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I know sweeneykovar is probably closer to Blu in real life than anyone so i'd love to hear if he has any input.
there seems to be 3 main complaints about Blu; the audio quality of his latest releases being sub-par, the WAY he's been releasing his music, & his live show. I'm not as concerned with the argument of it, because while I don't agree with the way Blu's been handling his career it's true that nobody's forcing us to pay for it. that doesn't matter to me because of course you also have the option of just illegally downloading it anyways so what I wanna know is what's Blu's mindset?
He HAS to know his live show sucks. it's obvious he's shown up for shows under the influence (either alcohol, weed, or other substance) beyond the point of being able to fully function. He stumbles over words, forgets verses, stands in one place & has 0 stage presence. I get that not every artist (mostly rappers) is a great live performer, but his act's unprofessional & less than amateur. How does he feel about it? Does he even care? Does he realize that he's only hurting his long-term (& short-term) ability to make money from fans that WANT to pay to see him? What do the people around him think? We've all seen the video of that guy jumping on stage & calling him out on his BS. Now, I get that Blu's whole persona is kind of laid back, but dude just didn't seem to have any fight in him. Yea he seemed to be making light of the situation but it almost looked like he KNEW what the guy was saying was true. Exile jumped in & handled the situation, but Ex HAS to be getting tired of the BS especially when he does shows with people like Fashawn who put on great shows.
The audio quality is another thing. IDK what blu's $ situation is since that's one POSSIBLE reason for shitty quality (no $ for recording) but that seems like a cop out because like people have said before even "local" artists have managed to put out quality sounding stuff. Studio time isn't THAT expensive, someone of his stature HAS to have people who are willing to help out on that end. Even if he doesn't do it in a big studio, there's people doing shit at home that sounds 10x better than what he's put out. there's just no (obvious) excuse for that as a professional artist (which is what he is). It's almost disrespectful to the producers he works with to associate their music with such shitty quality. Does Madlib care that Blu's putting out ucla after sounding like he recorded it in a bathroom? What about Exile with the "give me my flowers"? The quality of the raps or production wasn't the problem, it was the fact that it SOUNDED like a demo of a demo.
the last thing is the WAY he's putting out music. he keeps releasing projects that sound like demos (& ARE demos in some times; he said "give me my flowers" is the demo version), charging $15 (which is on the higher end for a digital download with no kind of added bonuses) then taking the DL down, re-upping in better quality & charging again. Obviously he can do whatever he wants & it's your choice to pay or not & blah blah blah. wtf is his thinking behind this? I don't buy the whole "he's an artist & this is his vision" shit. there's nothing "artistic" about putting out sub-quality music then basically screwing over your own fans who are willing to pay. If he's planning on releasing a higher quality version of something, why even put it out to begin with? is it strictly money, like "I need to make rent this month so i'll put out this bullshit sounding demo, make some quick cash, then re-release it for real"? That's just shitty business in general because a large amount of his fans are turning on him & rightfully so. I'd be pissed if I purchased his album for $15, it was a shitty sounding demo, then a month later he puts out a higher quality version. That kind of practice isn't how you stay successful long-term. Even if Blu doesn't want to be a rapper for much longer, he's messing up opportunities to make $ now, leave a good legacy, present his music in the best light, etc.
Does he have a manager/someone advising him or just a bunch of yes men? Does he care that he's messing up his $ right now? does he not care about his music, fans, etc.? I say this because there's no way he doesn't realize this stuff.
All of that said, I'm a big fan of Blu's music. I connect to it beyond "it's dope" & it really means something to me. When he's on his shit, Blu's one of my favorite rappers of all time. I want to see him succeed because I'd like to keep enjoying his music & anyone who has that kind of talent deserves to be successful. Only problem is that he doesn't seem to care. We've seen this story over & over with talented people wasting it away & not reaching their full potential. If Blu's content with the level he's at now, then by all means that's up to him, but he has the potential to be way more successful with just a LITTLE bit of effort. </rant> ___________________________
He has the confidence of Vernon Maxwell on a yayo binge.
http://www.2amDonuts.bandcamp.com
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