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Not in most cases...that's myth if not a downright lie.


Whenever you have contracts built by people who control just about every aspect of your work and who have little interest in what you want, there is where the red flag should rise.


If they slander other organizations or try to discourage you from associating with other organizations you feel could benefit you, then it is likely that they never had your best interest at heart.


I have learned to do many things myself over the years so that I would never become dependent on other people who portray themselves to be some type of "top dawg" in the music industry.


The old way of promoting things does not work. I can back that up with a history lesson but I wont do it here...

But I will say that the industry has changed so much over the last ten years as Cd sales have depleted and record companies cut back on promotion & distribution costs.


One of the things I dislike about many of the so-called indie record labels is that they tend to limit their artists so much and want to play the proprietary game...Ha, as if they can do so much for their artists, when in fact they rarely make their artists any money to afford to pay for recording or promotion or to even eat at McDonald's, let alone pay their rent!

What is sad is that they make their artists feel trapped and obligated or indebted to them...

This is one reason why I started my own record label years ago, (Fire Frost Entertainment) with the sole intention of owning my own music and doing what I wanted on my terms. And now, in a sense it is not a record label, but rather an organic production house made up of artists who know PROPER marketing and who know the other aspects of promoting music that can be made accessible.


I don''t regret the hardships or hard lessons learned. I thank the lord that these have been very valuable lessons from which to learn from.
Now I am practicing the art of having a label without having a label

As My friend and REAL hip hop artist Bevon says, "Your dot-com is a dot-bomb, I've taken the liberty of addressing all the things you got wrong"

Forward we march.

Alex

"Da name is J-Factor, Born 1985 in Pasco Wa, one of the 3 cities of Tri-Cities "Kennewick, Pasco, Richland" J-Factor started listening to rap music in 1991 in first grade." I was born into Gangsta rap in the early 90's when Rappers like Dr. Dre and Snoop doggy dogg was hitting the scene big. I listened to alot of westcoast rap but as I got older I started 2 explore the rap game and listen to all kinds of Eastcoast rap. As I studied different genres of rap music I started to become a rapper Myself. Then in 2000 I began to pursue My dreams and took rap serious. I been spittin rhymes since I was like 14. Dat was like 99-2000. Rapping Since 99-2000 - 2005. Took 2006 off. If u dont count my drunk raps at parties, now we in 2009 and Im tryna find time to write new rhymes. I do it for fun but I also have a dream for rap, A dream for it to become the gateway for bigger things in my life besides just being an emcee. My style is really different because I don't follow the mainstream of todays music. My style is more of that straight up Rap MC type shit! If u like Redman, Method Man or Wu Tang, etc. Any of those straight up Rap categories, my style would be similar 2 those. Basically if u a hip hop head then u know what Im talkin about. If u feel it u Feel it, if u dont then Fuck it. Im just here to Buss it."

J-Factor

Taken from a different book - Wizards First Rule, by Terry Goodkind - Chapter 37 Part 1 Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.

Mr. C.

Without looking at the history it's easy to overlook some things with respect to any genre or how it came to be.

As far as rap and hip hop goes, if I'm not mistaken Jamaican artist, Dj Kool Herc was the man who founded the early American genre now known as rap, having musical breaks in between. Of course rap has changed some over the decades, But Herc's style emerged from the Western & South section of Bronx, NY.

Kevin Donavon, AKA, "Afrika Bambaataa" soon followed, doing something along those lines but his Rhythm influences were more funk and Western Indian as he is of Western Indian descent. His stage name was derived from a Zulu chief by a similar name in Africa whom he admired and met many years ago, not by way of his own heritage.

A lot can be said about the roots of the music we listen to and how it all connects.
But ask any musician worth their weight in gold, and he or she will likely tell you that Jesus was in fact the first rapper, Paganini invented shred, and Muddy Waters invented electricity!

-Alex Saenz

Maybe the cliche actually is true: money doesn't buy you happiness. But fame doesn't necessarily mean you are "revolutionary" "great" or accomplished either.


As far as monetary wealth, most people living in the U.S. are already extremely rich by comparison to people in other parts of the world. Anyone in any part of the world is unimaginably rich compared to people 200 years ago, in terms of the material luxuries they have, most of which had not even been invented 200 years ago. But all this material wealth hasn't led to any sort of mass happiness.


Has it?

When I see the number of exceptionally miserable "rich" people, it leads me to think that money buys them a certain comfort, but that comfort, like most other things in life, gets boring, fast. Unless they truly have talent and use it to make the world a better place.


My biz manager once told me that most millionaires aren't truly successful until after 40, when they have lost their first million and then successfully came back and learned how to keep their money. Not everyone learns however.


I think that's the epiphany that young, suddenly wealthy movie and rock/rap stars have. And it distresses the hell out of them because fame and riches have been their only dreams for their entire lives. It's like our failure to plan for post-war Iraq -- everyone has a battle plan, but no one plans on what to do once they win it.


So sometimes fast, sudden, unexpected success can be the worst outcome, because in the case of many "rock stars" and bands and actors, they suddenly find themselves with nothing to strive for, and still they aren't any happier. A person has to have something to strive for no matter rich or poor...

When you're still struggling and unhappy, you always seem to have hopes for the future. I think i will always struggle to find that elsusive song in me...and thats what keeps me going.


Now days it seems that if suddenly a hip tune hits and somebody becomes rich over it, then they don't even have anything to hope for anymore -- they face the wall, that this is it, life is still just life, you are still the limited, mortal human you always were, and that's all you get. This is why nouveau riche stars turn to drugs in a desperate attempt to inject or snort some fun into their lives -- often literally. I don't have to name names as we all read and watch the news and tabloids.


It's good to find some hobbies that you can work at your entire life, goals that are ongoing and where you can progress but in a sense will never reach any final destination. For me, it's music and film making & psi research....For others it might be fixing up cars, painting, gardening, cooking, sewing, programming, inventing games, poetry, sculpting, etc,

It's sad only to realize late in life that the skills of happiness can be just as much work as the skills of acquiring material wealth. If you realize it early, then you can take a more direct path to start working on your skills while you collect experiences and discover ways of becoming financially independent.


So does that mean that I don't dream of becoming rich and famous? As one of my mentors and fav artists once said, " do you want to be famous or do you want to be good, because those are two very different things!" Of course I want to be wealthy (NOT SO MUCH FAMOUS THOUGH)

But there are lines I will not cross. I wont do the chicken dance or start using that Cher vocal effect, among other things....

I want the finer things in life as much as anyone... but I'm also not waiting for IT to plan for the rest of my life.
You feel me?

I'm working on the bigger goals today... and the good thing is, whether or not I ever buy the wining lotto ticket, sell a million records, or become well known, the skills I've acquired are here to stay. I'm in no rush to impress anyone.


I will create things of beauty and give them away. There are other ways to make a lot of money (legally) which can put the fun and mystery and anticipation back into the entire song writing process.


I guess I'm as deluded as anyone... only time will tell if money does me any more good than it did Anna Nicole Smith...One more thing..

Can anyone tell me whats up with that Cher vocal effect??? I thought T-pain and Metallica were the only ones who commercialized that sound! Its EEEEEEVERY where Visa & Mastercard are accepted.


-alex saenz

in order to do something truly great in terms of creative achievement, one must be able to draw attention and participation. we find more interesting people as we press on. the tasks grow larger with demands by the audience, and for what even they do not know. people have a commonality when they require more stimulation. a craving and desire to exercise the far reaches of their imagination. and artists go on to create often without an end in mind.

Friends of the Bossalaus Movement: Sweet Diss and the Comebacks has released the bands debut album, "Coulda Been Worse".

SweetDiss & the Comebacks Myspace (click here)
Album Review (click here)
Download the album free (click here)

ok, for all you folks​ that want somet​hing for nothi​n:​

*I guess​ since​ I'm feeli​ng a bit gener​ous I can give some info away.​.​.​.​

*The name of the worki​ng title​ for our upcom​ing album​ is "​Aura of Inevi​tabil​ity"​

*We will be broad​casti​ng from a farmh​ouse that is liter​ally out of the middl​e of nowhe​re,​ as well as from our local​ multi​media​ facil​ity in Kenne​wick,​ WA.

*I did hire a compe​tent manag​er that came with an exten​ded black​ leath​er whip.​ There​fore,​ I can now dedic​ate more time to compo​sing music​ and less time tendi​ng to noble​ nonse​nse.​

*​Some of our live and inter​net shows​ will be n 3-D.

*It is also true that we put toget​her a choir​ and will incor​porat​e a cello​ playe​r/​violi​nist in our music​.​

I canno​t apolo​gize for takin​g so long to put out new music​ altho​ugh I've had sever​al setba​cks this year.​

In truth​,​ we would​ rathe​r take a few weeks​ or month​s to creat​e an album​ & write​ songs​ we can be proud​ of, than to write​ somet​hing for the sake of putti​ng out a CD or have tempo​rary "​bragg​ing right​s"​.

in my humbl​e opini​on it best to let the music​ speak​ for itsel​f and not encou​rage any hype.​ Hype is a born inbre​d of distr​actio​n.​
Eventually,​ peopl​e will seek out somet​hing that is truly​ diffe​rent and may redis​cover​ somet​hing that is already in them.​
Music​.​.​.​its all about​ the music​ and conve​ying somet​hing that is truly​ extraordinary.​



-​Alex Saenz

Being part of a team of artists, producers and visionaries is not something that is common or something that comes together overnight.


It takes time to master certain skills whether it be Hapkido, yoga, singing, painting web design or learning to mix and engineer sound and music. That's only 1/3 of it...It never ceases to amaze me how some folks actually think that they can quickly become what took us many years to accomplish on our own...

It's one beast to learn how to play a musical instrument , sing or write good lyrics, but a totally different beast (science) when it comes to mixing, mastering, web graphics, site building, business administration,
etc. etc.


Sometimes it takes even longer, perhaps a lifetime to find the individuals whom are capable of working together for a common goal; people who are willing to come together and do innovative things. But it is worth it.
Well I am proud to have met such individuals and an already established team of thinkers and doers!

The guys and gals at Majestic are the greatest bunch Ive ever worked with.

There is always something cool going on, and it isn't always about "me, me and me" that is why are successful and content. Not because of how "great" my ideas are or because so-and-so has the skills and gear to make my CD so i can go out and get famous! Thats not what we are about even though it may happen...

We have had our vision and have been working on innovative projects long before anyone in our area had heard about us. Most of us worked out of our basements, farm houses, attics and think tanks. And we have never done things to please the masses and become "mainstream"....it was always about enjoying the journey, our personal journey into uncharted territories.


These days, we find ourselves reverse engineering and de-constructing, in order to become better at what we do. We question ourselves instead of hyping ourselves up.


Why should we listen to you? Why should we invest time and energy on you?
what makes you so special and different? Out of the millions of "artists" what makes you stand out? These are the things we ask ourselves when we shave every day in front of the mirror...


alex