MD/DC/VA What's Stopping Us From Blowin Up???

[shadeed]

I'm always making my "rounds" to different spots/studios etc, networking w/ diff. singers/rappers/producers etc. with the overall plan of puttin it all together and
making something major pop off.


I was @ the Heritage Festival this weekend @ Camden Yards and Bossman performed and I'm like damn, this is one cat who I KNOW personally got his grind on because he was sellin his $2 mixtapes at Security Mall, the Flea Market, and all over the damn place.
Now he's signed to SoSoDef but I don't know what impact he'll make on the national radar. You also got Huli Shalone who is doin his thing independently.

DC has a regional sound (go-go) and it's to the point where if you are touring in DC, and you don't throw Go-Go into your set, then you'll get a lukewarm response.
I think Go-Go can be more of a nationwide mainstay if there were producers who did
"Go-Go remixes" of popular songs like 5000 Watts does down in Htown w/ Chop & Screw.
Lissen does pretty good covers of top 40 radio, and I think if more artists would utilize the rawness, call and response, and live element that go-go provides, then that movement would really take off.

VA has the Star Trak camp, and Timbo's artists but other than the Clipse and The Lady of Rage, there hasn't been no starpower comin from that area (correct me if I'm wrong)


You could agree or disagree with the post, but what I'm looking for is suggestions and ways that we can get on the come-up, and there's opportunities to network and make each other better in some way. All input (good or bad) is welcome, but I represent money so its not gonna make sense, if it ain't about making dollars! Peeeeeace!

 

[classic]

Hey thats crazy i was at the hertiage festival last year i dident go this year, to damn hot!!!!.. Boss man is the truth, i remember hearing about him way back. He gots skills. I wish i would have known you were there we could have met up

Here is what i think the MAIN problem with DC/MD/VA(from my perspective)

Cats in this area dont have an identity(as far as hip hop is concerened). TO many people in this area go by whats hot instead of doing their own thing

Back in the mid 90's DC/VA/MD was all about NY style hip hop, you couldent tell them nothing else. Now alot cats in baltimore and DC and VA are tryin their hardiest to be southern. Since this place is in the middle(georigraphy wise) cats dont really have their own cultural identitiy to hold on do like we do down south, NY, or the west. THere isent theriving supportive underground scene in this area.(lots of backbiting and beefs) Local people dont support their own hip hop artists(go-go and B-more club is a differnt story)

Also i think go-go and b-more club actually hurt DC and B-mores hip hop idenitity casue thats where all the love and support tend to go(from the cities)

I think thats whats holding back alot of DV/MD/VA artist from blowing up, casue you have to many mixed signals being sent and wayyy to wannabies ..... Alot Cats in this area need to be themsevles(hip hop wise) instead of being whats hot.

But with this new style of go-go hip hop beats starting to make waves, things could change

FYI there is alot of talent in this area!!!!!

My 2 cents
class...

 

[bigdmakintrax]

I was born and raised right chea VA metro area, and I have heard so much dope production in the area, so its not so much the music, you got, Kev Brown, doing it....Mahogany (Grammy winning producer), Rich Harrison(we all know what he did), Chucky Thompson(Nas, Faith, Mary J, Biggie, Puff), There's another Rich too, he produced Mya's Falling and joints for Dru Hill, Demi Doc (produced joints on Ashantis last album, also of JYB) .....and there are some other producers who I missed that are doing well as far as getting on projects and reppin...so the music department is well grounded I think they just have to find a niche and get on projects, DC is in the middle and Classic you are right its an identity crisis because for one, I will tell you I make lots of beats but because of the situation there are cats in this area just like yourself for whatever reason School or the Military they run up on me for certain types of beats....they are out of towners that want their music....not what we produce a lot of times...for that I cater to what they ask me.....I SELL BEATS.........on the real though there are more people in NY tryna do dirty south now and using it, ha....how you like that?...now as far as production on trying to get on projects you have to develop a digestible sound........gogo has a heavy influence, there is nothing wrong with that though, a big part of it is the artists have no idea of what to do on joints sometimes, they want to be dirty, dirty or Pac or someone else etc...people just have to develop their sound, there is not a lot of venues for artist to actually perform and battle and hone their skills into a distinct art....that is one reason......but on the DC MD raplist that I belong to we have gone into extensive discussion about the topic........in order for an artist and a project to succeed to it has to have a market and unfortunately there is a very small market of consumers that will buy that music consistenly.......down south you have cats that have made hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions out of their trunk and word of mouth off of their projects.......they support and play local music on the radio....that is the medium that have artists locked out in DC.......but you have Raheem Devaghn getting much burn now....for an artist to succeed just like the producers above in DC the natural graduation is to get on a major label project and forget about the underground here if they want to move to that level.......I went to college in Richmond and hip hop was always more accepted than even here so the history for having hip hop is shallow although NY style acts have come down and borrowed, collaborated with and sampled gogo since the beginning of hip hop......Sha, Bossman is tight, his project is still open for beats before the album drops, I know his camp and his managers personally.

 

[kojo]

lol MD/DC has no problem with blowing up their R&B artists, but rappers are a whole nother thing. dude above me is definitely right.

 

[shadeed]

Class and BigD, y'all both make some good points and add a different perspective to the table. Anybody who is shopping tracks will tell you that there are some unbelievable producers out here, but they might lack the push and/or overall presentation.

My perspective on the music game is a little bit different than most producers/artists.
I want to be famous for being behind the scenes and helping to break new artists.
When I finally get it poppin on the level I want, my status could be summed up in one
Biggie line:

"You wanna get on son, you need to ask me"

Right now, I'm doing promo kits and for artists of all genres (and once I find a photographer) headshots for aspiring actors and models. My overall vision is to start a
"one stop shop" for the indie artists/models from this area to go from mom's basement
to touring, press releases, independent scans etc.
I'm also starting up a lil' underground newsletter (the same way Source mag got started)
featuring interviews, commentary, and reviews of all things independent artist related.
I got my freelance writers locked, loaded and ready to get started.

While I agree that there is a small market of consumers that will buy the music consistently, I also have to add that there hasn't been a "movement" that has compelled anyone to support an artist across the board (DC/MD/VA). The average artist is so sectional, but nobody has really came out and said "I got love for the whole tri-state" and toured the whole tri-state on the regular. If Bossman did a go-go remix of Above the Law,
then I believe that would open up his music to a whole new fanbase of listeners.

My idea to remedy the situation is to start something up tri-state wide.
I mean, I live in B-more, work (day job) in Arlington and spend my weekends in DC, so I see every side of it. Maybe a mixtape/DVD series in the same vein as Smack for strictly this area would do the trick. I do some behind the scenes editing and shit for a local cable access show that accepts and plays indie rock/punk videos. Those dudes are helping me make an intelligent video camera purchase and how to deal with lighting, angles and shit like that. BigD I get the impression from previous posts that you're knee deep in the music, and probably have some heavy connections, so I'll definitely holla at you for advice in this game.

Class, you're right down the street so we'll definitely do some work. I'm off 695 exit 17
so we'll hook up and I'll help you however I can and hopefully you'll do the same.

 

[classic]

Class, you're right down the street so we'll definitely do some work. I'm off 695 exit 17
so we'll hook up and I'll help you however I can and hopefully you'll do the same.

Fuck your off exit 17?? i used to live off exit 17 last year. I lived at rolling wind apartments off of rolling road. I moved to exit 9 casue it was closer to UMBC(Were i go to school)

I tell you this that DV/MD/VA tri-city thing sounds good on paper, but u know and i know thats gonna be real hard to make happen. Anybody who is familure with this area knows there is no love loss between baltimore, DC and PG county. Its to totally differnt cutlures, so despite there close proximity it will be hard to find an artist to unite them. Its like mixing apples and oranges......

Thats one of the reasons why its gonna be hard for any artist to blow in this area. Everyone knows that in order for an arist to become natinal he must have that local foundation. TO me this area is to regional..and there to much beef and no cultural identity to unite cats

We beef too in the florida but it was differnt . IN FL tampa cats HATE Jacksonville cats(who hate miami cats), but despite that beef, when tampa toney(a popular local artist) prefromed in jacksonville he got shown love casue he was putting it down for the greater good of the whole state and south in general(same with trick daddy and other Florida/southern artist) Cats tend to unite around someone who is representing their area. Despite the beef between jacksonville and tampa, we were all from florida and we all were southern so we had that to unite us.

I think thats gonna be real hard to recreate here casue the culture too differnt and their is NO larger identitiy that can be used to unite VA/MD/ DC.

Cats will always be like,
Im from baltimore, or im from PG, or IM from DC. You aint gonna here nobody saying "im repping from DC/VA/MD" area"

My 2 cents

class....

 

[trinidad]

Im from jerz n lookin at the va/baltimore scene i think Classic was right in saying its maybe an identity thing, but viginina do got quality, clipse (they are pretty dope), skillz(highly underrated), missy(musical innovator), timaland (trendsetter), neptunes (thpse boyz got work), n some of the others mentioned it not thta u guys cant blow its that middle region that kinda confuses every thing in my op, i really cant name any one from Bmore but B rich(garbage) so i cant comment on that n i hope thats not what the bmore sound is like, truth is now a days in hip hop everyone starting to mix their soundz u got the south big in the north and vice a versa u cant go wrong either way u know

 

[shadeed]

Fuck your off exit 17?? i used to live off exit 17 last year. I lived at rolling wind apartments off of rolling road. I moved to exit 9 casue it was closer to UMBC(Were i go to school)

I tell you this that DV/MD/VA tri-city thing sounds good on paper, but u know and i know thats gonna be real hard to make happen. Anybody who is familure with this area knows there is no love loss between baltimore, DC and PG county.

Thats one of the reasons why its gonna be hard for any artist to blow in this area. Everyone knows that in order for an arist to become natinal he must have that local foundation. TO me this area is to regional..and there to much beef and no cultural identity to unite cats

Im from baltimore, or im from PG, or IM from DC. You aint gonna here nobody saying "im repping from DC/VA/MD" area"

Yeah, you used to live by that plaza with Pizza Hut, Wendy's and its even a Walgreens over there. I got some shrimp fried rice from that plaza this Friday lol.

I'm not worried about any love lost between bmore,DC, and PG for the simple fact that the need to be famous and the want to be paid over-rides all that b.s. at the end of the day. All in all, I can't name any artist that suffers from "overpromotion" especially if you're an unsigned act.
I'll cite one example: in Chicago, the boy Bump J got all different types of gangs and sets united under Goon Squad. Most of these cats wouldn't be in the same room as one another
but they make it work. I'm all over this region and basically the "hate" is just a stereotype, only a lame would dislike somebody based on where they live.

I'm trying to organize a central point where artists/producers from this area can showcase there shit. A mixtape series that comes out every two months straight to the bootleggers and mom and pop shops is what I got in mind among other things. All producers and rappers gotta do is mail in tracks and me and the production team I assemble will handle what songs make the final cut and I can write a press release and have a street team to promote it.

Kinda like when DJ Screw started out, he would make tapes for different neighborhoods and then other hoods wanted to be represented and it just grew without airplay or videos.
I wanna set off a "Beltway Bangaz Vol 1." or some b.s. title like that and see where it goes.