You're absolutely right. When I was just rapping and paying others for studio time... I knew my verses inside and out, start to finish. I could probably recite the verses backwards if i wanted lol. I knew exactly how the song "should" be constructed b/c I had a outline either in my head or on paper.
Now that I have my own personal studio (semi-semi pro lol) it KILLS me when people come in clueless. I just don't understand how you could be so ill-prepared that you're reading off the paper. You can hear the freakin' pages turning and everything. UGH!! lol. I mean.. i understand if you got inspired in the studio and just wrote it, of course it aint memorized. But come on'... you wrote this piece/song 6 months ago and you still need to read it word for word off the paper? Get it together. Waste of time... and you aint gonna perform it right until the 14th take when you've finally forced yourself to memorize it by repetition.
I understand exactly what you mean. This growing epidemic of amateur rappers destroys the studio atmosphere; especially, when dealing with Lil Wayne wannabe types. Too many rappers believe the music business is about being in the spot light and having fun all of the time. What they don't realize is that one person is in the spot light while their crews take care of business, and every works hard to make an artist successful.
That's why I've moved my production business to the internet. This way, I don't need to worry about dealing with musicians who are incapable of caring their own weight. What's best is that local musicians, those who try to run game on producers, are loosing contact with professionals because their broke d*ck a*ses can't do business online. I'm satisfied with handling music business in this manner. I enjoy being selective with who I work with. Beat shoppers have plenty of resources available to them for getting new and original beats. But, I'm an executive producer. This means that my job goes far beyond making beats. The people who hire me are usually record label CEO's, studio managers and business owners.
Even though I love making beats, I hate doing it on command for
free. I simply refuse to take orders from incompetent people who don't understand what their asking for. Surely, some of you feel the same way. This is why people charge so much for recording sessions; well, that and the fact that studios have expenses that must be paid in order to remain in business.
Attention All Rappers:
Take this business seriously or lose your connections. Put real meaning into the words you write and you'll experience less difficulty remembering lyrics. Build a freaking website and do something real with your music after you're finished recording, like making new releases available to your fans. And, if you don't have any fans, get your a*s to the nearest stage and entertain people. Rappers don't get paid to go to the studio and, honestly, I refuse to pay rappers to do their jobs unless the do it well. This means that the artist I work with are able to bring much more to the table than songs lyrics, punchlines, or metaphors. At the end of the day, it's always about the money.