those folks that leave a little bit of food in the container and act like it’s a lot by spreading it around to make it look so.

fuck y’all.

why should i hold the beginning of an artists’ career to when their first album dropped? i’m sure that many were putting in so much work before then. missy elliott is a case in point: she was providing vocals, production, writing and support for new and established artists long before dropping supa dupa fly. maxwell’s album was done two years before it dropped. and that doesn’t include the time and effort it took to create that album.

it’s as if their biographies as artists start with “when their shit got hot and recognized by the right people…”. i feel like that time is important to document and include in understanding any artist and their ambitions, especially now when producers and songwriters are storming to the front  of everything, and collaborations are on the boring side of things. it helps create a context of the industry and the importance of capital beyond the big bad wolves that need it - it opens up the doors to talk about the importance of support and how art is valued when consumed immensely and repeatedly, which then leads to talks about the numerous avenues artists are taking to reach audiences.