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Popfy Skribbles - Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

by POPFY

on fy mixtape

A few money thoughts after watching CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story…
I had a ball the other night while watching CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, a VH1 (VIAB) biopic about the personal and professional trials of the celebrated hip-pop trio from the ATL (short for Atlanta, in case you didn't know). The film took me down memory lane and really made me step back and realize the powerful impact that the group TLC, whose members consist of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, had on the music world.
However, a reminder that I wish I did not have is the all too well story of the financial problems that plague artists with newfound success. Although you can chalk up the young ladies problems to the dysfunctional music biz, in particular the greed of their manager and label, it still highlights the need for artists to take control of their FINANCES!!
One of the craziest highlights of the movie was when the group went “gangsta gangsta” over their money from the sales of their highly successful album, CrazySexyCool. Fed up with the runaround they were receiving, the young ladies along with their all-girl entourage stormed into their label Arista Records and held the founder and then president Clive Davis hostage and demanded payment. Who could blame them? The Grammy award-winning album sold more than 23 million albums worldwide bringing in $75 million, but the ladies were only paid 50 stacks each!
As a result of the group's well-documented pimping, which was shockingly broken down by Left Eye during the movie, they were forced to file bankruptcy in 1995. Sadly, this wasn't T-Boz's only brush with the legal procedure. She filed for bankruptcy in November 2011 after reportedly being in debt for $800,000. It pains me to learn that T-Boz was a member of one of the greatest musical trios EVER that sold a total of 63 million albums worldwide, yet still manages to be so deep in debt.
The financial problems of hip-hop artists that the media salivates over just doesn't make sense. Yeah, a lot of them brag about what Kanye calls "the good life" but as the adage goes, all that glitters ain't gold. Having the ability to navigate the financial world and possess critical money management skills would be of much help to artists. Let's be real here. I understand that most artists don't have a steady cash flow and research has proven that their earnings come in chunks, sometimes with considerable time between checks. That said, it makes it ever so important to learn the survival skills of budgeting, saving, and investing so that they won't face the “struggles” that has caught up many of their peers, including the following: