“Turn up the music we bumping P-Square” – Rick Ross
An industry insider and AML reader tipped me months ago on the Rick Ross and P-Square collaboration and deal. However, I typically prefer to wait till collaborations such as these hit the news because until it is signed in paper and executed, anything can happen. Nevertheless, I do understand, from a different industry insider Stateside, that the duo (for months now) have been working very hard to ink a collaboration deal with Usher. The hold up, although it might be cleared now, was allegedly negotiations over compensation i.e. what Usher wanted and what P-Square could pay.
In any event, here we are with the Rick Ross collabo. AML readers remember when I gave Rick Ross a hard time about his collaboration with D’Banj? It looks like him/his people read/heard me. Today, the Maybach boss went in and showed some respect to the Africans. We can now forgive him for the Cross River State breach of contract situation, at least in the public forum.
On another note, for P-Square, it appears they continue to pay to have American/ international acts collaborate with them. Their method has proven very effective in terms of exciting their fan base and creating buzz for the international acts both within and outside the continent. However, for P-Square specifically, beyond the recognition within the same fan base and the buzz among predominantly the African diaspora that have supported and continue to support them, what real inroads are they making with such huge investments? Basically, what’s the real return on investments? How many CDs/digital sales are they pushing on the international front?
They just signed a distribution deal but that deal is geographically limited to South Africa. What about other important markets like the US and Europe? What is the real strategy? I am not seeing Chocolate City or EME pay American and international acts for collaboration and they seem to be doing fine. They are creating as much buzz. So, what’s really good?
D’Banj (Snoop collabo) and P-Square have paid rather large sums over time and all I want to know, particularly for the USA market where these huge investments are made, is, what is the real return on investments?
It seems to me other methods should be employed because no matter how rich you are, if you keep depleting funds with no real monetary returns on your investments, it eventually catches up to you. Not so? What do you all think? Share your thoughts.
This collaboration, nevertheless, is major and I salute them. It could very well be their big break into mainstream American market. Who knows?
-Uduak
@uduaklaw
