Deuces
written by JusHH
written by JusHH
Last week Just K paid tribute to Memphis Bleek, Tony Yayo and all of the rest of the dudes who got “put on” by their superstar rap friends. There’s no question that crew members never see the same fame and fortune no matter how hard they try our how successful their meal ticket gets. But in true PTM fashion, I’m gonna flip Just K’s post. Sometimes a crew starts out together and one member just shines a bit brighter than the rest and becomes a solo star. What happens when one member of the crew has to say peace in order to live his own dreams?
The first example that comes to mind is Busta Rhymes. A lot of people don’t know it but Busta started out as a member of the group Leaders of the New School along with Charlie Brown, Dinco D and Cut Monitor Milo (thanks Wiki!). They didn’t have much success as a group but when they were featured on A Tribe Called Quest’s famous posse cut, “Scenario”, it was clear to me that Busta was not made to be a group member. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. After he roared like a dungeon dragon, Hip-Hop heads wanted more of Busta… but not the rest of the New School. The rest is history. Busta gets signed to a solo deal and becomes a legend and the three remaining members fell into Hip-Hop obscurity. Needless to say the relationship between Busta and the rest of the group soured and they currently aren’t on speaking terms.
I’m sure it was hard for Charlie Brown and the rest of the Leaders to watch their boy blow up and leave them in the dust. To realize that you were the weak link has to be a tough pill to swallow. But what if you were the guy in the group that was originally supposed to blow up? How do you deal with that? Knowing you were the main man only to see another guy take the shine. Ali and Proof have that in common. The St. Lunatics and D-12 were both groups that tried to get signed as one unit. But when each group was evaluated it was a surprise when the leaders didn’t get noticed. It was Nelly’s style and flow and Eminem’s ridiculous skill and well, lack of melanin that got the most attention. Nelly and Em would both tell you that they personally didn’t think they were the most talented but when labels are beating down your door what choice do you have? The group thing wasn’t going to work so the Lunatics and D-12 made a decision. Get behind our new leaders as solo artists and when they blow up, put the rest of the crew on. And that’s exactly what happened. Both Nelly and Eminem went on to have successful careers and they got record deals for their entire crew.
The situation ended up working out well for Ali and Proof. They were able to put their own egos aside and still ended up being able to put out music and experience relative fame. But what happens when you are the main guy, get your career started and then a guy in your crew who you put on, skyrockets past you. I’m sure when Jaz-O put his homeboy Shawn on a couple tracks, he figured he was just doing him a favor – sharing the wealth. But when Shawn from Marcy became Jay-Z lord of everything, Jaz-O couldn’t handle being obsolete. I mean Jay-Z tried to return the favor by putting Jaz on “N***a What, N***a Who” off Vol. 2 but it wasn’t enough to re-start his career. No one wanted Jaz-O they just wanted the Jigga Man. Resentment soon followed as Jaz-O publicically accused Hov of everything from being ungrateful to being a traitor.
There’s no telling what money and fame can do to someone’s relationship. It’s easy to be cool and a tight-knit crew when everyone is in the same boat, but when you’re suddenly [insert rapper’s name]’s boy, it’s suddenly a bit more difficult to be best buddies. It’s one of those weird situations where you don’t always know where to place blame when the relationship goes bad. Do you blame the successful one who left the crew behind? Or do you have to blame the rest of the crew for not being supportive of one of their own? I guess at the end of the day these situations will truly show you who your true friends are. The St. Lunatics and D-12 put family first and they are all eating very well while the Leaders of the New School and Jaz-O are relinquished to salty interviews and bad YouTube diss videos.
“It’s funny how money change a situation.”
4 comments:
Tough post. Yeah, I can't imagine what it takes to go solo, especially when you don't think you're supposed to be the one taking the lead. And then you have to leave your boys behind, at least for a little while. Man, that definitely changes the group dynamic in a really interesting way. More interesting to see how the rest of the group adapts to that change.
It's really interesting how the designated leaders of a group aren't always viewed the same way by fans and A&Rs.
Yeah the fans and A&R's really have a different perspective because they only see it from one angle. More so the A&R's because once it gets to the "fan" level the "leader" was already selected for us.
Like there was no way for us to know Proof was really the dude in D-12 if Eminem and the rest didn't say it.
Busta Rhymes aka Trevor and his relationship with LNS is classic.
Never looked at the Proof and Ali situation like that.
Hot post.
Yeah man that's why they are all eating well. You gotta put your people's first and Proof and Ali did that. And by them doing that, it let Em and Nelly shine and they repaid the favor by bringing the whole team alone.
Gotta respect it.
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