“I coulda went to Roc Nation, but then what am I getting out of that?”
While others have turned their backs and gone left, Jay-Z can say that his longtime friend, hype man and home boy, Memphis Bleek, has always held him down.
After Bleek pushed his The Process album back to February of 2010 and without the buzz that surrounded his name in the early 00’s, many questions are surrounding the old Roc-A-Fella associate.
In particular, a question that’s perplexed many when it comes to Bleek is why hasn’t he moved to his friend’s soon-to-be powerhouse label of Roc Nation?
When asked in a recent interview with HipHopDX, Bleek made it very clear why he wasn’t joining Fayettenam’s finest and Jay’s first signee J. Cole at the Roc.
According to Bleek, it’s not about the money. Instead he told DX, it’s about being independent and making moves by himself.
“I coulda went to Roc Nation, but then what am I getting out of that? Another $150,000 check advance, then I come out and sell 300,000 probably, somebody makes two or three million, and I gotta mess with the fact that they gon’ say yo you bricked out? Like that’s the industry. And that’s with a label run by my homie. Now if it’s somebody else, they might not even get a 150 thousand dollar advance, they probably go get 30. And plus I’d rather be on my own, fam. I been in the game, like you said a decade now, I know what to do; I know what not to do. It’s time for me to have my own record [label]. I got a lot of ni**as behind me that’s ready to get they shot. And me being behind Jay, they ain’t gonna never get they shot. *Laughs*”
The label Bleek is speaking of is his Get Low Records, which he’s been using to push mixtapes under his own branding. Bleek also had similar sentiments when speaking previously with HipHopWired.
In our interview , Bleek tells us that he’d rather distribute music through his own label rather than take heat for what’s considered low sales through a major, Def Jam in particular.
“I felt like I didn’t want to put out another release under Def Jam if they are going to look at me selling 400,000 copies as a loss. I’d rather lose on my own label like that. So it was the process of getting out the deal, getting a distribution deal that’s suitable for me and one that generates the right amount of attention as well as the assets.”
Bleek’s obviously happy with his label situation as of yet and if he feels he can do better by himself than that’s to be respected.
Can he really sell 300,000? Highly doubt it….but still.
Look out for The Process when it hits stores in February.
