at me for 2 seconds. Boring crowds and unreceptive people in general are easily the biggest discouragements for any artists. People don't want to give you attention because you're a 'nobody.' But little do they know if they didn't just blank out and stare off into the distance when you show them your music or try to talk to them about it, you could gain a fan base and no longer be a 'nobody.' - CS/L$G

New Music: BossLife Ed x Closer To My Dreams

BossLife Ed is no stranger to the Eastland Collective blog, the two times he's been on the blog his songs have had features from the Hefner Bros who are also regulars of the ELC. But this time he decided to release a solo song. It's only right that he would do this song by himself, because it would be awkward to feature anyone else on such a personal song. This is a nice break from the other songs that I have heard by BossLife Ed. While I absolutely love the street rap of Detroit, I also like diversity in artists. This song shows that there is more to BossLife Ed than the tough street lyrics in his previous songs. He gets on the 4 and a half minute track and vents about the inevitable facts of growing up in the streets of Detroit. That some people close to you will die or go to jail unfortunately. I applaud him for doing this because a lot of rappers aren't brave enough to put their true feelings on a song because they're scared of being called 'soft' or something. But those people just put on tough facades and the fact is everyone who has had this happen to them has felt absolutely horrible. It's like when you hear the news you're just frozen and stuck in time for about 5 minutes. He showed his brother respect by dedicating this song to him and talking about the good times they had together. But it wasn't extremely soft like you would expect. Like of course it was a slower more sensitive song because of the subject matter but it was real at the same time. It wasn't like Drake or Dougboy Roc level sensitivity. I would recommend you listening to this song if you want to hear something a bit slower and realer than BossLife Ed's previous songs. I'll post the link to it below. -L$G

                                                 Bosslife Ed x Closer To My Dreams

New Producers Starting Out: Where To Find Samples Online

So, apparently a lot of beatmakers starting up have troubles trying to find samples. Well, I'm gonna try to give you a helping hand, whatever that may be, because it's really not that fucking hard. I'm gonna set it off in simple sporadic sentences for you. Let's begin.

First off, the simplest way to find good samples is, well, listen to music. Sounds easy right? that's because it is. You gotta search & search & keep searching for new & different sounds. That means, stop sampling James Brown. Stop sampling The Temptations. Stop sampling the same 5 David Axelrod songs. Stop. sampling. the same. shit. that every other. fucking producer. samples. If you sample what everyone else samples, then it doesn't really make you a producer now does it? Now, I'm not saying don't sample a song if its been sampled before. You can flip any song by just chopping loops. I'm talking, don't take the same 4 seconds from "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos & act like the Fugees didn't sample it 18-19 years ago. Come on now. Look for new sounds everywhere. If you're in a fucking department store & hear a smooth jazz song over the loudspeakers while ya ma is fiddling her yams then pull out that song identifier app, whatever the hell it's called. Anyways, moving on.

The internet is literally your playground to find all kinds of music. But, sometimes you can only find things on vinyl, and vice versa. Even madlib has been using the internet recently to find samples he couldn't find on vinyl. Use both sources. Go crate digging at a record store if you have one. Go e-digging on the internet. search for music blogs by the genre you're looking for. You can sample anything, but some of the best genres to start with are soul, soundtrack music, easy listening, and jazz. Don't forget that international jazz, soul, easy listening, and soundtrack music exists too. Europe didn't just create orchestral music. dipshit.

 

Also, stop looking up YouTube videos on how to make beats. That shit wont help you a damn bit. You're better off fucking with it for 2 hours & learning a couple things instead of watching a 5 minute video and getting confused even more. No one EVER fucking said making music would be easy. You just inferred that because your neighbor down the street has skills & has made a couple beats. "But hey, if he can do It I can too!". If you don't even have the dedication to sit at a computer for four hours and look for samples to make a beat instead of taking the lazy way out, maybe you should reassess what you're spending time on. No one else can teach you how to be good at something, it takes time & dedication to build up hard work into experience, which therefore helps you fix your mistakes & builds toward your craft. What do you think calluses symbolize? - CS

New Music: Boss Life Ed ft Hefner Bros x Boogie Down

Boss Life Ed and Hefner Bros previously released a song that also had a sped up funk sample. These beats are dope as fuck so whenever someone gets on then I pay attention. I don't think Boss Life Ed is in the Hefner Bros, he just had an affiliation with them. The songs he's dropped so far have been hard so ill fuck with his mixtape if he decide to drop one. I just love original Detroit music and I can guarantee no other city can make music like this. I would recommend checking this song out, it has a street feel but joy like a forced street feel that a lot of artists in Detroit have. In better terms you can kind of sense they're not boosting heavy and they talking about what they know. As I've said numerous times, I like to keep their posts relatively short because an interview with them is coming soon. Well anyway I'll post the link and my favorite lines below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6b1lFQ0dM&feature=c4-feed-u

Favorite Lines: 

First Verse: "Got yo girl sucking sick she look like the surprise emoji"

Second Verse: "Niggas want a feature cuz they know we blow up/ what you got that we ain't got lil nigga better ?"

5 Reasons Why I'm The Only Lightskinned White Person to Ever Exist

This blog post is pretty self explanatory & maybe a little degrading to myself & other people I know personally. Fuck it. It has to be done.

1. I get sad when I get curved
This shit is hella explanatory. When a bad hoe curves me for the nudes on the DM's, I get hella mad & go play Fight Night Champion on PS3 to relieve the anger. This involves me turning on the 2nd controller & sitting it on my stand unattended, & then proceeding to beat the shit out of Bernard Hopkins. Most of the time I use Oscar De La Hoya cause dude has hella stamina & I can just punch the shit out of Bernard Hopkins' face while looking at Oscar De La Hoya & seeing the pain in his eyes, realizing  he probably got curved more than I did. The fact that I even know what a curve is gives me extra points, & brings me to my next point.

2. I use terms in everyday life that only black twitter uses
The other day, I was appalled as shit when a white girl asked me to explain myself when I called her foul. Really? I really have to explain to you what foul means? Really? Am I really that weird to yall? Really?  Is it like where's Waldo to you when you find something funny on your TL for once? Really? FOH & don't talk to me when you want to complain, I will pause your conversation & go listen to Luther Vandross

3. I'm a white rapper
Please don't make me explain this. Locals are still appalled that white rappers exist....like Beastie Boys, Eminem, & even Vanilla Ice's wack ass didn't happen. Appalled that they exist yet I still get curved when it comes to them listening to my music. But it's cool. I don't have a grudge. Just angry. Cause I'm whiteskinned.

4. I can't relate with anyone else

This kinda adds into the last one a bit. I caught myself feeling this when I was talking about sampling to someone & they said "what's sampling? Like taste testing or something?". Don't make me put the walls of Jericho on these locals bruh. Really don't make me do it. I don't want to but next time I get some dumbass shit like this someone's getting a 5 star frog splash.

5. I automatically get annoyed when someone tries to debate with me
This goes with locals & music. I could give a fuck less about twitter. These locals...man these faggots the type to say Drake is GOAT compared to the Wu-Tang Clan & he helped them out with "Wu Tang Forever" all because drake is popular right now. & I'm literally expecting someone to say this. I already had some faggot tell me that Wu Tang Clan is gay & A$AP Rocky is his favorite rapper. You realize how contradictory that statement is? These faggots don't understand anything about hip-hop whatsoever. These faggots the type to think every rapper makes their own beats. These faggots the type to think vinyl records are gay & only 50 year olds own them. These faggots the type to think a rapper is superior to another because he raps faster. You know why certain rappers rap faster? It makes up for their lack of content with flow. You dumb motherfuckers. Don't make me go on bruh cause I will slander everyone in the state of Ohio bruh. Really. -TS

New Music: Teef Sweat ft. Sly Quota - Muta.

Teef Sweat is a writer for the hip hop section here at the ELC. He was asked to be a writer because he is absolutely in love with hip hop, from lyricism to beats he pretty much loves everything hip hop and engrosses himself in it. In addition to being a rapper he's also a producer he specializes in chopping up samples and wrapping over soulful beats like a lot of lyrical rappers before. The first thing I notice about the song is the effects on the vocals, normally Teef goes for traditional vocals just EQ, Compressor, and Limiter. He lets the lyrics speak for them selves, but the effects fit with the song so I didn't really mind. The sample was mesmorizing and I had to listen to the song a couple times to really pay attention to the lyrics and alot of things flew over my head. I'm still trying to figure things he said in Cactus and he released that ages ago. All in all if you like classic lyricism and chopped beats this song will be perfect for you. I'll post the link to the song below. -L$G

https://soundcloud.com/teefsweatinsight/muta-ft-sly-quota?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=twitter

New Music: Hefner Bros x Add It Up

The Hefner Bros are becoming familiar faces on the ELC, and we're starting to see more and more with each song. This is easily my favorite song they've dropped so far, their lyrics are a bit more tight and clever on this song. It sounds professional kind of like they're beginning to come into their own, as of now I'm wondering that their mixtape will be like. On The Table, Add It Up, and Tonight all have pretty different feels to them so it just makes me more curious about their mixtape as a whole. Some of the artwork was cropped out when it was converted, but the bottom said a video for the song is coming soon and that's something to look forward to. As of now we've only heard their music and that's all we have to go off. But when the music video drops you'll get a better feel for them and become more engrossed because you have something to associate the lyrics. I've said this in previous posts, but an interview with them is coming sometime soon so I don't want to go into much detail. But all in all I can't really them apart because I don't know who's rapping what verse but the video will solve that problem. I think my favorite is Rel Hefner if that's the dude who had the 2nd verse on both this song and Tonight. If you like Detroit rap then you'll absolutely love this song. I'll post the link and  my favorite line from each verse below.

http://4shomag.com/2014/01/hefner-bros-add-it-up/

Rate: 8.3/10

Favorite Lines:
First Verse: "2 bands make her pussy wet/ 2 bands get a pussy wet/ Borrow pussy fuck the pussy/ give pussy his pussy back"
Second Verse: "I gave this ? whore her first ever bite at Beni's/ then tore her weave out but fuck it cuz it wasn't Remy"
Third Verse: "Get the bows keep a knot like a bow tie nigga/ doing numbers pockets smarter than a 4-eyed nigga."


Sidenote: Whoever was rapping in Rel Hefner's ask box need a feature on the mixtape that nigga was hilarious