Negotiations, an interview with G.F. of Problem Child Records.

By C.D. Wright

What's good my friends? Today I'm here talking about negotiating deals with other business owners. I did a quick interview with independent rap artist and CEO of Problem Child Records, G.F. out of Oklahoma City. Before I get into all of that here is a brief background of G.F. The Godfather.

G.F. short for Godfather, is an independent rap artist in Oklahoma City, reppin’ Port Author, Texas. G.F. has a great lyrical flow, descriptive like a Stephen King Novel, with an original “gangsta swag” that’s impeccable. G.F. has worked with rap artist like C-Bo, Killa Tay, Marvaless, Mob Figas (Rhyda.J.Klyde), and Fed-X. G.F. also went even further to record the underground classic "See Me Flossin", with deceased rap legend Pimp C. He has been shown interest by Scarface while Face was over Def Jam South. MCA Records also sought out G.F., alongside with several other well-known independent labels. Since then G.F. has been running Problem Child Records, his own independent label and has went on to open up shows for Slim Thug, Foxy Brown, Juvenile, West-Coast vet C-Bo, E-40, and several other prominent hip-hop factors.

The first question I asked G.F. about negotiating was when I asked him how does he separate the people from the problem when negotiating?

When I asked G.F. that question he went on to tell me about the time he negotiated the deal to get Pimp C on a track with him. G.F. said he first spoke to Pimp C’s manager at the time and his manager gave him a price of $20,000 for a verse. G.F. stated to him that he thought that was too high and out of his price range. The manager went in the positional bargaining tactics direction. He used his position to belittle and attack G.F’s ego and position to negotiate his side of the deal. Then G.F. told the manager that he wanted to speak to Pimp C directly to see if this was legit, but when he got Pimp C on the phone he could only pay Pimp C $5,000. Pimp C told G.F. that he would only freestyle his verse if that’s all he was going to pay him. G.F. then flipped the game and attacked Pimp C’s ego when he told him he would “murder him”, lyrically of course, if he decided to just free-style on the track. G.F. seen Pimp C later that night a show Pimp C was doing and the sound equipment had messed up so he caught him in a situation were he was in Okc and he might as well make a few more thousand while he is here. G.F. separated the people from the problem by focusing on what both parties truly wanted and not the positions people.

Next, I asked G.F.,do you utilize objective criteria when negotiating? How?

G.F. said of course. Having objective criteria when negotiating is like a war tactic G.F. explained. He went on and spoke about a negotiation deal he did with West-Coast Mafia CEO and artist C-Bo. He spoke about that he knew first hand that C-Bo would do a track for a cheaper rate than what he requests. G.F. knew a friend that just got C-Bo on a track for one price that sounded reasonable. By G.F. knowing that C-Bo had done a verse for cheaper and was not in high demand as earlier in his career, G.F. not only said that he only had a certain amount and put the cash on the table. He knew it would be hard for C-Bo to turn down the cash that was in his site and plus C-Bo was cool with artist in Oklahoma City so he didn’t put up a fuss about it.

Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal?

G.F. started speaking about a time when he had to negotiate with a club owner when he was promoting a show with Trae’ The Truth. G.F. said the club owner wanted a fixed upfront price. G.F. said instead he asked the club owner to take a percent of the door. Also he added that he would buy out the bar and give the club owner a cut of the bar sales as well. By doing this, G.F. was able to come to a mutual agreement for a mutual benefit for both him and the club owner. The club owner was cool with that deal and G.F. was able to have the show with Trae The Truth and the club owner made his money for the club.

G.F. has demonstrated various negotiation skills with his label for business. It is very important that we negotiate to make things happen instead of being so cut and dry with each other when we want to do business but our egos sometimes get in the way.

Real Talk!

Check out G.F. The Godfather on; Reverbnation.com/7deucegf, Facebook.com/joegfcool, Youtube.com/tokool72, and Twitter.com/@gf72