Having a quality beat is essential to making a hit rap song, but often it seems that producers don't always get their fair share of the credit. This has begun to change somewhat, as producers become more adept at marketing themselves in addition to the artists they produce for. However, the industry still has a long way to go when it comes to paying producers for their contributions.
Sonny Digital has been in the game for a while now, so he's seen the inner workings of the industry, through and through. He sat down for an interview with Montreality, and had some words to say about the authenticity of fame, getting producers their credit, and fake trap rappers.
You can watch the full interview below, or check out some of the highlights here:
On fake radio plays and 'payola'
"That song going crazy on the radio, thats payola. Somebody's paying the radio station to play the song, so it's not like it's genuine plays or people genuinely likeing the music."
On producers getting their credit
"For an artist going in with a producer, or me being a producer going in with an artist, I'm bringing more to the table for the artist than the artist is bringing to me."
"In my eyes everyone's supposed to getting their due credit, as a producer to me I feel like that's one of the most important parts of the song. If you take the beat off it, then what is it?"
On 'fake' trap rappers
"People who really be trapping, they not really good rappers like that. Some of them [are], a select few."
"The person seeing it and not the person doing it is always able to translate it a little better."
"I guess they got a different agenda, the person who's trapping is just trying to trap."
"If somebody's watching, then you in the trap too. It's dangerous just being in there. If the feds kick it in, everybody's getting the same charge."
