Hip Hop Congress

DLabrie is expanding to Korea

DLabrie on Promo tour in Korea 9/13-9/23

And below is an MP3 – Revolution rhymin (China Xpre$$) Epidemic , DLabrie , KDoe (Radio Edit)

Mykill Miers in USA Today

Web puts undiscovered musicians, listeners in tune
By Kevin Maney, USA TODAY
Artists used to need a record label to be heard. Now, all they need is a
powerful PC and a broadband connection.

Panos Panay, founder and CEO of Sonicbids.
Sonicbids
For any musician with at least a pinch of talent and a desire to perform,
the Internet has become a godsend.
A new generation of websites — many of them started by people who came out
of the music industry — are opening the business to thousands of artists
and hobbyists who in the past had few ways to broadcast and sell their
music.

(Related item: Music websites)
“Technology has changed things all the way through the chain,” says Kelli
Richards, a digital music pioneer who co-wrote The Art of Digital Music.
“You can, in a garage, create (recorded) music that 10 years ago would’ve
cost $100,000, and you can instantly reach a global audience.”
Driving the changes are the increased power of PCs and broadband Internet.
Independent musicians can now use a PC as a multitrack recording studio.
Songs can be inexpensively created, stored, burned to CDs and uploaded
onto the Web.
Those websites can be much more than just a place to post songs in hopes
someone might find them. Jenna Drey was an undiscovered dance-music artist
who uploaded some of her songs onto GarageBand.com. The songs rose to the
top of the website’s listings, and Drey wound up with a record deal and a
song that reached No. 11 on Billboard’s dance chart.
Even for a band that’s more of a weekend hobby, the Web creates ways to
get occasional bookings and sell CDs.

Some types of independent music websites:

•Discovery and development. There have long been a couple of problems with
independent musicians posting their output on the Web. First, how would
anyone sort through all that music to find quality songs they might like?
And, second, how would an ordinary musician fight through the noise to get
noticed?

One solution: GarageBand.com. Any unsigned musician can post music on the
site. Listeners are asked to rate songs. Ratings and traffic on the site
drive songs toward the top of GarageBand’s charts, which are much like
Billboard charts. Listeners looking for popular music can go to GarageBand
and check out songs at the top of the charts in categories they enjoy.

Underground Hip Hop Artist Mykill Miers is one of the many success stories
from Pump Audio. Miers to his credit has been featured on everything from
Oprah to Real World. Mykill has also been nominated for an Emmy for his
work on shows like Oprah, Wife Swap and The Apprentice. Due to this level
of exposure Mykill Miers has been a sought after artist for numerous cable
stations and small movie companies. Mykill Miers has a full length CD
release due out in October 2007 on his own label Abnormal Media Group.

Other sites act as online-only record labels. Magnatune, for instance,
looks for talented but unsigned artists and is building a stable of acts,
much like a record label. But Magnatune sells downloads and doesn’t sign
its artists to exclusive contracts.

•Distribution and sales. Not long ago, there were few ways for unsigned
artists to make any money on their work. But now, so what if you can’t
muscle onto record store shelves? Anyone can sell CDs through CD Baby,
which has grown into the Amazon.com of independent music.
Another company, Pump Audio, has figured out how to sell independent music
to the creators of TV shows, commercials and movies for use as background
music. Pump splits the revenue with the musicians.

•Live events. websites are starting to automate what a professional
manager might do. Sonicbids, for instance, posts listings of venues
seeking live acts and gives bands a way to reply by clicking and sending
an electronic press kit.
“There used to be only one way to get the job done: Go through a major
label,” author Richards says. “Now, the artist has a choice.”
Music websites
Sonicbids
URL: www.sonicbids.com
Purpose: Match independent musicians with live venues.
How it works: Bands sign up for about $50 a year and create an electronic
press kit (EPK), which can include song downloads and even video. People
looking for live acts — bookers, promoters, festival organizers — post
notices on the site. Musicians can send their EPKs to respond to the
notices.

Back story: Panos Panay was born in Cypress, earned a degree in music
management from the Berklee College of Music in 1994 and worked as a rock
and jazz music agent for seven years.
“The bills just for FedEx-ing press kits were so costly,” Panay says. “I
could only imagine what it was like for a young artist trying to break
out. I started thinking I could do something about it.”
By 2000, he’d been watching the Web take off and thought that could be the
answer — essentially, creating an automated online music agent. Panay
started working on the company in the middle of the dot-com crash, in late
2000.
The site launched in 2002. More than 25,000 acts have signed up with
Sonicbids. Listings range from Annie’s in Cincinnati to a songwriter event
in Sydney.
GarageBand.com
URL: www.garageband.com
Purpose: For musicians, it’s a place to post music and information, have
their songs reviewed and try to build a following. For listeners, it
functions as a Web radio station.
How it works: Bands pay fees, which vary depending on membership levels
and other criteria, to post songs for the site’s latest “contest.” The
songs are reviewed by listeners and other musicians and have a chance of
climbing GarageBand’s automated charts. The site is not a place to sell
downloads — it’s mostly a listen-only radio station model — though artists
can sell their CDs through the site.
Back story: Ali Partovi was one of the generation of super-young dot-com
millionaires. He’d co-founded LinkExchange at the age of 23 and in 1998
sold it to Microsoft for $265 million in stock.
Partovi is also a musician, so he left Microsoft to try to make it with a
rock band. “It didn’t go very well,” he says.
Along the way, he’d tried out GarageBand.com, which was co-founded in 1999
by Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison. After the dot-com bust,
GarageBand.com struggled.
“When I heard it might be going out of business, I thought it was an
investment opportunity,” Partovi says. He picked up the company cheap.
Then he dug into revamping it — making GarageBand not just a place to post
music, but creating a system that pushes popular music to the top of the
site’s play lists. That, in a sense, turns GarageBand into a
self-generating radio station, where the listeners dictate the hits.
“I see a real possibility for democratizing the music industry from the
ground up,” Partovi says.
Pump Audio
URL: www.pumpaudio.com
Purpose: To sell independent music to makers of TV shows, commercials and
movies.
How it works: Artists send a CD and a licensing agreement to Pump Audio.
If accepted, the music is included in the Pump Box — a hard drive that a
video producer can plug into a computer or digital editing booth.
The producer chooses songs — or, more commonly, small snippets of music —
to use on the show, and pays Pump Audio accordingly. That might range from
$10 for a few seconds to $20,000 for a song that runs for an entire
commercial. Pump Audio splits the revenue 50-50 with the artists.
Back story: “It all comes out of my experience as a failed musician,” says
Pump’s founder, Steve Ellis. More than a decade ago, he had a recording
contract but never broke through and was dropped by the label. He wanted
to help other musicians like him make money.
His epiphany came after meeting an MTV producer who told him the network
needs 25 to 65 bits of music for a half-hour show. To get that music, MTV
had to either pay a lot of money for limited rights to music owned by a
record company or pay people to cook up music just for that show.
At the same time, technology has made it possible for independent artists
to inexpensively crank out high-quality music. They put that music on CDs
and post it to the Web. The artists, who own the rights, can sign off on
the use of a song clip without having to go through lawyers.
“I thought, ‘What if you put together the independent music that’s already
there with the TV producers who need it?’ ” Ellis says. He’d act as an
aggregator and broker and make it easy for a TV network to get all kinds
of music from one source.
That required a technology solution. The Web wouldn’t work — it would take
far too long to search for music and download CD-quality clips. Instead,
Ellis delivers a Pump Box — basically a hard drive, software for searching
for genres and moods of music, and thousands of songs and instrumental
tidbits.
While creating a TV show, a producer can connect the Pump Box to a PC and
browse through music that fits a certain scene. Once the show is
completed, a music cue sheet details what music was used and who should be
paid.
These days, Ellis is doing much better than when he was a musician. Pump
Audio “was profitable from the beginning,” he says.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2007-8-29-indy-music-web_x.htm

Jena 6

HIP HOP DELEGATION TRAVELS TO JENA TO ENSURE JUSTICE AND SCHOLARSHIP FOR
JENA 6

-A Delegation of the Hip-Hop Community to Impact Jena 6 Demonstration
Beyond Rally-

A delegation from the Hip Hop activist community will serve as Ambassadors
for Common Peace at the September 20th, 2007 protest rally of the Jena 6
trial in Jena, Louisiana. Mr. J. Michael Carr Jr. of the Fathers for the
Future Foundation (FFF) and Troy Nkrumah of the National Hip Hop Political
Convention (NHHPC) will lead a delegation of young people to Jena to
monitor, mediate, and demonstrate for the justice of the six young youth who
are on trial and unless justice is served could spend the decades in prison.
This delegation will also include over 10 young lawyers from around the
country who will work as legal observers to ensure that the constitutional
rights of the demonstrators are not violated by law enforcement.

Invited by the “Friends of Justice”, the actual organization to first break
the Jena 6 story to the Chicago Tribune and BBC in December 2006, the
Ambassadors For Common Peace will work to promote civility and goodwill at
the mobilization in Jena, LA. It is the belief of the Hip Hop community that
this is one of the most salient racial trials since the Rodney King verdict
in 1992 and has the potential to repeat the disastrous outcome if justice is
not met for the defendants. This one trail has the potential to set back
race relations and delegitimize the current strides made in the fight for
racial justice, thus furthering the heightened racial tensions.

Just as with the 1964 deaths of the three civil rights workers in Neshoba
County, Mississippi, the six black youth facing attempted murder and
aggravated assault charges in Jena, Louisiana are bringing the national
climate of racial injustice to another tipping point. The hip hop generation
has taken a stand to voice their objection to the circumstances around this
trial, because the impact will have such long term ramifications on American
society, thus silence is not an option.

The Ambassadors For Common Peace understand that it is the proclivity of
both sides to interpret the case based on their own perceptions; however, we
would like to state that it is our intention and objective to remain true to
the philosophy of nonviolent direct action. Therefore, our focus is to be
advocates for a peaceful, but vocal demonstration and to discourage those
who seek to agitate through the call for violence at the September 20th
rally. We encourage all who are concerned with this matter to come out and
participate in a safe, constitutional and effective mobilization for the
justice for the Jena 6.

Concerned about the educational and economic interruption in the lives of
these six black young men, the Fathers for the Future Foundation, a 501(c)
(3) nonprofit corporation headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has created a
separate scholarship fund to help these youth continue their education after
this ordeal has ended. It is the mission of the Fathers for the Future
Foundation to educate adult men in financial literacy, parenting,
life-skills, and job training.

“The lives of these six young men are very important to our delegation; and
creating opportunities for all men is our ultimate goal”, said president and
founder of the Fathers for the Future Foundation, J. Michael Carr Jr. “The
trial in Jena, LA is only a small aspect of a larger problem that is
plaguing the nation. The question is not, how do we prosecute warehouses of
our youth, but rather how to nurture them and secure a future of liberty
with the pursuit of happiness that is a right of all Americans? Irrespective
of race, nationally young men are not being treated respectfully. We demand
fairness for young men in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike. Jena, LA
is the first stop on our journey to social justice and economic opportunity
for our nation’s young men”.

For more information about the Ambassadors For Common Peace, please visit
www.nhhpc.org or www.fathersforfuture.org.

State of New Orleans (via Davey D and Rock & Rap)

You can listen to this interview by click HERE:

http://odeo.com/audio/16520503/view

New Orleans has long been a music capitol here in the US. It has been home to all sorts of jazz and blues greats ranging from the Meters to the Neville Brothers to Louis Armstrong to Wynton Marsalis to Fats Domino. Yes indeed New Orleans has always spoken to us through her music.

In recent years New Orleans has reached out to us through Hip Hop. there’s been a long list of rap stars that have continued in the tradition of bringing attention to New Orleans’ music heritage. Among the more notables are Juvenile, Lil Wayne, Master P, Silk the Shocker, Mystikal, Mia X the Cash Money Millionaires with Baby, BG, Manny Fresh Turk and many more.

Like most areas that have a roster of superstars there are those who are lesser known as far as the mainstream is concerned yet very popular amongst the common folk in the hood. In New Orleans that would include acts like Truth Universal, DJ Jimi, 54th Platoon and the man who lead the big march to kick off the historic International Tribunal for Hurricane Katrina and Rita-Sess4-5

Coming straight outta of the ravaged 9th Ward Sess 4-5 brings energy, a strong sense of conviction and determination to the table when he walks in the room. He’s seen a lot and lost a lot over the past two years but like most people from New Orleans, he’s focused on moving forward. We sat down with him the day during the second day of the Tribunal and he gave us some keen insight into the ins and outs of the Big Easy.

We kicked things off by talking about Sess’ home base the 9th Ward. He talked about the type of communities that existed there before community. He said in spite of the poverty the NO’s largest and most populated ward was thriving. There was a strong sense of family and culture. He noted how the upper 9th Ward was full of apartments and had two public housing units while the lower 9th ward contained thousand of home owners. Two years after Katrina houses remain in shambles for the world to see in a place that is pretty much a ghost town.

Sess explained that new Orleans folks have a spirit that helped them cope with the disaster they all face. Many of the people he knows have lost loved ones to the floods on top of losing all their possessions, however, for most people its about picking up the pieces and moving onward and upward. This is happening in the face of outrageous government neglect.

“There’s no time to mourn”, noted Sess when you have oppression all upon you”. People in New Orleans are about the business of survival.

During our interview we talked about the role some of New Orleans rappers played in the ongoing repair efforts. Sess noted that we can’t expect people like Master P or Baby to shoulder the entire load. Many of them have family and friends that they been helping out. However, Sess noted that he wished they used their celebrity more effectively. He looked at the efforts that David Banner put in the rebuilding of Mississippi and wished that some of the big names could’ve done newsworthy projects that would’ve better shined a light on those left out of the rebuilding efforts underway within New Orleans.

Our conversation expanded beyond rap stars as we discussed the types of contributions or lack of contributions put forth by those parent companies that distribute artists like Master P or Cash Money. It was noted that record labels have made billions of dollars off the music coming out of this region. The question that was raised was how much money did any of those major labels put towards recovery efforts? What sort of big events did these labels put together?

For example David Banner worked tirelessly and with little outside help to put on huge benefit concerts for Mississippi. Did we see anything similar being put forth by big time executives and label owners like Clive Davis, Jimmy Iovine, David Geffen,Lyor Cohen , Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Doug Morris and others who may own huge catalogues of artists coming from New Orleans? How much money did these companies give? What have they done to help restore the region’s musical heritage and was it comisserate to the type of profits they made over the years?

Our discussion than switched to the role of established Black leaders. Sess 4-5 eloquently addressed the question as to how such catastrophe could take place in a city that is pretty much Black run. N.O. has a Black mayor, Black police chief and other key individuals who run the infrastructure of the this city. How could the aftermath of Katrina happen on their watch?

Sess 4-5 noted that many of those in power see their position as stepping stones to bigger and better things. Getting down and dirty to help uplift the people could be a career killer for many of these Black elected officials who tend to cater to white and corporate power bases. Sess concluded that many of those in office were about the business of looking out and protecting their own interests versus the interests of those most in need. The real heroes of the day were young brothers who stuck behind risking life and limb.

Our conversation next focused on the relationship between the police and poor Black folks in New Orleans. Sess broke down the politics behind how the police department works. It has long been corrupt. He said they have quotas that need to be met in terms of arrests. Officers have an incentive to go out and put cuff people because if they meet a certain number they get bonuses. The end result is New Orleans having one of the highest incarceration rate in the world. In addition it has the highest percentage of people with misdemeanors getting locked up. He noted that any little thing including littering or expired tags can get you jail time in new Orleans.

Sess 4-5 went on to add that the city’s economy is based upon tourism and incarceration. He then went into detail as to how one person getting arrested in a family can quickly drain resources while fattening the wallets of those who run the city. He talked about how residents have to pay for drug tests, court costs and every other service connected to their punishment.

Sess noted that up to 80% of Black males sooner or later will get arrested in New Orleans. The cops make it their business to enegage young brothers and make their presence felt. He himself has been arrested more than 30 times. You will get popped sooner or later for any little thing.

We then discussed the classism and ethnic heirarchy that exists in New Orleans and how even to this day in 2007, there is still a ruling class that rallies around skin color, with light skin Blacks or Creoles dominating the top echelons of political and business arenas. Its almost like New Orleans has a caste system that dates back to slavery.

Sess broke down how Katrina and the large scale displacement has impacted electoral politics. With so many Blacks removed from the city, the GOP for starters now have a fighting chance and a much stronger influence in city politics. Sess 4-5 also gave a run down of the Presidential race. he notes that none of those running have really made their presence felt and even if they did at the end of the day Black people would lose because all of them including Hillary and Barack are carrying out agendas for a power base that doesn’t have the best interest of poor Blacks.

We concluded our discussion by focusing on Black-Latino relations which have intesified during the reconstruction efforts. Sess noted that many of the immigrants arriving from Mexico are getting played by white developers who are paying them below market low wages in an attempt to lock out Black folks who have long been unionized and staples in the construction industry. On top of that these immigrants are getting abused. He also noted that many Latinos are now subject to being new targets for an aggressive police force that works on quotas. He said it would be best if Black and Brown came together and fought for a living wage.

Sess-4-5 is currently finishing up his new album called ‘The Louisiana Purchase’. He has his own record label called ‘Nuthin But Fire’ and he owns a record store. His video Blackman has caused a buzz.

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Peep this video from Sess 4-5