Bishop Lamont spent five years at Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment without ever releasing an album. Despite the lack of an LP, the West Coast rapper gained attention during that time through his musical contributions to video games.
Lamont’s appearances on the Madden 2007 and NBA Live 06 soundtracks were big wins for his career, but they were accomplished through a lot of headache. In a new interview with Murder Master Music Show, Lamont revealed the difficulty involved in landing those placements due to Aftermath’s lack of understanding the video game world.
“When I was signed to Aftermath, the label was giving me the most difficulty with clearing songs for video games because they didn’t understand the importance of video games,” Lamont said. “Does that make any sense? No! So, it was like pulling teeth and fucking nails to get songs cleared. And I’m always up at EA, I was always up at Rockstar. I was in New York and they’re like, ‘Yo, we want the song!’ I’m trying to explain to the general managers and niggas over there: ‘Yo, you know how much video games sell. You know how big their audiences are?’ And they still not hearing me because they don’t understand it. Now being free, I can get all that shit licensed without having to deal with a major. This is another reason why artists gotta stop thinking they gotta be in the industry. Fuck the industry!”
Lamont used the interview as a platform to give advice to fellow artists and warn them about the trappings of major labels. The “Back Up Off Me” MC advised rappers to stay independent.
“I want artists to start thinking of this: stop thinking a major is gonna do everything for you!” Lamont said. “A major is like being a free person and walking onto a plantation and saying, ‘Please, put me on the field and let me be a slave!’ Or ‘Hey, let me be a house nigga!’ If you don’t like hard work, then be my guest and go to a major. For some people, it works. But in this day and age, it’s more important to be indie. I was on the biggest label there is and there’s a lot of downside to it. There’s a lot of overhead and debt that is not even yours, but you’re responsible for it. So when you sign a deal, you gonna be in the red. You’re not gonna be in the black. They gonna make sure you’re never in the black. And by those terms I mean you always gonna be in debt! When you take the deal, it’s a bank loan and it has super interest on it.”
Lamont went on to explain how much money the video game industry can make an artist, but said that artists are tough to get on board. The Carson native said music execs don’t understand the marketing value of video games.
“Over here in Cali, the EA offices were right down the street, so I was always hanging out,” he said. “I knew everybody, so they would put me on every song. They put me on every game I mean. I be in New York. I know all the cats at Rockstar. They like, ‘You wanna be on this game? You wanna be on this game?’ Then they put you on the video game convention. They pay you to play the game. They pay you to perform. You build your fan base bigger. Labels ain’t thinking about that because that’s not their concern because they can’t really get paid off it. They’re like, ‘That’s not promoting us. That’s not what we tryna do. We tryna sell records. If we can’t get X, Y and Z off it, why should we care.’ But they don’t realize it’s a branding tool.”
Lamont wrapped things up by providing more guidance to artists. He cited Run The Jewels as a success story of independent artists securing placements and explained how moving outside of the music industry cuts out the middleman.
“Video games make more money than albums do,” Lamont continued. “Video games make money like films do. So, the smart thing for independent artists is to look at TV and film licenses. Look at TV and film and understand that off doing one commercial, you will see better royalties than you will off of a song guaranteed because it’s free and clear. You ain’t dealing with a label. It’s just you, your agent [and] whatever the SAG shit is. And that’s you. Think if you got a song license on there. Every time that commercial plays, you getting paid. But it’s a whole different hustle because it’s a bigger amount of money.”
Listen to Bishop Lamont’s entire interview above.
Clever guy
Don’t fuck with aftermath leave on good terms fuck ur career up
Not really. Eve left and outside of Eminem and 50 Cent, it’s debatable if anybody there had a bigger career than her. I’d say her and Game are about even on the success scale.
Bishop will forever be the dopest emcee to come out of LA in a minute. Dude has so much depth in his songs, and he’s truly about the culture. He’s like the slightly older cousin who has all the dope hip hop stories and records. The Reformation was an incredible album; best of 2017.
Except it came out in 2016
“stop thinking a major is gonna do everything for you”
Ma’fuckas been saying this for years, way before Bishop was around.
Why didn’t he listen to them????
Sometimes one just has to go through the ordeal to truly understand the issue.
He’s like the parent who smoked weed, fucked all the hoes, and ran the streets who now is telling his kids to be a square, lol. He can’t tell anybody shit because I’m sure some dudes from the 90s were telling him the same thing, and he signed anyway to ghostwrite and ghostproduce for years without recognition.
I taut dude wuz sum g’d up mufucca den I find out he just sum nerd on sum comic book hero chit liek chitty soxiety doe. But he coo I guess. Albums aiight. I memba diz dude done fucced up one of Gaymes dudes WAY WAY bacc wen on sum 2006-2007 chit doe. Wen dude wuz still on aftamaf an gayme Wundt no moe real spit doe.
Agreed! real G’z do real things
huh?
Not gonna lie, this guys troll game is relentless
He’s got some dope cuts in the stash…I’m more interested in hearing his Aftermath debut than most artists. He at least pushed himself and fought a little to get what he wanted. Joell Ortiz was smart releasing Bodega Chronicles while on Dre’s label, which sold actual units…imagine Joell without the track “Hip-hop”…hard to do…
proper
i listened the whole show, good shit once again. though i wonder why the tracks they played was edits maybe Bishop thought cursing ain’t allowed on the show if he the one who delivered the tracks? salute to Prez Mac Jay and etc keep up the good work, also special salute to Sin aka The french connection and his crazy accent too lol.. UGS4LIFE i listen to every episode good interviews
Bishop has put out some amazing free street albums before releasing The Reformation. I still bump those today. You should definitely check out The Confessional, Caltroit, Pope Mobile, The Preformation, and all the other street singles he put out after The Preformation. Dude just keeps making dope music, and he has more coming.
you deleted my comment? was it hate truth when i simply mentioned that some new findings show man originated from europe? who do you think you are to think you have the power to alter reality according to your agenda?
thats the only thing these worthless retards are good at- deleting comments. they know the morons and when we point it out further, they avoid the issue instead of being an adult n comin correct. room of chimps on typewriters.
Why didn’t hiphopdx support him by at least reviewing his debut album last year?
Cause he didn’t pay them. They only put up whoever pays up, wack or not.
that’s why Young Thug album on front page
FUCK DR. DRE FOR HOLDING PEOPLE’S CAREERS HOSTAGE!!!! WOMAN BEATER!!!!
Bishop Lamont’s tracks are still some of the best songs on Midnight Club: Los Angeles soundtrack to this day.
It’s a nice respite from the Zionist trash spewed from the vile Danielle Harling.