Industry rule number four thousand and eighty,
record company people are shaaaaaaaady!
Famous lyrics uttered by Q-Tip on Check the Rhime (sic) off of A Tribe Called Quest's classic The Low End Theory. Rule 4080 has since beome a part of hip-hop lexicon, and any artist who has had a problem with record companies (Last Emperor, J-Live come to mind) is said to have been a victim of this rule.
Ironically enough, Q-Tip would later fall prey to the industry snakes that he so detested in 1994, becoming a sell-out and releasing the mediocre, commercialized Amplified in 1999.