Can Previous Freshman on Xxl Come Back Again
XXL finally unveiled their latest class of Freshmen, kicking off another round of discussions nearly who belongs, who doesn't, and who is missing from the cover. Outrage is expected, pleasing an entire community of people with vastly different tastes is impossible. The mayhem that's created is skilful publicity for the artists and the publication; they are the center of attention, for ameliorate or worse.
Time and time again, year after year, I've noticed the perception that being an XXL Freshman has the ability to accident an artist upwards, potentially changing their career. It's a mentality that y'all can associate with the rap blogosphere—if I tin can get my song posted on this 1 site or do an interview with this one publication, the results volition be life-altering. Even deeper than blogs, nosotros all look for that shortcut that will alter our lives with the wave of a magic wand. Sadly, it rarely happens that way.
Big Sean rapped for Kanye Westward. It's a story that has been told since he signed his deal and continued up until the release of his first album, even so continues. You lot can look at that one moment equally the effect that took him from local Detroit rapper to the superstar that he is today, but while it'south a significant moment in his history, information technology's only one moment.
A career in music is a collection of capacity—every story written, every song released, every deal signed, every solar day in the studio, they all contribute to a book that yous hope is as thick as Gone With The Wind and is read more than than the Bible. Some chapters may be more significant than others, but no long-lasting career has been made or broken because of one event. No one sees Big Sean just every bit the guy that rapped for Kanye anymore. To be the successful artist he is today was to grow beyond that moment. Similarly, in a best-example scenario, the XXL Freshman List will go down as one of many co-signs that accumulated into the novel that is an artist'southward life.
The music industry makes it very easy to become disillusioned. The money, the glamor, all the benefits and perks of being famous seem correct out of a fantasy. Separating the dream from reality is hard in a business concern where the dream is sold and nosotros don't oftentimes run into the work that goes into making the dream come true. I still struggle with being grounded in what's real and not allowing my imagination to create an impossible scenario.
The night that Diddy followed me on Twitter my mind went rampant. I thought this would be the moment my life would modify forever. Diddy conspicuously loved my writing then much that his Twitter follow would be the beginning of me writing a book on the life and times of Sean Combs. In my mind, I was a DM abroad from him waving the magic wand and changing my life forever. The DM never came, he didn't acknowledge me every bit the greatest writer of my generation, and then far my fantasies of Diddy anointing me his personal writer has amounted to a absurd name to drop to my parents when trying to convince them that my job is cooler than staring at a computer for 10 hours trying to think of a clever synonym for the discussion "dope."
Roll to Go along
I should accept seen it coming. Diddy has a line on Rick Ross' "Holy Ghost" that I thought about while writing this:
"Fuck your dreams, this is reality."
As a music writer, I'thou constantly encountering people that seem to exist teetering between dreams and reality. There's even been a few who looked at me the mode I looked at Diddy, the holder of a magical wand. It would be rather narcissistic to believe that my words accept the kind of worth that will transform John Doe into the adjacent Kendrick Lamar. DJBooth as a publication is well-known, read by millions every month, respected, just we aren't singlehandedly turning Pinnacle Prospects into worldwide superstars. There isn't a publication that ever could. At all-time, the media can present you lot to a bigger audience, get more eyes on you than earlier, but overnight celebrity will not be reached based on whatever post or cover.
The difficult part about dealing with rapper disillusion is in the moments of desperation. You lot go a message pleading to help push a tape, assistance in promoting an anthology, and y'all know what you lot tin actually practise is much different than what is imagined.
One moment I'll never forget is during my back and forth with Kid Cudi on Twitter, I received a DM from a rapper who wanted me to tweet out his mixtape and so, "Cudi could run across it." I thought his message was even crazier than tweeting at Cudi. I wasn't sure what his expectations were, only in his mind, Cudi seeing his mixtape link on my timeline would be the moment all his dreams began to come up true.
We all dream of meeting the magic wand wielder. Information technology'southward no dissimilar than what inspires people to play the lottery knowing the odds of winning are slim. You risk on the hope that six random numbers will take y'all from rags to riches, a narrative that tin can be constitute throughout the history of rap music. We are all just dreamers trying to make our wildest fantasies come to fruition, in that location's no sin in hoping to meet someone that can make it happen. I'one thousand just very aware that even the seemingly powerful aren't blessed with that kind of power. At that place is no one embrace, i mail service, one show, one moment, but a stacking of small victories until you reach the height of rap's mount.
The men on the XXL cover are to be celebrated, discussed, but they aren't suddenly placed in a group of celebrity guaranteed to be widely successful. That guarantee doesn't exist, and the same goes for the men and women who weren't selected. The accolades and trophies are noteworthy, merely it's what yous do with them, and without them, that determine how far yous go. In that location are two sides to the manufacture—getting on and staying on—and the simple truth is that whatsoever co-sign, whether it's from a label exec, a famous rapper, or a magazine cover, volition but accept you as far as you take yourself.
PastYoh, Puffy Yohmbs, aka @Yoh31.
Source: https://djbooth.net/features/2016-06-13-xxl-freshman-delusion
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