Alabama rapper, C-Hall began his career as a teenager back in the 90's, so he's had a lot of experience in the industry. He's worked with all kinds of artists, both from within and from outside the AL. He also gets regular radio play and has performed all over the country. In addition, he's been nominated for numerous awards. He's even won several. So I think it's safe to say that he's been pretty successful in his chosen field. So what's a successful guy like him think about Alabama's hip-hop scene and what kind of advice does he have for other artists? Check out what he had to say in our recent interview...
1. ALABAMA'S ARTISTS NEED TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER MORE.
“Alabama has to stop hating on other Alabama artists,” C-Hall says. “We got the crabs in the bucket syndrome.”
According to C-Hall, when an artist from Alabama releases a hot song, other local artists’ first reaction is to “play it off like it ain’t jumping, when you know it is.” They’re afraid they’ll hinder their own careers if they admit the next artist’s song is hot. So instead of lifting each other up, they pull each other down. But if they’d just take a minute to think about it, they’d realize that that’s not even necessary. “They can’t play my song in the club all night. They can’t play Young Jeezy’s song in the club all night,” he rationalizes. There’s plenty of room for every one. Just make sure your music is hot, and you’ll be able to stand strong next to the best of artists.
What's BDS?
Nielson Broadcast Data Systems is a service that tracks how many times your song has been played on the radio and on music video channels.
How's it work? Basically, Nielson places a tracking code in your song. Then they electronically monitor the stations and make a record of each time your song is played. That data can then be used for things like ranking your song for placement on the music charts and, of course, determining royalties.
Only those stations that are registered with Nielson can report through BDS. According to Nielson's BDS fact sheet, they currently monitor over 2,000 radio stations and tv channels across North America. See a list of them here. The hip-hop stations are categorized as "Urban" which is all the way at the bottom of the list. You might want to check out the "Top Forty" section too.
It's free to register your song. Just send your song and basic contact info to Nielson by email or mail. You can find complete instructions here.
* AWLH is not affiliated with deevel.com and does not endorse their products or services. We simply found their BDS info to be interesting and informative.
2. LEARN THE BUSINESS, SO YOU WON'T GET TAKEN.
Be wary of people who are looking to take advantage of you through scams and bad deals. "People that’s most informed take advantage of the people that are uninformed,” says C-Hall.
For instance, “it’s people that’s paying like $500 to [register for] BDS scans when all you gotta do is get on the internet and go to bdsonline.com. Just fill out the worksheet, send it in with your song and bam.” There’s no cost for this service, but you won’t know this if you don’t do your research. Anytime somebody offers to help you out for a fee, take the time to see if that fee is really necessary. Shop around, ask around and read up. Even if you do find that the fee is required, you'll at least know whether or not you're getting a fair price. You'll also be in a better position to negotiate. *
Another area where artists can get taken is with bad management deals. C-Hall has seen management companies coming in offering these so-called “management deals” to artists. In many cases, these people are simply opportunists looking to see who they can make the fastest buck off of. “They don’t give a damn about you,” says C-Hall. “What they’re doing is just waiting for you to come out with something hot. Then they just throw you up against the wall and see who sticks and who doesn’t.” So before you sign on the dotted line, make sure your manager-to-be is truly interested in managing you and helping you to further you career.
*I do feel compelled to mention that services like BDS might be offered as part of a package of services, in which case, you'd have to determine if the package is worth paying for based on what else is being offered. However, if someone is trying to charge you for BDS only, you might want to send them on their way.
3. DON'T UNDER-ESTIMATE YOUR WORTH.
C-Hall feels that Alabama’s artists think too “simple-minded.” He explains: “We don’t think to own. We don’t think on bigger and better things.”
Also, artists are too quick to give away their services just for the exposure or the experience. A prime example is when promoters don’t want to pay local artists to open up for headliners. "That's the promotion DJ game of the day," says C-Hall.
The promoter or DJ or entertainment company will ask the artist to open for Big Time Artist #1. But when that local artist asks how much they’ll be paid, the answer is oftentimes “nothing”. You get the privilege of opening up for BTA#1. What more could you want? Right? Wrong. They want you to believe they’re doing you a favor, “when really they need that local artist ‘cause they know that local artist is probably gon’ bring a crowd on their own,” C-Hall tells me.
It would be a little different if the local artist were allowed some time with the headliner to do a little networking. But that’s not always allowed. “Nah. You’re just performing in front of that crowd. And when it’s time for [the headliner] to get onstage, you’re in that crowd like you’re a regular person. You’re not even seen as an artist,” he says. “That’s when you have to [say], ‘Hey, if they aren’t gon’ pay me, and I’m not gon’ get anything out of this, I’m not gon’ do it.’”
4. PAY ATTENTION TO OTHERS' MISTAKES (AND SUCCESSES TOO).
C-Hall describes himself as an observer. "Observing means you got to learn what people have done before you."
Who's Comin' for That Number 1 Spot?
C-Hall says that the best thing about being an artist from Alabama is that we don't yet have a dominant presence in the state. While Atlanta has TI, New York has Jay-Z, Cali has Snoop and Louisiana has Wayne, there's currently no artist that people can associate with the state of Alabama.
So how's that a good thing? It fosters competition because every artist out there is looking at that empty spot and saying, "I want that." The artist who's most on his or her a-game is the one who's going to get that. And that's the one who'll open the door for everyone else.
"It's not just to jock anyone's style. What you do is observe to avoid the pitfalls they've [encountered]. He uses Jay-Z and Lil Wayne as an example. While Wayne has obviously learned a lot about what to do by watching Jay, he's also learned a lot about what not to do. "Lil Wayne, he owns everything he's done," says C-Hall, "his masters, his publishing. He has more creative control than Jay-Z had." So you kind of learn...if I do this, I avoid that pitfall or that pothole in the road. Seeing what's done before me, I shouldn't be having to go through those [same things]."
5. MAKE SURE YOUR MUSIC HAS EXCELLENT SOUND QUALITY.
“A lotta artists from Alabama just have that 'local' sound. That’s when you get labeled as that local artist.”
C-Hall recounts the story of how he kept trying to get Michael Long at Montgomery's Hot 105.7 to listen to one of his songs. When Long finally did listen to it, he thought the track and the lyrics were good, but he had one major complaint: the sound was terrible. “It sounds like you’re rapping in the basement,” he told C-Hall. Long suggested C-Hall get the song mastered and gave him the contact info for Rodney Mills who does masters for many of the artists in Atlanta.
“I think it was Friday”, says C-Hall. “That Saturday morning, we zoomed up there [and] got the master by Rodney.” C-Hall was amazed at the results. “I’m talking about the record sounded 10 times better. I didn’t rap nothing different. I ain’t change nothing in the beat. It was just the quality of his mastering bringing that song out. On Monday morning, I was back in Michael Long’s office, and he could see [that I was] serious.”
6. MAXIMIZE YOUR EXPOSURE.
Take the time to get to know the people at the radio stations.
"It's always a good idea to have a good relationship with the [program directors]. Know the DJ's that work there," says C-Hall who believes that these people should be viewed as colleagues. "You gotta get out here and get to know these people a little bit better. And that’s not an easy thing. [But] once you start building a relationship with people, people are more apt to help you out,” he says. “I can go up in 105 or 92.9 or wherever and everybody know me, and I won’t get held up at the front door.” He continues: “They [saw] me out in the street when I was just hustling, trying to get them to listen to it, and they [saw] me grind.”
Make sure that the streets know who you are. "A Lot of people say, 'Yeah. I'm hot.' But if you in your own city and it's DJ's don't even know you, or the streets don't know you, how can you say you hot?"C-Hall asks.
"You gotta know what your target audience is. My target audience were people from 15 all the way up to 28. I know the club spots. I know what they like to listen to. I know what my songs can do. So hit those spots and get out and actually see these people."
C-Hall says he spent a whole year doing just that before he ever went to the radio stations. "Every weekend, I would be at a different club in Alabama. I don't care if it was Birmingham...Mobile...or down in Enterprise...Dothan...Tuskegee," he says. "I would go to the most popular club that was crunk [and] put my CD's over everybody's cars. Then he'd go inside the club and head straight for the DJ. "[I'd] buy the DJ a drink, introduce myself, get the contact information." He'd also make sure the DJ had one of his CD's before he left.
With this tactic, C-Hall succeeded in making a buzz for himself. Even though nobody knew who he was or what he looked like, everybody had heard his music. So by the time he finally started visiting the folks at the radio stations, they were already familiar with his music and were much more receptive to him.
7. GRIND! GRIND! GRIND!
Hard work and dedication will take you a long way.
If you look back at number 6, you'll see that both points end in some very important phrases: “he could see that I was serious” and “they saw me grind”. C-Hall is very big on working hard, Or "grinding", as he likes to put it.
And that hard work is paying off for him. People want to help him. Like Michael Long, who could have just told C-Hall his music was garbage and sent him on his way, but didn't. Instead he told him specifically what was wrong, and how to fix it. He even sent him to the person who could fix it for him. In addition, "I get a lotta people hitting me up on MySpace [saying], 'Hey, man, I made this beat with you in mind. I don't even wanna charge you for it. I just want you to rip it.'" he says. And this shows that people don't just want to help C-Hall. They want to be associated with him too. For instance, "I've probably done over 50 features. And not just here in Alabama. I've done features on people from New York...Virginia...Cali...Mississippi."
C-Hall gets this kind of love because people can see that he's willing to put in the work to make his dream come true. They're impressed by his dedication. And they respect him for it. It’s imperative that you also work hard to get what you want and to get to where you want to be. When people see that dedication, it inspires them to help you out. But, says C-Hall, “If you aren't gon’ take yourself seriously, other people aren't gon’ take you serious.” They’ll be a lot less willing to help you out, and your road to success will be a lot more difficult to travel.
