Counterpoint: Did Tablo Sell Out?

It pisses me off that people can say Tablo sold out by signing to YG, considering that HE HASN’T PUT OUT ANYTHING YET. As if you know exactly what he’s thinking. You take for granted that him being a YG artist now means that all his music is stripped of “realness”. As if now his creativity is only good enough to make manufactured hip-pop.

You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what kind of music Tablo will make. You don’t know whether he intends to continue to “rage against the machine” or not (but really though – being part of the “machine” forbids you to criticize it? I’m a human, can’t I criticize other humans without being a sellout hypocrite?). YOU DON’T KNOW.

You’re over-reacting nuff said

You are over-reacting at the moment and should wait till he releases new music and then make your judgement then. Yes he signed with a mainstream company, but as much as you apparently dislike YGE you have to admit unlike the other big companies, YG let’s his artists for the most part have free reign over what they produce and what they release. Just because he is a part of YG doesn’t mean his music will change. He has been out of the limelight for a couple years and by signing with YG it will give him access to top notch equipment and the funds to do whatever he wishes musically and bring his message to an even larger audience so I wouldn’t be so sensitive over this. Wait and if his music becomes idol fluff then rant but for the time being just chill.

Sorry, but I don’t think Tablo ever created music under his previous companies’ orders and he never will. If you really think he’s sold out, you have little faith in him. 
Sure YG is one of the Big Three but have you forgotten about PSY ? Are you just sad because his unique underground status is being “threatened” by YG ? Come on, every indie/underground acts would like to be popular. I don’t even think Tablo is doing this to be mainstream, he just wants a strong backup as he certainly felt betrayed by his previous company’s lack of support.
Moreover, art and business have always been sensitive issues and artists have to make concessions between these two things. We don’t know what is in his contract so don’t ever assume he sold out his artistic values for “The YG of the idol pseudo-swagger and the wannabe hip-hop” (hey we’re in 2011, if you consider BB’s last album as a wannabe hip hop album, you should check your ears).
Anyway, even if his music changes, that’s life, not everything goes the way you want.

I think that the issue is less the music, more that Tablo is failing to “practice what he preaches.”

By the way, EVERYONE should read that article link from the Stanford Magazine. I just finished reading it… its a long read but definitely puts every detail in perspective. The one part where he goes on to talk about the moments after his wife’s birth was particularly heart wrenching and scary. I can feel his paranoia when he even thinks the doctor might be a TaJinYo member…. jesus, itnernet anonymity can be such a scary thing.

true, YG is one of the BIG THREE but think of it this way: an artist under the YG label still has more artistic liabilities and lyrical freedom than with SMe (boo!) or JYP (ewww~)
with the attention and advantages under a major label, you can still be indie and hip-hop and speak controversial issues in your music
I say Tablo isn’t a sellout–no, the only way that can happen is if he recreates himself as an idol, an actual plastic mold K-pop idol. He is just going from indie to mainstream, just like any artist that wants to get heard more.

Tablo and Epik High
earned my respect with the kind of music they produced and the kind of messages
they so eloquently put in their song lyrics. In a land full of ballads and
poppy idol music, theirs stood out. Later, I admired their efforts to put out music
through their own label and to promote against much bigger acts.

When they succeeded
 with Swan Songs and got all that media mileage, I’m sure a lot of people
from the underground smiled, became hopeful. Because they sort of showed that
music produced by relatively smaller companies can break into mainstream. They
were a symbol of success. 

I realize that the
subject of this post is more than the quality of music that Tablo produces. The
thing discussed here goes to his integrity as an artist and what he and Epik
High represented in the past. Him joining YG seems like he’s walking out and
negating everything he’s ever said. It makes him a liar, a poser if you
must. 

However, one thing we
need to understand about this whole thing is that the Tablo we knew then and
the Tablo here now are two different people. Remember that there have been
major changes in his life – he got married and he had a kid. That kind of
responsibility changes a person. It’s no longer just him now. He has a family
to feed, a future to secure. Principles are principles, yes. But in the end, it
won’t be putting food in the table. It’s not merely about getting the fame, the
car, the hoes and all these connotations that a ‘sell-out’ seems to
have. This time around though, for Tablo the stakes on getting his career
back on track are higher. 

Also, consider what
others have said about Tablo’s horrific experience with cyber lynching and the
whole TaJinYo debacle. That kind of thing isn’t something that will be
forgotten soon. It will haunt a person forever. Reading that interview from
Stanford really showed me how much it has affected his perspective in life and
performing. The Tablo we knew – the cocky one with stubborn strong opinions is
probably gone. It’s a surprise he’s even considered performing again. 

There’s a certain
charm to that concept of independent artists – all that angst and rage against
under-appreciation.It’s a prime breeding ground for creation of meaningful
music. It certainly has been the object of movies and other forms of media -
fiction and non-fiction. But being an indie artist also creates a lot of stress
for the artist themselves. They have to think of everything. Their work doesn’t
end in production of music, there’s post production work that’s not at all
related to it. They have to think about the business side of things – where to
promote, who to approach so that they can get airplay, and since visuals are a
big deal for Korean artists – where to get the budget to produce a music video.
If they manage to get an audience and their music is liked enough to be bought
and they get invited to music shows, they have to think of where to get their
clothes and other equipment they might need for a performance. So, instead of
them spending time just thinking of the music itself, they have to go through
all these stuff that needs to be taken care of. It would probably be fine if
the person/artist is single and does not have a worry in life. He owns his own
time and he can handle it. But really, having a label helps the artist a
LOT. 

Now, getting into a
label that’s part of the Big 3 certainly clears a lot of the worries that a
person who’s formerly part of a smaller company or part of the indie crowd
might have. But the other side of the coin is that there’s much less control on
the kind of music that they produce because of course, these 3 are much more
like a money making machinery. They’ll produce your music but they’re also
going to ask you for their investment back. The album needs to be more
commercially viable and radio friendly. But really, for someone like Tablo,
there are more advantages than disadvantages. It affords him protection for one
since YGE is very influential and they have connections in the industry. It can
help him with lawsuits and handling media attacks. It also has all the studio
equipment he needs to have to make all the music he wants. He’s got access to
international contacts in case he wants to go to that direction as YG has been
expanding their musical circle. Also, all the resource to have his music
promoted. All in all, it’s not a bad deal.

Of the 3, YG gives
its artists most creative freedom. Even with their idol groups, they seem to
encourage it. Of course the company isn’t perfect. They tend to have very
lopsided promotions – case in point Gummy and Se7en as against Big Bang and
2NE1. And they seem to have completely abandoned their hip hop roots. But we
also have to look at PSY who’s part of YG’s new roster of artists. Psy’s music
is his and he has YG manage the business part of entertaining. Though Psy
probably had more leeway in producing his music since he’s more or less financially
secure and is a close friend of YG’s. There’s really no way to know if Tablo
can get as much control over his material as Psy has. But who’s to say
that YG won’t be allowing Tablo to write music he wants.Based on recent YG interviews,
he seems to have some sort of plan to revive their old reputation as a company
that produced non-idol acts. Well, this might be a part of reason why YG signed
Tablo.

It’s so easy for us
people to look down on Tablo as a ‘sell-out’ who’s abandoned his integrity. But
we should realize that beyond being an artist who authored all those songs,
Tablo is also a friend, a son, a husband and a father. We cannot get him
piece-meal or just look at him as just one aspect of a person. We have to
consider and weigh everything that he’s been through.

An artist’s creation
is a reflection of his thoughts and his experiences. For writers, their
works differ depending on the point in time when they wrote it. When Tablo
wrote his earlier material, he was an idealist who’s raging against the lack of
opportunities of indie artists and how the big wigs crush indie labels and
artists methodically. But now that Tablo now has seen how harsh the industry can
really be, his views might have shifted and thought that maybe joining a bigger
label like YG is a gamble he has to take. It might cost him his credibility but
it might also gain him something more – like his own peace of mind. I think he’s
entitled to that just as you’re entitled to walk away from him and his music.

Tablo is a ‘whore’
according to you. But also think that a lot of ‘whores’ do not sell themselves
willingly to the highest bidder. A lot of them are in a position in life where
they think they don’t have any choice on that matter. Maybe at some corner of
his mind, Tablo thought he also didn’t have that choice.

i give tablo mad respect for joing YG. YG is such a good company. Finally we will get to here tablo’s music again. Tablo is only thinking of how to support his family.