Shadeed:
On the other hand, comming from a "rapper's" perspective, I do shows for free. I give CD's out for free (a lot of em), and I don't mind NOT getting paid. I love music, it's within me, and making a CD for the hood to bump to, money involved or not, is still an accomplishment, and something to be proud of. Rapping started as people just rockin' the mic, no money involved. Today it seems that the image of rapping and the hip hop culture has been twisted and perverted into something that is completely strange and mind-altering. A true musician will gladly perform for free for the love of the music...as well as glady take any payment offered.
There's my 2 pennies.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree with the points you made, if you are doing this for the love of the music, then its no problem with doing free shows, and giving out CD's.
I think you got it twisted with my definition of a rapper. Yeah, I do believe that a rapper is a person who gets paid for rapping, and hip hop was something that originated from the street, so in its early stages it was all about the love and NOT getting paid off the artform.
A true "underground" musician will gladly perform for free but once you start scanning major units, you'll see that most artist perform for the "love" of the dollar.