Selling Out

THIS 1st PARAGRAPH IS FROM WIKIPEDIA: "Selling out" refers to the compromising of one's integrity, morality and principles in exchange for money, "success" (however defined) or personal gain. It is commonly associated with attempts to tailor material to a mainstream audience. A person who does this, as opposed to continuing along his or her original path, is labelled a sellout, and typically regarded with disdain. Selling out is often seen as gaining success at the cost of credibility. The phrase is frequently heard in the musical community, where it is used to imply that an artist has compromised his or her artistic integrity in order to gain radio airplay or obtain a recording contract, especially with a major label. Often, the label will force a particular record producer onto the performer, insist on the inclusion of songs by commercial songwriters, or the label may even refuse to release an album, deeming it uncommercial.

But I ask what exactly is your definition of a sell out? I mean this is a phrase that is thrown around very loosely in the world nowadays especially within the hip hop community but seriously what is a sell out, and what criteria does one have to carry in order to become one. Is a sell out someone that starts from the bottom and works their way up to the top, is a sell out someone that gets a great job...mind you one that they may have worked very hard for and then they up and move out from the environment in which they were raised, i'm just confused. I mean isn't the goal in life to better yourself and situation, make the best for those that will follow you such as younger siblings and your own children? I have 2 kids so no i'm not living where I grew up and i'm not saying that I grew up in the roughest spot in america but come on I want the best for my kids so like any parent I try to do better than my own parents did FOR my children. If I was to hit the lottery im not trying to live in the PJ's sorry, call me whatever you want. I mean am I a sell out if I was raised in the "hood" and went to Harvard to get my degree, am I a sell out because I don't hang with people that aren't about nothing in life because I was always told that if you want to be the best you have to be around the best or those that will inspire you to do better than you are currently doing. In the music biz a sell out is someone that has "forgot where they came from" and I find that very funny because these same MC's stay shouting out where they are from so how the hell did they forget. They do tons of community work in their cities, trust me a lot of them do but there is no media coverage of that kind of stuff but yet they FORGOT where they came from. Take someone like Jay-Z (who is part of the reason for this blog because I was reading comments on a video earlier and a few people didnt even bother to listen to the music anymore cause they were too affixiated with calling the man a sell out) he gets the sell out thing a lot, why because he was on Oprah, because he personally knows Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc...come on do you know how idiodic that sounds. Funny thing is that when when he is on Oprah (whom would never have a rapper previous to him on her show) he is doing that to possibly open a door for the same knucklehead calling him a sell out, when he is opening businesses or owning part of a basketball team it's to show that it can be done, I mean is that NOT giving back? Think about this for a minute, who did he have to look up to in the "hood" the same people we had to look up to in the hood, drug dealers, hustlers, etc typically for a majority of us those people were our fathers, brothers, uncles and all that but think about a generation that looks at a cat like Jay-Z, a young kid can aspire...no not to be a rapper but be a majority owner in a professional team, open his own sports lounge, go to the White House for lunch with the President as well as be asked to help with the President's campaign. So come on are you serious with this sell out stuff? There are some instances when YES people DO actually sell out because they allow themselves to be prostitutes meaning they will do anything to make a dollar but what I am saying is use the word in the right context if you are going to use it. I mean am I a sell out because I have a good job and take care of my family? Am I a sell out because I dont want to shop at certain Walmarts or Targets because the overall quality of the store is less than another? Am I a sell out because I have close friends that I even actually look at like family but they have a different complexion than myself? Am I a sell out because I dont always listen to all underground MC's or music? Am I a sell out because I work hard to make my way up the corporate ladder to better my career and future endeavors? I mean I have never been called one myself but I guess in the eyes of some maybe I am, who the hell knows but I do know this the last place I would want to live after working my whole life to get out is the "hood" unless my means could only afford that. I don't work to stay on the bottom just like a starving artist doesn't want to make it in the business just to stay in the cut and not make that big money. People are funny they are like so and so moved out the "hood" or changed their ways so now they are sell outs but those same cats would black mask it out if you were still in the "hood" with all your money and rob you...WHY, because they would say that you think you are better than everyone else, trying to show off or stunt etc. See the mental capacity will not allow them NOT to hate in some capacity, it's what people do when you have something they are striving for, when you have something they wish they had or wish they had the will to do. I never hate on anyone that's out to better not only themselves but their whole lives and by that I mean all surrounding them and building a great foundation for thier children and the generations to come after. I want my son to be better than me just like my father wanted my brother and I to be better than him and the best way to do that is to make sure to create the best options possible for him to succeed so sometimes I may have to rub elbows with the "other side" just to make my way in because they aren't just going to let you in or open the doors for you. As I stated this is a statement that is used a lot in hip hop and myself being a lover of hip hop music it just infuriates me when I hear it because what is it being based on...wealth, status, residency, i mean what??? I guess NOT being a sell out is going to jail as a rapper, I guess not being a sell out is living in the same place you've been working most of your adult life to try to make it out of...so TI lives in a gated community does that make him a sell out, so Ludacris decides he wants to hang out at a club with Matt Damon does that mean he is a sell out.....?

The biggest thing about it I guess is to NOT forget where you came from because it is solely responsible for everything that you are. I mean there are people that try to hide their past because of how it may be viewed in their present lives which to me THEN makes you that sell out I am speaking of. I have actually worked with people that grew up maybe somewhere like Newark, NJ and lied and said they grew up in Westfield, NJ because it sounds better in the corporate world. I mean I personally always stay true to who I am, but I know WHEN and WHEN NOT to be that Dwight, I will not run into a meeting with the big heads at the job with my Yankees fitted hat on to the back talking about "yo B we are on to the next one son" if we are moving to a new topic in said meeting but I also am true to who I am so I don't run around lying like I was not born and raised in Plainfield NJ. I don't front like there weren't nights when my mom and I struggled and had to have candles light our apartment cause the lights were out, when oodles of noodles were part of my everyday diet, but those same things conditioned me to work harder to build a good life for my kids, those same things instilled in me a mentality to work and succeed like none previous to me before at all costs, I mean I became a manager not for the money or just to say that I am one because it sounds dope when you say it at a high school reunion or on Facebook but I wanted to become one because I want to leave some footprints and show some of my fellow employees that work with me that you dont have to accept being just the low man on the totum pole, to leave some kind of mark that someone else may follow and in time do better than even I could do, and I think thats what some people such as Jay-Z do in my opinion. Those things he does are for hip hop and for the culture, I mean sure everyone wants to be rich, be paid, have money and nice things so how the hell can you fault Hov for that and then use that as your primary means to drag his name through the mud. Not one of those same people can tell me that if Budwiser offered them $2 million dollars to do a commercial they wouldnt have done it, some of them would do it for a G stack so they can miss me with that nonsense. So you wouldn't be president of a record company if they asked you or change your music and style to adapt so that you can continue to have a job. Those that refuse to adapt stay stuck and they are trapped and are the same ones that look at others moving forward then throwing hate at them. In hip hop you can't stay the same, I mean a rapper cant rap about stuff he rapped about on his 1st few albums once he starts getting that dough because then its "oh he just raps about the same stuff all the time and he isn't in the hood anymore anyways" but then if you try to change its "oh he sold out, all he talks about is money etc" or my personal favorite "he needs to take it back to that old shit, how he rocked when he 1st came out" are you kidding me, i mean what do you want? Basically this blog is just to tell people to grow the hell up and learn what a true sell out is prior to using the word, and then ask yourself what would you do in the same position, what would you do if you have or are offered millions of dollars and it could better your life and those around you? What would you give or sacrifice to fullfill a dream of your such as many of these people that are so called sell outs are doing? Would you do what you needed to do to be the best and position yourself with those people that may have other looking at you as if you were a sell out and if so would you consider yourself one for doing so....?