People don't understand the effect that things like MP3's have on an artist, particularly a hip hop artists career. Before MP3's it was mixtapes, and underground shows like Stretch and Bobbito which would play unreleased joints way way before they were gonna come out. Even though I loved hearing things before everyone else, I bet there are a lot of artists who lost the support of their labels cuz that initial rush to the store to get the album was not there cuz all the homey's already had a copy of it in the hood. MP3 is the same kinda thing. Yeah, on one hand it puts an artist out there, but on the other, it drops sales, cuz I don't care what anyway says. 75% of the people who got your album on MP3 are not gonna buy it, and all of them give or take a few will have no problem letting other people download their MP3 versions of your album. They don't understand that this in no way supports you. And without that initial rush in the record stores to buy your album, then the record company will most likely not support you fully and help you get your music out there.<P>On top of that I'm sick of hearing all these people talk about unreleased tracks from your album. I think it is disrespectful to you, a professional artist, and for the rest of us who are not gonna buckle to the temptation and steal your album from underneath you. It's not like you are an artist who is just doing this for fun, and doesn't need the money. I think it is straight wack that so many people are proud of partaking in decreasing your record sales.<BR>I'm out,<BR>bananaman<P>March 2000- Banana and The King <BR>coming to a tape deck near you <P>"You’re a genius with a capital P/ <BR>another Booby Trap casualty/"- Booby trap the sniper.<BR>