HoustonTexasCrank
Rookie
So for a while now I've been taking part in so-called "Def Jam Showcases" which are competitions in which a bunch of artists perform for so-called "Def Jam judges" and at the end the judges pick a first place winner. The truth is, most of these judges and most of these shows are complete scams. I can out all the judges if that ever becomes important enough. There is no way almost any of these pieces of shyt are actually affiliated with Def Jam. The organization is just so fukking big that no one can really do much about it. Also, all the upcoming artists are scared to death of making any of these judges upset for fear they will never make it in the industry. As a result, these shytty judges collect tons of entry and performance fees and laugh all the way back to their 2 star motel and their mexican bush weed.
Anyway...these winners are promised things such as studio time, DJ spins, and radio interviews. However, we have pretty much never seen any of these things happen. We've won several of these. We have never had a single radio interview. Never heard our song actually get played on the radio. The "free studio time" always ends up being a "pay for 3 hours and get 1 hour free" type of bullshyt.
Ok enough rambling. Below is a link to the video (my rant is transcribed both below this link and in the video description section on YouTube - I apologize that it's tough to hear as I was trying to scream over my own track being played). I decided to go on this rant because they only had 1 microphone at this competition and I was performing a song with my brother. We were either going to look super awkward passing it back and forth or we were going to say fukk it and have a bit of fun calling out all these pieces of industry shyt...also decided to throw in a couple crazy remarks just to spice shyt up a bit. Plus, I may or may not have been extremely intoxicated:
TRANSCRIPT:
"If you want to fukk with some people that have money, we are going to be hosting our own show in Columbia, SC. If you want to fukk with someone who has been producing longer than anyone else in this fukking room, that makes better music than anyone in this fukking room, come fukk with me. Come fukk with me. This right here ain't shyt. There is a thousand-something in prizes? Studio time? You will never see that shyt! We have won these before. You will never get your radio interview. When they play your song on the fukking radio, they will play it at fukking 1 am. Who is even listening to that shyt? No one will be able to fukk with it. They collect all of our entry fees. They collect all your fukking entrance fees, and then they what? Give us bullshyt prizes. fukk it. fukk it. fukk it fukk it, fff...everyone that comes up after me, do this for fun. Do it because you love it. I'm about to put the microphone down, if you want to fukk with some real motherfukkers making real money..."
Point Of The Story: if you are considering paying to perform at a competition, please email us first at chakheadent@gmail.comand we can tell you about the judges/host/dj and let you know if it's worth it. Usually it's pretty easy to tell if they are ripping you off simply by the absurd entry fee and lack of having to audition for the slot. DO NOT PAY $300 FOR A COAST 2 COAST COMPETITION! DO NOT PAY $150 FOR A DEF JAM SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE SLOT! DO NOT EXPECT ANY OF THESE SHOWCASES TO BE ANYTHING EXCEPT OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU TO PERFORM IN FRONT OF A ROOM FILLED WITH OTHER PEOPLE WAITING TO PERFORM! YOU WILL MAKE NO REAL FANS!
EDIT: As I say in the video, we are from Columbia, SC and we are hosting a show ourselves in the next 2 months (shouldn't take much longer to lock down a venue - we have a few choices just trying to decide on the best option). It will be a showcase with an ACTUAL CASH PRIZE THAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY BE PAID. The performance fees will be simply enough to cover renting the venue, the DJ, and promotion. We will have actual hip hop fans there and not just other performers. How is this possible?? Oh I don't know, probably because instead of pocketing your hard earned money and buying a backpage hooker we are going to take that money and reimburse ourselves for the cost of promoting the showcase to the general public. AKA, you will be paying to perform in front of actual potential fans, and you will be competing for an actual cash prize. That's how it should be.
If you are interested in this show please email us at the above address. Let's unionize as artists and quit letting all these scummy middle-aged wanna be rappers take our money, judge us, then lie straight to our faces.
Anyway...these winners are promised things such as studio time, DJ spins, and radio interviews. However, we have pretty much never seen any of these things happen. We've won several of these. We have never had a single radio interview. Never heard our song actually get played on the radio. The "free studio time" always ends up being a "pay for 3 hours and get 1 hour free" type of bullshyt.
Ok enough rambling. Below is a link to the video (my rant is transcribed both below this link and in the video description section on YouTube - I apologize that it's tough to hear as I was trying to scream over my own track being played). I decided to go on this rant because they only had 1 microphone at this competition and I was performing a song with my brother. We were either going to look super awkward passing it back and forth or we were going to say fukk it and have a bit of fun calling out all these pieces of industry shyt...also decided to throw in a couple crazy remarks just to spice shyt up a bit. Plus, I may or may not have been extremely intoxicated:
TRANSCRIPT:
"If you want to fukk with some people that have money, we are going to be hosting our own show in Columbia, SC. If you want to fukk with someone who has been producing longer than anyone else in this fukking room, that makes better music than anyone in this fukking room, come fukk with me. Come fukk with me. This right here ain't shyt. There is a thousand-something in prizes? Studio time? You will never see that shyt! We have won these before. You will never get your radio interview. When they play your song on the fukking radio, they will play it at fukking 1 am. Who is even listening to that shyt? No one will be able to fukk with it. They collect all of our entry fees. They collect all your fukking entrance fees, and then they what? Give us bullshyt prizes. fukk it. fukk it. fukk it fukk it, fff...everyone that comes up after me, do this for fun. Do it because you love it. I'm about to put the microphone down, if you want to fukk with some real motherfukkers making real money..."
Point Of The Story: if you are considering paying to perform at a competition, please email us first at chakheadent@gmail.comand we can tell you about the judges/host/dj and let you know if it's worth it. Usually it's pretty easy to tell if they are ripping you off simply by the absurd entry fee and lack of having to audition for the slot. DO NOT PAY $300 FOR A COAST 2 COAST COMPETITION! DO NOT PAY $150 FOR A DEF JAM SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE SLOT! DO NOT EXPECT ANY OF THESE SHOWCASES TO BE ANYTHING EXCEPT OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU TO PERFORM IN FRONT OF A ROOM FILLED WITH OTHER PEOPLE WAITING TO PERFORM! YOU WILL MAKE NO REAL FANS!
EDIT: As I say in the video, we are from Columbia, SC and we are hosting a show ourselves in the next 2 months (shouldn't take much longer to lock down a venue - we have a few choices just trying to decide on the best option). It will be a showcase with an ACTUAL CASH PRIZE THAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY BE PAID. The performance fees will be simply enough to cover renting the venue, the DJ, and promotion. We will have actual hip hop fans there and not just other performers. How is this possible?? Oh I don't know, probably because instead of pocketing your hard earned money and buying a backpage hooker we are going to take that money and reimburse ourselves for the cost of promoting the showcase to the general public. AKA, you will be paying to perform in front of actual potential fans, and you will be competing for an actual cash prize. That's how it should be.
If you are interested in this show please email us at the above address. Let's unionize as artists and quit letting all these scummy middle-aged wanna be rappers take our money, judge us, then lie straight to our faces.
Last edited:
, and probably still do
Why would anyone even care enough to try and do this
