Rappers Urge Financial Responsibility

[bigted]

Rappers Urge Financial Responsibility

NEW YORK - LL Cool J is urging fans to be financially responsible.

The platinum-selling rap star spoke over the weekend at the Hip Hop Summit on Financial Empowerment.

The event, organized by multi-millionaire entrepreneur Russell Simmons, mixed stars like LL Cool J, Alicia Keys, Nas and T.I. with financial experts to provide advice on home ownership, budgets, credit cards and other financial issues.

"The biggest misconception probably comes from the hip-hop community itself ... that the money lasts forever," LL Cool J said on Saturday. "You have to do the right thing with it."

Fellow chart-topping rapper Nas said it was important to teach young fans about financial responsibility.

"It's time that we do something to educate our kids," he said. "We've got to think about our future, think about tomorrow. It's beyond the corner, it's beyond the jails. We've got to think about growing old in this game."

[Turntable]

"We've got to think about growing old in this game.".-True

[TopDawg14]

Here's an idea for the rappers:

STOP MAKING VIDEOS AND SONGS THAT TALK ABOUT MONEY, ICE, CARS AND RIMS!!!! TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT... LIKE ENDING RACISM, CLASSISM AND PROMOTING PEACE AND RESPONSIBILITY!!

[Hero1]

"you wont have that fancy car..when your advance is gone" - Phesto

[cristigolo]

as chris rock put it about rims

They spinnin nig**a they spinnin

we all love rims

[bigted]

Yeah these rappers don't really have that much more money than us once their contracts expire, for every LL Cool J that has longevity there's a million one hit wonders that have to file for bankruptcy and have to get a regular 9 to 5 job like us 'cause they're just about our age so they can't file for pension yet, lol, the executives that work for the labels make more than the artists do, like Missy Elliot once said:

"I know most of y'all rappers live dead broke

When I go to your accountants, they say no doe"

I think they're also referring to society in general 'cause a lot of young people like us overspend our credit cards and then we're stuck with a bill we have to pay for years, buying stuff they don't really need to buy really, I know some of my cousins going through that situation myself, they spent most of it buying brand new cars now they have problems paying it back...

Edited April 24, 2006 by bigted

[MaxFly]

Here's an idea for the rappers:

STOP MAKING VIDEOS AND SONGS THAT TALK ABOUT MONEY, ICE, CARS AND RIMS!!!! TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT... LIKE ENDING RACISM, CLASSISM AND PROMOTING PEACE AND RESPONSIBILITY!!

Completely agree...

Even taking things a little further, I think that not only should rappers stop talking about these things, but they should stop living them as well. Being an example is very important. We see rappers sporting half a million dollar chains and other forms of jewelry and people want to emulate that sort of gratuitous life style: not just kids, but black people as a whole. Rappers can talk about financial responsibility ad nauseam, but until they demonstrate financial responsibility, their words are almost meaningless. It'll take action to drive this point across, not simply words; talk about it, then turn around and actually live it.

[bigted]

Come on now don't knock these rap artists for doing something positive, especially LL Cool J and Nas getting involved like this, those two don't make all their videos with cars, rims, and jewlery in them, you gotta remember thatrappers ain't the only ones to sport fancy clothes and cars, what about the other celebrities, don't people trying emulating them too when their cribs are shown on MTV?Why does rappers have to be blamed for everything? We see a lot of flashy things in movies and TV shows too, not just in rap videos, white people also go through financial problems not just black people, it might not have nothing to do with what they see in entertainment either, maybe their job slows down and they have problems with bills and they don't make as much as a celebrity does but if celebrities get hundreds of thousands or even multi million dollar checks(depends how famous they are, maybe if you make a cameo appearance on a TV show, you're a benchwarmer as a rookie on the Chicago Bulls, or have a minor hit and sell 100,000 on a major label with a minor hit that means you'll be making less than if you blow up with being the star of your own show, selling 5 million out the gate, being a star player on the Chicago Bulls right away as a top player from the draft then you got millions) they shouldn't spend all of it, it's common sense but the fame seems to cloud their vision I guess.... What some celebrities spend on things is just ridiculous though, they buy big mansions that they don't even live in most of the time 'cause they're always on the road(Will probably does this too since he's always busy), they should just wait until they settle down from their fast life to do that and just rent places when they're on the road, I mean come on now the ring Kobe Bryant bought for his wife could feed a whole neighborhood for life, lol.... All celebrities need to financially responsible 'cause the ride don't last forever, come on now Kobe Bryant could get a serious injury and might never play another game but that money'll have to last for another 50 years or so of his life, he has to be responsible what he buys or else he'll have to sell some of it to pay his bills in a few years...

People should know better that it's only entertainment in the first place and not to believe the hype, a lot of these celebrities might be flashing jewlery this year but next year they might be filing for bankruptcy if their fame falls short but no matter what type of financial problems they might have it's not like a regular person's problem if you think about it 'cause if you only have one hit album/movie/play one year of professional sports you're making more than most people will make even if it's not as much as you'd think they'd get, it might take 10 years for most to $200,000 that they might make in one, seriously who makes $200,000 at a minimum right out of high school? One in a million it seems, to be famous or get in the spotlight somewhat is a pipedream, most don't ever get to see that, even if it's a short time, these young celebrities should invest some of that money for college so they could get a career if the entertainment don't work forever, they have their lives ahead of them like us but a lot of these rappers come from extreme poverty so they might act a lil' crazy when they get all that money at once, lol, a lot of them use loans and credit cards to get those expensive jewleries and houses and they'll be stuck with a huge bill if their careers end....

Most 18 year olds are flipping burgers at Burger King while going to college on a loan while Lebron James was making millions in endorsement money and his NBA contract but there were other 18 year olds not quite as skilled as James that were basically benchwarmers making the league minimum of $200,000 a year and they might not be in the league now so basically they're in the same shoes as the rappers who have one hit album and fade away, Lebron James is the exception that's why the NBA raised the age limit to 20 years old 'cause they know that players need to develop more before they make it there, I think it needs to be the same way with rap artists and other entertainerstoo, a lot of kids come in at a young age and they don't develop their craft so they don't last long, I find it crazy that those celebritieswho drop out of college or never go to collegemake more than the president of the US who only makes $250,000 a year with all that college experience he has....

btw, there are quite a few rappers that don't make videos about cars, rims, and ice but BET refuses to play it so what could you do? It's not like conscious rappers have enough money to buy their own network right? Maybe Will should sacrifice all of his mansions and live in a trailer and buy BET, if all these rappers have to give up sporting their chains, why shouldn't Will give up one of his large mansions he don't live in? lol There's nothing wrong with it though I think if they manage their money right for them to enjoy their success, they should all give some of their money back to the streets but at the same time they should be able to enjoy their fame a lil' bit 'cause they work hard for it, it's not we have to all give our entire paychecks to charity so why should they? I already know some people are gonna come in and say in this thread that a lot of these commercial rappers don't give back at all but that's not true, they don't do it in front of the cameras that's all, BET only shows you the negative side of rap but there's a lot of positive things being done by the rappers to help the streets and it's good that something like this comes out and gets press, it shows the people who criticise rap that these rappers have heart,

EDIT that thought I was watching 106 & Park a couple of hours ago and Russell Simmons was on there talking about the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and he was shouting out G-Unit, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Puffy and a lot of other rappers for their charity efforts so there you go: here's a site of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network he was mentioning:

http://www.hiphopsummitactionnetwork.org/C...n.aspx?pageId=1

It's a simple concept to just not spend more than you make, if you can't afford something don't get it, if you can afford it, get it...

Alot of these videos are like commercial jingles I must admit though but it's entertainment, you can't only knock rappers, other pop artists make catchy music too with no subject matter in it, you have to knock the whole music industry for content, a lot of artists in general who put content in their work don't get on the airwaves, not only rappers...

Edited April 24, 2006 by bigted

[bigted]

Everybody check out this interesting article I found posted in the Ill Community at allhiphop.com, I tried to post it in my other thread but I was realised it was too long, they don't make as much you think but it's still quite a bit compared to us, it shows you they either rent those cars they got in their videos or they got a loan out to have it, no wonder a lot of them go into acting but you can't make $20 million out the gate that takes time to do that, basically just like anything the artists will make more if they keep working hard....

ARTISTS DON'T MAKE MONEY FROM RECORD DEALS

By, Wendy Day from Rap Coalition

Who is the incredible bonehead who said rappers make mad loot? Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!! Because the fans expect their favorite artists to be crazy paid and livin' large, this puts an incredible amount of pressure on the artists to appear wealthy. And it's not just the fans; I can't tell you how many times I've been out with rappers along with people in the industry, and the industry slobs have expected the artists to pick up the dinner check. I've even seen people cop an attitude if the artist doesn't pay for everything. This is small minded and ignorant because the artist is ALWAYS the last to get paid. Everyone gets their cut first: the label, the manager (15%- 20% of all of the artist's entertainment income), the lawyer (by the hour or 5%-10% of the deal), the accountant (by the hour or 5% of all income), and, of course, the IRS (28% to 50% depending on the tax bracket).

Once an artist releases a record, the pressure is on to portray a successful image to fans, friends, families, and people around the way. People expect the artists to be well dressed, drive an expensive car, etc. Think about it. Don't you expect artists "to look like artists?" Would you admire Jay-Z as much if he drove a busted old 1990 Grand Am instead of that beautiful, brand new, top of the line Bentley?

Sadly, when an artist gets signed to a label deal, especially a rap artist, he or she receives somewhere between 8 and 13 points. What that means is 8% to 13% of the retail sales price, after the record label recoups the money it puts out (the advance, the sample clearances, the producer advances, usually half the cost of any videos, any cash outlays for the artists, etc.). The artist has to sell hella units to make any money back. Here's an example of a relatively fair record deal for a new rap artist with some clout in the industry and a terrific negotiating attorney:

ROYALTY RATE: 12%

We're going to assume that there are 3 artists in the group, and that they split everything equally. We're also going to assume that they produce their own tracks themselves.

Suggested retail list price (cassettes) $10.98

less 15% packaging deduction (usually 20%) =$ 9.33

gets paid on 85% of records sold ("free goods") =$7.93

So the artists' 12% is equal to about 96 cents per record sold. In most deals, the producer's 3% comes out of that 12%, but for the sake of brevity, in this example the group produced the whole album, buying no tracks from outside producers, which is rare.

Let's assume that they are a hit and their record goes Gold (although it is rare that a first record blows up like this). Let's also assume they were a priority at their record label and that their label understood exactly how to market them. So they went Gold, selling 500,000 units according to SoundScan (and due to the inaccuracies in SoundScan tracking at the rap retail level, 500,000 scanned probably means more like 600,000 actually sold).

GOLD RECORD = 500,000 units sold x $ .96 = $480,000. Looks like a nice chunk of loot, huh? Watch this. Now the label recoups what they've spent: independent promotion, 1/2 the video cost, some tour support, all those limo rides, all those out of town trips for the artist and their friends, etc.

$480,000

-$100,000 recoupable stuff (NOT advance)

--------

$380,000

-$ 70,000 advance (recording costs)

--------

$310,000

Still sounds OK? Watch... Now, half of the $380,000 stays "in reserve" (accounting for returned items from retail stores) for 2 to 4 years depending on the length specified in the recording contract. So the $70,000 advance is actually subtracted from $190,000 (the other $190,000 is in reserves for 2 years). Now, there's also the artist's manager, who is entitled to 20% of all of the entertainment income which would be 20% of $310,000, or $62,000. Remember, the artist is the last to get paid, so even the manager gets paid before the artist.

So the artists actually receive $19,333 each for their gold album, and in two years when the reserves are liquidated, IF they've recouped, they will each receive another $63,000. IF they've recouped. Guess who keeps track of all of this accounting? The label. Most contracts are "cross-collateralized," which means if the artist does not recoup on the first album, the money will be paid back out of the second album. Also, if the money is not recouped on the second album, repayment can come out of the "in reserve" funds from the first album, if the funds have not already been liquidated.

Even after the reserves are paid, each artist only actually made 50 cents per unit based on this example. The label made about $2.68 per unit. This example also doesn't include any additional production costs for an outside producer to come in and do a re-mix, and you know how often that happens.

So each artist in this group has received a total of about $82,000. After legal expenses and costs of new clothing to wear on stage while touring, etc, each artist has probably made a total of $75,000 before paying taxes (which the artist is responsible for-- remember Kool Moe Dee?). Let's look at the time line now. Let's assume the artists had no jobs when they started this. They spent 4 months putting their demo tape together and getting the tracks just right. They spent another 6 months to a year getting to know who all of the players are in the rap music industry and shopping their demo tape. After signing to a label, it took another 8 months to make an album and to get through all of the label's bureaucracy. When the first single dropped, the group went into promotion mode and traveled all over promoting the single at radio, retail, concerts, and publications. This was another six months. The record label decided to push three singles off the album so it was another year before they got back into the studio to make album number two. This scenario has been a total of 36 months. Each member of the group made $75,000 for a three year investment of time, which averages out to $25,000 per year. In corporate America, that works out to be $12 per hour (before taxes).

OK, so it's not totally hopeless. Since we're using the fantasy of a relatively fair deal, let's look at publishing from a relatively fair perspective. There are mechanical royalties and performance royalties to figure in. Mechanical royalties are the payments that Congress stipulates labels must pay based on copy right ownership and publishing ownership. These payments have nothing to do with recouping, but everything to do with who owns the publishing. Publishing is where the money is in the music business. Suge Knight claims to have started Death Row Records with the money he made from owning Vanilla Ice's publishing for one song: Ice Ice Baby. It may not be true, but it could be. Avatar Records (home of Black Xuede) is financed through the publishing that the CEO has purchased over the years. Although publishing can be quite cumbersome to understand (just when I think I get it, I read something else that makes me realize how little I know about the subject), but the most basic principle is that when an artist puts pen to paper, or makes a beat, the artist owns the publishing. It's that simple. Whoever creates the words or music owns those words or music. Where it gets confusing is all the different ways to get paid on publishing, all the ways to split publishing with other folks, and all the ways artists get screwed out of their publishing. In the 8 years I've been doing this, I have heard so many times, artists say that they don't care about losing a song or two because they can always make a ton more. That's stupidity. It's undervaluing one's ability. That's like saying it's OK to rob me of my cash, I can go to the ATM machine and get more money. Wrong!! It's never right to rob someone. The "I can make more" defense immediately goes out the window when the creator sees someone else make hundreds of thousands of dollars off a song. Every time!! So why not protect yourself in the door?

Bill Brown at ASCAP breaks it down more simply than anyone I've ever heard. He compares publishing with real estate. When you make a song, you are the owner of that property: the landlord. Sometimes you sell off a piece of the land for money (but you NEVER give away your land, right??) and if someone else wants to use your property, or rent it, they have to pay you rent to use it. I love that analogy. It's so crystal clear!

A copyright is proof of ownership of a song, both lyrics and music. If there is a sample in the music, you are automatically giving up part of the song, at the whim of the person who owns the rights to the original song (not necessarily the original artist). In order to "clear the sample," you send your version of the song to the owner of the original composition or whomever owns the publishing (and to the owner of the master, meaning original record label or whomever now owns the master). Then you negotiate the price with those two owners. Some are set in stone and you get to either agree to their price or to remove the sample. On DJ DMD's last album (22: PA Worldwide on Elektra) he spent close to $100,000 in advances and fees due to the sampling on his album. It came out of his upfront monies (advance) and he bears the burden of paying for it all, even though Elektra released and owns the record. Proof of copyright is easy to obtain by registering your song with the copyright office in Washington DC. You call them (202.707.9100) and ask for an SR Form (sound recording). You fill out the form, listing all of the owners, and mail it back to them with a copy of the song (a cassette is good enough) along with the Copyright fee (around $25 or so). This way, if someone steals your song, or a piece of your song, you can sue them for taking it and for your legal fees. With the "poor man's copyright" (mailing your tape to yourself in a sealed envelope with your signature across the sealed flap, and then never opening it when it arrives back to you with a postmark proving the date), you can not sue for damages and it's more difficult to prove your case. The copy right fee may seem like a lot of money to some, but it's nothing compared to what a law suit would cost you.

Performance royalties are money that is paid for the performance of your song. The money is paid based on the percentage of ownership of the song. So if you own 100% of the song, you get the whole check. If you own just the music, which is half the song, then you get half the money. If you own the music with a sample in it that claims half the song, then you get a check for 25%. Ya follow? Performance Rights organizations consist of ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC (which is still quite small). They police the radio stations, clubs, concerts, etc (any place music is played or broadcast), all of whom pay a fee to play the music which the performance rights societies collect and split amongst their members based on the amount of times a record is played. Although the formulas change annually based on play, a Top 10 song played on commercial radio can earn a good chunk of change in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.

There is another kind of royalty artists receive when their records sell: mechanical royalties. These are paid based upon a pre-set limit placed by Congress which increases automatically every two years. In 1998 and 1999 it was .0715 cents per song, but on January 1, 2000 it increased to .0765 per song. Record labels put caps on mechanical royalties (the slugs) at either 10 songs, 11 songs, or 12 songs, no matter how many songs actually appear on the record, and you get what you negotiate for. Also, there's a slimey little clause that restricts payment of mechanicals (because God knows labels don't make enough money as it is) to anywhere between 75% and 85%. This evil deed is called percentage of statutory rate. Here's the difference those few pennies make as it pertains to an artist's royalty check (I refuse to even consider illustrating the worst bull**** deals such as 10x at 75%) provided they own 100% of the song:

# songs stat mechanical 100,000 sold 250,000 sold 500,000 (Gold) 1,000,000 (Platinum)

11x 85% .6639 per album $66,390 $165,975 $331,950 $663,900

11x 100% .781 per album $78,100 $195,250 $390,500 $781,000

12x 85% .7242 per album $72,420 $181,050 $362,100 $724,200

12x 100% .852 per album $85,200 $426,000 $852,000 $1,704,000

10x 85% .6035 per album $60,350 $150,875 $301,750 $603,500

I based the above chart on the old 1998-1999 rate of .0715 per song, so I could use my friend Fiend as an example. His first album came out in April of 1998 when the stat rate set by Congress was at this rate.

The dollar figure above represents monies due an artist (regardless of recoupment) per album based on ownership of 100% of publishing. So for example, Fiend who is signed to No Limit, provided he owns 100% of his publishing (I can dream can't I?), if his deal gives him 11x rate at 85% (I hate it but it won't kill me) then on his first album, There's One In Every Family, which came out 4/28/98 and sold 565,977 SoundScan units, No Limit would have paid him (hopefully) $378,369.77. If No Limit owns half of Fiend's publishing, he would receive $189,184.88 provided he wrote all of his own songs (which he did, except the verses by other artists who appeared which lowers the ownership percentage and dollar amount) and provided he made all of his own beats (which he did not; he features outside producers on this album like Beats By The Pound).

So there you have it, the real deal on how much money an artist makes. You can subtract out now another 28% to 50% of all income, including show money, (depending on the artist's tax bracket which is determined by how much income was made within any given calendar year) for the IRS who get paid quarterly (hopefully) by the artist's accountant. If the average artist releases a record every two years, then this income must last twice as long... I think about this every time I see my favorite artists flossing in their music videos drinking champagne or every time I see them drive by in a brand new Benz...

[Hero1]

Here's an idea for the rappers:

STOP MAKING VIDEOS AND SONGS THAT TALK ABOUT MONEY, ICE, CARS AND RIMS!!!! TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT... LIKE ENDING RACISM, CLASSISM AND PROMOTING PEACE AND RESPONSIBILITY!!

Completely agree...

Even taking things a little further, I think that not only should rappers stop talking about these things, but they should stop living them as well. Being an example is very important. We see rappers sporting half a million dollar chains and other forms of jewelry and people want to emulate that sort of gratuitous life style: not just kids, but black people as a whole. Rappers can talk about financial responsibility ad nauseam, but until they demonstrate financial responsibility, their words are almost meaningless. It'll take action to drive this point across, not simply words; talk about it, then turn around and actually live it.

You should hear the intro to dead prez's lets get free album.. in fact u should get the whole album! :wiggle:

[bigted]

I found another article about this, this is a promotional tour that's being done to promote Russell Simmons' new book:

Three 6 Mafia and Obie Trice Join Russell Simmons To Talk Money

Tuesday - March 14, 2006 by Jolene "foxxylady" Petipas

Three 6 Mafia, MC Lyte, Stat Quo, Doug E Fresh, and Obie Trice will all come out to support Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) launch its "Get Your Money Right" financial literacy and empowerment national tour in Detroit.

As SOHH previously reported, this will be the second year for the tour.

Sponsored by Chrysler Financial and Anheuser-Busch, the "Get Your Money Right" tour will include stops in five other cities, including New York (April 22), Miami (May 20), Atlanta (September 16), Los Angeles (September 30) and Dallas (October 14).

"HSAN understands attainment of financial literacy is a life long process and with their support we have found a way to provide the basics of money management with the ultimate goal of raising the awareness and importance of sound financial habits in summit participants" said Chrysler Financial vice president William F. Jones Jr. via a statement. "Artists sharing their personal stories have been an effective teaching method."

Last year's "Get Your Money Right" tour also launched in Detroit. Eminem and R&B singer Fantasia were among those in attendance.

"The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network consistently taps into the consciousness of our youth, providing them with not only knowledge, but tools that will help them prepare for a future in which the decisions they make today will determine the opportunities they have tomorrow," stated Johnny Furr, vice president, urban marketing and community affairs for Anheuser-Busch. "Anheuser-Busch is proud to continue our partnership with, and support of, the Summits and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, which make a real and lasting difference in the lives of young people in communities across the nation."

The 2006 "Get Your Money Right" tour will launch on March 25 at Wayne State University's Bonstelle Theatre.

[MaxFly]

Lol, wow Ted... and people have accused me of being longwinded. I'm about to roll to the store, and I'll read the whole thing when I get back.

[bigted]

I'm trying to make up for not posting much lately, it's an interesting topic that I have a lot of thoughts on so I figure I'd share them :wiggle:

Edited April 24, 2006 by bigted

[Hero1]

check this out

I'm not a hunter but i am told,

that, uh, in places like in the arctic,

where indiginous people sometimes might, might, hunt a wolf,

they'll take a double edged blade,

and they'll put blood on the blade,

and they'll melt the ice and stick the handle in the ice,

so that only the blade is protruding,

and that a wolf will smell the blood and wants to eat,

and it will come and lick the blade trying to eat,

and what happens is when the wolf licks the blade,

of course, he cuts his tongue, and he bleeds,

and he thinks he's really having a good thing,

and he drinks and he licks and he licks,

and of course he is drinking his own blood and he kills himself,

thats what the Imperialists did with us with crack cocaine,

you have these young brothers out there who think they are getting something

they gonna make a living with,

they is getting something they can buy a car,

like the white people have cars, why can't i have a car?

they getting something they can get a piece of gold,

white people have gold, why can't i have gold?

they getting something to get a house,

white people have a house, why can't i have a house?

and they actually think that theres something thats bringing resources to them,

but they're killing themsleves just like the wolf was licking the blade,

and they're slowly dying without knowing it.

thats whats happening to the community, you with me on that?

thats exactly, precisely what happens to the community,

and instead of blaming the hunter who put the damn handle and blade in the ice

for the wolf,

that what happens is the wolf gets the blame, gets the blame for trying to live,

thats what happens in our community,

you don't blame the person, the victim,

you blame the oppressor, Imperialism, white power is the enemy,

was the enemy when it first came to Africa,

and snatched up the first African brothers here against our will,

isss the enemy today,

and thats the thing that we have to understand.

[MaxFly]

Come on now don't knock these rap artists for doing something positive, especially LL Cool J and Nas getting involved like this, those two don't make all their videos with cars, rims, and jewlery in them, you gotta remember thatrappers ain't the only ones to sport fancy clothes and cars, what about the other celebrities, don't people trying emulating them too when their cribs are shown on MTV?Why does rappers have to be blamed for everything? We see a lot of flashy things in movies and TV shows too, not just in rap videos, white people also go through financial problems not just black people, it might not have nothing to do with what they see in entertainment either, maybe their job slows down and they have problems with bills and they don't make as much as a celebrity does but if celebrities get hundreds of thousands or even multi million dollar checks(depends how famous they are, maybe if you make a cameo appearance on a TV show, you're a benchwarmer as a rookie on the Chicago Bulls, or have a minor hit and sell 100,000 on a major label with a minor hit that means you'll be making less than if you blow up with being the star of your own show, selling 5 million out the gate, being a star player on the Chicago Bulls right away as a top player from the draft then you got millions) they shouldn't spend all of it, it's common sense but the fame seems to cloud their vision I guess.... What some celebrities spend on things is just ridiculous though, they buy big mansions that they don't even live in most of the time 'cause they're always on the road(Will probably does this too since he's always busy), they should just wait until they settle down from their fast life to do that and just rent places when they're on the road, I mean come on now the ring Kobe Bryant bought for his wife could feed a whole neighborhood for life, lol.... All celebrities need to financially responsible 'cause the ride don't last forever, come on now Kobe Bryant could get a serious injury and might never play another game but that money'll have to last for another 50 years or so of his life, he has to be responsible what he buys or else he'll have to sell some of it to pay his bills in a few years...

People should know better that it's only entertainment in the first place and not to believe the hype, a lot of these celebrities might be flashing jewlery this year but next year they might be filing for bankruptcy if their fame falls short but no matter what type of financial problems they might have it's not like a regular person's problem if you think about it 'cause if you only have one hit album/movie/play one year of professional sports you're making more than most people will make even if it's not as much as you'd think they'd get, it might take 10 years for most to $200,000 that they might make in one, seriously who makes $200,000 at a minimum right out of high school? One in a million it seems, to be famous or get in the spotlight somewhat is a pipedream, most don't ever get to see that, even if it's a short time, these young celebrities should invest some of that money for college so they could get a career if the entertainment don't work forever, they have their lives ahead of them like us but a lot of these rappers come from extreme poverty so they might act a lil' crazy when they get all that money at once, lol, a lot of them use loans and credit cards to get those expensive jewleries and houses and they'll be stuck with a huge bill if their careers end....

Most 18 year olds are flipping burgers at Burger King while going to college on a loan while Lebron James was making millions in endorsement money and his NBA contract but there were other 18 year olds not quite as skilled as James that were basically benchwarmers making the league minimum of $200,000 a year and they might not be in the league now so basically they're in the same shoes as the rappers who have one hit album and fade away, Lebron James is the exception that's why the NBA raised the age limit to 20 years old 'cause they know that players need to develop more before they make it there, I think it needs to be the same way with rap artists and other entertainerstoo, a lot of kids come in at a young age and they don't develop their craft so they don't last long, I find it crazy that those celebritieswho drop out of college or never go to collegemake more than the president of the US who only makes $250,000 a year with all that college experience he has....

btw, there are quite a few rappers that don't make videos about cars, rims, and ice but BET refuses to play it so what could you do? It's not like conscious rappers have enough money to buy their own network right? Maybe Will should sacrifice all of his mansions and live in a trailer and buy BET, if all these rappers have to give up sporting their chains, why shouldn't Will give up one of his large mansions he don't live in? lol There's nothing wrong with it though I think if they manage their money right for them to enjoy their success, they should all give some of their money back to the streets but at the same time they should be able to enjoy their fame a lil' bit 'cause they work hard for it, it's not we have to all give our entire paychecks to charity so why should they? I already know some people are gonna come in and say in this thread that a lot of these commercial rappers don't give back at all but that's not true, they don't do it in front of the cameras that's all, BET only shows you the negative side of rap but there's a lot of positive things being done by the rappers to help the streets and it's good that something like this comes out and gets press, it shows the people who criticise rap that these rappers have heart,

EDIT that thought I was watching 106 & Park a couple of hours ago and Russell Simmons was on there talking about the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and he was shouting out G-Unit, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Puffy and a lot of other rappers for their charity efforts so there you go: here's a site of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network he was mentioning:

http://www.hiphopsummitactionnetwork.org/C...n.aspx?pageId=1

It's a simple concept to just not spend more than you make, if you can't afford something don't get it, if you can afford it, get it...

Alot of these videos are like commercial jingles I must admit though but it's entertainment, you can't only knock rappers, other pop artists make catchy music too with no subject matter in it, you have to knock the whole music industry for content, a lot of artists in general who put content in their work don't get on the airwaves, not only rappers...

Lol, I can't even respond to all of this. I've singled out rappers because not only are they showing off all the things their money bought, but they're getting that message across in their lyrics as well. We have rappers talking about not being able to pay rent, but still staying fly. A few years ago, it got really ridiculous with Cash Money. Now everyone's flossing, showing off, and no one's managing their money responsibly.

Even Will, early on in his career, became infatuated with getting stuff. Now it's good that rappers want to encourage people to be financially responsible, but the best way to do that is to say it, and then to do it themselves. I understand wanting the better things in life, but people can live in opulence without looking like sparkling fools. What's worse is that these rappers are influencing the way young people think.

Also, we seldom see Will, Denzel, Jamie Foxx and many others who are obviously rich in hollywood flossing. Even basketball players are more reserved. You don't see many players with grillz and 3 or 4 chains and rings on them.