Vinnie Paz Calls Out Tech Giants: We Built Communities They Now Control

I will never forget the first time I saw Vinnie Paz live. He was on tour with Immortal Technique, and they came through The Recher Theatre in Towson, Maryland—just a 30-minute drive from Baltimore. The Recher is a historic venue, holding just 700 people, and is known to host such iconic bands as Linkin Park, The White Stripes, Slayer, Sonic Youth, and Judas Priest.

It was 2010, and I somehow managed to convince my wife at the time to go with me. It was an audacious move—knowing her music taste was more pop-based, with her idea of rap being Ying Yang Twins and Lil Jon. She came through, and that night would become one of the most unforgettable live shows I’ve ever attended.

The Recher was a haze of cigarette and marijuana smoke, swirled through the dim lights and immediately getting under my wife Brittany’s skin. But when Vinnie Paz boomed from the speakers in his gravelly voice, overpowering the mic frequently, I knew this wasn’t any concert for the casual listener. This was for the die-hards fans, like me.

Unfortunately, I have only seen Vinnie Paz live on that night. After well over 20  years of relentless touring, he’s burned out, limiting himself to little more than periodic festival appearances. I feel fortunate, though, to have witnessed the raw energy of Vinnie and Jedi Mind Tricks in such a small venue. It was surreal to witness hundreds of fans from every walk of life chanting literally every word of every lyric. Even a mosh pit opened up just a few feet from where I was standing.

I seriously spent half the night trying to figure out how many teeth Vinnie was missing—a testament to the grit and an unapologetic resilience of a man who really does not give a fuck.

Since stepping back from touring, Vinny has more so been focusing on the business side of things, and I love seeing that. He’s always been a beast with merch, but for today’s music landscape, mastering digital marketing is just as important. That’s why I started Artist Deserved: our company is designed to help artists plug revenue leaks by optimizing their email marketing, websites, and unlocking hidden YouTube income.

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Vinnie has embraced his independence, focusing on building a direct-to-consumer relationship with his fans. But like so many independent artists, he is fighting the algorithm—a system that demands dollars for clicks just to reach the very fans he’s cultivated. Frustrated with the hamster wheel of content, he took to Instagram to vent and rally his fans:

Vinnie Paz via Instagram:

We’re experimenting over at the store by letting our fans on our email list community hear new music before anyone else. we know you don’t need more email, but we think this one will be worth it for our fans: jmtstore.com to sign up.

It’s ironic to rail against these platforms while on the platform, but we’re tired of running on the content hamster wheel for billionaires and then when we actually want to talk directly to the fans we’ve earned on these platforms, we have to pay the billionaires for ads.

We got lured into the promise of connecting on these like everyone else, but it was a bait and switch. a decade plus spent building a community on each platform only to have it gatekeeped and monetized by a new gang of billionaires. It’s the old emperor just in tech bro clothes.

So our focus is asking our fans to swing through the store and join our list and let’s rebuild that connection over there: jmtstore.com. yes, we do promote stuff like merch drops, but our aim is to make it worth it by giving you first access to new music, etc.

Vinnie Paz is an OG in the rap game, with a career spanning nearly three decades—which has blessed us with over 20 albums and mixtapes that leave behind an inimitable legacy. Some of my personal favorites include End of Days, Cheesesteaks, Happiness is Just a Word, and I Am the Chaos.

If you enjoy elements of battle rap with socio-political commentary, then do yourself the favor of signing up for Vinnie’s email list. Let’s support this legend in his independence from an industry that is so notoriously known to forget its veterans. There is no health care, dental or vision in this industry, no financial programs, and little to ‘no’ mental health or addiction support.

This is fucking unacceptable…

Vinnie isn’t just surviving—he’s thriving. Let’s make sure he stays that way; visit the JMTStore.com, subscribe to his email list or better yet buy some merch!