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KRIT contrasts the life of a rap star whose house is getting toured on MTV Cribs with that of his brother who is still struggling to pay the bills in the slum the two of them grew up in to showcase that signing a record deal is often not enough to cure all of your problems.

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As KRIT addressed earlier, status items are very important in hip-hop. Whether you need them or not, most rappers wouldn’t be caught dead riding a car without expensive chrome rims or other additions. But while it is basically a necessity to flaunt your money in this genre, it is not a good look to flaunt it while the family that raised and supported you is still living in the ghetto you grew up in.

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Record label demands force rappers to spend long hours in the studio churning out music in order to meet a quota instead of doing so for the love of them game. This is something Devin the Dude addressed in his anti-record label track “What a Job”.

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The protagonist of KRIT’s narrative has a strong support system that understands he would be giving his money back to his family if it were possible. But even though they understand, it is still a shitty feeling to tell your fam that you’re buying them a car as soon as you get signed then not be able to afford to buy them anything a few years later.

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KRIT speaks on the unfortunate reality that most unsigned artists get swindled by A&R’s and label executives who make false promises when presenting the deal. They take advantage of young kids that have never seen real money in their lives by promising signging bonuses that the rappers assume will go right to their bank accounts, but often goes into video shoots and album promotion that the rappers can’t touch.

Because of this, the rappers end up making promises they can’t keep with their families, even though the most attractive part of signing a deal for many rappers is that it gives them the money to buy houses and other luxury goods for friends and family that helped them make it in the game.

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Krizzle compares a minor league baseball player getting called up to the “big leagues” (MLB) to an unsigned rapper inking a deal and stepping into the spotlight.

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Most rappers begin reminiscing on the days when they rapped to impress their friends and family once they begin having to deal with industry pressure. When you’re performing small time gigs and dropping dusty demo tapes getting a deal seems like the most important thing in the world, but the reality of the situation is that most rappers are actually happier before they get signed.

http://screencast.com/t/0Ft9EJixbl5G

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KRIT references Kanye’s album 808s & Heartbreak to describe the pain and suffering that an emcee goes through when they realize that stardom isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

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As the big homie Nas explained in a verified annotation, one of the downsides of becoming a hip-hop star is that you begin to develop a God complex that makes you feel untouchable. But after that initial high wears off you begin feeling much more vulnerable and realize that they only ones who are truly untouchable are fictional characters in comic books.

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Appearances are important in hip-hop, so most rappers hang onto needless luxury goods like golden chains – even as they approach bankruptcy – in order to make it seem as if they are doing just fine. In reality, most of these rappers end up selling back or pawning off these chains in order to pay the bills.

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