Over the weekend, Diddy took over the Magic Box in Los Angeles for his Revolt Hip Hop Summit. Dozens of influencers and leaders in various industries gathered in Downtown L.A. for the three-day event, sharing their knowledge and wisdom of their prospective areas of expertise with fellow professionals and aspiring hopefuls.
On the first day, Joe Budden, Remy Ma, and Eboni K. Williams of State of the Culture came together for a panel discussion. During their chat, Remy got a few things off of her chest regarding the new era of fame, influencers, and music artists. A condensed clip of Remy's remarks was shared on Instagram and caused quite the debate on whether or not some people who have gained notoriety will be able to sustain that level of recognition without social media.
"I know for a fact that if they decided right now to say 'F*ck Instagram, it doesn't exist anymore,' about ninety-five percent of people that think that they're poppin' will not exist anymore," Remy said. "Their sole existence depends on one thing," she added, "The era that I came, you came...You literally, you had to be poppin.' You had to be poppin' in your 'hood, first. People in your immediate are had to know you. And then, then you had to impress people who had on them white collars and was up in them buildings who was willing to put the money behind you."
"Now, anybody with a phone can say that they're an artist," Remy continued. "There's no artist development. There's no structure...and the execs are just looking for a quick lick. If you can make a song, they don't care how you're gonna feed your family next year. I can name five artists off the top of my head that last year was at the top of the charts, was getting paid the highest on tour and they don't exist right now." Weigh in and let us know if you agree with Remy and comment which artists you think couldn't survive without social media hype.
