Whether it was never listening to an entire album from The Beatles until college or picking up a hip-hop album just one week after it was released and trying to talk about how good I thought it was, in my position, no one lets me slide on being late.
Few things are as cutting and condescending as getting a “you’re late” reply to something you praise that didn’t just hit the streets … but realistically, aren’t we all late to some degree?
Unless you’re the DJ who played someone’s track for the first time, someone who ran with an up-and-coming artist, chances are you were the person throwing their mixtape or flyer on the ground after they tried to sell it to you in the parking lot of a show or a Walmart somewhere.
But who is really impressed by me saying, I remember playing Soulja Boy’s mixtape my sophomore year of college and him performing at the hoodest of hood venues back then, well before he was multiple times platinum and selling out arenas? No one gives a shit, but I’d be an early adapter.
He was a record label’s dream. All they had to do was master his debut album and repackage it because the songs had been done before he ever even signed. So was every 14-year old kid who bought that album late?
What about Pharrell? There’s tons of people who weren’t really checking for him back when he was producing “Rumpshaker” for Wreckx-N-Effect or “Weak” by SWV but when The Neptunes-sound was all over the place, they were diehards.
Isn’t the gift and curse of being indie the fact that you do have all the control over your music but you’ll have to go largely unnoticed for a while (or forever) depending on how long it takes you to build a following and subsequent demand?
See, the whole early adapter thing only works when it’s a “cool” band. I had friends who tried to tell me about Little Dragon on their earlier visits to Charlotte. Went so far as to show me YouTube videos and everything but it wasn’t until I got bored one day and played some tracks that I cared. It’s kinda like losing your baby teeth. Some people lose them early, others way later, but at the end of the day, you all go through it. Musically, if it’s a market for it, we’ll hear it. Hell, even if it’s not we’ll hear it if they have the right promotion.
I’ve written in the past, that early adapters are a great friends to have and in many cases, I’m that friend but this time I’ll spare you the list of acts I’ve put people on, bite bullet and admit I’ve hopped on many-a-backwagon after it’d left the station.
Better late than never though, right?
Apologies to bands/groups/artists I’ve been slow to catch on to lately; Pac Div, The XX, Little Dragon, Mr Hudson, etc.
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2010.
Yo dude i totally feel you on this idea. I also feel that part of the joy of discovering new quality music is that sense of fulfillment that comes from knowing you are able to control what you think is good music. Truth is, the radio plays music that has really catchy hooks, clever wordplay or fun simple beats. But at the end of the day, is it actually quality music? Is it high-level talent or is it just entertaining? ‘Cathiness’ is becoming synonymous with Quality. So when the radio keeps playing this music over and over, it does lead you to believe that what you’re listening to is quality music because its the most bumpin or has widest mass appeal. So for this reason, discovering music on your own, is the only way to determine whether you truly like a song or if you’ve just become accustomed to it.
This is why I never hate on people who discover good music ‘late’, even though most of the mugs probably heard a song after it built an indie fanbase that brought it to the radio.
i meant ‘Catchiness’…