Questlove’s “Mo Meta Blues” Might Make You Want to Read a Book & Sh*t Posted by Lucas Garrison on 06/19/13 | Filed under Opinion, Questlove

Hopefully none of my former teachers or professors read these because I am going to admit that I haven’t read a book, cover to cover. since high-school. My roommate gave me the first "Game Of Thrones" book about four months ago, haven’t opened it once. Its not like I don’t read, I mean I read articles and stuff all day long, but I just cant ever seem to crack open a book. Well, I think I have found the first book I will read since Huck Finn; Questlove’s new Memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues. Okayplayer only provided a brief excerpt, but I can tell there will be some incredible stories and wisdom shared. Like this:

I wish I could be there for every band’s label audition. I wish I could serve as a kind of fairy god person. What I’d tell them is that all those tricks you’re thinking about using, all the razzle-dazzle—set it aside. Leave your innovations at the door. All a label wants are songs they can sell. Our calling card at the time was a kind of freestyle exercise where Tariq [Black Thought] would scat to different topics, and that was a showstopper. And Def Jam loved our musicianship and our vision and our energy. Still, they passed. As much as they loved the idea of us, they said, they didn’t know how they were going to market that idea.

I thought this expert from the excerpt was pretty cool. I always love hearing stories and insight from the industry’s best and this is no exception. It is very interesting to get a behind the scenes look at how our favorite artists, songs, albums, and collaborations are made and so rarely do we get to hear it first hand. It’s funny, and seemingly ass-backwards, that Def Jam loved them but because they couldn’t market the group, they passed. It seems to me that talent and quality reign supreme, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Seems like the industry has always had an emphasis on what’s hot over what’s good. I thought that was something that developed more after the 90’s, but maybe I just wasn’t exposed to it because I was younger. Quest also tells a story of starting a bidding war between Geffen and Mercury where they basically asked for blank check and actually got it. What I wouldn’t give to have a beer with Quest and pick his brain, but I guess this will have to do.

Nathan Update: Had to throw in another great excerpt, this one from The Roots manager, Rich Nichols:

“It’s a fuck*ng object lesson in thematic narrowness, one dumb*ss idea repeated over and over again. There’s a song called, ‘Crack’ and then a song called, ‘Dope Peddler,’ right next to each other. Then there’s one called, ‘I Luv Dem Strippers.’ I’m not knocking 2 Chainz but what kind of market elevates him at the expense of everything else?”

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