@The Devil's Advocate is right... you will rarely if ever find an artist that didn't have someone with major pull or major money behind them that got a deal but labels know people respect the struggle more than the reality.
The "Dream" is easier to sell than the truth. Most rappers have a drug dealer behind them and they put up money to make it appear that the artist is doing more or more successful than they really are because they know people buy into it.
Most of these rappers are broke or in debt to their dealer and they don't work with "contracts"...
People are always surprised when years later an artist they believed were rich actually turns out to be broke... you don't know what is really going on behind the scenes while an artist is "hot" & that's how it's always been...
The "Illusion" of the industry is what keeps it running...