Nine Ra – Middle Man
Financial speculators crunch numbers of risk analysis, now this is digital market, even stars get disc paralysis. / Genuine record buyers’ preferences and tastes have changed. / Hard to face the pain, value quantity in place of range / and longevity; legacy career of strong brevity. / Carefully crafted masterpieces y’all don’t never see. / Just a so-so mediocre verse on every beat / that’s not you on the Billboard and a mix tape every week. / I admire the hustle though, and the rate of release. / But what message do you incorporate and say when you speak? / Placement decreased, social media starlet hot for a minute. / No stock and got hung out to dry by label— got ornamented
Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / A fraction of a literal in literal dismay. / Garnish your check because you second fiddle when it’s made. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / A fraction of a literal in literal dismay. / Garnish your check because you second fiddle when it’s made. / So why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people?
Revealing a thinker’s wit, sink it in, feel it like finger tip— realness is taking a hold. / Killing a singer that's linking the shrinking of realness to fellas that’s faking for gold. / Soul that you sold when you sold to the label, fucked under the table, they making a hoe. / Rappers tell masters ‘Buy Us’ like loaded questions taking a poll. / Charge you interest; in their best interest to lie and steal. / Labels can sign men like consignment, you ain’t got the clientele. / Forgetting financial woes, floss to foes in flashy coupes. / Million signing bonus record advance you owes, that’s recouped. / Soften the edge, stripped of competitive lyrics when battlers seeing foes. / Fuck your label like Monsanto blocks labelling GMO’s. / Poppy records, call label ‘Papi’ then tell your old faculty / your primary consumer is a twelve-year-old cracker, see?
Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / A fraction of a literal in literal dismay. / Garnish your check because you second fiddle when it’s made. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / Illiterate slave do work and middle men get paid. / A fraction of a literal in literal dismay. / Garnish your check because you second fiddle when it’s made. / So why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people? / Why you give your music away to them white people?
There’s a lot of misconceptions about record deals, so let me tell you what it actually is. Basically, it’s a loan. The money you get signed for you have to spend in order to hire the producers you want on your record. You have to spend your money on studio time, your label does not pay for that shit. And then, they make sure they get paid first, meaning all the money they gave you that you signed for they have to recoup back. So if you don’t sell enough records to recoup that money back you are in debt to the label. And in fact, in many cases you can sell millions and millions of copies and still be in debt to the label due to their royalty distribution schemes. In most cases, artists make fewer than ten percent of their royalties, especially if they are using big name producers and guest verses, and even more so if they are using outward song writers. Peep game, and understand a record label is not a fucking golden ticket. A record label is just a path to more debt. Own your own shit, black enterprising, black businesses, and do this shit your fucking self
