The worlds of hip-hop and entertainment are full of illusions: mirages and images of luxury, riches and material wealth.  Girls wearing next to nothing, men with money to burn and the most lavish of lavish lifestyles.  It's not like that.

I am picturing the real lifestyle of hip-hoppers in the Pacific Northwest, which is  popularly recognized as the final undiscovered/untapped frontier of hip-hop in the United States. I think about how bad the "music business" practices are here and decide I have to go all the way in for this week's column. I can't just poke at the issue. It has to be stabbed.

There‘s a serious lack of actual business exchanges in the Pacific Northwest hip-hop scene, meaning promoters and those who supposedly have the means to pay - don't.  Instead they ask artists and DJs to do many (too many) bookings and services for free. For free! There's nothing wrong with doing certain things for free to gain exposure, to help a friend or for charity, but what about the legends and the stars? I've even seen them subjected to disrespectful "favors" and asked to perform for "exposure."

Tilson, a 253 legend on the mic, made me laugh when he articulated how ridiculous the concept of performing for exposure can be. 

"It's like your boss at a restaurant asking you to come in and work for five hours for free for exposure, so when layoffs happen you might be spared," he jokes. "If you ask someone to perform for free, are you really expecting to make money at the door?  And if so, why aren't you paying your talent who is there to entertain the paying customer?" 

Tilson makes good points, because some cats are out here raping artists. But, on the other hand, some of the artists apparently aren't bothered by this treatment - because they allow it.

Of course, some artists claim to do what they do for the "love" of the art itself and not the money. In this case, these artists are respectable, but there is nothing wrong with getting paid to do what you love. Believe it or not, some people actually feel guilty for getting paid to do what they love. I'm not one of these people, so as a non-complainer I must introduce possible solutions when I present problems.  Here are a couple ideas.

1. If you call yourself a promoter but do everything you can to not exchange funds/services with your clients - just quit.  Stop falsely advertising as a "promoter" and use the title you have earned - leach.  You're perpetrating. 
2. Artists are also responsible for their own well-being.  If you're an artist still getting played by so-called business people for your own art in 2010, you might want to give it up too.  Unless you can't read, there's no excuse for getting played in the present day. With hundreds of examples of artists getting taken for their publishing, production, performance fees and other artist royalties since before the 1950s, you can blame your own lack of research and failure to have a true interest in the "music business."  If you are not a student of music business history, you begin your career with a distinct disadvantage.

Think about this.