Hitting these high notes was easy it seemed when I first came out on the literary scene. Views and likes were a bit easier to come by without having to pay for them, and everyone on IG was working out how best to cultivate their late-stage audiences once their accounts swelled well past 1,000 for most. Those that stayed below the 1,000-follower threshold also seem akin to ‘low-hanging fruit’ as they often get neglected in favor of those deemed more popular. As is the way with the human mob mentality applied to literature, and especially poetry.
Recently, I went out of my way to try getting a HUGE collab from somebody high up in the rap industry, someone who is looked at by rappers of all calibers as an elite MC and someone not to be trifled with lyrically. I am currently awaiting results to see which way this path will take me, because on one hand I so desperately want him to come through and deliver the lyrical heat that he was PAID to do, but on the other hand I am more than prepared should he not deliver his promise upon payment.
I am now beginning to feel the regret I had for leaving rap as a young teen to focus solely on my poetry and rhyme books turn into a slow-burn relief that threatens to upend my chaotic mindset one small step at a time. No, it is not ideal having to pay someone (a famous rapper at that) upwards of +$1,000 for a written collaboration on my books, but I am trying what NO other poet has had the balls to attempt to do. I am trying to merge rap into poetry in a way that can’t be touched, because even rap music and rappers in general use poetry on their albums and in their videos, etc. I have yet to see a poet so effortlessly merge the two worlds on paper as I am attempting to do right now. So many wasted opportunities and spent casings litter the past, that all I must do is look forward.
My poetic story of fiction, “The Konpeitō Masquerade”, drops soon on May 4th and precedes the biggest book of my life I was supposed to be dropping this November (with some big collabs on it), but unfortunately, I don’t see that happening right now. I still hold out hope that these collabs will come through, but I’m not counting on it by any means. I must always prepare to walk this path alone, this one I have trodden for myself that no one else has ever been able to reach. It is coming to a time where I must ascend to my peak, or plummet, by myself and all alone. I have never been one to rely on people to get my work done, but some things are influenced easily by the actions of others. I guess both time and you, the reader, shall see.
Overall though, this is how it’s going down from here on out: Big Sal waits for no man to get his shit together and put in work. If you say you’re for the culture and for top-notch rhyming lyrics, then get your fucking ass in gear and deliver me that heat – otherwise pay me my motherfucking money. In other words, put your money where your mouth is and stop playing. Microphones have been murdered for less!
Let’s just say that I’ll update any interested party reading, for if things turn out like I suspect they will, then I may just have a new book by November, yes, but one unrestrained by inhibitions stopping progress. I wait for and fear no man. Any artist, any era, put ‘em all up in a line and watch ‘em fall like gemstone dominos.
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