PizonIsHipHop.com

At the risk of sounding unappreciative of my supporters (I love all of y’all, I swear), I often get asked silly things.  Maybe it’s my OCD, but I do try to hit everyone back regardless of how stupid unusual the questions may be.  But I can’t help it:  When people email me on MySpace asking, “So, where are you from?” or “What kind of music do you make?” when that information is right in front of their eyes, it makes me want to bang my head against the wall.  The one that’s been coming up frequently as of late has been ”Is that really your number?” or some variation thereof.

Let’s think about this question for a minute.

They’re referring to the (212) 845-9935 number that appears after my name with the words “call me at” preceding it.  So my question is:  If I’m telling you to call me at that number, whose number do you think it is?  That’s a silly question to ask without even looking at my page, which you should do before sending me a message anyway.  If you’re really asking if it’s a private number, it obviously isn’t because it’s listed on a public site.  And when you click on my profile, these additional details should jump out at you:

1. There’s a big ass banner at the very top of the page that repeats the number in a huge font with the text:  “Leave a message for The Fam.  We want to hear from you!” and links to our SayNow page which explains everything about the line.
2. The number is again repeated on the side of the page with the text:  “Call to leave a msg & get updates DIRECTLY from me!  You can also connect with other fans!” and all the voice messages left by fans who’ve called the line are posted directly on the page.
3. The Fam, EJ, and Timid in my top 8 all have the same phone number after their names.
4. If you click on the banner to go to this site, you’ll again see the number and the messages left by fans in the Voicemail section.

In light of this, people are still trying to send text messages to the line and get offended when I don’t respond (I can’t,* because it’s not a cell phone — call me does NOT mean text me).  Girls are sending me messages demanding to know my cell number, as though they’re entitled to it now because a phone number was posted.  Other artists are now posting up their actual cell phones on MySpace, because they think that’s what we did and they’re trying to compete.  No hate if that’s your thing, but between the Fam we’ve got over 100,000 fans on MySpace and it would be crazy to put our cells up.

* Yet.  This actually is being worked on and people may be able to text into the line soon.  For now, if you must text send THEFAM to 729669 and it’ll be as if you called.

With all that said, it is a fully functional line and it’s a great tool for us to keep in touch with our fans.  It’s free for everyone, and we can’t see anyone’s number, but we can return voicemails and even call people back directly.  We can send broadcasts and texts to everyone letting them know what’s going on and give them access to exclusive content.  As I write this, there have been almost 2,000 calls into the line and we used the best messages on our Family Affair mixtape that we gave out to the fans for free.

In summary, yes it is really my number and yes I do want you to call it.

But I had to vent.  From now on I should just link people to this post.  I might need to write a whole Silly Question FAQ.  It’s probably all a waste of time, because the people who read aren’t the ones asking the WTF? questions to begin with.  Maybe the next time a blonde chick sends me an email, I’ll just ask her:  “So, are you a boy or a girl?  And what color is your hair?”