WhereDoWeGoFromHere?

I'm tad bit anal retentive about the music that I digest and after a career of breaking in artist, working in large markets, for major labels and being apart of the scene and the culture, I can tell you; There is nothing like this industry. The perception of it is almost as good as the artist we develop. As time has changed, the recording industry has stepped away from quality and variety, going to a more cookie-cutter format which is: whatever sales once, will sell again. This focus kinda led music astray.

When I was growing up in the 80's and 90's, we had a choice, if I wanted two turntables and mic I could get Blackmoon, Special Ed, The BushBabies, KRS-One, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and of course Native Tongue; Moreover, if I wanted to hear about guns (Which I didn't) there was always NWA, The D.O.C. and Snoop, I had a choice. R&B had very mature music for adults and music for the younger listener; Though I was very fond of Anita Baker, Soul II Soul, George Duke, The Whisphers, Frankie Beverly and Maze. I miss that having that choice, I missed having that choice when I worked for the labels, although, I was very fortunate to work on Common, Mos Def, the last Roots album on Geffen, the best years of Def Jam and the most diverse years of Sony, before the merger.

Today, music has evolved to heights only imagined by a collector like myself and the venue in which it is exposed has changed, I don't always have to wait, like I did waiting for Dwele's "Subject" to be released. Now I have my favorites today: My good friend Eric Roberson, Ra-Re Valverde, Peter Hadar, J*Davey, Janelle Monae, Alice Smith, Gnarls Barkley and Sa-Ra Creative Partners. Of course some of my staples have never left the fold: Common, The Foo Fighters, The Roots, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, RadioHead and Queens of the Stone Age. Old and new are all apart of this new digital world and how music is given directly to the people and are not at the mercy of the labels plans.

The question I pose is: How does someone like me adjust to living in a world without labels when it has been what I have known for almost twelve years? I am finding my way slowly, surely, but I can't help but miss that atmosphere..

I only want to share my passion for music with people and artist alike, I'm just a little stuck on what is in front me, It's a very surreal time and I'm happy to be apart of this mobile world where at a snap, everything is in it's right place.