Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello everyone,
welcome to this week's Indie
Artist Music Hustle with BlindIntelligence.
I'm your host, Ms Ronnie, whereI always seek to give you
exquisite cranial repertoire.
This week we have a veryspecial guest, Max, how do you
say your name, Osama?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Osama, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Max Osama, how you
doing today.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
I'm doing good you.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I am doing just fine.
What we're going to do is letyou take over and tell us a
little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Well, I'm Max Osama,
independent artist man.
I reside here in Tennessee EastTennessee to be exact, man and
I've just been on this journey,working this music man.
You know I also have a nine tofive where I cook, so I consider
myself a cook both ways I cookon beats and I cook in
restaurants, which I work at abuffet style restaurant.
So busy ain't the?
It's not enough hours in a dayfor me to do all the stuff I
(01:18):
need to do, you know.
But music is my passion, I loveit Way to express myself, form
a therapy for me, and you know Ijust like giving people my life
story.
I don't have the time to writea book.
It's a lot faster for me to doit on the beat.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Gotcha, I gotcha.
So how long have you been anindependent artist?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, I always, I've
always done music, which I
started due to the fact that Iused to like poetry.
I wrote poetry a lot and then,you know I love music.
You know I'm an 80s baby, so Igrew up in the hip hop era like
a real hip hop era.
So once I started to see I hada way with words, you know, and
with my interest in music, Igave it a shot.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So I was about 14, 15
years old, but I started taking
it serious from a professionalstandpoint about three, four
years ago.
Okay, okay.
So with you being in hip-hop,right, yes, yes, yes, which I
mean.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I do multiple genres,
but my preference is hip-hop.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes, what do you
think about the hip-hop climate
right now?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
well with as far as
the climate with this new
generation.
You, you know I dab and dabhere and there, you know, just
to keep up with from a versatilestandpoint.
You know I challenge myself tobe able to be a versatile artist
but with hip-hop being my thing, like the evolution of hip-hop
is what I was raised off of.
So like I've had multiplepeople come to me and you know
they like my music.
(02:43):
But there's times where I getinto my lyrical hip hop form and
they're like, listen, I don'teven understand what you just
said.
You know what I mean, but Imean it's just me.
So I kind of try to blend thetwo together and dumb it down
somewhat with the new generationin the era of music.
But I still got to let my musicout, I still got to do my thing
.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I got you, I got you,
I got you.
So tell me this there are manycommentators on youtube that do
reviews on music and dissectlyrics and things of that nature
, and I was watching somereviews.
The other feel like the climateof hip hop has changed and that
Lil Wayne didn't grow with thechange in an evolution of hip
(03:36):
hop.
So, with you saying that youtry to dib and dab to keep up
with what's going on within thecurrent climate of hip-hop, what
do you think about commentatorsbeing a major part of what
(03:59):
people's perception of yourmusic is?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
well, well, depending
on how big the actual
commentator is itself on hisplatform and what business it is
he's controlling, it could be amajor part, because if it's
somebody who has a wide range offollowers, you know people are
going to continue to look atthis.
And the more you look atsomething, the more you look
into something, you know itbecomes a part of you.
You're almost training yourself.
(04:22):
So therefore, I see it as ifrepetitive of you.
You're almost training yourself.
So therefore I see it as if,repetitively, you're hearing
this, hearing this, hearing thisfrom majors, then that's what
you're going to start to feellike, that's what you're going
to feed into.
So I mean, it's just like withmusic.
You know, if you got one personthat listened, compared to a
thousand people that listen,everybody is going to follow the
trend of that thousand people.
And that's what I do, just likepersonally myself with music
(04:43):
nowadays it's more so apopularity contest than it is a
talent contest anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Okay, on one of my
shows that we had some technical
difficulties on, but on one ofmy shows I interviewed an
executive that was part ofPinescope Records and I know
that with a lot of these majordistribution deals but which
(05:08):
anybody can get a distributiondeal, but with some of these
major distribution deals, likewith Universal, that some
artists have, there's athreshold that you have to meet.
How do you feel about socialmedia being a major part of
whether an independent artistgets a decent distribution deal
(05:29):
or just have to settle for usinggeneral distribution?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Well, with social
media being involved in things,
it's more so.
I look at it from time to time.
As you know, you're a musician,you're an artist, but then there
comes a part to where you'realmost playing a role, you're a
character, and it's due to thefact of needing this large
following and these numbers.
So, therefore, these people seeyou, they want to be interested
in you because, at the end ofthe day, it's a job.
So, with them expecting you tomeet the expectations of a
(05:58):
certain criteria, it's, it'sjust like a job.
If you work in production, yougot to get this amount of things
done, or they're going to letyou go, or they're just not
going to deal with you in anyway, shape or form.
Which is why I challenge myselfto touch multiple areas with
music, to be noticed, with theunderstanding that if it happens
to land and say so not much aslyrical hip hop that I'm still
(06:19):
qualified to do that.
It may be more challenging forme, which is when you know work,
which I mean, that's what we do, but more so when it comes to
my preference, it's easy okay,so tell me some of the other
genres that you have fused had afusion?
I've touched everything exceptpop except pop?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
why except pop?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I'm on it, it's just
my voice, and when it comes to
those melodies and things likethat, I feel it would be better
off if I had a lead artist on apop song for me to follow up
behind.
I just don't have muchexperience in that area, so
therefore I could feed offanother artist easily, which
I've worked with artists inAustralia and all types of
things.
I actually just had a trackcome out that was nowhere near
(07:06):
my style I mean nowhere near itand it was with a DJ I met who
was also Australian, and when Iheard the beat I was like uh,
but I don't turn down a beat.
If you send me a beat, I'mgoing to do it.
So I did it and I sent it backto her and when she got it back
she was like yo, that's great,that's a great track and it just
it keeps me motivated.
You know what I mean and, likeI said, it's a job.
So I'm not going to say no, Ican't do it, I'm going to work
(07:28):
and get it done.
OK, tell me about your latestproject, my latest project.
Well, I released Third Degree,which is actually a song that I
did, which we were saying, youknow, with the evolution of
music and what's going on today.
It was more so of a track ofwhat's happening nowadays Today
it's more so of you know, withthe beat, the up-tempo beat, the
(07:48):
bopping and things of thatnature, which, again, I did just
reaching out to people, showingpeople my versatility and
things of that nature to whereit reaches a wider audience.
It's not so much as astorytelling-type track, it's
more so of a vibe you out withyour homeboys, you might be
riding with your windows down,it's about to be summertime,
type energy.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
OK, so is it a single
or is it an EP?
Is it a whole album?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Yeah, it's a single,
which I mean my one.
Before that actually came upwith the creation, I just put a
track up for release for the20th June, 20th to be exact, and
it's called my Story.
Um, you know, and I just wasgoing through some things in
life, you know, I lost a couplefriends in the last month and a
half.
So you know, I was just feelingsome type of way one night and
I let it out.
And with that idea came Irecorded a part two to the song.
Uh, a couple days before afuneral and I wanted to get the
(08:39):
song out.
So now I'm building acollection based off the topic
my story story, and I justconsidered it a series,
re-released the first track withthe second one for marketing
purposes, seeing if I can catcha wave with my story series that
way.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
OK, so tell me, how
many projects have you released
professionally?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
At least a hundred, a
hundred, you're doing more than
Pat Poole.
Listen, I have a real seriousproblem when it comes to
recording.
I try to tell myself not tokeep going, not to keep going,
but I almost record, like whenI'm not at work as much as I've
been recently.
I record two to three songs aday and when I record a song,
you know, I get theunderstanding like there's no
(09:19):
point in me holding on to this.
If I hold it, nobody can hearit.
So I just may hit a moment towhere I create traffic, and once
I have that traffic, I want tograsp that concept of that
momentum, so I just flood it.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
During COVID, a lot
of artists found ways to
collaborate with people in othercountries, so what do you think
about that?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, it's a great
move and, honestly, djs and I
met when I first began.
I met a lot of promoters, justuh joining lives and having my
music reviewed and things whichmy um, my very first fan base,
uh reach wise when I started togrow, was UK.
I have a lot of people that Italk to, um people I do meetings
(10:05):
with and things of that nature,and a lot of them are from
London a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
So have you
collaborated with anybody lately
from the UK?
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Not from the UK.
Honestly, I've had the Aussiesin tune with me.
Like I have an Australianfemale right now.
She ain't been feeling too goodWait for her to get better and
get back in the studio and wegot a collaboration on the way.
Another guy he's actually aboutto drop an EP which he's from
Australia as well and he justasked me the other day to get on
there with him A couple of guys.
There's a guy in Florida that Ideal with.
(10:37):
He's a producer and things likethat he goes.
He has his own littleentertainment service, shadow
Works Entertainment, and we'veactually been working on a
project called the Heist and wehave artists from it's like 20
of us and we're working asituation out to where we're
shooting content and things ofthat nature and making single
individual records and justcollaborating within the 20
people.
(10:58):
But we're shooting it like areal heist.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's what I wanted
you to tell me.
When I say tell me a little bitabout yourself.
Business chemistry when you'redoing a collaboration, how
important is that to you?
And I know that some artistscan say, well, I record here and
they record there and we justgo in and just work or whatever,
but how important do you thinkit is to have natural business
chemistry, such as how megan thestallion and cardi b had it on
(11:28):
why it's, it's a great ordealbecause it's going to cause both
artists to continue to workafter the studio session.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
For as far as
promotion, marketing and things
of that nature, it's a greatordeal because it's going to
cause both artists to continueto work after the studio session
.
For as far as promotion,marketing and things of that
nature, it's way more than justrecording a song and putting it
out and hope your people see it.
I have to wait to get to myclients.
I have to make my clients wantthis, which fans clients.
You know, same ordeal.
But you know, just because theysee the name don't mean that
they're going to bite on thesituation.
(11:52):
So therefore, if we're doing,we need to do from a job aspect.
Say, in the same sense, Iwouldn't know michael jones, I
wouldn't know gatorades, Iwouldn't know different flavors
of candy or kool-aid if theydidn't have the commercials to
follow up after it was released.
So therefore, it takes thebusiness side of that to have
people working continuously,continuously, continuously.
It's more than just recordingand putting it out and saying,
oh, this is fire in the world,like you got to put it in their
(12:15):
face.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Okay.
Studies show that in order foryou to grab an audience's
attention, you have to grab itvisually within five seconds.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Do you think that
translates into music?
Because sometimes a song willstart and it might be a great
song, but the intro may be toolong.
The intro should start within25 seconds, so do you think that
that should translate intomusic, or is it different
circumstances to catch thatattention?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It should translate
into music, because me myself,
when I first began, I had thatsame ordeal, going to where my
intro would be more so speechthan rapping.
And within my second year Iwould, you know, as far as me,
networking and learning multiplethings.
A lot of people told me youknow, the song was good, but
you're losing that audiencebecause your song ain't starting
.
So I learned to constructmyself and at least give my hook
(13:17):
to a sense, to where they hearthe hook, and now they want to
know what the rest is within a10 second time span.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
OK, so does that, I
would say, influence the way you
write a song?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
No, I just use
instead of of you know where I
would talk or speak.
I wait to catch the right partto where I feel like, okay, I
can drop my hook right here, andI mean maybe not even the whole
hook, you know, I may just kindof, you know, I mean, focalize
myself through at that point andI cut the hook off.
And then by the time I cut thatoff, the beat will drop.
Or I'll go ahead and start myverse and then switch my tempo
(13:55):
when the beat drops to catch thebeat.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
OK, so next question
AI.
What are your thoughts on AI inmusic Now?
The reason why I ask thisquestion is because I may have
the producer wrong I think it'sTimberland and it may be
(14:20):
somebody else.
That has an AI artist and somepeople are not feeling that, and
I understand the concept of it.
But as a independent artist, asa creator, what do you feel
about the trajectory of ai inmusic right now?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
ai to me is a
dangerous type of thing which
but I mean it makes you morecompetitive.
But my whole outlook on thewhole ordeal ai don't think for
itself.
You got to give it the words.
It can't think for itself.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So if I can elevate
myself to the person who's using
the ar, beyond the personthat's using the ai, I wish you
the best so my scenario that Ialways use is you wrote a song
and you've been searching andsearching and searching for the
right sound to just make it justthat, and you know that sound
(15:15):
because you created it.
You can't find it, so youdecide that you're going to use
AI.
What do you think about thatscenario?
Speaker 3 (15:27):
With that scenario.
I would more so push it assomebody, like with the
Timbaland situation, the ordealhe has going in, because if the
song is that and he has thatartist comes the business side
of that.
You want me to carry this thisway.
I'm going to go into thatsituation as a songwriter.
So therefore, I'm not justputting something out and then I
have no claims, no format on it, in no way, shape or form.
It comes off as you wrote thesong, possibly, or it's just an
(15:49):
AI generated song and my namewill never touch the credits.
So therefore we got to havesome formal agreement as far as
business to have to understandthat, hey, I did this.
Maybe you just sing better thanme, because I can't carry a
note if you put it in my pocketwhat about uh, uh.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
What's his name?
Uh, timberland's ai artists.
How is that artist going toperform?
Is Is that what we're lookingforward to?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's going to have to
go digital, it'll have to be
holographic.
There's no way around it.
You know what I mean.
So what is?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
that going to do to
the real artist?
How do you think?
That's going to affect the realartist.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
It's going to be a
challenge.
It's definitely going to be achallenge, especially with the
makeup of the artist, because Iknow what you're speaking on,
but I haven't seen the image ofthis artist yet.
You know what I mean and one ofthe people I actually work with
.
They created the character.
That's a DJ that I'm workingwith as we speak and it's a
female DJ, but it's a dude whocreated this character and it's
an AI created character and heruns all the tracks through this
(16:54):
AI-generated DJ and I mean hemakes beats and he's a producer.
He does all of that, but youwould never know it's him unless
you work with him.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
What do you think
about the current rap beats
that's been going on?
Do you think that it's more?
We're going to leave Drake andKendrick at it?
Because Kendrick said I hatethe way that you walk, the way
that you talk, I hate the waythat you dress, I hate the way
that you sleep, but these otherbeats that's going on.
(17:24):
Do you think that?
Because a lot of artists areafraid to drop right now because
they feel like Kendrick is onthe roll right now and so
they're kind of like hating,because they feel like that if
they drop right now theywouldn't catch the momentum that
they need.
Do you think that the rap beefsthat's going on after the
Kendrick and Drake beef, do youthink that it's more to generate
(17:47):
attention to them or thatthere's really a beef going on?
Do you think it's moremarketing and promotion or do
you think there is some realbeef or do you think it might be
a little bit of both?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Sometimes it could be
both, but more so than none
would it be in the business I'mtalking about right now?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I'm talking about
these little fires that's going
on right now.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Promotional stunts,
trying to remain relevant.
You got to stay on course andremain relevant.
You got to do what you got todo.
That's how they feel about it.
I mean it's worked for some ofthe greatest rappers of all.
I mean you got to think how 50Cent came into the game.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
That made beef with
the entire industry.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, and people will
do that, but sometimes it just
don't stick.
Like when Megan dropped his,the focus was on Nicki Minaj, it
wasn't everybody else that shesaid something about.
So, yeah, I do think it was apromotional thing there and I
think that it paid off for her.
But I don't know if she.
(18:43):
I know she has tried to, but Idon't know if she's kept the
momentum going with everythingthat's going on in hip hop right
now.
So I think she's a popularrapper and she's great.
I think she's great, but Ithink, as one of what they would
consider hip-hop queens, Idon't think that it's made a
splash big enough for her to getthere.
Yet.
(19:03):
I'm not saying she can't getthere because she's got skills.
She's got skills, yeah, forsure.
So do you think that the ToryLanez thing is going to hinder
her from getting to that tier?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
With the way the
tables have turned here recently
, in the last month or so.
I honestly think so, Becausethere's stuff coming out.
You know I was looking atsomething the other day showing
a release date for them.
You know what I mean.
I think it was 2029 type ordeal.
So it's starting to look veryfabricated, that situation,
scenario.
So that's going to cause her tolose fans.
You may be a true Stallion fan,whatever the case may be, but
(19:41):
newcomers aren't going togravitate towards you due to.
You know like, when I do mymusic, my music is real life
stories.
If I was to say something thatsomebody know I didn't do,
that's going to hinder mysituation.
Cap, as they call it nowadays.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I try to refrain from
that because I'm giving people
the real, authentic me truestories.
Okay, so what do you thinkabout?
People report on this all thetime.
How do I want to put thisquestion?
So I'm going to leave thenegativity behind.
But what do you think about thePapoose and Clarissa Shields?
I would say, beginning of theBlack Love brand?
Speaker 3 (20:26):
yeah, I mean it's a
powerful move for it, definitely
a powerful move for it.
You're seeing two people whoare well in tune with what they
do and have established a baseon their own and coming together
and living a happy life,pushing and supporting one
another, and that's what we allneed when it comes to things of
this nature, in theentertainment form or whatever
the case may be.
Um, you know, I can be as bigas I be individually, but if I
(20:48):
could put somebody together withme and have a relationship both
ways, then I mean there's nolimit to that.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
So big salute to them
for sure I've done a show the
other week about.
The perception is that papoosedated up and Remy dated down.
So I'm going to ask you this Doyou think, with all the
controversy surrounding thepersonal lives of Remy Ma, do
(21:17):
you think that it's going toaffect her rap career?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
It just depends on
what she decides to do at this
point in time with thatattention.
You can flip that attentioninto momentum in the sense that
if you drop some things, that'sgoing on similar to what I try
to do myself, you know, if Iknow, if I have a release going
on, I may do an open versechallenge with no intentions on
releasing the track.
You know, just get a bunch ofpeople looking, a bunch of
people looking, you know, justget a bunch of people looking, a
(21:41):
bunch of people looking, andall of a sudden the song drops.
So now that I have thatmomentum and everybody looking
and watching, wondering, oh,who's this artist, what's this
artist?
Oh, what's he doing next?
What's he doing next?
And then, just out of nowhereyou know the element of surprise
he's dropped a track.
Let's go hear this track.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
And I try to use that
to my advantage, so it could
definitely be used.
She capitalizes on it, okay,well, I thank you for coming.
I want you to tell everybodywhere they can find you if they
want to work with you, how tofollow you, how to find your
music, your latest, your latestproject, the future project, no
recap, everything for us.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, well, I got you
know.
Like I said, my story in thirddegree just recently dropped.
Within the last two months.
If you're looking to find me inany way, shape or form, max
M-A-X-X Osama like Bin Laden, Ialways tell people Google the
name.
It'll take you to all my music,all my social sites, anything
you may need from me.
All you got to do is search thename Max Osama.
I keep everything relevant tomy name because my name is my
(22:39):
brand, which, of course, I LLCmy name because I carry it in
the business format.
So if you want to do businessmusic collaborations, you need
some merch, whatever it is youmay need.
Look up Max Osama and reach outto me and get in touch.
Man, I got.
I got T-shirts, hoodies andthings of that nature.
I'm actually working.
I just talked with a lady theother day who's actually a
friend of mine and I didn't knowshe had the machine she had,
(23:01):
and now that I know that, I'mlooking into the shorts.
You know, I'm just seeing whatthey got going on as far as you
know, the clothing trend for thesummertime and I'm going to try
to capitalize on that as well.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Everything is Max
Osama Like being live.
For sure, for sure, and y'allreach out man, because I'm
definitely working, looking tocollaborate with artists.
I don't care what genre, Idon't care what city, I don't
care what state, I don't carewhat country.
Man, let's work, keep ready towork.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
All right, Remember,
you can find the podcast on all
podcast platforms.
When I feel like it, sometime Imight stream live on social
media, but you know YouTube beenyanking me a little bit, so
that's okay.
And you can also get your merchquestions, anything you need,
at wwwblonde-intelligencecom andwe will see you next week.
(23:48):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
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(24:10):
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