MC Bushkin's Interview

In these new, isolated times, I spoke with MC Bushkin of the legendary Garage group “Heartless Crew” over Zoom about how the music industry has changed over the years, along with our methods of consumption. The full interview will be available to read in my book “The Changing Face of the Music Industry” available in 2021.

What do you think about the changing face of the industry since you man got in the game, then it was about selling records and now it’s sort of more like a streaming thing?

I mean, everything changes, you just gotta be willing, accept change, adapt and be adaptable to change, because everything changes, nothing stays the same. But I mean, what I have noticed over time is that the industry has taken the personality out of music. Music has become so dilutided it’s often missing the vibe and personal touch out of it. I mean in our days, it was much more about the feeling music gives you, d’you understand? Things were more physical. These days, the world in general has become so digital. Everything is really fast, it’s bite-sized, it’s quick, everyone wants the quick and easy things basically. Quick download, yeah, it’s like, tunes are popular for two weeks and then it’s another tune in, whereas in our day, there was a bit more quality control, and there was a bit more substance d’you understand? Behind things, there was a bit more reasoning, now it’s so accessible to do music and to be a rapper or to be a personality. It’s because of the internet making music so accessible that a lot of people are just doing it for doing it sake. I think when we was tryna get through, it was like we was really tryna break boundaries - I dunno, I can’t talk for So Solid, but I definitely know for myself and Heartless Crew, we was actually tryna go about making changes, breaking boundaries, and actually pushing and doing something for ourselves on an independent label, as well as touching people, d’you understand, that ultimately was what it’s about. If you see my wall picture there, you can see me and that’s the people there, I’m actually touching the people. Yeah, we’re tryna change lives out here. So yeah, that’s what we were about man, touching and inspiring peoples lives, and you can do that through the power of music.