LL Cool J, Nas and others Urge Financial Responsibility

Most rappers dont even pay taxes. They get that promoter money for doing a show and think that thats hustle money, not thinking that the promoter is doing his books or something.....

Alot of these execs kept that "how to handle your money" education away from te artist by flooding them with so-called gifts. Them not knowing that its a recuperable asset to the exec. So when royalties times comes around.... It's oh yeah...remember that car, that house, theat necklace....that $80k restaurant expense all year. You owe! then if the artist don't sell past a peticular sales on the lp.... They in the read. And the funny thing is.... Most of these rappers that supposedly come from the streets or hustle game..... They should know this. It's like they come in corperate america and get stupid. If yall heard the lox on radio in new york complaining about how puffy too theier publishing... It was ashamed that they didnt know anything about thier own business. Glad ll cool j is schooling them

And not knowing isnt an excuse anymore. Theres a library in every hood. You can teach yourself the game of finance. It's free. I taught myself into 2 promising careers. It works to read people. Read you contracts.... Co-sign kalliope4eva. What's up bro

Not only a library in every hood, check the internet for self empowerment. Word. Read and learn. No excuses. Its time to beat the record execs at their own game...... I'm inspired by jay-z signing 50/50 with lyor cohen if thats true what i heard?!

Its great what these artist are doing? these are big named relevant celebrities who are using the power they have to help people manage their finances. Showing this impressionable, young, hiphop generation that money management is extremely important and that its not always about spending, spending, spending on frivilous, depreciatory items. Hopefully, some of the people who attended this event learned something that theyll put into practice.

Kalliope, i feel you bro but it aint only rappers bro. You got pop and r@b singers who neglect to pay their taxes. Look at jermaine jackson. Who?? jermaine jackson from the jackson 5 who went on to do a solo career. My man put out two albums, only one which went gold. Today, my man owes over 4 million dollars to the irs. The thing is, is that he only went gold. And sair, i feel you bro but the thing is is that you can educate your self to the point of exhaustion on business finance, but if you dont have the discipline....your finished. Look at jermaine duprie..(an excellent record producer and c.e.0 of so so def) who owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the irs. Again, you got to be disciplined in how you spend money and what you spend money your money on. Not to take anything from what you and kallio said cause i feel you both 100%

True that cemejuru.

Big ups to these dudes. People really do think once there put on its all good, and start spending money that dont really got. Education. Is needed

I'll never forget what q tip said about how they made low end theory and after the record dropped he was still on his moms couch....dayem. Yeah i feel what your saying also juru...

I'll tell you all this, that we are on the rise, i sense a positive change in the atmosphere for our people, i sense something all in my spine my stomach, that while america is going down, there will be a new system where we will learn how to love one another. Remember i said this 04/25/06 12:47 a.m., this is our time the sleeping lion is starting to open his eyes now, thank yah for these blessings, we are on our way yall, fo real.

A pointless summit.......cant u see this is just to promote the new ll album...and new t.i. Album and new keys album......and of course everyones favorite punchin bag ''nas''.......shameless promotions ...4 real...u think any of these garbage rappers really give a fuhk about you your familly or the money you save..lol

No...thats when i do what i call "filter".

I mean it dont take a genius to know that droppin 150k on a chain, 75k on a watch, and 30k on a grill is a dumb ass financial move, especially when that's most of ur advance money. For those of us who aint rich, knowin how to stretch a dollar is almost like breathing, its second nature. How can u tell me to be financially responsible when the chain ur wearing could build a community center.

It just goes to show, ll and nas have no retirement plan. Both of them have been in the game a combined 40 odd years. Where is the cheese? why can't they move money or sign artists like dre or jay-z? they should be ashamed. Buying kelis street cred, and fake abs n shyt *where's the money, all i want is the money ya dumb hick*

Fight for us !!

Thats real i hope all my peps grow to get on some better sh*t. Im sick and tired of all my n*gga aswell as me doin all dis illlegal sh*t to get this bread. To my folks who are doin it just to eat god blees ya life. Thats real lets get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You ll let me get some of those roids.

Now i don't know about ll but nas definently has money, he just isin't all flashy about it, cause he said it on mtv that he is more of a rapper than a business man. He's more laid back, so just cause you don't see him talking about his money and flashing it around doesn't mean he don't got none.

It's funny that i read this. My boy just stopped by my house and asked if i wanted to roll out to the club again. I told him i didn't want to waste cash on getting in, drinks, and possibly buying ladies drinks. I'm glad someone finally said something on this point. When i listen to rap records and i hear rappers say they spend their re-up on rims and clothes and at the club, it's no wonder some...sorry most of them will be on the block again after the fame fades unless they're smart with there money. You can't trust your cash for someone to invest either, unless you know exactly where it's going. If you don't, you'll be getting ripped off like ray charles was by his manager. Chris rock said it and i hate to agree but n*ggaz spend money like the sh*t gonna rot. That's why immigrants come to the states and in a couple generations there people control their neighborhoods economy, send there kids to good school and eventually gain political power. For some reason, we can't be humble. We put our money right back into the system that neglects us y buying material sh*t just so we can ball. Think about it. Like someone said before, there's libraries everywhere and the internet that most of these n*ggaz on this site use to post comments dissing (insert rappers name here) could be using their time to get their own game up.

i don't understand , we have more black millionares in america's history, but black people don't own sh*t. Now thats a shame. Why don't we own our own record companies , distibution ,or even a television station. B.e.t. Is owned by viacom which owns mtv and vh1 trust me .black people just can't stick together thats the bottom line. P.s. Keep it real.

black people need to come together and educate ourselves and our children because nobody else is. Thats why kids go out and commit crimes , they have lost their hope.you think black kids don't want a chance to live a decent life without selling drugs. Trust me they do. They just don't see a realistic way out of the ghetto . We need a way out before we get in trouble not after.