There has been a great debate within the music industry regarding artists signing other artists. We've seen artists take other aspiring rap stars under their wings to help mold and shape them into their crew, but that doesn't always spell a successful Rap career. There are many rappers who have found fame thanks to linking with a veteran artist, much like OMB Peezy did when he signed to E-40's Sick Wid It Records.
"I had a partnership with 40 but I feel like, sh*t, I was like a caterpillar, you know what I'm sayin'," Peezy recently told the hosts of Big Facts Podcast. "I'm trying to grow into a butterfly and you can't grow into a butterfly in a cocoon. I feel like Sick Wid It was a cocoon, feel me? [E-40 is an] artist and a CEO. I feel like, if I could go back in time, I'd sign to a straight CEO. Somebody who gon' be worried about my career as much as I am."
"No disrespect to 40, changed a n*gga life, for real," Peezy added. "Me, if I was a CEO and not an artist, I'd be like, 'Okay, I got connect to this artist, so I'm gonna get this artist for this artist.' It's features that he'll get, but he'll get him for himself. He got n*ggas like me, Nef the Pharaoh, and sh*t like that who would blow with these songs, but I just felt like, that wasn't the place with me."
OMB Peezy advised that any artist starting out or rising in the Rap game should avoid inking deals with other artists who are looking to expand their brand. "You gotta be a real CEO. You can't like, be more focused on rappin' than [being a] CEO... You can't be playin' wit' nobody life." Check out the clip below and let us know if you agree with him.