With the last Top Dawg Entertainment free project dating back to 2009, rapper ScHoolboy Q revealed exactly why he’s very much against giving out free music during an interview last week with DJ S.WHiT & DJ Clark Kent.
The Habits & Contradictions emcee explained that when fans constantly receive free music, mixtapes, etc. they become accustomed to receiving projects for free and may not want to purchase an album.
“I mean, I’m trying to sell records…This is what I’mma say to ya. Cause I hate when I say the wrong shit. I come off to cocky or unhumble…It comes a time where you gotta stop giving out so much free music,” said Q in a video posted on YouHeardThatNew.com. “Cause you give out so much free music. Why would I buy your album and I just got three of your free albums? I may buy your album. You know what I mean? We haven’t gave out nothing free since 2009.”
ScHoolboy Q later spoke on last year’s Habits & Contradictions album and shared that he wished the album did better, even comparing it to A$AP Rocky’s Live. Love. A$AP.
“I wish it would have done more. Look at Rocky man. That’s my brother. He dropped one project and that nigga was like – he jumped to the top five rappers in the game. With one mixtape, a free mixtape. I wish Habits & Contradictions did that, but it definitely put me in a place where I’m successful in life. I’m excited,” ScHoolboy Q explained.
The TDE rapper is currently preparing for the release of his major label debut.
RELATED: ScHoolboy Q Says He Should Have Been On XXL’s Freshman Cover Last Year
Curren$y take note lol
Spitta has a cult following so touring, merchandise, and free mixtapes works for him and when he drops a retail those 25-50 thousand cop it. Curren$y’s good. Bring up some better names.
I would have said Gucci Mane
Meek Mill
if this clown made free music nobody would buy his albums YAY YAY
y’all should stop releasing shit every week or a feature every 5 minutes, too.
^^^^^^
Very True! No anticipation!
^ THIS!
but you gotta churn out content to get some hype. That’s how Lil Wayne got big before Carter III, dropped so much shit it built hype for that album.
what’s the anticipation worth if nobody’s checking out for you
but we live in an ADD society where if you dont put something out every couple weeks people forget about you…this doesnt apply to a select few maybe 10-15 rappers
Sounds like he’s jealous of the success A$AP Rocky has achieved, where he’s had to work harder for less commercial success.
It also seems like now he’s making decent money from rapping, he doesn’t want anyone who’s hungry to cut into his success by doing exactly what he did to get noticed.
Now he’s visible, he doesn’t want to have to try anymore.
All music is free in this internet age.
Yeah, but that flat two dimensional crap sounds like shit. Pay for your music legit and hear the difference in quality. It’s like the first time you watch something in HD, you can’t go back to the bullshit.
Why pay for something that i can get for free.
Why should someone else put time and effort into making something just to have you burn it for free?
This guy is mad that Kendrick is caked up and he’s broke. Q needs to take note of why Kendrick is so successful: he paid hommage to Wayne and went on tour with Drake. That’s the key to making money in the industry. Complaining will leave you broke like Pusha T and Common.
I highly doubt that Common or Pusha T are broke.
YOU’RE WRONG!! SCHOOLBOY CAKED UP. HE AIN’T JEALOUS OF ANYONE. KENDRICK IS SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE OF A GOLD ALBUM AND A PLATINUM SINGLE. KENDRICK NECER PAID HOMAGE TO WAYNE AND DOESN’T NEED WAYNE OR DRAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL OR MAKE MONEY; HE DID ALL THAT BY HIMSELF. COMMON IS NOT BROKE; HE’S WORTH MORE MONEY AND GOT MORE MONEY THAN AUBREY. AND PUSHA T STILL CAKED UP FROM CLIPSE ALBUMS. EVERYTHING YOU SAY IS BULLSHIT!!
Actually, Kendrick is successful because of a Dr. Dre co-sign and a damn good album that currently sold 800k.
Of course he paid homage to Wayne…he made a mixtape using only Carter 3 beats. Drake is wealthier than Common and Pusha T combined.
There you go making up bullshit. Rapping over other people’s beats is not paying homage. And Drake is not wealthier than Common.
Common=30million
Drake=25million
anyway Big K.R.I.T about to drop his next FREE album
Hes got a fucking point! Rappers dont put no value n there own music now a days. Stop the bullshit.
I agree 100%. One of the worst things that ever happened to Hip Hop was the free “mix tape”. That shit fucked up the whole game and devalued everybody. It’s like the foreclosure crisis in Hip Hop. You got multi platinum artists, who sold their shit for $12.99 5 years ago, giving 15 songs away for nothing. The result is fans conditioned not to expect to pay for music. Dre said, fuck that shit. I’m selling $300.00 headphones so you can listen to your free music in style.
shit i pay 15 for headphones
Yeah, me too! I just use the ones from my Iphone.
rather pay for dre beats than pay 800dollars for some iCrap
kind of but whos gunna buy a new artist theyve never heard of’s shit just because of one song/video they drop its not 1998…the problem is theres too many rappers trying to appeal to the same audience that they need to outdo each other in order to get recognized
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City-Kendrick Lamar
Long.Live.A$AP-A$AP Rocky
Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head-T.I.
The Heist-Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
dark horses/long shots:
O.N.I.F.C.-Wiz Khalifa
Jesus Piece-The Game
Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumors-Big Boi
Dreams & Nightmares-Meek Mill
future releases that could possibly get nominated (if they were released before September 30th):
Nothing Is The Same-Drake
Eminem’s next album
Kanye West’s next album
Born Sinner-J Cole
Street King Immortal-50 Cent
Jay-Z’s next album
Oxymoron-ScHoolboy Q
All garbage and hell no schoolgirl q will not be nominated for that album its selling wood YAY YAY
Schoolgirl Q??? Kill yourself, how you mess up the nigga name. And on some real shit if Eminem releases his album before the deadline hes gonna win automatically. The Grammy board loves him and he always won that catagory (i think he lost for Encore). And before ya niggas start talking shit, im not a stan. Im a Jay Z-Nas-Em fan. REAL hiphop not that water down shit (2 Chainz, French)
all water down shit especially that kendick lamEr oh eminem fell off in 04 YAY YAY schoolgirl sound like a tranny
It’s not free for them to make it so why should they give it away for nothing. Only underground artists should give away promotional music.
why? because the artist wants to give it away for free …….thats why did you ever think sells dont matter as much to them as it does to schoolgirl
Sales matters to everybody, homie. Ain’t no such thing as a pro bono rapper.
then why all the free music must not matter AS much to other artist
what type of journalism is this shit we saw the exact same article posted up a few days ago
These niggas claim in their songs how cool it is when they steal shit, but they aren’t too fond of being robbed off themselves.
people don’t realize that’s how Lil Wayne made it big… there was a big gap between Carter II and Carter III, to which he churned and churned out content, mixtape after mixtape, crazy amounts of guest verses, that’s what got Carter 3 to get soooo much hype. and Wayne ain’t even lyrical! I think it’s different battle grounds for different types of emcees.
for an emcee like Schoolboy Q, he should make his money worth but sometimes the content’s worth exceeds the anticipation… what does parity do for ya if nobody’s checking out for you? What does stretching out your records do if nobody’s checking out for you?
i agree… look at Ludicrous… one of the biggest rappers of the last decade basically fell off and is now pretty much washed-up because he failed to keep himself relevant… an occasional mixtape or more guest appearances would have kept him on peoples’ radar
it’s ludacris you idiot and he’s not ‘relevant’ because he’s got bigger things than music like movies like The Fast and Furious 6 which is gonna be a blockbuster worth at least 100 mil so that nigga is getting paid why would he worry about another mixtape this ‘relevant ‘word needs to stop being thrown around ever since niggas got access to this word through the media they used it as an excuse to put down old heads and promote wackness
stuff changes over time. the formula for wayne might not work in 2013.
This is a shot toward MMG. Think about it, Meek, Wale, Ricky Rozay release a shit load of free music in terms of mixtape.
you’re an idiot… he wasn’t talking about anybody specific in particular
Don’t hate on me, I’m Schoolboy Q
Take you to the playground, show you what a schoolboy do
but i don’t play games, i’m not no lame
you get a’s in class, i get t & a
i fight the bullies, you run from them
I do lots of shit, considering that I’m only 10
I have dirty dreams of boning the teacher
I don’t need help, I need a preacher
dear father, please forgive me for I have sinned
I just spit in the principal’s coffee again
from the Oxy///Moron album YAY YAY YAY YAY YAK YAK YAK GAY GAY GAY ……yall wonder why the album wont sell
Someone hasn’t heard ScHoolboy’s discography and is just judging him based on one line in one song.
Word on the street is that Em got songs with TDE. That’s gonna be straight fire. Thanks Dr. Dre.
that hey yay yay single sucked and its ur first single. smh!
ill but oxymoron
gotta be lyrical tho
or at least flowing right
not to mention the free music has made artists flood the internet with a bunch of average songs and beats. A classic every 3 years goes even further than that. Classics last forever. These average songs get tossed out after a day
this nigga is hungry for that mulaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Did he forget to he was supposed to speak into the mic?
GIVE ME A CHANCE
Youtube is all about finding new artist, & though I been rapping for a while im still consider a new artist. I just want my music heard thats all, im not looking for no record deal, getting famous ‘r anything like that.! so please just spare a few sec. to check me out, & if you like what you heard please SUBSCRIBE so ill know you actually listen & support
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzBh55tD_eg
Such a bad excuse.
Lil Wayne is the highest selling hip hop artist of the last decade and he gave away more free music than anyone before he became an icon. You get more fans by giving away free music and raising your profile. Schoolboy doesn’t get it.
You’re joking, right? Eminem is the best selling hip-hop artist of the last decade, not Wayne, you dumbass; even Jay-Z ouitsold him. He’s not an icon. What you’re saying is not true.
You’re right about the Em and Jay shit and I don’t like Lil Wayne but he does have a point. Lil Wayne’s popularity jumped through the roof after all the Drought and Dedication series mixtapes he did for free, and then he went on to sell millions of albums afterward.
“You get more fans by giving away free music and raising your profile”
^ you would think that
but not necessarily true.
i never forgot jay rock i still listen to all his shit
Word on the street that Eminem has songs with Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q. Hope he puts it on his album. That would be straight fire! And hopefully Dre produced that joint
in order to establish yourself you have to put out a whole bunch of free music…only reason rocky was so successful after one mixtape was because of the drake cosign
you keep waiting for that free music and co-signs leech
……
Word on the street that Eminem has songs with Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q. Hope he puts it on his album. That would be straight fire! And hopefully Dre produced that joint!
Word on the street that Eminem has songs with Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q. Hope he puts it on his album. That would be straight fire! And hopefully Dre produced that joint cause it would be crazy
Of course you scrubs would defend free music, most of you wouldn’t have a playlist without it.
I agree with Q. Give them a little something, then make them prove they’re loyal, or you get a bunch a disloyal punks like y’all out there all ungrateful and selfish.
REAL LYRICS AND ILL BUY SCHOOLBOY ALBUM
HE HAVE TO WORK HARD
BARS BETTER BE TIGHT
veggies……………………………….
HHDX bloggers should come out of da closet! too much gay fantasies on dis fuckin site. closet homos!
Lil’ Weezy and Drizzy Drake da GOATs and KINGs. swag
His shit will still be free the week before it drops.
free music helps create a buzz. As school boy says, 3 mixtapes and then an album is too much.
I do think artist should drop shorter mixtapes, maybe 7-8 tracks.
true, it would help make the mixtapes better quality as well
u have to strike a balance. too much free shit and you dilute the product but i ain’t payin for a digital download. period. i won’t listen to something pressed if i haven’t bought it, but i won’t pay real money for a digital product.
so all the artist’s work, the producer’s work, the engineer’s work and everything else that goes into making an album isn’t worth it unless you get a plastic disc as opposed to a digital download?
I think thats a valid criticism…if youre asking people to spend their money they want something to show for it. Bring cds, or some other physical formatting of albums back (and not just for the best sellers the way that it is currently) and watch hip hop music sales increase as well as peoples willingness to dig beyond the surface for whats good.
well if you want a cd, hard copy, etc etc, it will cost you more…
Easily. Taylor Swift and Lady GaGa can sell a million in a week, and Susan Boyle and Adele can go multiplatium with her album, but rappers can barely top 500k these days.
This is not a generalization, it is the truth. The fans have ruined the genre by supporting free music, both legal and illegal. Rappers never used to put out so many free mixtapes, because it wasnt necessary, now it is the norm. As a result, many rappers are becoming more mixtape rappers than album rappers, and they are becoming played out before even putting out an album!
Also, record labels are realizing that rap fans are not buying albums, and thus, they force their rap artists to make music that is more appealing to a wider audience. This causes the rapper to deviate from their original, signature style, which almost every time is a bad thing.
The talented rappers cant sell because their music isnt on the radio and their videos arent on TV. That is the only way music sells these days, especially in rap. If a rapper is popular on the internet, his album will most likely get leaked, and a lot of people will just d/l the leak and not buy the album.
Rap is also way too exclusive of a genre. What I mean is that you have to reallly understand rap to genuinely enjoy it. If you are not a consistent consumer of rap music, you probably wont understand most of it, and thus, will not like it. Rap is one of the only genres like this. Pop, country, rock, R&B etc. are a lot more approachable genres of music because they are easier to understand. There are limited examples of complicated metaphors or similes, wordplay, intricate rhyme schemes, or allusions in other genres. Granted, all those characteristics of rap are why I love it, but it makes it hard for more people to like the GOOD rappers, the ones who utilize those tools, instead of basic rappers like Flo Rida, Big Sean, Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane etc.
what the fuck does schoolboy q and all you that are bitching care what other people do with their music? If people want to give it away as free mixtapes or sell it as an album, its their choice.