sarah q
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
Posts: 175
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| Female rappers in SFR? |
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So... I was criticizing a book publishing company for not publishing enough women artist to which some replied (in an effort to not address the issue or have an actual dialogue), "I like how many women there are on the Strange Famous label", knowing I'm a fan.
The comment honestly didn't bother me all that much as they are completely different things. This publishing company calls for open submissions and then makes a selection, there are plenty of submissions from female writers during each submission call, so it's a little gross for me when I see the finalists being all men.
On the other hand, I assume SFR signs who they want to sign, and it's a small label with what looks like only 13 artists. It's not like there's some process where a ton of female rappers are trying to get on the label each year and routinely rejected.
Which, leads me to my questions. Have any female rappers ever tried to get on the SFR label? Have any ever been on the label? Has there ever been any discussion of this?
I'm not looking to pick a fight, I love SFR artists. I'm mostly just curious. |
Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:34 pm |
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sarah q
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
Posts: 175
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*someone |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:34 pm |
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GrantherBirdly
D&D addict
Joined: 05 Jun 2004
Posts: 3120
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In thinking about the absence of female rappers on SFR, it's worth considering the ratio of aspiring male to female rappers in general. Venturing a conservative guess, I'd put it at 50 to 1. If that's the case, then SFR wouldn't have underrepresented female artists until they have 50 signed rappers, and none of them are female.
Last edited by GrantherBirdly on Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:51 pm |
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sarah q
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
Posts: 175
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Those were my thoughts as well. I was just curious if many female rappers had ever, or regularly attempt to join the SFR label. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:52 pm |
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GrantherBirdly
D&D addict
Joined: 05 Jun 2004
Posts: 3120
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It's also worth noting that B. Dolan and Sage's beards are time-tested female repellants. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:55 pm |
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b. dolan
FBI agent
Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 5683
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Sage & I have been discussing this and actively seeking out emcees who would be the right fit for as long as I can remember.
I can think of a few separate occasions where we have gone to lengths to holler at the few candidates who seemed promising, but it's just never jumped off for no real reason. Career orbits just don't align with these things sometimes.
Rest assured that we're about a decade ahead of your friend's snarkey observations on this one.
p.s. You would be totally astonished at what the beard does to some female audience members. I always am, as I struggle to keep them at arms length while they try to run their fingers through it.
Last edited by b. dolan on Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:49 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:18 pm |
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Sage Francis
Self Fighteous
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21329
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No disrespect taken. I'm very comfortable answering this question. DOPE female emcees are few and far in between. There are many reasons for that, and that's a direction I wouldn't mind having this discussion turn toward (though I'm sure it's all been said before.) I think a more pressing question would be why we don't have any black emcees. We have white, hispanic, American, Canadian and UK emcees. SFR is a small indie label from Rhode Island, and it's basically run by two people (me and Storm Davis.) The fact that we're able to host as many projects as we do in such a fickle and vicious industry is a small miracle of sorts, especially over the past 5 years. I could have signed female emcees, black emcees, native american emcees, asian emcees....and on and on...they all submit demos. None of them knocked my socks off. Then there are the people I've pursued outside of demo submissions.
Back to the original topic...although we haven't signed female emcees, I have had female representation on stage on almost every major tour that I've headlined. I tried signing Macromantics (a female emcee from Australia) before she signed to Kill Rock Stars. I am featured on the album they released of hers. I toured the US and Australia with her. Alexandrah from SOS was obviously a big part of my two national tours in 2005. I was interested in signing SOS but they ended up with Epitaph. All of those ships have sailed. And, in retrospect, it may have been for the better. Especially because 2005 was the last of the golden years as far as record sales are concerned.
The only other unsigned female emcee who stays on my radar, and by far my favorite, is Eternia. She works with Fat Beats and seems to be on her own hustle for the most part. I respect that a lot. I've kind of poked around to see what could be possible and I'll support her to the end. If she ever submitted a project to SFR I would certainly reconsider my "no more signings!" stance. She has a manager who does what he can for her, she has the respect of many legends, and she's been on her grind since the late 90's.
All that being said, I'm more interested in trimming our roster than expanding upon it these days. I want to keep things more finely tuned and focused. I don't necessarily want the ship to get bigger, I want it to run more efficiently. There's also the question of what a label's role will be in the near future, especially indie labels, when everything goes digital and people buy less and less music. It's a whole new game. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:35 pm |
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Limbs
Joined: 04 Feb 2011
Posts: 637
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Sage Francis wrote:
I think a more pressing question would be why we don't have any black emcees.
That's the first thing I thought of. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:47 pm |
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Sage Francis
Self Fighteous
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21329
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It just seems like that would be the more obvious question, but the answer is pretty much the same. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:48 pm |
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anomaly
Loserface
Joined: 22 May 2008
Posts: 2392
Location: DFW, TX |
Find a black female emcee with a beard and it'd go down in Chinatown.
I know a couple w/ sideburns and one with a mustache, but........ |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:35 pm |
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Sage Francis
Self Fighteous
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21329
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You have no idea how close we came to signing someone that fits that description. haha. So, yeah, like B already said...we're a few years ahead of the curve on that. Still in all, we need great lyrics or (at LEAST) interesting/peculiar/special music to go along with all of the incidentals. We certainly don't turn people away based on race, sexual preference, gender, etc |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:50 pm |
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GrantherBirdly
D&D addict
Joined: 05 Jun 2004
Posts: 3120
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what I want to know is why there are no republicans on SFR's roster. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:57 pm |
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Sage Francis
Self Fighteous
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 21329
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Republican rappers are too mainstream. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:04 pm |
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sarah q
Joined: 02 Dec 2009
Posts: 175
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Cool. Thank you for that answer. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:26 pm |
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T-Wrex
p00ny tang
Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 6175
Location: Detroit, Michigan |
This only means one thing...
Sign C.R.A.Z.Y. and coach her up in the booth.
She's a diamond in the rough. |
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Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:30 pm |
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