Millionaire businessmen and low-level hustlers are now selling big-name feature verses from well-known hip-hop artists along with their beat packs, saying they are helping smaller artists who can't afford exclusives or have the means to acquire them. The same few verses are sold to thousands of rappers with the sales pitch claiming it will give the customer a chance to get noticed and make their "career".
In reality, with no real money for promotion, even the good ones end up with just a few extra clicks and streaming pennies based on the strength of the featured artist's name. Plus, of course, there are a million wacky rappers willing to pretend they've worked with these artists in person and on social media, usually buying streams to reflect their fake success.
The result is a bunch of what are essentially remixes, as many of the clients aren't really artists, but fans or opportunists who simply add their vocals to the rest of the beat. These tracks then flood an already saturated streaming market where millions of songs are never even streamed.
As the legendary Pete Rock recently claimed in a viral social media post, "getting the bag" has ruined the art form. These packages have nothing to do with art or culture and are just a way for low-level rappers to monetize and make a buck off the backs of real artists.
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