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by
16 April, 2014@11:54 am
11 comments
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Apathy took to Facebook to speak on a topic that has been bugging him for a while, monetary support from his fans. This came after he reposted a post from Bette Midler, who was expressing her own disappointment in the music industry, in the face of piracy. Some fans took issue with this, and he responded. He writes:


Lemme say first, that my REAL fans have held me down for years and supported me. They always anticipate and support my releases, which makes me feel appreciated and wanting to continue this rap shit. Makes me want to MURDER every beat I get on. I’ve been in the game for 17 years now. I’ve also been a fan who supports.

Recently I went to an Organized Konfusion show… paid to get there, drove two hours and had them sign vinyl, cassettes and CDs that I bought.
But Wow. After I posted up that Bette Midler picture… I’m absolutely fucking disgusted with a couple of you guys.
You act like musicians should just make music for you, for free, out of the “love”, and not be paid for the memories and songs they give you. fuckkkkk you. Straight up.
So you guys will pay $15 for alcohol for a couple of drinks, for ONE night of your life… that you piss out… but you won’t pay $9 for an album that you own FOREVER?
You’ll pay money to go to a movie, or go to a show… which is one night… but won’t pay a small amount for an album that’s yours forever.
You’ll spend $65-$80 for a fucking VIDEO GAME that you’ll play for 2-6 months… But won’t pay a fraction of that to support artists you love.
Don’t try to justify it. If that’s how you feel…. you’re a shitty person. Straight up and down.

I have and always will support my favorite artists. When I was BROKE, I bought every Nas & Wu album.

Saying “times are changing” is a cop out. That’s just an easy way for you to stay cheap. You’ll pay for other bullshit, but not music?

Whenever I say things like this I always get a couple dudes who get defensive and say they’re not gonna show me love anymore. Well you don’t anyway. So kick rocks. Straight up.

When I was 13… I would steal quarters from a big jar my mother had, to buy tapes. In 1993 I mowed the lawn and did odd jobs at a fish market in the summer… just to support my hip-hop habit. Some people I knew had copies of these albums on blank tapes, but I always bought the real shit.

My point is… I have always done music for the love. You can hear it in the songs I make. The beats I pick. The fact that I never sold out for big bucks even when I signed to a major.

So if I put that love in to music, people should be able to support that.

And it’s not even like artists ask for mad money. How often do I drop an album? Once every year or every two years? Oh my godddd… You mean I want $9 or $16 once every couple years?

I always keep it 100% real with you guys… and that also means I speak my mind.
That’s how I feel.

Peace to the real fans. You already know I spend my entire night after a show signing every single CD, answering questions and taking hundreds and hundreds of pictures.


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11 Responses to "Apathy Speaks On Fan Support In The Piracy Age"
  • The Man the Myth says:

    I wish there were 2-4 albums worth buying a month, but the music just doesn’t warrant that. Now that I am older and have kids, I can’t buy albums like I could in the 90′s when I was single and had money to spare. Like I said earlier, if the album is seriously dope, then it will be purchased, but if its good but not great, it will be dl’d. Back in the day, I would buy an album a week or 2, but that was also 94, when quality was at its max in hip hop. There may be 4-8 albums worth purchasing a year nowadays.

  • illtalbeats says:

    No disrespect, but the “the album is wack, not worth $10″ excuse is a cop out.

    If I spend $10 on a movie ticket, and the movie is just average, I don’t get a refund. I spent 1.5 hours watching it and take the L. The same should apply to an album.

    If I spend $10 to get in a club, and there are all dudes inside, I don’t get a refund. I don’t get to walk in for free, scope it out and then decide if I want to pay to stay in.

    I can’t go into a bar, drink a beer for free and then decide “nah, this wasn’t that good, I’m not going to buy it now”.

  • [...] read a recent article about rap artist Apathy speaking out against so-called fans and their support of music. Apathy [...]

  • Justmarv says:

    The man the myth, you’re right , there aren’t 2-4 hip hop albums released a month worth buying. I buy music from other genres too, and sometimes I buy hip hop albums that were released years ago.

  • Funkdoctor says:

    As a fellow 90′s cat, I have to agree with the man the myth. I spent a small fortune on music back in the day, and now my priorities have shifted and changed. I agree that if something is seriously dope, then it gets bought, plain and simple. Back in the day, there was no chance to sample the music. You would hear a single or get word of mouth on an album and then you would blindly buy it. With the advent of the download, I can listen to a new joint and determine if it’s worthy of adding to my collection. I can also understand illtalbeats sentiment, as it makes sense, but at the end of the day, I have absolutely no moral dilemma with downloading music or movies. Until steps are taken to completely stop the illegal downloads, then this activity will continue, and I will continue to dl movies and music, and I’ll sleep like a baby.
    At first listen, I could have copped that Freddie Gibbs madlib joint, but I am glad I had a couple weeks to marinate on it, because now I have no desire to listen to it again. I would have wasted 10-15 bucks on something that would be collecting dust. Some call that stealing, I call it being a smart shopper. I don’t have the ends to buy album after album, that time is passed for me, but I did do it back in the past, and still have over 1000 cd’s in my collection. There are merits to both sides of this argument, and while I agree to an extent with apathy and illtalbeats, I also understand man and myths perspective and i am more in tune with his assessment. At the end of the day, if it is dope I will buy it or I will go to a concert and support the artist directly, if it’s not stellar, it’s doesn’t get copped.

  • Comments (11)

    khordkutta

    April 16th, 2014 at 5:14 pm