2019 has brought a substantial amount of new artists across genres to music listeners’ streaming service platforms. This nearly-instantaneous influx of songs to different devices has its pros and cons when it comes to the discovery of new talent. Withal, the power of the internet provokes a grander conversation about the limitless influence independent artists have within their circuits and the culture overall.
Co-Director and Editor of ‘The Remix: Hip-Hop X Fashion’ documentary, Farah X hopes audiences take in the need for women and people of color’s stories to shine across both the entertainment and fashion industries.
On February 27th A- WA performed a few songs off their new album at the Top of the Standard.
Ashley Edwards only goes by her stage name A$H. (Ash). The Oklahoma City native beamed at her listening party for her first album titled It’s Just Art which dropped on March 22, 2019, and is already in the top five on iTunes R&B/Soul chart.
On Wednesday, October, 11th, BET Networks threw a bash in BKLYN Studios in honor of their new series titled Hustle in Brooklyn. Before the party kicked off, the attendees were able to take part in a meet and greet with the cast as they entered. The cast features millennials as they hustle throughout Brooklyn to make their dreams a reality.
Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’ is filled with so many different sounds and rhythms, it’s hard to see how anyone could stay sane while creating it.
BX rhymer Al-Doe reemerged alongside rapper Mak with the Wolph Creations directed “Streets So Ugly” video — to introduce the duo’s recent release, Drunk in Vegas.
Conrad Dimanche, a former Bad Boy A&R executive has taken the business of music and applied it to a new digital platform that is shaping how the music industry looks for talent and signs talent.
As part of Mastercard House’s “Start Something Priceless” campaign they teamed up with The Fader magazine to host a panel discussion January 25th hosted by Ebro Darden on the hip-hop diaspora featuring panelist who are connected to hip-hop in different areas which included Fader co-founder Rob Stone, designer Jeff Staple, photographer Jonathan Mannion and rap artist Young M.A.
In reflecting on becoming connected with hip-hop, Stone said, “I think for me I felt like I was in on a secret. I felt like this hip-hop thing I don’t know if it was meant for me. I had moved to Long Island at that point and I would catch Ralph McDaniels show Video Music Box. I remember standing next to my basketball team and saying have you heard the song “Roxanne,” and I was like ‘Yeah my sister plays Sting’. And he was like no “Roxanne” and he played me that record and just opened me up to hip-hop and from early I couldn’t get enough of it. At the time it wasn’t all over the place, if you wanted to hear hip-hop in New York it was Friday, Saturday night shows on the major New York stations or you had to find your college radio station that was playing at 1-3 in the morning. There was such a confidence in it that I knew I wanted to spend my life in hip-hop but you kind of knew if you were on the ground floor and you saw the talent and the effect of how much it means to people you knew it would grow to this level. And it was all naysayers who said it was just a fad it would go away and thirty almost forty years later it’s here and stronger than ever.”
When asked the same question M.A replied, “I grew up in the early 2000’s that was my era, I was born in 92. Can’t really say too much about the 90’s now yea I learned a lot just by looking back on everything. I was in the era of Jay Z, Dipset, G-Unit, Talib Kweli. I ain’t gonna lie 2000 was a good year for hip-hop that’s when I think it really broke through as far as us getting real mainstream with it. I was a big fan I loved it. 50 Cent is one of my favorite rappers of all time, when he came about it was like something different to me. I just loved it. I just thought I was gonna be the best of all time when I first wrote my first rap. I was like this is it, I believe in this, I love this I want this. It was like my first love and I didn’t want nothing else.”
During the Q and A with the audience after the panel discussion a question was asked do hip-hop artists need to address social issues in their music to which Darden expressed his personal opinion stating, “I don’t feel like anyone creating any type of art has an obligation to do anything other than create the art they want to create. I will say in hip-hop as an MC, hip-hop being from the community and the street and being a part of the struggle specifically the black nationalist struggle, there’s an unspoken obligation because hip-hop has always been an extension of that in its essence of bringing the community together and empowering voices that were not heard being and being paid attention to. So I feel like that’s about of the fabric of hip-hop, but at the same time would never require an artist to rap about something they are not knowledgeable or passionate about.”
It’s rare that you find an artist who does fluidity so well but KaMillion, living up to her name, excels at almost every aspect of the music industry.