Be it years ago growing up or fairly recently, my home state of Virginia has always been plentiful of gripes, cries and complaints about not having enough representation within music. I remember the discussions in school about finally having a sole central VA area artist to cheer for when Skillz took off with “Nod Factor.” Moving beyond that era to a time period where many more young people were flirting with and testing music as a favorable pursuit, I recall all the young rappers venting about the failure of Virginia’s frontrunner performers to lift others to similar exposure and opportunities and develop predecessors. “Man, if I was in THEIR position, I’d put EVERYBODY in VA on!” so they’d say. Uh…Yeah right. Even recently with so many folks resorting to music as a last option because they didn’t position themselves to do anything else, it’s nothing to hear Lil Young Flow-Spitter Tha Singing Beatmaker bitch about the commonwealth not showing love, leveraging them enough and calling VA “The Hate State.” (Yes, that is a nickname for VA amongst many within music; granted, all music makers across the country think their own respective hometown is the toughest place to make it). While I think Virginia has lots of great artists who make incredible music and deserve more attention (*looks around and halfway raises hand*), I retrospectively realize this…VA got it right.
With the oversaturation at a discouraging level, the V has epitomized the phrase “quality over quantity” in terms of exposing its entertainers. Check out the list of heavyweight national music figures who claim(ed) 2 Up 2 Down as home: Teddy Riley, Timbaland, Missy, The Neptunes, Pharrell, The Clipse, D’Angelo, Trey Songz, Chris Brown and Skillz. Now, I may be forgetting an artist or two, but not many have been excluded given the level of success and popularity I am talking about. So re-read the short list and think about A) their accolades and the significance of their contribution and B) the uniqueness of each artist listed and how few others can do exactly what they do or have done. Everyone on this list is undeniably incredible by way of what they do/did, how or both! Some of the names listed are the most original and creative artists of our time! Now you can put the biggest entertainment cities against the entire state of Virginia and their lists would be 10-fold in terms of names, but I would argue that there are also just as many lames to come through those same pipelines of (enter big city/state here), USA. And if you factor in originality with quality, I don’t even think many places can trump this list by much if at all. Bottom line is, whether by default or by design, VA does not let as much middle to lower tier material through the cracks and in a time where there are just too many people in the damn way, music cannot thank Virginia enough.
With love and respect for all places, I always feel for the mislead individuals who still think that fleeing to New York, LA, Atlanta and the few other entertainment capitals is going to create the perfect platform for their artistry to take off. Hahahahhaa! Hold on, lemme get myself together…Okay…Okay…Myth! Sorry but that was 10 – 15 years ago! You will always walk by and be amongst thousands more producers and entertainment execs on a daily basis in NYC or ATL as compared to Richmond, Norfolk or Woodbridge. All of the gullible aspiring recording artists figure this. That, however, actually makes it far more watered-down and way more difficult to stand out in such big cities. Add the fact that technology super-cedes / offsets location and you are left with few to no advantages in music metropolises nationwide. When you are moving about there, you are also surrounded by 10 times as much mediocrity with an encouraging but false sense of opportunity because of where they are. THAT is bad for music! Percentage-wise, such entertainment hubs are flooding music with these average carbon copy clones at an alarming rate as compared to Everywhere Else, USA and quantity over quality is the root issue beneath most of the problems shared by all who have any interest in music. If the cream always rises to the top, you still have a better shot at someone taking to your taste if there are fewer cups to choose from (and fewer self-proclaimed “industry” people trying to sell a sip). So while the choices may be limited, I’m thankful that my home state is good for a quality drink.
I’ve met, listened to, and dealt with a lot of serious and not-so-serious artists from VA. There are plenty of extremely talented song crafters who I would love to see come up and I basically wish for all good people with talent to thrive. Do not misinterpret my message, for I think there is room for all good artists. I certainly don’t favor good artistry being ignored on any level, no matter how small or local and I’d like for people in general to have a heightened appreciation for the arts on all different levels of exposure and notoriety. There is plenty of room for improvement in terms of Virginia citizens demonstrating hometown pride and support for its artists of all kinds. I am not a fan of reckless booing and discouraging individuals from pursuing ANYTHING that can be positive. There are lots of people across the globe who do music the right way (both part-time and full-time) with undeniable passion and I wish I could grant them more exposure and opportunities. What I’m speaking to, though, applies to the mainstream surface goings-on within entertainment that mistakenly drive people’s perceptions, opinions, aspirations and efforts. I long ago used to have thoughts of why VA did not have a stronger music presence and I wondered what impact the state’s movers and shakers had on that. I also still hope and wish that my home state that I was born and raised in throughout its 3 primary regions while shaping my person and passion will support me as it has, now and even more and more going forward. I am far from bitter though and thankful in fact because I, through maturity and in retrospect, have realized that Virginia got it right. Quality over quantity. Music forever!
