Frankly speaking, I don’t really get why people consider recession to be some kind of evil. It’s only a moment of clarity. It’s only a wake up call and nothing more. It’s a moment when a customer becomes the hustler. Cuz customers don’t have enough of money to buy everything they want, so they have to choose what's important and what's not. Every time they buy something, they give that product/company a chance to live. And every time they stop buying something, they sorta kill the product/company. So at the end of the day it’s a survival of the illest and only the best companies stay in the game. 

But it seems that music industry refuses to recognize the rules of the game. They act as nothing’s going on; they don’t apply any changes… when the system is yelling, “Help me! I’m dying!” The industry keeps on living in an imaginary reality. And I must say that their “imaginary reality” affects a lot of people outside of the industry. It creates a scary illusion. When you watch TV, listen to the radio or visit a record shop, it seems there are only a few artists in the game and they are so wack, but you have no alternative and have to listen to those “artists”.

However, in reality, there are thousands of great artists who struggle on their way to their potential fan-base. They have unbelievable work ethic. They don’t try to be a “one hit wonder”; instead they keep on experimenting and making real, unique, genuine, meaningful, and soulful music.

In the beginning, big companies came to hip-hop artists asking begging them to advertise their products, today major artists are enslaved by those big companies. But since we DO go through recession, WE can CHANGE the situation. And when I say we, I’m talking ‘bout FANS. WE made hip-hop universal. WE crowned the “kings” and the “queens” of the game. That's why WE can RESTART the system. 

Actually, the “restarting” has already begun. People stopped buying albums, cuz at least 50% of material on an average album is wack, so they simply download those albums for free. As a result, album sales decreased and industry bosses lose their money every minute. But what's really important at this point is fans’ reaction. Y'all can ask me, “What can WE do? We have no power, no influence…” Sorry, but I beg to differ. 

As I said earlier, there's an alternative to “ringtone crap rap” and this alternative is independent record labels. They have everything to prove that hip-hop has always been alive…everything but big fan-base to be world wide. So what can we do?

First of all, you have to look around and check for some indie artists in your area code or online. I’m sure that you can find at least a few dope artists. Once you found those artists, show them some love: buy their mixtapes/albums/songs or visit their shows. In order to do that, you can visit their web-site or ask them in person. In this case, every fan invests his/her few dollars and eventually an indie artist/label has a budget to work with (fact: recording songs and performing requires some money). 

Also, you can call on local radio stations and request your favorite songs. Radio stations and their sponsors are into ratings. If they know that this or that artist attracts audience, they play his/her music. So if YOU let them know that WE ALL wanna hear REAL MUSIC, eventually that will have to play what WE want…maybe not today, but tomorrow they will. After all, THEY are supposed to entertain US. And they don’t wanna lose listeners, cuz in their world listeners = $$$. We are valuable.

The next step is “spread the word”. If you know a great indie artist, tell your friends about this artist. “Promote” him/her via twitter, myspace, facebook or any other social network. Play this music everywhere you can. In other words, make sure that all the people you know heard of this artist.

There’s one more step for real hip-hop junkies. You can join your favorite artist's street/web team and help them. As a matter of fact, a lot of people think that artists owe their success to their talent. It’s not quite true. Artist's talent creates material, but artist's success is a creation of his/her team. Music is a product of collective contribution. Some of y'all have no idea how many people had to work hard to give you an opportunity to hear the song you call your favorite. The music game is a team game. So if you feel that this or that artist has potential to make a difference in the music game and you care enough about hip-hop, then what are you waiting for? 

I’m sure that there are a lot of other ways to make a difference. What are they? Well, it depends on your situation… Just be creative!!!… Be hip-hop!!!…

In the words of Malcolm X, “Power never takes a back step — only in the face of more power”. So why can’t WE be that stronger power? Why can’t we remind the industry that it was invented to please US? Some of y'all might ask, “Who are us?”… We are hip-hop nation… a nation of dreamers who proved the world that nothing was impossible. How many people believed in that “hip-hop thing” in the beginning? That's right! Hip-hop is a “self-made phenomenon”. So maybe it’s time to tell the music industry, “Take a step back!”…