Mark Carranceja of Noisemaker Media

An Artist’s Director

Despite churning out a lot of music videos in an effort to maintain his reputation, Carrancjea considers himself an artist first, and is insistent he will not sacrifice quality for quantity.

“I’m trying to stay away from dumbing down the aesthetic. I’ve seen a lot of videos that lack a presentation in showing the artists individuality.”

Not all artists view the rap music industry the same, with many simply putting out a lot of poor product. Carranceja thinks it’s a bad idea to just throw sub-par materials out there just to see what sticks.

“Maybe they are doing it for passion, but if it’s not a passion project, if it’s just an attempt to monetize on their craft, then it’s just a poor lack of judgment. That’s the problem with just putting stuff out.”

Artists, he contends, need to understand how to create quality work and still respect the craft. Technology these days has allowed anyone with a computer to be an artist.

“That’s the problem with technology. The accessibility of technology created not a disparity, but a parity between the wack and talented. It’s really up to the individual. It’s really tough to tell everybody, ‘Hey, you’ve got to maintain a high standard.’ That’s just an artsy fartsy kind of mindset. I don’t want to be like that. I’d rather just lead by example.”

Carranceja believes that many people are going to do whatever they want anyway, because they want to get rich quick. He believes these artists are “going to rise up and fall fast.”

Some artists think they will get famous off one video, but Carranceja knows it doesn’t quite work that way. “That’s the wrong approach,” he says. “Make a lot of videos that show progression. Don’t bank on that one shot. No one has that one hit wonder status anymore.”