LA producer Flying Lotus has today expressed one of the many frustrations that modern producers face each day, commenting on the way that some are heavily exploited for their work, singling out rappers in particular. He took aim in particular at the relationship between Future and Metro Boomin, even going as far as saying “rap artists are rape artists.”
Very important to know your worth.
— FLYLO (@flyinglotus) June 15, 2016
To producers. When a rapper invites u to the studio and asks u to make beats on the spot.Tell them to pay your fee on the spot,cuz fuck that
— FLYLO (@flyinglotus) June 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/flyinglotus/status/743136578592092160
Hella rap artists are rape artists. Taking advantage of abilities thinking its a good look for us! Most my people behind the scenes is broke
— FLYLO (@flyinglotus) June 15, 2016
If u ask me. It's @MetroBoomin featuring @1future. He makes that shit what it is tbh
— FLYLO (@flyinglotus) June 15, 2016
Though the ‘rape’ comparison is obviously going too far, he does make some very fair points. This kind of discussion isn’t exactly a new one; Hudson Mohawke made similar comments about Drake and Kanye only a few months ago. While at the moment it’s difficult to properly approach this particular conversation with little to no context, we can appreciate that FlyLo is right about one thing: rappers receive significantly more credit for tracks than their producers do.
What these remarks from Flying Lotus and his contemporaries do succeed in doing is to help spark the debate on whether this imbalance has more to do with the audience’s approach to listening to a song, or if rappers failing to give the proper credit is to blame. There are cases for both sides of that argument. Hearing a rapper’s voice on a track no doubt triggers the idea that it is their song in the mind of an audience, particularly casual fans who aren’t as savvy with what really g0es into the making of these songs.
At the same time, perhaps these casual fans aren’t as savvy because rappers don’t list production credits the same way that they do vocal features. Instead of the traditionally seen tracklisting format of “Wicked – Future”, it could draw more attention to the work of the producer to format it as “Wicked – Future ft. DJ Esco & Metro Boomin”, or even “Wicked – Future prod. DJ Esco & Metro Boomin” as we see on many smaller mixtapes.
Either way, it’s a conversation that will no doubt evolve as more artists follow Flying Lotus’ lead and voice their own opinions on the issue.
Read our own experiences with not being credited appropriately.
Image: Rolling Stone