This is my open letter to Hip Hop.

I've been in the game for a little minute now (previously signed to a group on The Roc and now unsigned and in search of deal as a solo artist) and I gotta say I don't like the track that the rap game/industry is on.

I mean what happened to giving a voice to unsigned artists? When did introducing new talent become such a daunting task for record labels? And when did rappers become marketers first and artists second?

Personally I don't buy into the talk that New York is dead or that big business destroyed music or that people no longer buy CDs because at the end of the day people have proven time and time again that they still respect and support good music.

Having said that, I will say that there is a lot of talent out there struggling to be heard that very well might squash some of those negative beliefs by breathing new life into the game with the quality of music that people are screaming for.

Artists who are the total package with a love of the music and the business savvy to cultivate a career and the ability to make a classic CD versus a good CD. Artists who are more than a one hit wonder or freestyle champ who can't make records or member of the right crew. Artists with stamina whose turn in the spotlight won't be short lived.

But unfortunately, those are the artists who are being told that no one is paying attention or signing you to a deal just because you're nice. The ones who are constantly hearing "yeah I like your music and what you're doing but you've got to come to the table with a buzz."

The last time I checked creating a buzz used to be the job of labels and publicists. What happened to A&Rs spending their days and nights searching the underground scene for new talent?

I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions:

• Why are there so few new artists?
• Why do so many rappers have to sign with DJs or producers or someone else with "industry ties" before someone will notice them?
• Why do ties get you noticed? What does who you know have to do with making music?
• Why is the beef card being played so often?
• Why on the Internet where space is unlimited and essentially free are so many sites still weighed down by politics when it comes to introducing new artists?
• Why does it seem like the quality of rappers is so inconsistent?
• What happened to the love of making music that you're excited for people to hear?
• When did grown men begin using interviews to gossip instead of showing off their skills or introducing what they're about?
• Why are the same 4 or 5 producers on every album?
• Why do the same people keep getting jobs as "talent scouts" and executives without being able to produce a proven track record?

The answer to all of those questions revolves around the sad but true fact that everyone is on some level scared to take a risk.

As an unsigned artist this non-existent process for new talent to see the light of day has me constantly on the edge of just saying fuck it and quitting this shit altogether. But at the end of the day I love the music and I refuse to let the game crush my dreams or deny me the chance to give listeners a quality of music that I think they've been begging for.

It's this crazy double-edged sword. Unsigned artists are constantly told that they need exposure to get a label deal but the reality is you need a label behind you to open the doors for the real exposure. Sure there's a back door route to gaining exposure without the support of a label but what you soon realize is it's insanely costly.

There is no guarantee from anything; no clear-cut route not even a definitive measurement of just how much exposure is sufficient. It seems the best shot is to adopt some cookie cutter image with a catchy hook (that more times than not requires you to reinvent yourself into something you're not) or to play some beef card to draw people in.

The truth is most of the buzz people seem to be generating isn't based on music.

Let's start with the fact that a lot of this "buzz" can be paid for. You can buy software to add massive amounts of MySpace friends. (Does that count if you end up with hundreds of thousands of friends but pages upon pages of people who don't even remotely like Hip Hop music?) You can pay marketing companies to spend their days in chat rooms secretly talking you up. You can pack showcases with friends or paid supporters. Pay for spots on mixtapes. Does that buzz count as you proving yourself as an artist?

Ties can be a trick too. We've seen a number of artists who didn't have what it takes but attained their spotlight strictly off of their cosign and the result is a big splash on the scene and poor sales. It's what happens when you go in search of artists who are buzzing instead of just going in search of talented artists.

I'm trying to buzz off of my music alone and seeing just how hard that can be. I want people to know me for my music and respect me for my ideas and my honest personality. I want them to know that everything I put out there is my true character. (Mixed with a little super star charisma of course. LOL)

But who is out there listening for music?

Who are these people we've entrusted with the task of picking new talent? They aren't all proven talent scouts. How many people passed on 50 Cent?

Now with all the mergers of labels it's even harder because everything is in the building. It's not the same variety or number of shots.

Independent labels are deceiving because they too are only signing artists with ties and buzz. Indies aren't the great champions of the unsigned artists. They aren't just taking a shot because their overhead is low. They too expect you to put your work in and come to them as an already rising star.

DJs have their own artists they're pushing so slots for new artists on their mixtapes and radio shows go to their artists because that's where their potential money and fame is. Even A&Rs have their own artists that they're pushing.

Don't get me wrong this isn't an overnight development, just an unfortunately increasing trend with potentially devastating effects. Some of the games biggest names had to have someone come back for them (Eminem went back for 50. Dame went back for Cam.), but what if next time there isn't someone to go back and get our future legends?

Clue is one of the only DJs to ever make an artist pop under his brand but he had to push Fabolous for years.

Even Jay-Z fought an uphill battle for years. I was there from the beginning days at Roc-a-Fella and saw all of the strides and hard work it took to make people believe.

At least I can say I've always respected true talent versus recognized name. I'm the person who brought producer Just Blaze to The Roc before he had created any kind of name for himself. He did the beat on a soundtrack single for me and he was undeniably fire. I took his beats to Jay and Dame and they fucked with him after that. Not to say he wouldn't have eventually found his own lane into the game but who's to really say when or if?

Who is looking out for the talent? Can they just say what they're looking for or where they're looking? Years ago you would do every showcase that came up. I can't remember the last time in recent years that I really heard anyone say anything about someone they saw at a showcase.

The Internet is good for new artists but politics on the sites insure that the same handful of artists keep getting played. Even when they have unsigned sections that usually isn't what they're really pushing.

You can hide behind the business of it all day but who is gonna step up? The business is suffering anyway. These calculated risks don't really appear to be the answer. They keep throwing things out there and hoping they'll stick. Isn't it about time someone took a real risk?

I recently heard a Funkmaster Flex interview with Jermaine Dupri discussing his new role as President of Island Def Jam Urban Music and he expressed the same feelings. That "the game is not the same. There's not as many new artists. It's harder for new artists to get out."

Mark Pitts (President of Urban Music at Jive Records) in a Billboard Magazine interview said: Jive's presence in the rap game is garbage and that they've struggled in introducing artists and making them buzz.

It just shows you that everyone thinks the system is flawed. These aren't just the complaints of unsigned artists like myself trying to get their foot in the door. These same sentiments go all the way to the top.

New talent can't get through…but what is anyone doing about it?

DJs are you going to just play hot shit?

A&Rs are you gonna let people know how to get at you or go in search of that kid that you found on MySpace but otherwise haven't heard of?

People can see the need for talented complete artists with marketability and business sense and experience but they're still unwilling to spend even a second more than absolutely necessary to introduce them.

Someone go get those artists and say don't worry about buzz let us help you build that.

Without Diddy and Johnny Wright and "Making the Band" there is no Danity Kane. Without American Idol there's no Jennifer Hudson, no Kelly Clarkson, no Rubin Studdard, no Fantasia.

I'm not saying we need more reality shows but it proves my point that there is talent if you go looking and if you give it a lane to shine.

If instead of rewarding exposure from playing a beef card you rewarded an artist for having stand-alone talent.

Let's return to the art of just making music. Just getting in the studio and bangin' out heat. Not having to spend time on DVDs talking about shit that is unrelated to music or plotting your next dis record to get you noticed. Make artists work on their craft not worry about executing every stage of their pre-deal buzz campaign.

What we are starting to see more and more of are rappers, who when they do get a venue to shine, get pulled into talking about bullshit (guns, cars, jewels) instead of focusing on their music. Or worst, rappers who use bullshit to build a buzz but then don't have any real music to stand behind when they're tested.

Contrary to the thought that you buzz, get a deal and drop an album, getting a deal is only the beginning. Now you have to do all the same things times 6.

You had to first convince the label to sign you and now you have to convince them to take a shot on putting you out.

You probably wonder why your favorite artist got signed but hasn't dropped an album yet and it's been almost 2 years.

You may have gotten signed but now the label doesn't know where to go from there. They don't understand your music and/or your movement. They're too scared to take a shot. That's why many greats started on one label and ended up on another before getting hot. Unless you're lucky enough to get steered right and given a chance to build you almost have to fail for the label to realize what they did wrong and another label to correct their mistake. Think DMX, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, 50 Cent, TuPac and Cam'ron.

If the building isn't behind an artist they're in for a problem. Look at Chamillionaire he flew under the radar until "Ridin' Dirty."

Everything is top heavy. You have to be able to show and prove in the 1st week. All the stops are pulled out for the first week so it's sink or swim after that. But given time and support artists can show and prove. Look at Lyfe and Robin Thicke.

There is nothing wrong with a consistent slow grind.

On their last albums Ludacris didn't get the push Jay-Z did (no Hip Hop artist in history has ever gotten the push Jay did) but Luda is only about 500k away from Jay in albums sold.

Jeezy by industry standards shouldn't be winning but he's a platinum selling artist. His hood music and topics shouldn't even be marketable. (Same thing as with an artist like Snoop Dogg.) If he were unsigned people would be telling him that his lyrics would blackball him from corporate America.

The honest to God truth is that no one knows. There are no foolproof directions to follow. That's the beauty of Hip Hop. It's ever changing and accepting.

Who would have thought that Hip Hop would see tight jeans and blazers?

Slang wasn't cool and now it's used to sell the most mainstream products.

The streets were looked down upon but now having a hardened background shows street savvy. Coming from a life of struggling is commendable.

People are screaming to anyone who will listen that Hip Hop is dead. Fans in that 26 - 35 year old range are starting to lose their love for the music once and for all and the industry seems to be sitting by and doing nothing to rectify the situation.

Consumers are still there. Talented rappers are still there. We have to turn our focus to the labels and label execs and anyone with a chance to help push good music that is just standing by and waiting to see what happens.

For the people that feel like me, stop supporting the bullshit. Tell them to holla when it's real. Rappers claiming to have all these problems with each other and talking hard shit all day but not doing anything other than talk. I'm not calling for violence but then stop putting it out there like that's what ur on when ur not.

Rappers talking about their millions and cars and mansions and then later crying that the label jerked them. Which one is it? Holla when it's real.

Rappers who say that they're the next one and that their project is like that but who keep putting out garbage. Tell them to holla when it's real. Label niggas and radio niggas claiming that only southern rappers and rappers making mindless party songs can sell. If it's hot and you put your strengths behind it anything is possible. Cut the excuses and get on your jobs.

Just all the talk in general. Tell niggas to shut up and holla when it's real.

-REBEL
www.myspace.com/officialreb