@Zircon: I may have faith in myself but I can't argue. If anything, I pace too slowly. I was talking about development and then furthering. Coulda' been more clear. Regardless, I see your point: no need to be pretentious because the only one who can see what I have on the inside is me. To the rest of the world, I might as well be Joe Shmoe. Even more simplistically: Kanye West is annoying, so don't be like him.
Well, I am not saying that I am "that good" (though to be honest I don't see myself as "some other guy") but I aim to do my best, and no, it's not about the money. I am all about the passion, depth, skill and life of the music.
As for the business? Talent aside, the business whores could take a look at the requirements and avoid hassle. I've seen people flop on both sides of the spectrum. My friend Charles, a dancer, was "underqualified": wasn't good enough at dancing; as for my sister, I would say that she was "overqualified" for her placing at a WB branch label: they wanted her to simplify her soulful singing to something more pop-friendly. Less work and more money is what resonates in a lot of these people's minds.
@Meteo: Michael was a bit older but too young to die; Elton John could've died, plus I'm sure that he lost fans when he admitted to being gay (AND he did a duet with Little Richard! LMAO); Stevie Wonder may be successful but regardless, the man can't see; Prince (whom I didn't mention) may get all of the ladies but he lived it hard and has gone through a few divorces. Also needs/wants rib surgery but the JW's won't let him.
Forgive my pride but I don't want their lives; I just want to maximize. Hey, that rhymed. SKILLZ!
Production: This isn't finished (took a few hours to do, didn't finish this beat from a few months ago), but it shows what I can do. You're brave enough to show your beats in a thread and so I guess that I'm dumb enough to follow with that example.
If you click this or perhaps my sig, you'll hear a couple of my lyrical works. The music in the Ramses song isn't the best of my music (I actually threw a flow on a beat that I never finished in 2006. I could do a million things to make it better, but you know how hip hop is: WHO CARES JUST GIMME DA BASS!)
My newer, more skillful 2009/2010 songs aren't available but here's some of my hiphop stuff from 2008. I personally think that the stuff was cool + labels would probably hear my songs and say GOOD ENOUGH, but first, I could kill some of the repetition in Morning Affection (a 2006 beat updated in 2008, actually). Really, I can hear how the chords in all of my songs are nice but they could use more variation, and at times, more or less accompaniment. Out of the four songs presented on VGMix, I would say that the beat of "Morning Affection " needed work in the verse while with all of my songs I could use slight, slight help in the notation, in terms of what's general. Wanted Gangsta kinda sucked to me but it was a good idea.