Fighting The Good Fight Or A Losing Battle: @SoulBounce V. @TheRealTank



Yesterday evening while many of you were enjoying Sunday dinner with your family or preseason football on the television, I found myself embroiled in SoulBounce's first (and hopefully last) Twitter beef with an artist. Wipe that blank stare off of your face, you read that right. What started out innocently enough as a simple recap of last week's blogs jumped off into a ridiculous exchange with the singer Tank who didn't take too kindly to his new song and video for "Sex Music" being called out as the percolating pile of poop that it is. Peep the transcript of @SoulBounce v. @TheRealTank after the bounce followed by my thoughts on this nontroversy.
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So let's break this down, shall we?

1) Reading is fundamental 
In my original review of "Sex Music" I took it pretty easy on the song and video when I could have gone hard. But being that I am was a fan of Tank I wanted to make it clear that such a wack song was not a proper representation of his artistry. 
Whether or not Tank took the time to read and comprehend the original piece or stopped short after catching feelings from that first tweet is unknown, but once we became engaged in a dialogue I basically repeated what I said and asked for more quality music from him. However, he wasn't trying to hear me because he was too busy counting his money.
2) No one cares that you have money
I love artists who play the "You may not like it, but I'm rich, bitch" card. That has become a chorus increasingly sung by purveyors of some of the worst music to infiltrate our consciousness in recent years. Soulja Boy and T-Pain immediately come to mind. No one will deny that they're rich, but record sales have long stopped being an indication of quality music. 
Speaking of which, with each of Tank's albums selling less and less, he definitely isn't making his money off of his record sales but from his songwriting for other artists. If "Sex Music" is any indication of what is on the remainder of Now or Never, then I suspect that he will continue with that downward sales spiral. 
 
3) Artists, the last person you want to piss off is a music critic
Although I maintained decorum and kept it classy last night in my responses to Tank, trust and believe that he has all but ceased to exist in my musical world effective immediately. We don't need to write another word about Tank on SoulBounce. We can save our virtual ink to be used at our discretion for artists and topics that matter. 
4) Don't get mad, get better
I understand that you're an artist and that you're sensitive about your shit. But when somebody critiques your work, please don't get mad, get better. It's just that simple. 
The mistake that many artists make is surrounding themselves with yes men who dare not utter a disparaging word about their work lest they get cut from the payroll or kicked out of the entourage. Unfortunately that may keep you employed and in VIP, but it does the artist no good whatsoever. And by the time the music does make it to the public's ears and ripped to shreds by critics, it's too late. But at least you're able to commiserate with the artist about their "haters." 
5) You ain't got to lie, Craig
So Tank's closing statement after that thinly veiled threat of his was that he is "Grammy Award winning!" Au contraire, mon frere. Tank has never won a Grammy Award for any music that he has released. Instead, he is the recipient of a Grammy Certificate that he received for his songwriting work on one song from Jennifer Hudson's Grammy Award-winning debut album. A song that wasn't even released as a single. In the words of Chad Ochocinco, "Child, please!" But just so we're clear, a piece of paper and a shiny, gold trophy are two different things. Got it? Good. 
Well, that's all, folks. Like I said before, this is a total nontroversy but one that needed to be covered nonetheless and put to bed. SoulBounce is in place to expand the conversation of urban music and we do so daily. We write extensively about the good, but we also make it a point to call out the bad and the ugly. 
 

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