I don't get why people are surprised by this tho.

Like...it aint like MIKE makes the most mainstream music lol. (I love it, zaza is going to be in my top 10 songs of the year.)

I've had a Black ran podcast in my DMs just a couple weeks ago talking about the amount of Black underground artists passing on them when they reached out, along with other blogs/podcasts getting turned down.

The general consensus, Black artists passing on them cause they aren't big enough.

"both ways"

I aint saying artists ain't playing a part as well.

But in a way, this is how America set s*** up to be. More people checked out Pink Siifu because of that NYTimes article than any smaller interviewers like the lastnamedavid joint. It's a sad cycle because most artists wanna be "big." So because of that, they only end up going after the white "mainstream" platforms instead of working within our own (and possibly never getting to how "big" they wanna get) and building from the ground up.

I mean I saw that video on MIKE's youtube of his and Navy Blue's show they did. It was a lot of white faces in the crowd even though both of their lyrics are very pro-black. It's still more of them than us out there when it comes to this type of music.

They got us all f***ed up. When the biggest black owned "hip hop" podcast is an out-of-touch 41 year old black man that aint even hip to his own genre anymore and is discovered has awful taste in music, that's when you know we in a bad spot

Like, the name of the game is still "white america's" approval. Even the pro-black collective like this knows that.

And I know niggas was clowning her but I can see for noname how that s*** can be a mindfuck. Keiyaa getting big now and they got her doing shows in Europe bruh. And that's amazing right and a big accomplishment. I know her bass player, it was mad white folks over there. All in the audience listening to these lyrics that really are for us.

But that's a tale as old as time. I really don't know what's the answer to this s***.

The answer is simple. If these artists are really down for the pro-Blackness they claim and rap about and for uplifting the culture, then "sacrifices" have to be made. If that means "wasting" time or resources and going to a lesser known Black blog, podcast, YouTuber and giving them an interview, live performance, or premiering a new video on their platform so they can grow their Black audience and get a bigger boost in subscribers and the like so be it.

Personally, I don't see shining light on Black platforms as a waste though. Especially if you on a "for us by us" tip. Also, because I feel like they're often forgotten, but Okayplayer does still exist...and they have a pretty large Black audience along with a following of well known and established Black A&Rs and executives. It's totally possible to reach out to them for an interview or request them to premiere a video. White people are truly not the only option. Unless you care more about the money than actually putting your people on.

I still just gotta know how it feels for KeiyaA, who has often made songs about not fitting the "standard definition of beauty" since she is a large darkskin woman, performing a song like Every Nigga Is A Star to a crowd of white Europeans as they sing along to it.

S*** gotta be weird forreal.

everybody's gotta eat I guess. Kanye can do most of it bc hes ultra-rich and connected. others def gotta get to the position to say f*** everybody which wont happen without a few cosigns from those same platforms

If these artists are really down for the pro-Blackness they claim and rap about and for uplifting the culture, then "sacrifices" have to be made. If that means "wasting" time or resources and going to a lesser known Black blog, podcast, YouTuber and giving them an interview, live performance, or premiering a new video on their platform so they can grow their Black audience and get a bigger boost in subscribers and the like so be it.

I mean, that’s easy for you to say when it aint your bills that gotta be paid tho lmao.

Just saying these niggas dont got the answers/just as flawed as the rest of us

Yo forgive me I’ve been out of the touch the last week or so when the f*** did Mike make his IG public yooo

Balance is key. If you wanna make your money from the white bloggers and publications do what you gotta do. But exactly is keeping an artist from just reaching out to the Black bloggers, publications, content creators, etc and just doing them a favor to not only help them get grow as a platform, but the artist will also gain a bigger Black audience? By helping these Black content creators and platforms grow and become big, you're gonna allow more Black artists going forward not have to tap dance for white acceptance and attention.

To me it's just some things worth way more than money. And sacrifices always have to be made if it means giving those who come after you an opportunity to not have to go thru the same bullshit you had to.

Kanye been on some bullshit, and more often than not continues to be on some bullshit. But he has said something that still reigns very true.

Black artists (imma just add "who have the means" to this) need to stop going to white publications when it comes to Black music and art.

Things of Ours pt. 2 Alc also teased MIKE and Z are on this one

Mavi track dropping this Friday, whole tape the week after If this is the one he teased people are not ready for this

Omfg

Would you be open to compiling a list of blogs. pubs, creators, and influencers. If we shed more light on them it's possible it could give the artists more incentive to work with those platforms. YoungNasty is doing great work outside of him I can only think of DEHH.

I agree overall with your sentiment. Believe me, I would love to have that feeling restored where black artists could perform to a wave of black faces and publications.

Maybe we start curating our own concerts at an accessible price in venues/areas that you wouldn't normally have performances at. Cafe Erzulie (Haitian spot) just had some s*** like that.

Definitely something I'd like to look into more. A podcast I think that would be perfect for a lot of rappers to hop on would be Dom Sharpe's *Listen To This While You S**** It's a hip-hop discussion type podcast with sports talk and culture talk. Based outta Philly and I believe they've had some local rappers on it in the past to just shoot the s***, talk about battle rap and upcoming projects and the like.

S*** is crazy lotta the Black run podcasts I follow on Spotify are more for movie, comic, anime/manga, and TV shows but it's so few I've found for music that I've enjoyed long term...or have lasted long term

I'm sure they exist though. But I guess they just have a hard time lasting long because they aren't getting enough artists to join the podcast. My homie gotta podcast that he just started back up again called "SINVIL - The Podcast About Nothing" but he went back to doing it monthly instead of weekly.

Mavi, MIKE, Bruiser, Z, Vince.... Sheeeeeesh

So hyped s***

That's wild. That's like one of Mike's best projects

Tbh tho it is really difficult getting anyone into Mike out of all the bigger names on the scene.

def in my top 10 rappers as well as producers rn

need this to leak

iirc he was one of the few to remain relatively neutral about it, mostly remember this tweet. Might have forgot something tho

reposting since you can't find it online anymore
dbree.org/v/615584