To the Department of Justice, et al:

During the past few days you have shut down three prominent hip-hop sites: OnSmash.com, DaJaz1.com and RapGodfathers.com. I expect that by the time this letter is finished there will be more domains seized. Why are you shutting down our hip-hop sites? As a principle to an internationally distributed record label, I’m curious as to why we have been stripped of the power to enforce our own copyrights.

The users that frequent these sites are vital to the existence of hip-hop music. The communities that are formed within these sites listen to the music we distribute, leave feedback and debate with one another about the quality of our products. These sites effectively serve as the customer service department to the record industry. If I put out a bad record, I want to know how to improve the sound. If the reception is overwhelmingly positive, then I’m encouraged to put more money behind the record to increase its exposure.

With your efforts to curb piracy, you are costing us money by tampering with the ecosystem in which we aggregate our content to the masses. These sites do not operate under the radar. We are all aware of their existence and the placement of content on these sites is an integral part of our marketing campaigns. By cutting off our online communities you are not by any means heightening our expectations for sales. If we thought these sites were detrimental to our financial well being, we would have filed complaints against them a long time ago.

After reviewing the list of sites your organizations recently targeted, I noticed that these hip-hop sites were grouped in with sites that were selling counterfeit goods. I fail to see the correlation between a knock-off pair of Timberland boots and a sound recording that has been created and financed by an artist or label. A common phrase I hear in the music business is “Piracy equals theft.” Sure it does. But first you must truly define piracy. When the creators and owners of original content are encouraging these sites to post their media, who is guilty of piracy?

These moves are especially detrimental to independent musicians. With these actions you are cutting off the avenues to success for thousands of musicians in order for you to satisfy the wishes of four companies (Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner). The fact that these four companies have this much power over a government agency is the root of the problem in the first place. They limit competition by monopolizing radio airwaves and are now trying to do the same thing with the Internet. These hip-hop sites level the playing field for independent artists by giving them a high-traffic platform to gain exposure for their work.

Needless to say these four companies have tried to do this before and it didn’t work. To paraphrase a scene from the movie, The Social Network, the record labels may have succeeded in shutting down Napster, but after the smoke cleared nobody was itching to invest in a Tower Records franchise. The Napster shut down did not curtail file-sharing. It just made users scatter to other locations in order to discover and share new music. We will see the same effect if this current trend continues and this will be incredibly detrimental to the promotional efforts of artists in the hip-hop community.

Your recent actions do more harm than good. I am asking that you take a moment to listen to those of us who actually earn a living by working in the hip-hop industry before taking further drastic measures. As I wrote in an article nearly two years ago (see The Hip-Hop Stimulus Plan Part II), I believe the people operating these hip-hop sites are an invaluable resource to our industry and we should be paying them for their work rather than tyrannizing them.

We are in the process of rebuilding a struggling industry and the unwanted intrusion of the Justice Department into our online channels will only make our industry suffer longer. For the music industry to rebound we must embrace technology and learn how to remain profitable as innovation continues. Government intrusion creates a divide between providers of content and those who operate the sites distributing it, and it breeds distrust between the labels and site owners. This government action will inadvertently increase piracy as record labels become the enemy to site owners. The Department of Justice has crossed the line with this attack on the hip-hop community and this is unacceptable. It is not the job of a government agency to enforce copyrights owned by private entities and these actions interfere with the operation of our businesses. Do not strip us of our rights by bullying people that are vital to our prosperity. We are capable of handling copyright infringement claims through the proper legal channels and will certainly do so when we deem it necessary.

Sincerely,

Stu Pflaum
Element 9 Muzik LLC

It takes a lot to motivate me to write about an emerging artist. With an overflowing inbox filled with records from artists I’ve never heard of, it’s hard to sift through it all and find one that stands out from the pack. While I love the internet and everything it has done for music, it’s still old fashioned word-of-mouth hype from peers and colleagues that puts new artists on my radar. Since moving back to Cleveland earlier this year, it has been nearly impossible to ignore the buzz of a local artist by the name of Machine Gun Kelly (MGK).

Simply put, MGK is the most prolific artist on the Cleveland hip-hop scene. He stands head and shoulders — both literally and figuratively — above the other artists that make up the city’s hip-hop landscape. That’s no slight to Kid Cudi, who just moved 170K units during the first week of his second album release. But Cudi isn’t a Cleveland MC. His emo-driven alternative sound is perfect for the hipsters out in Williamsburg, which is why I’ve always considered him to be an NYC artist. I’m not trying to stir the pot. I like Kid Cudi and respect his creativity, but his sound doesn’t encompass the blue collar griminess of a city like Cleveland. His categorization as a Cleveland MC is only by birthright.

I remember seeing MGK handing out mixtapes and fliers years ago at Cleveland hip-hop shows. As a tall, lanky and tatted up white kid in the clubs, he was hard to miss. Years later, the same kid has elevated himself to local superstar status on the brink of breaking out to a national audience. His fan-first marketing approach is unique compared to other artists trying to buy their way to stardom. This is why MGK consistently packs venues with true die-hard fans who know every line to his songs.

With his latest mixtape release, Lace Up, MGK proves that he’s ready for the major leagues. With a diverse track selection that flirts with commercialism as much as it showcases the rapid-fire rhyme delivery that he is best known for. Everything about this mixtape, from the production to the features, is done right and the final product is nearly flawless.

On the song “Cleveland,” an ode to the city he calls home, MGK shows his love for the streets that raised him. He embraces his position as an ambassador for the city, blatantly sending a message to those doubting the heart of its residents declaring

“…Anybody saying that Cleveland’s dead/ Fuck Ya’ll/ Tell em that’s what Cleveland said!”

The self-actualizing “End of the Road” is a masterful rap ballad. Using somber piano riffs, the song dives deep into MGK’s upbringing as an artist and does a great job balancing the rhymes of hardships with braggadocio lines about his accomplishments. Mat Musto’s vocals contrast perfectly with MGK’s gritty delivery creating a record that’s easy for both the male and female fans to embrace.

On the mixtape’s standout track “Make It,” MGK takes an upbeat approach to reflect on the success he’s obtained so far in his career. Sean McGee complements the track with his vocal crooning by delivering a gospel style chorus that fits perfectly into the composition. As a whole, this is the sort of uplifting sound that hip-hop needs more of. It’s reminiscent of records like Kanye West’s “Good Life” and Maino’s “All the Above” (sans the T-Pain hook), but is more identifiable to listeners because it doesn’t feel like a record that is forced by a label simply for radio airplay; it’s real and heartfelt.

Lace Up is the type of mixtape that has the potential to elevate MGK to a nationwide audience the way So Far Gone did for Drake. Judging from the non-stop work ethic MGK has displayed over the years, it’s unlikely that he’s preparing to sit back and wait for his big break to fall in his lap. Clearly, he realizes the odds are against him as a white MC. He’s not being brought up under the tutelage of a proven legend like Eminem with Dr. Dre. Nor does he try to emulate the gimmicky persona of an artist like Asher Roth. What he’s got behind him is more than a fan base; it’s a tribe that is rapidly expanding and will not be satisfied until they’ve got everyone in the country screaming LACE UP!

Hit the jump for a stream & download links for Lace Up

Download Mixtape Free | LiveMixtapes.com Mixtape Player

There must be something in the water down in Atlanta that inspires an outpouring of creativity that rejuvenates the hip-hop world every couple of years. While Cee-Lo’s new track, Fuck You, featured at the top of this post may sound more like a pop record than the conventional hip-hop sound we’re used to, you must remember that Cee-Lo’s musical roots are grounded in the legendary Southern hip-hop group Goodie Mob.  While his musical projects in recent years have been on the experimental end of the musical spectrum, he’s still a hip-hop icon.

After one listen to Cee-Lo’s new masterpiece, the first thought that crossed my mind was that Cee-Lo just pulled an Andre 3000 on us. His ability to flip an antiqued sound that, if not for lyrical matter, one might mistake for a record that was made 50 years ago draws strong similarities to what Andre did back in 2003 when he (or collectively Outkast if you want to get technical about it) released the song Hey Ya.

I remember hearing Hey Ya for the first time right before heading to a DJ gig at Ohio University. I was fascinated by the record and knew that even during a time when my record crates were filled with the latest offerings from Lil Jon and others embracing the crunk music sound– Hey Ya was still going to be a hit. I debuted the record the very same night to a crowd that was equally enchanted by the sound and by the end of the night had probably spun it 10 times over 4 hours, driving the crowd into a frenzy each time. Shortly thereafter the rest of the world discovered the brilliance of Hey Ya and my Mom started calling me to hook her up with “that Outkast song.”

The difference between Fuck You and Hey Ya is their ability (or lack thereof) to be commercially exploited. While Hey Ya became a staple of every radio station, television show and award program, Fuck You won’t receive any of that exposure. Sure, Cee-Lo could always remake the track with a radio edit and tone down the lyrics, but that would severely take away from the brilliance of the song. It’s the unexpected structure of the song that makes it so captivating. When one encounters a title like “Fuck You”, they anticipate something dark and angry.  I’m sure Cee-Lo took this into consideration when making this record, which adds to the sheer brilliance of the composition.

What I believe will come from Cee-Lo’s latest release will be a great answer to those who have asked the question; how big can the Internet make a song? As I’m writing this, the Youtube video for the track stands at nearly 1.3 million views in 4 days. Impressive, but by viral video standards, it’s no Bed Intruder Song…yet. And let’s not get the two concepts completely intertwined. It’s one thing for a funny video to be passed around from friend to friend, co-worker to co-worker, etc but it takes a truly remarkable song to conquer those same demographic barriers. It will be exciting to see how the world embraces this record and whether or not it can be embraced by the mainstream the way Hey Ya was received.  Outkast’s album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards thanks in part to the strength of Hey Ya. Will they show Cee-Lo the same sort of love for Fuck You?

01. Sean McGee Feat. The Kid Blaze – Going Hard Way (2:15)
02. Sean McGee – Talk To Me (2:38)
03. Sean McGee – Hey Daddy (2:39)
04. Sean McGee – Diggin You (2:57)
05. Sean McGee – Gloria (3:22)
06. Sean McGee – Be Alone (4:11)
07. Sean McGee – Harder (2:40)
08. Sean McGee – Like You (3:43)
09. Sean McGee – Lyrics To Go (3:08)
10. Sean McGee – Make It Better (3:44)
11. Sean McGee – Miss My Love (2:46)
12. Sean McGee Feat. Maino – My Life (3:51)
13. Sean McGee – My Story (3:17)
14. Sean McGee – Lies (2:41)
15. Sean McGee – Broken Hearted (2:28)
16. Sean McGee – Rock With You (2:36)
17. Sean McGee – Good Day (2:43)
18. Sean McGee – Simple Things (3:10)
19. Sean McGee – Weekend Lover (1:54)
20. Sean McGee – Win Or Lose (2:53)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Aziz Ansari has recently become one of my favorite comics. His character, Tom Haverford, on Parks & Recreation steals every scene that he’s featured in and Ansari’s recent stand-up special Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, is required viewing for anyone that visits my place. The icing on the cake is that he’s a hip-hop aficionado, who constantly works rap references into his routine.

As you’ll see in the video below, Aziz also dabbles in turntablism and knows his stuff based on a recent interview he did with TurntableLab.

Like most hip-hop projects, his upcoming mixtape has encountered a delayed release date, but I’m betting the final product is going to be well worth the wait.

Here’s an update on the Raaaaaaaandy mixtape I’m working on with Dave Sitek. We’ve been working hard on it and I’m very excited. We may not meet the originally announced February 2010 release date, but has any great rap album come out when it was originally supposed to?

If you weren’t aware of this project at all, more info is here: http://bit.ly/7lerqT

I just found out there was a video for this track. Every line on this track is a hip-hop quotable. One of my favorite cuts EVER!

Big L Rest In Peace

1974-1999

Download this album to support the Haiti Relief effort. All proceeds will go to various charities to help the relief effort in Haiti. The minimum donation is $5.

Click Here to support the Haiti relief efforts by downloading the album.

Track Listing

01. K. Sparks ft. Tina Quallo – One Wish [Exclusive] (Prod. Moe Productions)
02. O’Neal McKnight ft. Yoli Cotray – Give Me A Hand [Exclusive] (Prod. Steve Sola)
03. Beyond Belief & Kwame ft. Amille Harris – 40 Seconds [Exclusive]  (Prod. Kwame)
04. Skinny & Scales ft. Megan Rochell – We Gonna Make It (Prod. The Haterz)
05. Pastor Troy – All I Know Is Zoe [Exclusive] (Prod. Haitian Traxxman)
06. Substantial & Marcus D – Recovery (Hold On) [Exclusive] (Prod. Marcus D.)
07. Mike Schpitz – Daily News [Exclusive] (Prod. Slot-A)
08. Novel – Velvet Sky (Prod. Novel)
09. Stanza, Tommy Nova & Panic (RHHA) – Standing In The Rain [Exclusive] (Prod. Mo)
10. Cymarshall Law – Freedom of Speech (Prod. Mr. Joeker)
11. Mika Means – Whats Goin On (Prod. Young Sears)
12. Marion Write – Generation Prodigy (Prod. Two3)
13. Thad Reid ft. Revolution – Heaven’s Watching (Prod. Ologist)
14. SoulStice & SBe – Brand New Day (Prod. SBe)
15. Chi-Ill – March [Exclusive] (Prod. O-Zone)
16. JD Era – What We Have (Prod. Bert “Twin” Rivere)
17. QP ft. Hardstone, Ms.Moone & Ms.Dawn Diva – Say a Prayer [Exclusive] (Prod. DJ Mauly T)
18. Mic Legacy ft. KDot – Together (Prod. KDot)
19. Dallas Parker – Reform (Prod. 7 Sounds)
20. The Regiment – Freedom (Prod. Soulution)
21. Justin Garner – Wait On You (Tribute To Haiti) (Prod. G-Sharp)
22. Pugs Atomz – All Yall (Keep On) (Prod. Grant Parks)
23. Spectacula – Tribute [Exclusive] (Prod. Bad News)
24. Gist The Essence ft. Cocoa Sarai – A Dream Deferred (Prod. Sound Royale)
25. MaG – Love Peace Progression (Prod. Stephen Joseph)
**Bonus Mikkey Halsted – Hold On [Exclusive] (Prod. Khari Lemuel for Lemuelism Productions)

On the QP: Feeling as though he’s been relegated to the on-deck circle for too long, rapper Devon “QP” Hubbard is hoping 2010 will be his breakout year. “Right now I’m nominated for the best freestyle in 2009 at Djbooth.net,” said Cleveland resident Hubbard, 25. “I have a couple of deals on the table. I signed a distribution deal with Fontana/Universal, so that’s kind of big, and I’m still working in the studio really hard on the album. I’m just honestly blessed, but actually there’s a lot of pressure. I’m focused on bringing the city up and bringing more talented artists out into the spotlight. I’m just hoping to be the gateway to that. So yes, it’s been a long time coming and I’m expecting it to be a very big year for me.” Expecting to sign with a major label soon, Hubbard hopes to have his debut effort later this year, including a possible showcase at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. The project, which he describes as possessing a hip-hop-meets- R&B style with a street vibe, includes lead single “Mz. Hood,” as well as the pop-ish “Lip Stick” and club track “Surfa Boy.” For more information, go to Qpborn2win.com.

Source