Izzy Battle. Dope Rapper Gone To Waste.

So who is this kid Izzy Battle?

I don't have the slightest idea to be honest. I was doing my daily Yahoo! home page surf (looking for anything relevant worth writing about) and I saw in the "Recommended Videos" section a track named "Talkin Bout" by D.C. rapper Izzy Battle. Naturally I clicked on the video, and to my surprise heard a potentially dope intro, with some funked out samples. Then I saw Jazzy Pha bounce across the screen, and I became suspicious. Does Soulja Boy have a rival pop-rap nemesis?

Needless to say, the end result is a potentially young, talented emcee gone to waste with cheap production, and a team of hooligans ready to squeeze him into the market and rinse him for every dollar they can get. He is 16 and hasn't the faintest idea of how powerful his music can be. He wants money, and more PS3 games, and to buy his mom a car (which is fine), but it is still sad to see and he looks like a smart kid too! I went to his myspace page and heard 4 tracks that were mediocre, at best.

Young Izzy? Nothing new...

I want to be a Rock Star! Don't we all? But in this day and age the music business is fast to pick up, and drop potential talent. Albums no longer release in stores due to the early "leaked" versions on the net 2-3 weeks in advance (which isn't always a bad thing). The amount of illegal downloads prior to a release could be a pin-point indication of how well their marketing campaign went, and how much "buzz" the album is getting. With the viral power of the web behind ANYTHING of an independent nature, an artist with a good concept of internet marketing, search engine optimization, and branding could successfully launch their own campaign on a very low monthly budget, and see "long-term" riches rather than "short-term" success.

One piece of advice for Izzy Battle: Go indie, find a good manager or lawyer, and a marketing guru to borrow ideas from. Within one year you could have a virtual team of viral-marketers spreading you and your music across the globe. You would have your own company, and be working for yourself, and your fans. Get with the times kid!

Respect

MrBlue
www.myspace.com/basementtheory