Raw Scratch
Code Solutions on GitHub ↗
Raw Scratch
Raw Scratch struts along 34th st in New York City, with a boombox, a blanket, and a duffle bag full of mix-tapes. He stops at a corner in front of an Art Gallery, unrolls the blanket and sets up his boombox and a few tapes for display. He smooths out his sweater and runs a hand though his hair.
The Empire state building looms over him against a grey sky. In the air is usual buzz of traffic, Honking cars and souvenir shop-keeps yelling out deals.
Raw Scratch scans the passing crowd. It’s thick with regular New Yorkers. He turns on his boombox, plugs in his Microphone pops in a tape and slams the play button. A melodious, looping piano and trumpet instrumental blasts out. Catching the loop, he warms up his voice with some bars about the weather.
People rush on by without even glancing.
Soon a large group of people comes ambling toward him, occupying the whole sidewalk. He sizes them up within seconds: Brand name shoes, fresh clothing brought for the weather, novelty shirts, caps with out of town football teams, awestruck honky faces looking every which way.
Leading the crowd of tourists is a familiar gold-toothed face, who flashes a smile at him.
Tour guide Mikey pauses in front of Scratches setup and explains to the crowd: “And ova hear you got some original New York rap from local artist, Raw Scratch! Rappers in New York like to do their rehearsing right out on the streets so that the public can enjoy their lyrics and gives their music exposure.”
Raw scratch raises his microphone like a champ and starts in on one of his signature tracks. Mic in one hand, and a permanently pointed index moving to the beat, he starts blasting at the crowd with his fresh New York flavor. The tourists step in closer to take pictures.
He pauses, lets the instrumental track play for a loop, then addresses his audience:
“Yo, yo my peeps, if you like my rhymes, get out your cash it’s donation time! Pocket some Fresh cool tunes, I’m at your party in middle of June. Promo Tapes are only 5 dollars, buy today and give Raw Scrath a Hollaaa…!”
Mikey chimes in, “Your purchase helps Raw Scratch promote himself and pay for recording studio fees. Please support local art, and help this kid break into the rap scene!”
Without dropping the beat, Raw Scratch throws in some bars about walking tour guide Mikey, who bobs his head and turns to the beat, gold necklaces swinging around his neck. The crowd starts clapping, and some start reaching into their wallets and purses.
Raw Scatches’ eyes glimmer with excitement. Tourists line up. As Scratch exchanges tapes for money, Mikey leans in. “Hey, I gotta talk to you after my tours are done. Call me after 9 tonight” His voice is sounds friendly, but his expression is serious. He leads the delighted tourists on down the street toward the building entrance. Later that night, Mikey tell Scratch on the phone that he is facing competition from rivals. Veteran rapper Temple Thug, envious of Scratches’ progress, has made an offer to Mikey. He wants to post up a block down the street, at a spot still conveniently along the way to the famous skyscraper.
Up until today, Tour guide Mikey has been bringing tourist traffic to Raw Scratch, who sells his tapes for $5, and gives 10% of any sales from the tourist crowd to Mikey. Mikey can direct a tour his way every 15 min, and operates his tour from 10am to 8pm. Scratch raps prime time tourist hours from 2 to 6pm, and has been averaging 12 tape sales per hour from the tourist crowd during prime time (50% more than off-prime hours). He has also been selling 3 tapes per hour from the normal pedestrian traffic, which he keeps all his profits.
Temple Thug is offering Mike a flat rate of $30 to direct traffic his way instead, and decides to rap during the same stretch of prime time tourist traffic, and also wants to sell promo tapes for $5 each.
Mike is enticed by this offer, and is well aware that traffic from his tour makes up the majority of the Rappers tape sales. He realizes that it would be too inconvenient to route the tourists to both locations, and trying to line them up on the same street would create unfair competition and spark animosity, which could be bad for business. But he is all business, and wants to make the most money he can from his tour route.
So he lets Raw Scratch know that he has to beat Temple’s offer somehow, or else he will route his tour by Temple Thugs’ setup.
Scratch protests. “Hey man, I thought we were cool. Why you trying to hustle me all a sudden?”
“We are cool, that’s why I’m lettin you know. It’s just business, Scratch.”
Raw Scratch hangs up the phone and fidgets by poking his fingers though the holes in his sweater. He Realizes that he’s going to have to pay out more to keep up with competition. He breaks it down to two choices: He can either offer Mikey more payout or move to another spot.
The next morning, Raw Scratch finds himself strolling though central park. He stops to toss some moldy old bread at the ducks in the lake, while contemplating how he can change the parameters of the deal between him and Mikey. He could offer Mikey a greater flat rate or a larger percentage of tape sales. He wonders, at the rate he’s selling tapes, what percentage of sales would have to offer Mikey to beat Temple Thug’s offer?
He watches as teams of Ducks race around to devour the bread.
“Hey! Whaddya ya think yer doing?”
Scratch turns around. A policeman is walking toward him.
“Yeah, I see what you’re doing! Ya ain’t supposed to feed the ducks moldy bread.” The cop barks. “It poisons ’em and they end up dying in there. Makes the lake stink and the tourists complain. Gives the city crap vibes.” Raw Scratch begins to argue, and there’s some brief noise. But suddenly Scratch stops. An idea suddenly comes to him, like a subway entering a station. He walks away.
He continues walking along the lake, until he sees what he’s looking for: A crowd of gawkers holding maps and taking pictures of each other.
The tour has stopped momentarily to take pictures by the lake. Scratch spots the tour guide: a tall guy with a trench coat and a tweed flat cap, who is taking a break to drink from his water bottle. Scratch approaches him and smiles. “Hey man, you looking to add some flavor to the show? and make more money off your route at the same time?” The tour guide raises an eyebrow. They chat briefly. Raw Scratch hypes himself up about what he does and pitches the idea of setting himself up along the route to dazzle the crowd with his free-styling. The guide identifies himself as Slug, gives Scratch his card and they agree to talk later.
“I think we could strike up a deal that would be a win-win for both of us.” Slug tells Scratch on the phone later that day. He tells Scratch that he could set up at Central park along 59th St., and will require 20% of tape sales brought by the tourist crowd, plus $20 upfront since he isn’t sure yet how tourists will react to Scratches rapping. But, the volume of tourists is much higher than that of the Empire State building spot. “Much, much higher.” Slug promises. “So overall, you should make guap from volume of sales.”
Questions
- Show how many tapes Raw Scratch should hope to sell per hour to make this the better proposition, (assuming the same amount of non-tour affiliated sales and the same ratio of prime time and off time sales) ?
- And how many tapes should be sold in order to make 2x his original deal in the same stretch of time of 4 hours during prime time? See documentation below
Documentation
At Empire State Building
- Up until today: Rapper Raw Scratch sells tapes for $5, 10% of that goes to manager Mikey
- Raps during Prime Time: 2pm to 6 pm: 12 sales tapes / hours (50& more sales than off prime hours)
- Raps during Off Prime hours: 10 am to 2 pm. And 6pm to 8pm: 8 sales tapes / hour
- Additionally: 3 sales tapes / hour on pedestrians, Raw Scratch keeps all profits from those vs.
New competitor: Rapper Temple Thug sells tapes for $5, offers Mikey flat rate of $30
- Raps during Prime Time: 2pm to 6 pm:
New offer from manager Slug with new location Central Park
- Rapper Raw Scratch: 20% of profit goes to manager Slug
- Raps during Prime Time: 2pm to 6 pm: x sales tapes / hours (50 % more sales than off prime hours)
- Raps during Off Prime hours: 10 am to 2 pm. And 6pm to 8pm: x sales tapes / hour
- Additionally: 3 sales tapes / hour on pedestrians, Raw Scratch keeps all profits from those
Questions
- How many tapes per hour during Prime Time and Off Time should Raw Scratch sell to make this the better proposition compared to Raw Scratches old offer and Rapper Temple Thugs offer (assuming the same amount of non-tour affiliated sales and the same ratio of prime time and off time sales)?
- How many tapes per hour during 4 hours of Prime Time should Raw Scratch sell in order to make 2x his own original deal?
Hints
| Category | story |
|---|---|
| Coding Level | medium |
| Coding Ideas | loop for, sum up |
| Coding Languages | Code Solutions on GitHub ↗ |
| Story Genre | drama |
| Story Content Key Words | new york, rap music, sales and profits, business, tourists |
| Story License | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International |
| Parental Rating | 12+ Parental Guidance Suggested |
| How To Quote Story | (Fred Sauce, adapted by StoryCoder.dev under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International) |
| Picture License | null |
| How to Quote Picture | (adapted by StoryCoder.dev under null) |
| Available Solutions | Python  |
| Title | Raw Scratch |
| Author | Fred Sauce |
| Tags |
