One of the coolest things about Fish Outta Water? The Album's Artwork!

The artist is the LA- based Martin Hsu: http://www.martinhsu.com/

Japanese-born Emcee Kaz-well is a Fish Outta Water

The Bay Area has long since been a haven of experimental hip-hop, where artists aren’t afraid to embark into musically uncharted territory. So it's no surprise that the San Francisco-based self described “hip-hop geek,” Kaz-well, is readying his debut album, Fish Outta Water, a journey into an artists' thoughts and emotions, set against a hip-hop landscape, reminiscent of 1980s.

“I just let my pen go as a catharsis,” explains 28-year old Kaz-well, who was born and raised in San Francisco. “It was all a big experiment.”

Kaz’s lyrics are a reflection of his own trials and tribulations, which are typical of many break dancing, graffiti-loving hip-hop heads. Take track no 1, “Krazy Glue,” Kaz charges that you can always put your life back together no matter what your childhood or past was like. Undoubtedly, the topic of love was also on Kaz-well’s mind when recording this LP, as many of the tracks tackle the subject of love, loss, and heartbreak. “Whether a crush or a broken heart, everyone can relate to love. Plus, I had met my fiancé during the time of conception for most of these songs...love was fresh in my heart and mind.”

The fact that Kaz-well, raised by Japanese-American restaurateurs, was consumed with all things hip-hop set him apart from his classmates from an ealrly age. Rapping was the natural extension of his passion.

Sighting musical influences from Wu-tang and Nas to Living Legends and Hieroglyphics to Radiohead and Curtis Mayfield, Kaz’s eclectic influences are reflected in his own style of music. These days, his tastes run the gamut from folk to rock to electronica, sighting Jay Electronica, Iron and Wine, and Ray Lamontagne as his current favorites.

Zion I's Geek to the Beat!!!

The new Grouch & Eligh video featuring Pigeon John!!!!

ARE ZUMBI FROM ZION I AND GARY DOURDAN LONG LOST BROTHERS?

More Media Changes: Vibe Magazine Salaries Slashed, 4-day Work Weeks

According to Folio.com, Vibe Media announced a sweeping series of changes it says will position the company for survival and, allow the brand to salvage its print magazine without layoffs.

Among the changes: Beginning March 1, staffers will be asked to work four days per week, and have their salaries slashed 10 to 15 percent, according to a Vibe spokesperson.

“While numerous other media companies (Time Inc, Condé Nast, Meredith and Hearst) have closed titles completely and laid off staff to cut costs,” the company said. “VMG has taken a smarter and more thoughtful approach to workforce adjustments.”

Vibe will cut its guaranteed rate base 25 percent in July to 600,000 copies (down from 800,000). The monthly magazine is also trimming its frequency to 10 times per year.

The company also plans to launch a-yet-to-be-named “urban celebrity” tabloid in December. That magazine will be published twice-yearly.

Elliot Wilson launches Huffington Post-esque Website with Eminem Manager Paul Rosenberg

According to Dylan Stableford at Folio.com, former XXL editor Elliott Wilson is preparing to launch RapRadar, a Web site he hopes will eventually be a Huffington Post-like destination for hip-hop music fans and, perhaps, a print magazine. First, though, he says, he wants to develop a voice that has been lacking among Web sites that cover rap—that is, something akin to Perez Hilton.

The New York-based site is slated to go live March 9.

When it does, RapRadar will enter a highly-competitive category—with established Web sites including AllHipHop.com, SOHH.com and upstarts like NahRight covering the space alongside MTV, Billboard, the Source and even XXLmag.com, which Wilson launched during his XXL tenure.

“There are a lot of sites out there that do news, and a lot do gossip,” Wilson told FOLIO:. “But not a lot of them can put it into the proper context, where it’s journalism versus pure gossip. I want to raise the bar journalistically. The public is hungry for both.”

Once the ad-supported site is up and running, Wilson plans to invite artists and producers to post entries, Huffington Post-style. “If Jay-Z wants to express his feelings about Obama, there’s not really a forum where he can do that right now,” he said. (Wilson’s Soul of a Hustler, an authorized biography of Jay-Z, is scheduled to published in Spring 2010 by Atria/Simon & Schuster.)

The venture is being backed by Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager with whom Wilson launched Makavelliott LLC. “But this isn’t gonna be an Eminem fan site,” Wilson said.

Wilson—whose wife, Danyel Smith, is the editorial director of Vibe—still thinks rap magazines are viable, and is hoping Rap Radar will eventually make its way to print.

“If you’re a magazine, in this climate, you have to prove your value,” Wilson said. “You are looking at your editorial staff of 10 or 15 people saying, ‘Who are the seven people I can keep and still put out a magazine?’”

Wilson added: “Right now, the goal is to build a brand.”

For those who missed the Zion I record release party last Tuesday at 330 Ritch in San Francisco, it kicked major ass. Pictured are MCs Deuce Eclipse and Zumbi (of Zion I) and me for a STASH magazine shot. If you want to hear one of the best hip-hop albums of 2009, be sure to cop the TakeOver.And, if you want to see one of the best live hip-hop shows ever, check Zion I coming to a town near you.

Rap Sessions 2009 Coming to a City Near You

Critically-acclaimed author Bakari Kitwana partners with the Harvard University-based think tank The Jamestown Project to announce a national tour that seeks to answer the question, “Is America Really Post-Racial?

Targeting the hip-hop generation that helped build early support for America’s first Black president, these interactive townhall meetings debate the extent to which young Americans have opened a new chapter in American race relations. Beginning in February 2009, Rap Sessions’ community dialogues will convene in ten cities across the United States. Panelists include: Tricia Rose (Brown University Africana Studies professor and author of four books including The Hip-Hop Wars); Jabari Asim (Editor of The NAACP magazine, The Crisis, and author of What Obama Means), Stephanie Robinson, Esq. (president and CEO of The Jamestown Project and author of Accountable: Making America as Good as Its Promise), MC Serch (host of VH-1 reality shows The White Rapper Show and Miss Rap Supreme) and activist Lisa Fager-Bediako (founder and president of Industry Ears, Inc.).

For more information about Rap Sessions, click here.
February
18th: Little Rock, AR
23rd: Knoxville, TN

March
13th: Boston, MA
24th: Cleveland, OH
31st: Anchorage, AK

April
10th: Auburn, AL
15th: Champaign, IL
16th Chicago, IL
17th: Minneapolis, MN
22nd: Los Angeles, CA

The Grouch and Eligh Release "Say G&E" this April

Legendary Music is getting ready to release The Grouch and Eligh's SAY G&E! On the 14-track collection, The Grouch teams up once again with fellow Living Legends member and producer, Eligh, for a perfect balance of straightforward wordplay and high-concept rhymes. The duo’s third collaboration, SAY G&E!, features notable guests: Slug of Atmosphere, Pigeon John, Gift of Gab, Mistah F.A.B., Sage Francis, Mystic, and LA’s latest sensation, Blu, along with guest beat production from Flying Lotus, super-producer Rick Rock, and Zion I’s Amp Live, who’s received major blogospheric activity for his Radiohead guerilla remix project.

Oakland's Zion I Hold Remix Contest

As part of their plan to takeover the airwaves in 2009, the Oakland duo Zion I invite heads to create a new version of the electro-inspired track, "DJ DJ," from their February album The TakeOver. The contest uses an innovative new widget from MixMatchMusic that gives fans access to the stems, or individual parts that make up “DJ DJ." What's more, MixMatch Music provides a basic production interface with remixing software built right in so you can remix within your own browser. You can even embed favorite versions on various social networks. Upload the track to the widget and vote. And then tell your friends to vote!

Zion I will choose three of their favorite remixes for a variety of prizes including placement of the song on their website, merchandise, autographed CDs, etc.

"The MixMatchMusic technology is dope," explains Zumbi, Zion I's emcee. "The best part is that we can interact with fans now in a way we never could before."

Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2009. Register at MixMatchMusic.com

Shaina's Latest Thoughts: Does Math Matter?

Shaina here, Nicole's mentee. My topic today is FINAL EXAMS!!!!! What a bummer. With math, like what does math do for you? Well, I'd love to know because with everything that's going on with our economy, WHO HIRED THOSE LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!??? Anyway, back on the subject: why do we need math anyway, other than addition, subtraction, and division (rarely multiplication). Tell me, do you use math in your daily life? Because I think it's unnecessary and a waste of time, but that's my opinion. I'm just a 12-year old who gets A's in history! What do I know?

A New Music Model: What Every Artist Must Know

The invention of the mp3 and Napster (aka the digital revolution) has turned the music industry upside down, leaving music execs and artists scrambling to make dollars and sense of it all. This is the subject of Rolling Stone writer Steve Knopper's latest book Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age. "Gone are the days when you had no choice but to depend on Sony to discover you, get you onto the radio, and make you a mega-star," explains Knopper when I asked him a few questions about the current state of the business.

"The upside to this," Knopper notes, "is that an artist today can break more easily than ever before. A band's success,” he adds, “is only limited to how aggressive and creative they are at marketing their music." He offers websites, My space, and You tube as examples of ways of getting noticed.

But the clients I work with want to know, with CD sales on the rapid decline, how do you make money? "It's all about promoting yourself creatively and then selling something on the back end," notes Knopper. “You reel people in with free tracks, a mixtape or a live show, and then you sell your music.”

Knopper adds that acts can go to outlets like Tune core, where there’s a nominal fee to put any track on I tunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and other digital distribution outlets.

It's the concert model (which it was the way it used to be), says Knopper, that all artists must conform to, even Madonna. “Concerts are the only format not threatened by illegal downloading. "If you can get people into your shows, you can sell vinyl, CDs, and merchandise.”

Knopper is the eternal optimist, believing the sky's the limit for new acts. “There are more tools in an artist's toolbox than ever before. Perfect your live show. Play local shows and go out on the road and build a fan base slowly,” says the writer who, lest you think is an out of touch journalist, has his own band called The Propane Daisies and has had to play gigs in Denver for four people like everyone else.

He also adds that going beyond the usual My space, You tube viral campaigns by doing something that will grab people's attention. Finally, he suggests, look at an artist such as Secondhand Serenade, who has been extremely successful at marketing himself--and make that a blueprint for your band."

All of this, of course, begs the question: Will major labels become extinct? “There will always be major labels for the Beyonces of the world,” believes Knopper, “But maybe only one or two. I anticipate some day Apple merging with EMI. Now that's gonna be wild.”

Fourth Annual PAID DUES FESTIVAL Announces Line-Up

Once again the hip-hop tour PAID DUES brings fans a solid line up of acts to this year's festival. 09's headliners include Murs, Atmosphere, Tech N9NE, Living Legends, The Grouch and Eligh, among others. This year's event will on Saturday March 28 at the NOS Events center in San Bernardino, CA.

Ballin PR featured in STASH magazine

Stash, a hip-hop magazine based in San Francisco, CA., featured none other than Ballin PR in a recent issue. Click here to read the entire article and to learn more about me (pictured with hip-hop duo Zion I) and the inner-workings of pr--what to know, how the media landscape is changing, and questions to ask a prospective publicist.