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.
Last Monday, as a part of NYC Advertising Week the Universal Music Group & Brands and Mass Appeal presented a panel in Times Square called “Is your Brand Prepared for a Hip Hop Future?” The panel focused on the growing influence of hip hop culture in advertising, and included some major names in the music industry to share their thoughts during the panel.
Moderated by Andre Torres, the VP of Urban Music at Universal Enterprises, the panel hosted Ethiopia Habtemariam (President of Motown Records), Sacha Jenkins (Chief Creative Officer at Mass Appeal), Tuma Basa (Global Head of Hip Hop at Spotify), and Shana Barry (Experimental Manager of Music & Entertainment at Anheuser-Busch). The conversation focused a lot on the influence certain hip hop artists have over many trends today. “There’s an education process thats happening” said Habtemariam. “I’ve seen certain hip hop artists that wouldn’t get clothes from high end fashion designers were like, ‘You know what, I’m going to buy all these clothes and you’re going to see all my paparazzi shots and my fashion shoots, and you’ll eventually see why I’m worthy of pulling from your fashion houses.’ For Cardi B specifically, she had to teach them. She had to buy the cloths for a long period of time to get them to understand her value. Look at where she is now.”
“The success of hip hop, it’s undeniable,” said Sasha Jenkins, “You don’t want a rapper wearing your stuff? They’re going to buy it anyway. They’re going to make it cool anyway […] The success of hip hop proves to me that whether you want us or not, we are going to take what you have and appreciate it artistically and aesthetically. Many brands are savvy enough to understand ‘wow these folks have a lot of power because they have influence in ways other genres certainly don’t have.’”
I got the chance to sit and speak with the NJ native on his music, goals and personal life.
Amazon Music and Live Nation have announced plans to livestream The Root’s “A Night Of Symphonic Hip Hop” concert taking place in Dallas, Texas.
Kota the friend is the number one artist to watch out for in 2017.
A well-known EDM DJ Steve Aoki decided to change up his sound adding hip hop and rap elements to his latest album going to be released soon, but previewed to public in Greenwich Village Tuesday night.
The 18th annual Latin Alternative Music Conference kicked off with a Venezuelan showcase at SOB’S in New a York City on July 11th. The opening event supported by Broadcast Music Inc., set the tone for what to expect in the following five days. It was a night filled with fresh interpretations of classic Latin music genres.
Read the interview below.
The highly anticipated Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez on Me” hits theatres this weekend, and The Knockturnal had the opportunity to speak to the film’s writers Eddie Gonzalez (Empire, Gang Related, Street 2: Motor City) and Jeremy N. Haft (Tamara and Grizzly Mountain about capturing Tupac’s legacy and their experiences creating the script.
Caleb Brown is making a name for himself. The Louisiana rapper has gained a large following on Soundcloud while his music videos have been making huge waves across the internet. Best known for his lyricism and socially conscious music, Caleb is the perfect new age rapper. We caught up with him to hear more about the release of his new EP All Dawgs Go to Heaven 2.
On growing up in Louisiana:
“Growing up it was real regular like as a child we got into childish mischief or whatever. We had are ups and downs and it wasn’t until we got older and started figuring out life is real,there’s consequences to my every action. It was fun.”
On how is upbringing influenced the album:
“Seeing a lot of my friends die, a lot of my friends go to jail, a lot of people that were in the neighborhood, just influential people from the area. I was like I want something more out of my life and I know other people do to. That was my whole inspiration.”
On the creative process behind the album:
“Took me a little bit like a year and some change to record it. I recorded a lot of it in my bedroom and collaborated with the producers than we went back over it and mixed and mastered it, it was a fun.”
What track from All Dawgs Go To Heaven, he has the most personal connection with:
“’36 Chambers’ featuring RyaN Jéy, because that really sums up the whole project being that’s one of my big homies we’ve both seen loses and we both understand that concept growing up, that song was just meant to happen.”
What the album symbolizes:
“Getting freedom, because you get so much pressure of your chest, you get to move on beyond things and start to move on. Try and get past a lot of my friends dying, I’m living there life for them since they didn’t get to.”
One thing I notice about your music compared to other soundcloud artists who may rap about Xanax or lean, you are very political and introspective, can you speak to that?
“Because it’s really happening to us. It’s happening to them so it’s just a different perspective. It’s cool what they’re doing but it’s really happening to us and somebody has to talk about it. Let’s talk about something that’s really happening.”
What do you want the world to know about Caleb Brown:
“I’m from the South. And people don’t know that based on the way I talk but I’m definitely from the south, dirty south. And there’s more people like me.”
On upcoming projects:
“I’m going on tour with Jaren Benton this summer. It starts June 28th! I’m looking forward to it”