Anyone who knows me even a little will tell you that I love music.  I could not live without it, and every chance I get, I listen to it.  Why?  It is capable of so much.  Music can inspire us, relax us, amp us up, make us laugh, make us think, and perhaps best of all, make us happy.  It is an escape from stress and the rigors of a busy schedule.  As such, I greatly respect and appreciate musicians who make music that speaks to me.  However, I have even greater appreciation for musicians who are honest.

 Even if I do not particularly care for the artist, if honest, I still respect them.  Honest artists do not mislead their fans and actually honor commitments to perform live.  However, every day, I see more and more “artists” come about who are not honest, something that irritates and troubles me.

 First and foremost, more and more artists portray themselves as something they are not, thus deceiving their fans.  One of the most notable examples is one particularly arrogant, talentless “rapper” named William Roberts II, better known as “Rick Ross.”  Ross uses his “lyrics” to talk about his many material goods, dealing drugs, and being a “boss,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.  In interviews, Ross maintains that he is some kind of “hustler,” and has managed to cultivate that image for himself.  Of course, Ross has lied about practically everything, in addition to making some of the worst rap music imaginable.  A few years ago, it was revealed that the jewelry and cars he flaunts are RENTED.  He does not own them.  Even worse, he shows himself to be a gangster and glorifies the lifestyle, even though he used to be a police officer, something he denied for years.  When admitting it, he didn’t even really admit it, saying: “Yeah but the truth was sinister.”  Naturally, he refused to elaborate because he’s full of crap.  And as if that were not bad enough, Ross has taken the name of an actual drug dealer to sell the image.  If he stated that he was portraying a character, much like David Bowie did with Ziggy Stardust, then that would be one thing, as he would not be deceiving people with his music.  However, the fact that he tries to live like this in real life and market himself as a real-life thug makes him a talentless, dishonest fraud.  Don’t get me wrong; it’s good that he’s not a thug, and we need less thugs, but he is still misleading fans, and that is my issue with him.

 Canadian rapper Drake is no better thanks to his “song”, “Started From The Bottom,” where he claims to have come from a poor background.  Give me a break.  The man was a child actor from a suburb in Canada.  That hardly qualifies as the bottom when someone like Eminem was dirt poor, and from the east side of Detroit, a city in decline.  Drake continually claims he went to “hood schools,” in interviews, again showing that the song is about him, but he’s still full of crap.  Maybe he was poor, but he was hardly from “the bottom.”  He’s still being dishonest to his fans, all the while making terrible music (It’s like he’s trying to imitate Lil Wayne and say Young Money as much as humanly possible until I want to cut my ears off).

 Another issue I have with certain artists is how they take to their live performances.  Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns n Roses, now a shadow of the band that it used to be after all the real talent left, has a penchant for showing up hours late to perform three songs before going home, while still charging outrageously high prices for tickets.  If you charge your fans that much, you owe it to them to give them a show for Pete’s sake.  Grow up and do your job.  Your job happens to be to perform, so do it.  People would kill to have your job, and if you don’t want to do it, other people will.  The only reason Rose is still around is because the hack now owns the name to the band, so it’s his band, unfortunately.

 Rose at least performs his music live rather than lip synching, however.  This means that at least fans get some of their money’s worth…when he bothers to show his lazy, arrogant, and unappreciative self up.  People like R. Kelly, on the other hand, disgust me.  In one concert, he was bold enough to put his microphone down, and allowed pre-recorded vocals to finish out the song.  I’m sorry, but if I go to a concert, I want to see the band live.  Otherwise, I’ll just sit home and listen to the CD.  It’s cheaper, and at least I won’t have to deal with a punk like that.

 The bottom line is that if you have an obligation to perform, do it and do it right.  It is your job for one, and if you don’t do it, you are disappointing your fans, not to mention ripping them off, showing your concern for profit rather than music.  People like that disgust me, and this is why I am boycotting artists like Rick Ross, Drake, Axl Rose, and R. Kelly.  Somehow these artists need to learn that they cannot simply mislead people with stories about their past, or by refusals to take shows seriously, and get away with it.  If enough people start to convey this message, maybe something will change.  I invite you to join me.