Blah, Blah, Blog

April 10th,

I had the dream again. The one where Ice Cube is taking myself and a multicultural bunch of youngsters on an historic bus tour of buildings he's flipping and re-selling for lots of money. This got me thinking...what happened to the WestSide Connection?

Formed originally for the song "WestSide Slaughterhouse" on Mack 10's self titled album, this was the rap equivalent to The HighwayMen - the beloved secret weapon of record labels - the supergroup. Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC are The WestSide Connection.

I was little surprised when I saw these mugs appear in the onslaught of unenthusiastic TV appearances that were part of the promotional machine in 1996. I was more surprised at how quickly they blew up, and then how quickly they went away.

What's the use of lamenting the passing of any type of popular fad or trying to glean any lessons from it, when the equipment that builds these types of careers never considers shelf-life? Because it is not about longevity in the music business today. It's not even about music. It's about product.

Why burn yourself out as a musician wondering why we create things that don't last? It's not that pop music is crappier, or that there's some flaw in the craftsmanship of these songs or groups or labels - it's that money became involved and people weren't really sure how to handle themselves. Musicians are NOT instant entrepreneurs. Most of us have little or no working knowledge of business strategies, yet it is left up to us as to how to creatively market our own wares. Then on top of that, if people start paying attention you now have a persona you are in charge of. So taking all of this into account, we can see how some people can make a living, and some people just burn hot for a short while and retire.

Musicians always get upset at the state of music and how it's dumbing people down. Music lovers are a resilient bunch and they can also smell BS a mile away, so don't waste your time trying to figure why pop music is so bad; make your own music.

All I know is that music will always endure and the more you put honesty and a true love of what you do in the front seat, the driving is a lot easier.

But I think what my dream was telling me is that Ice Cube is doing alright.

WC was in Belly 2 - Millionaire Boyz Club - and also has plans for an album this year entitled "Revenge of The Barracuda"

And Mack 10 was in Def Jam's video game "Fight for NY" - cool.


Here's to a successful run in the music business!