The West Coast is Back

Back in the glory days of West Coast Hip-Hop, the 90’s featured some of the most prolific artists in the industry. Hip-Hop greats such as NWA, Mack 10, Easy-E, Ice-T, super producer Dr. Dre, and the late great Tupac are just a few artists of the many that represented the West Coast.

Photo Courtesy of blog.jayrock.com

For a while now, the hip-hop community has been missing a strong voice from the West Coast. In recent years, it seemed that The Game was set in place to be the resurgence of West Coast Hip-Hop and even the talented Nipsey Hussle look poised to putting the west coast back on the map for listeners. Taking nothing away from their accomplishments thus far, the biggest hip-hop movement that has grown from the West Coast since the 90’s is from the group Black Hippy.

Black Hippy is an American hip-hop group that features west coast natives Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, and SchoolBoy Q. The group formulated in 2009 when all of the members were signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, indie label based out Carson, California.

Black Hippy is the only rap group ever to have all of its members apart of XXL Magazine Top 10 Freshman list. Jay Rock becoming a member in 2010 followed by Kendrick in 2011 and Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul becoming members in this year’s freshman class.

Currently, each member of the group is working on solo projects for 2013.  Kendrick is teaming up with Macklemore for the “Yahoo On The Road” tour. Also he is preparing for his upcoming “Good Kid Maad City” world tour, which will feature performances in 15 different countries and at 22 international festivals. Jay Rock and TDE are gearing up for the official 30 days 30 records takeover challenge. Schoolboy Q is working on debut album, Oxymoron and Ab-Soul are currently touring and working on new music for 2013. 

Will Black Hippy be the resurgence of West Coast Hip-Hop? Only time will tell but these talented young men have the entire west coast supporting their movement as emerging hip-hop artists.

An Emerging Freshman Making Waves in Hip-Hop

Dizzy Wright is an emerging hip-hop artist that is generating a lot of attention in the music industry.  Recently named a member of XXL magazine’s “XXL Freshman 13”, Dizzy Wright’s success in the music industry is becoming even more apparent.

Dizzy Wright, born La’Reonte Wright is an American hip-hop artist by way of sin city, Las Vegas. Dizzy began rapping at the early age of 8 years old along side his brother and close friend. They started the rap group “DaFuture.” Dizzy’s mother, who was a club promoter at the time, introduced Dizzy to the music industry. Dizzy became knowledgeable of the music industry at an early age, and credits his early experience for his decision to stay an indie artist.

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In November of 2011 Dizzy signed with Funk Volume records and later went on to release 3 different releases in 2012, the Smokeout Conversation, a promotional mixtape, and the follow up EP, The First Amendment.

Smokeout Conversation is a quality mixtape with a young emcee delivering knowledge on each track. Songs like “Wake Up” and “Nobody’s Teaching Game” shows Dizzy’s depth and that he is more than just another marijuana rapper. Judging on title alone, most would dismiss the music as another smoker’s mixtape, but Dizzy’s inspiration for the name came from the moment he first met his father.

A few months before Dizzy was born, his father was sent to prison. He went on to spend the next 20 years in prison and just after being recently released, met his son for the first time. Dizzy described the moment as profound and a key moment when creating the mixtape.

As of right now, Dizzy is currently on the Funk Volume: Turn It Up tour that feature label mates Hopsin, SwizZz, Jarren Benton, and DJ Hoppa. With a sound that favors Nas and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, the XXL Freshman has a bright future ahead of him.

   

Next To Hit The Stage

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West Palm Beach’s very own Will Brennan is an artist you should watch for in 2013. Having the opportunity to team up with House Legend, Steve Aoki and recently signing with Dim Mak Records, things are going quite well for the rapper.

Will Brennan is a versatile rapper that can switch up his flow anytime he steps into the booth.  He is already being compared to artists such as B.O.B, J. Cole, and Lupe. Listen to his hit song “Expect From Me” and “RNR” for examples of his unique approach on the microphone.  Feeling the pressure to pick a sound the young emcee refuses and is not looking to restrict his range at all.

Will Brennan began rapping when he was 12 years old, freestyling in the school cafeteria during lunch. By the age of 15, Brennan’s writing skill were developing and was now creating more personal music.

After several years of perfecting his craft and performing at local venues, it dawned on Will that he could turn his music aspirations into a career. At the time, Will was attending University of Florida and soon dropped out to pursue the music career full time.

Currently, since signing with Dim Mak records, Will Brennan is re-releasing some of his more popular tracks from his album “Prodigal Son”. DC producer/DJ Enferno has already remixed “RNR” to a bass heavy club record. The released tracks are now available on iTunes and Beatport.

The future is bright for Will Brennan. Performing along side Steve Aoki and opening up shows for artists like Kendrick Lamar and AB Soul; you can tell this emcee is well on his way. Having patience and a constant desire to do more, Will is now generating a following in the Hip-Hop community. Be sure to watch, because he is next to hit the stage.

Legal Advice For the Emerging Artist

This week I had the pleasure to speak with the entertainment lawyer, Galen Hair, about different liabilities and legal issues that affect the music industry. Galen Hair is a partner at Varadi, Hair & Checki, LLC located in New Orleans, Louisiana, practicing in the areas of entertainment law, contract, torts, and more. Hair graduated from Tulane’s University Law School and received his Bachelor of Music from Boston University College of Fine Arts.

In our discussion we talked about a few things that an emerging artist and new indie labels need to do to avoid any legal problems in the future.

First, as an artist, you want to cover yourself so you must copyright all the material as soon as possible. A lot of artists put this task off and then fall into the situation that someone has used their music and they were not compensated for the use. In the Hip-Hop industry alone, there have been many incidents of people stealing music from others. So to avoid that, copyright your music especially if you know it is a hit.

Secondly, record labels should protect themselves from any legal issues by applying for trademarks. The company should have trademark protection on the company’s name, logo, and slogan. Having each of these intellectual properties trademark protected will make you the sole owner of those properties and negate others from using them. If a situation occurs with another company using your property, having proper legal planning and protection in place, your legal team in most cases can end a dispute with a cease and desist letter threating to sue.

We also discussed the importance of contracts and the many issues that can form if not properly reviewed. Issues concerning royalties, licenses, and 3^rd party distributions are areas that could be avoided ahead of time.  Contracts between record labels and artists are often at the center of it all in court cases between the two parties. Having an entertainment lawyer to review all contracts can help spot potential problems in the contract and make suggestions that work out for both parties.

In closing, our discussion ended on the topic on what an artist should look for when searching for an entertainment lawyer. The three factors to consider in your pursuit are cost, experience, and locality. Most emerging artists do not have the money to afford lawyers like those of Jay-Z, so you must find lawyers that are within your budget. Cost and experience are the two factors that go hand in hand, the greater the experience, the higher the price their time will be. Locality is important if the client is the type of person who prefers in office face to face meetings.   

The Legal Liabilities in Hip-Hop

           For the emerging hip-hop artist, a sure way to harm your career before it begins is to fall into legal issues about your music. Legal issues come in a wide variety such as defamatory statements and being sued for infringement on other artists’ copyrighted material.  Legal issues such as those can turn into long drawn out court proceedings that usually leaves one of the parties with an enormous amount of debt and legal fees. Obtaining a good understanding of the laws and regulations will help save you from such frustrations.

            An artist who benefited by knowing the law and having legal representation in his copyright lawsuit case is the megastar Kanye West.  The copyright lawsuit was over his hit song "Stronger" from his 3rd album Graduation. The lawsuit filed by Virginia producer, Vincent Peters claimed that Kanye West stole a portion of the lyrics from his song of the same name. The lyrics were based on 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche's idiom "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." The courts agreed with Kanye West's claim that the famous phrase has been repeatedly used in song lyrics over the past century. The court noted at the time Kelly Clarkson was atop of the Hot 100 Peak Billboard with her song Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You).

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The hip-hop star, Pitbull, was another artist who recently won a lawsuit about his music. Eccentric actress, Lindsay Lohan, sued the rapper for lyrics that she allegedly felt were defamatory and disparaging. She claimed that the lyrics “Hustlers move aside, so I'm tiptoein', to keep flowin'/ I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan" was also causing emotional distress. The New York federal judge ruled that Pitbull's song was a work of art and thus protected under the First Amendment, and did not cause any emotional distress to the actress.

          A hip-hop artist that was not as fortunate in recent legal matters is Mac Miller. Lord Finesse sued Mac Miller and Rostrum Records for $10 million, for their use of his 1995 song “Hip 2 Da Game” for their own record called “Kool-Aid and Frozen Pizza.” According to Lord Finesse, Miller and company publicly performed and distributed the material without Finesse’s consent.  It is common knowledge in the hip-hop industry that artists would use popular hit songs, replace the original lyrics with their own, and distribute the song on their mixtapes; a clear violation of copyright law. Mac Miller unfortunately decided to settle out of court for an undisclosed amount. This case may revolutionize the way hip-hop artists go about creating mixtapes in the future.

             So to the emerging hip-hop star, be observant of the material you use, and learn about the different laws and regulations that may apply to this industry. Take the time out to study and learn the laws so that you may avoid any legal ramifications.  The knowledge should prove to be useful to know as you go ahead throughout your career.

Raz Simone "Sometimes I Don't" Official Music Video

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis aren't the only ones making great music out of Seattle. Here is Raz Simone's latest song/video 'Sometimes I Don't' featuring Sam Lachow. This song will appear on his upcoming EP Solomon Samuel Simone which will be available for free download on March 19th. Raz and Sam are pretty familiar with working with each other. They previously released their hit joint project 5 Good Reasons in 2012.