the dotmatrix project

its 5:21am.
and i don’t know how to cry anymore.
that shit depresses me to no end.
seriously.
this aint some being mellowdramtic to be mellowdramatic shit.
i want to cry.
i was taught long ago that if i enter this game of constant competition
and competitiveness and dog eat dogness and getting your soul sucked
and 25 hour workdays and long un-approving looks in the mirror and anxiety and constant judgment — i better numb the shit outta myself.

[...]

Read on…

(originally uploaded by Steve Keys)

[...] If you want mainstream rewards, you’ve got to make mainstream music. I know you hate that, but that’s true. [...]

-Bob Lefsetz

That quote is ridiculously profound on its own, but let me add this nugget to the mix:

Being innovative doesn’t guarantee mainstream rewards; being innovative while transforming culture’s perception of your innovation into a mainstream percept does.

This is true not only in music, but across every industry I can think of.

A few examples:

• Google was a game changing search engine years before they went public, became a commonly used verb and eventually traded at >$700 per share. But in order to become perceived as more than just another search commodity to the casual user, Google stayed true to their take on search while focusing on delivering an elegant presentation of their product. That focus slowly began to win over the masses previously using uber-diverse properties such as Yahoo! and Lycos.
• The Roots have been spitting rhymes as a live Hip Hop band since the early 90’s — it took years for their innovation to become recognized as not only a valid (read: viable) extension of Hip Hop, but more importantly to their potential core fans, an amazingly rich, textured tribute to the genre and it’s predecessors of Funk, Rhythm & Blues, Spoken Word and Jazz. Hip Hop heads couldn’t embrace their style when they broke out the gate; now The Roots sell out arenas to all types of listeners while retaining their originality.

I’d also add to Bob’s quote by recommending that if you truly want instant mainstream love, then simply replicate a mainstream concept and toss in a differentiator or two. You’ll separate yourself from the competition — hopefully with a better sound, product, etc. — while displaying similar product DNA for the market to instantly relate to. You’ll have a much greater chance at “succeeding” short-term.

That’s the major label methodology.

Now, if that sounds like an empty way to spend your time digesting O2 on this spinning rock, then truly innovate a style, concept, approach, etc. while nurturing your community of participants.

If you’re open to iterate your direction at the drop of a hat with input from all directions, you’re setting yourself up to succeed in this online world of discovery.

Yes, it’s a long-term play with absolutely no guarantees in garnering mainstream love, but if people do start to feel you, chances are pretty good that the snowball will start to roll downhill.

And who doesn’t love winning a game of chance?

Disorder has to be the best way to describe the state of FM radio today.

Here we have this ingenious group of people whose music individually (and now we know collectively) is always on the cutting edge, always leaving us wanting more. They all have such great originality and musical ability.

Why are they not all over the radio like maybe Young Joc, Young Dro, Young Jezzy, Young Buck?

Music is becoming more the business than the art.

So we have to ask ourselves what actually sounds good and makes you feel good? And, if you came up with that feeling on your own.

In business, the best way to sell your product is to know the market. Hopefully you can know it so well that you can make something they like before the consumer even gets to test it out. If you’re very lucky (or the most clever) you can mold your customer to want whatever it is you sell. The latter is the hardest but is that not where record labels have gotten so many people with their huge sphere of influence? An influence that dictates what is played on the radio and what is most accessible. An influence that makes people feel almost inadequate if they are not in with the trends.

I must admit I’ve fallen for some of the Soulja Boy songs against my (hopefully) better judgment. My disorder? I go to clubs for business and I would be so disappointed at what I heard, yet, I found myself wanting to like the music like I thought everyone else did.

Thank goodness a friend of mine who was all into this fad admitted to me that he really wasn’t as in it as much as he lead others to believe. Can I be mad that he wasn’t truthful with himself and others? A little maybe, but I was turning into a hypocrite myself.

So since I’m not the only one feeling this way there still just had to be a reason why it’s so popular.

That’s when I realized maybe people just don’t care about what they hear anymore; they just want to have “fun”. Add some deep bass and words they repeat over and over, loudly at that, and it feels “fun”, I’m only guessing? I too let go, my ex roommate Dima wanted to kill me for that; I just told her “It’s just fun, I just don’t think about what I’m listening to and pretend that I really like it, it’s the new thing!” She knew I was kidding, but I don’t think the other people who say that to themselves realize how detrimental this music is to the progress of our music and to the people as well.

We really can’t have more children wanting to be the next [insert sucky rapper] when they grow up.

On a side note, since when did you have to stop thinking to have fun? Oh yea, that goes with those who have to get sloppy drunk to have a good time too…

Try this: Next time your alarm goes off get out a pen and paper and write down what you’re going to eat at the next fast food restaurant you go to… Post the “song” with the “music” from the loud beep on YouTube and it really could be the next big thing.

Just like Wale said “Hip Hop’s not dead,” but I’d add the radio is.

: (

May 17th at the Greensboro Coliseum.

The first track off the upcoming album, Rising Down.