Jay Electronica’s relationship with his fans is very unorthodox and completely worth it.

My first direct message was from Jay Electronica in 2008, days after Christmas. I had just joined twitter and made the premature decision to follow every rapper on the network and Jay followed me back. Soon after, he sent a direct message—no words, just this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGPhpvqtOc&feature=related

It was a YouTube link to a music video of “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins—I’ll leave delving into the implications of this message for my readers.

Later that year, I was unfollowed. But I wasn’t alone. It was “The Great Unfollowing of 2009.” Jay Electronica unfollowed nearly all of his fans, truncating his follower list to less than 200. A year later, high off the heels of announcing his signing to Roc Nation, he followed everyone back—sort of.

In the small hours of Nov. 15, Jay Electronica announced he would follow back anyone who hit him up. And they did. Jay Elect was the proud recipient of over 1500 mentions just an hour after the announcement. He has since followed about 1600 fans, a Dave Chappelle impersonator, Joe Budden, and me.

Jay Elect also opened his AIM and ichat (SN: Jay Electronica) to the masses and encouraged fans to submit their Blackberry chat pins—a common practice for the crescent city emcee.

But is it worth his time? Affording fans access to everything from your AIM screen name and twitter direct messages to your cell phone pin? In a word: yes.

Jay Electronica goes the distance, and his fans take notice. Amidst the flurry of “please follow me” tweets were tales of Jay encounters by super fans.

Katie P. (@KPappsmear), of Los Angeles recalls a few Blackberry messenger conversations last year. While holiday shopping, Jay Elect messaged her about being nervous as he was preparing for a performance.

DJ Critical Hype (@criticalhype) got a few direct messages as well. Despite being an emerging DJ, he kept the conversation fan to artist. Student, Reggie Noble (@kidnoble) did too. He remembers the conversation feeling less like a fan to artist transaction and more like a normal conversation. He was spoken to, “just as a person.”

The most remarkable fan story came from Kevin Cooper (@cooperkm89), perhaps the biggest Jay Electronica fan on twitter.

Cooper has a Jay Electronica shirt he likes to wear to shows. Inscribed on it the infamous line from “Exhibit C”— “Call me Jay Elec-Hannukah / Jay Elec-Yarmulke…”— but more on that later.

At Cooper’s fourth Jay show, the New Orleans rapper pulled him and a crowd of fans onto the stage while opening for Kid Cudi in October at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign).

“At one point during the show, Jay got back on stage and turned to me; And we proceeded to rap over his songs, face-to-face in center stage,” said Cooper chronicling his account.

“He was acknowledging that I knew all his sh*t, and that acknowledgment was much appreciated.“

But that wasn’t all. To security’s chagrin, Jay snuck Cooper backstage. No weed, no liquor, just talk. About music—fellow opener Chip the Rip and headliner Kid Cudi (whom Jay Elect had never met at the time). They even watched Cudi’s set together. Jay was intrigued by Cudi’s command of the crowd.

They soon after parted ways. Cooper could’ve joined Jay’s entourage for the night, but in fear of being a burden or exhibiting utter and complete stannery—he passed.

“I shook Jay’s hand, said great show once again. He asked, ‘Did you have a good time?’ To which I replied ‘Oh yeah!’ Or something else equally dull but spurred on by an awed star-struck state that had not yet dissipated,” said Cooper.

But wait, there’s more. Remember when Jay Electronica punched a concertgoer at a Disco Biscuits show in Chicago? Cooper does. And yes, he was wearing that shirt.

After what Cooper says were pleas by Jay to stop fans from throwing items at him, he punched a DB fan after being hit with a beer bottle. Everyone in the venue had turned against Jay Electronica.

Subsequently, Jay Elect spent the rest of his set rapping to a handful of his fans in the crowd. He even jumped passed the barricade for a proper introduction. And when it came time to perform “Exhibit C,” our boy Cooper was a star.

“He pointed directly at me and did the verse on my shirt,” said Cooper. “Basically reading the verse off of my shirt, so as to draw attention to it.”

“That was really cool of him to do.”

And on Nov. 15, Cooper got a follow.

Jay Electronica doesn’t have fans, but brand evangelists. He breeds them. It’s not enough to make music people enjoy. Artists who take the time to develop a relationship with listeners build a stronger fan base.

For a previously unsigned artist with a few sporadic releases, his following is remarkably strong. In the wake of Jay Electronica’s Roc Nation announcement, he gained about 3k followers and an additional 3k after tweeting about his following spree—he previously averaged a 450 daily follower gain and currently has a total of over 128k followers.

Prior to joining Roc Nation, Jay Electronica had garnered a magazine cover, a track ranked amongst iTunes’ top 10 selling hip-hop music downloads and “the most buzz worthy artist” title by numerous media outlets—success unprecedented by an artist with no formal projects released or a record deal.

There aren’t too many artists who really engage on Twitter but artists like Jay Electronica prove that tactics that bring music back to the fans yield results. At a time where the record industry is in a severe decline, new strategy is crucial to its turnaround—just ask Cooper.

“I still get excited thinking about it,” Cooper says. “I’ve seen Jay four times now, and I’ve learned that if you show your appreciation, he will acknowledge you and be grateful.”

“Yep. Jay Elect reigns supreme…over everything.”

—@SincerelyJane

This post was republished from social media and hip-hop blog, BornIn88.com, courtesy of the author.

Photo: culurebully.com

25 Magazine explores the buzz surrounding Drake-endorsed, Toronto R&B artist, The Weeknd, and his debut mixtape House of Balloons. Review and stream after the jump.

Have you ever been lifted? Not by any foreign substance, but through music?

If not—or even if so—Toronto upstart artist, The Weeknd, born Abel Tesfaye, just may be your personal batch of the good stuff. Stamped with approval by fellow countryman, Drake who tweeted song lyrics from their track “Wicked Games” and a link to their mixtape, a plug by Rolling Stone, and a Tesfaye vocal and Jeremy Rose production combination that hasn’t been paired so seamlessly in R&B since Aaliyah and Timbaland; The Weeknd just might be on to something. We bang with it.

House of Balloons, the singer’s debut mixtape, wields a title that is a foreshadowing of where his music will take you—to the ceiling.

The nine-track EP brings you on a euphonious adventure, recalling 90s R&B, while adding a taste of futuristic funk and a touch of indie infusions. The second track, “What You Need,” speaks to this, opening with a looped sample, “Baby, now hold me close” – a line from Aaliyah’s hit song “Rock the Boat.” Hot and mellow, “What You Need” is perhaps the sexiest song on the mixtape.

The Weeknd – House Of Balloons by The_Weeknd

It is sample heavy. House of Balloons experiments with an assortment of genres, exploring British punk rock group Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Happy House” on the title track “House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls” and doses of indie-rock duo Beach House on “Loft Music” and “The Party & The After Party”—two of our favorite songs on the mixtape. “The Party & The After Party” also makes a nod to The Dream with oohs, ahhs, and seductive crooning.

It is consistent. The tone of House of Balloons glides with little to no friction. All nine songs, collectively, tell a story of a weekend under the influence. The crowd is 21+. There are drugs, sex, money, love, lust, alcohol, parties, and fast cars—all on some spellbinding, fluid beats.

House of Balloons is dripping with drug sounds, which are whispered in each song’s rhythm and hinted at in the lyrics. “Even though you don’t roll, girl. You wanna be high for this,” Tesfaye croons in HOB’s opening track, candidly titled “High For This.” Need I say more?

House of Balloons is a soundtrack for the lives of many of our #dopeonastick constituents—and dope individuals in general—and it has been skillfully crafted, which everyone can appreciate.

So what’s all the hype about?

The Weeknd’s music is mood evoking. It makes you feel like you’re where he is and are on what he’s on. It’s sexy, grown, silky and distorted. Tesfaye’s vocals are melancholy and sickly sweet, almost hypnotic. Where many production newcomers fall short, Rose delivers. The Weeknd is fresh and delicious.

XO til’ we overdose? We shall.

-Brittany T. Epps

The Weeknd – House of Balloons | Download Here

Photo: chickensdontclap.net

Over the weekend, Twitter was buzzing about the Wes Craven horror film, People Under the Stairs—it’s new to Netflix!—so we thought we’d put you on to the rap group of the same name, otherwise known as P.U.T.S.

With 10 years and seven albums worth of experience, People Under The Stairs, are widely considered tenured veterans in the underground hip-hop scene. The two California emcees, Thes One and Double K, first met in a music store in Los Angeles after hearing industry buzz about each other through the grapevine. They exchanged mixtapes and have been together ever since.

Of their many tributes to their L.A. stomping grounds, “L.A. Song” remains a crowd favorite and has spurred a few remixes:

People Under the Stairs – LA Song (Sensitive Mix) by Tympanogram

With a passion for producing old-school beats that have a hard-hitting twist, the duo has stayed true to their hardcore funky form throughout the years. Their debut album, The Next Step, released in 1999, showcases the group’s ability to produce jazz infused boom bap raps reminiscent of the Native Tongues Posse in their hey day.

Their latest album, Carried Away, was released in 2009 and features nods to old school production, abundant with funk and disco samples in tracks like, “Hit The Top.” This mix is hardly original but instead furthers the musical conversation started by De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. With their innovative combination style, the pair does a bang-up job of keeping their audience guessing at what novel rapping invention is going to come out of them next.

For more on P.U.T.S. check out their MySpace or this awesome site created by a super fan.

—Nicole Rogers

Photo: passionweiss.com

Natelege Whaley interviews, Grammy award-winning hip-hop production super group, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League.

WORDS BY NATELEGE WHALEY

Every superhero has a signature. Batman had the glowing bat-signal, Flash a red suit with yellow lightning bolts, and Superman the distinguished “S” on his chest. But for the Tampa Bay producing trio, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, their signature lies in the pounding bass, strings, and old school R&B and pop samples. After producing ten tracks together in a single night, Rook, Colione and Kenny B. decided to form a group in 2003. The three knew the name was hardly original—a spinoff of the comic strip by the same name— so they switched it up, and added an acronym to, fully represent who they are: “Just Undeniably Some of The Illest Composers Ever.”

Rook, one-third of the team assures that the comic has nothing to do with the powerhouse producing trio. Yet, the similarities are clear: that three of the self-proclaimed best producers from the Tampa Bay-area have come together to “bring real music back to hip-hop.” A mission fit for superheroes.

The group didn’t wait long to use their super producing powers to gain recognition. They received their first break five years ago on Young Jeezy’s “Don’t Get Caught,” a track on his debut Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101. The same year, they won a Grammy award for production on Mary J. Blige’s album The Breakthrough. Last year, they won an ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Award for rapper 2 Pistols’s “She Got It.” Even Rick Ross has heavily used J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League’s production on many projects including the track “Magnificent,” off his LP Deeper than Rap, “Luxury Tax” and “Maybach Music” off Trilla, and “Aston Marton Music” on Teflon Don.

The three producers sample cleverly from a selection of old school R&B, pop and Motown artists (Think The O’Jays, Angela Bolfill, and Friends of Distinction). Moreover, their beats often have samples with a busy string and brass section; then they add a heavy bass that complements, and never overpowers the instrumentation. Time will tell what other songs the producers will uncover from the past and rebirth. What is certain is that the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League have not been distracted by their positive reception into the music industry. As they turn on their tunnel vision, they look to leave their imprint as ingenious contenders not only in hip hop, but across all genres.

25 Magazine: How did you guys form J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League?

Kenny: We were all producing in the Tampa Bay area in Florida and working independently with different artists. We ran into each other at the studio and heard each other’s work and we were impressed. We decided to get together. We made 10 beats that day. The chemistry was so natural that we decided to become a team.

25: The name J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League comes from a team of superheroes like Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman and others. How does this name and the acronym best fit you all?

Rook: Honestly the acronym has nothing to do with the comic superheroes. The acronyms stand for ‘Just Undeniably Some of The Illest Composers Ever.’

25: How did you develop into widely known producers?

Colione: It all happened because we had strong management who were there since the very beginning. We’re like a family. After we formed J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and began building our catalogue, our management was pushing and making sure we got our name out there. We didn’t just do this by ourselves.

25: And what is your creative process when you’re producing?

Rook: Sometimes we each have our own ideas, or we come up with ideas at the same time. We might be in the studio and we collab with an artist like Young Jeezy, and he likes to say what he wants. It’s our job to give the artist what they want.

25: How do you give an artist exactly what they want?

Kenny: I think it’s important to first sit down and vibe with artists and see what kind of person they are and what sound they like. That’s important because you can’t just go into the studio and blindly play tracks.

25: Of all the artists you’ve worked with who did you have the greatest connection with musically?

Colione: Of course musically we have a great connection with Rick Ross. Our sounds link well together. He is some of the best beats that we make. He actually uses our sound that we originated.

Rook: We have a great working relationship with Young Jeezy. We go into the studio every time and we come out with beautiful, great, epic  music. You know our first song was “Don’t Get Caught” for him and it got us a good reputation in Atlanta.

25: In hip-hop a lot of producers sample, and you all sample in some of your work as well. How do you go about choosing which songs you are going to sample?

Colione: We usually buy a stack of records and listen to each one until we find a gem. The music has to be up to par. We usually go back to the Barry White’s and the old school. We like artists who have done whole orchestras and also music with a lot of instrumentation.

Check out “Pledge Allegiance to the Swag” – T.I. (prod. by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League):

25: Some people think that a lot of sampling shows that a producer doesn’t have the creative ability to create their own beat. What do you think about that?

Rook: I think producers’ choice to sample songs depends on their own judgment and what feels good for them creatively. Earlier in our career we sampled heavy. But nowadays, we’ll sample, and we’ll take  the sample out and we’ll revamp the whole song, so it won’t be a sample.

25: As producers what do you feel the music industry needs and what will you all bring to the table?

Rook: We plan to bring music back to music and we also want the ability to change lanes. We want to produce for Ghostface and Rick Ross but at the same time do Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige. We were in New York working with Mary J. Blige, and then the next day we were working with a pop artist. We had to make the switch quickly from soul to pop, and from organic to electric.

25: Speaking more on the industry, what do you all think of the internet’s role as far as marketing and promoting?

Kenny: On the internet there are many ways to promote artists and to sell music. It can go both ways. A lot of people blamed the internet for declining record sales and it probably did have a part in it, but there’s so much opportunity on the internet.

Rook: A lot of it deals with bad music. If you make good albums you will actually sell.

25: Speaking of musical quality, Jay-Z made a statement with his song “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune).” Do you agree with his idea that rappers singing over autotune brings down the quality of hip-hop?

Kenny: You can make a song using the autotune effect and use it wisely and tastefully, but when you just start to abuse it, I agree with him [Jay-Z]. Think about it first. Does it sound good with autotune on it, or not?

25: What are some examples of songs that you think sound good or bad with autotune?

Kenny: I thought autotune was used well on 808s and Heartbreak by Kanye West. Kanye used a lot of autotune on there, but not to the effect that his rapping sounded like notes. He was actually singing and the songs were well written and well produced.

Colione: A bad example of autotune is a song in which you can’t tell who the artist is because the whole thing sounds like garbage.

25: Who do you think are some talented producers currently putting in work?

Kenny: I think Swizz Beats has always been consistent and he continues to evolve musically. Also I like Dr. Luke and his style as far as pop goes.

Colione: I have to say one of my favorite producers is Diddy, and he’s not exactly behind the keys, or working behind the drum machine, but he is a producer. I also like Rick Rubin. He’s really inspiring.

25: What are some artists you listened to growing up?

Kenny: My dad used to play a lot fusion and jazz like Al Viola, which is funny because when I met Rook, I found out his father was a percussionist for Al Viola and that was fascinating for me. Growing up I was listening to Radiohead, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and anything in between.

Rook: My father played with Al Viola and when I was younger he would play the records for me and I didn’t like them. They didn’t make no sense to me. I was always into Dr. Dre, Wu Tang, and Gang Starr, you know hip-hop. Later on when I started doing music professionally I gained respect for what he’d done.

Colione: My mom was a rocker and I listened to a lot of her stuff. My cousin introduced me to hip-hop. He bought a drum machine and he was making beats and I started making beats with him. Then I kind of drifted off and got better than him and did beats on my own.

25: When did each of you decide that music was going to be your life?

Kenny: I always loved the creation side of music. I remember getting whoopings by my parents because I wasn’t doing well in school, and I was so fascinated with establishing myself as a musician. Not saying that’s the right route for everyone.

Rook: I think when I was younger, I didn’t want to do music. When I got a little older and into high school, it just kind of fell into my lap.

Colione: I wasn’t really good at anything else but music. I got in where I fit in and I was challenged by it. But a lot people need to focus on school and try to get in that way. You gotta be able to work well under pressure, otherwise you go crazy.

Rook: It’s hard to be in the all-star league. You can be drafted to the NBA, but to be an all-star you gotta be the shit.

Check out “Trillionaire” – Bun Ft. T-Pain (prod. by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League):

25: With the passing of Michael Jackson, and reflecting on his legacy in music, has he had any impact on you guys? If so how?

Colione: It was a tragedy. He was a legend. When I was a kid, I remembered Thriller coming out. I was real young and all the older kids used to dance to it. I only used to listen to rock ‘n’ roll music but his music had a rock vibe to it.

Rook: I’m gonna tell you how real Michael was. Thriller came out in 1983 and by 1985 it was still the album to get. It was a phenomenon. He shut down primetime TV. They would have an hour special of the making of the video and have another 20 minutes of the actual video. “Thriller,” “Bad,” “Remember the Time”-Nobody does it like Michael.

25: Any last words or advice for upcoming producers?

Colione: My best advice for producers is to be consistent with every single piece you put together. Learn how to make music and learn what to do with the music that you make. If you’re really not getting your music out there, it’s because you need to make sure you have a great team behind you that can push your music forward. It takes a team, not just one player to get you to the next level. You need people that can talk for you, and have the best interest for you.

Home to the likes of Bob Marley, Sizzla and Beenie Man, whom we’ve all grown to love; Jamaica once again proves its musical weight with artist, Gyptian. Windel Beneto Edwards, better known as Gyptian, was nicknamed after his habit of tying a shirt around his head and twisting his chin hair like an Egyptian pharaoh. Staying true to his moniker, the gifted young musician is very serious about keep his sound unaltered, always sending a message and giving his fans authenticity.

He first burst onto the reggae scene in 2005 with his provocative hit “Serious Times” which was declared the“Most Important Song of 2005” by Jamaica Star, beating out Junior Gong Marley’s top ten Billboard hit “Welcome to Jamrock.” The 23-year-old singer has been dominating Jamaican charts since his debut, but his latest hit “Hold Yuh,”—whose remix features Nicki Minaj—has been slowly heating up airwaves in the U.S. Currently No. 31 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Chart. With vocals that hover somewhere between baritone and tenor and lyrics that compels one to fall in love one day and start a revolution the next, Gyptian is certainly here for the long-run. Filled to the brim with substance and all things dope, he is an artist you want to keep an eye on.

-Brittany Epps

Photo: Repja

WORDS BY KIAH MCBRIDE

At first glance, Shawn Chrystopher is the epitome of a California native. Skinny jeans and t-shirts from an expansive color palette adorn his small frame coupled with a “too-cool-for-school” vibe.  There is something about him that sends you cyber-surfing his name.  It could be that his infatuation with cartoons and jaunty demeanor or his staunch college boy bravado. Whatever the case, you find that Chrystopher brings a ferent perspective to west coast music. While his sound does allude to strong Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West influences, Chrystopher offers his own story and musical creations—he often produces his own tracks—that give him mainstream appeal.

It’s clear that Shawn Chrystopher isn’t your typical Cali artist. He grew up in Inglewood, CA listening to punk rock artists like Green Day, and graduated from high school at the age of 16. He scored a four-and-a-half year scholarship to the University of Southern California and by 2009, landed an ad campaign with LRG clothing line for their 10^th Anniversary.  Not bad for a kid in glasses.

His first mixtape titled Keep Your Classroom Vol 1. received over 10,000 downloads and was an introduction to what is now considered the “new age” sound of educated artists. In August 2009, he released A City With No Seasons—an album that he hoped would separate his sound from artists that he’s often grouped with like Wale.

Now Chrystopher is back with his upcoming EP, The Audition, scheduled for a March 23 release date. Unlike previous projects, Chrystopher comes with more light-hearted rhymes that will surprise fans accustomed to his intellectual lyrics. His first single, “Like A Kid Again,” boasts a fun, relatable sound, and tips a hat off to the art imitates life adage. Always ahead of the curve, Shawn Chrystopher is poised to take on the ever-evolving music industry and change the image of west coast hip-hop.

Check out his single “Can’t Take That From Me” off of his EP, The Audition:
Can’t Take That From Me – Shawn Chrystopher by  25Mag

25 Magazine: What separates your sound from other hip-hop artists old and new?

Shawn Chrystopher: I think of music as fingerprints. I don’t think that anybody can make the same music. I think that if you have a piano, a guitar, and a drum set in a room and you put 15,000 bands in that room one after another, neither one of them will make that same exact song. Even though you have the same instruments you all have different songs. I think with me, my music is different because it’s mine. I have a story that nobody else can tell because I’m talking about my life. When it comes to sound, I grew up in Inglewood, CA so I’m five minutes from some of the richest people in California and I’m five minutes from some of the poorest people, so I would listen to everything. I used to be really into Green Day and then I would listen to Bone Thugs-N- Harmony. I was really into 2Pac and I listened to John Mayer.  So you have all of that in me; I just mixed it all together so I think it’s unique because it’s mine.

25: In one interview you said that you studied rap like you would study your schoolwork. Who and what specifically did you study?

SC: I would study what songs were popular and why they were popular and which songs weren’t.  I remember one year when Juvenile’s “Slow Motion” was the number one song in the country. I was like, this isn’t a club song and it’s not up-tempo; it’s so hood but it’s the number one song on the Billboard. I would just sit and try to figure out why certain songs were big and others weren’t. Why certain artists make it and why other artists’ second album destroyed them.

Like A Kid Again – Shawn Chrystopher by  Jabari

25: Your latest single “Like A Kid” off your EP The Audition is a fun tribute to going back to your childhood days. What was your life like as a child?

SC: I have a seven-year-old sister but I was practically out of the house by the time she was born, so I grew up an only child.  I was a Latchkey kid so I would come home and my mom would still be at work so I had to entertain myself. TV really stimulated my mind because I would watch everything and I would learn how to talk, how to walk, how to act, and how to dress. Other than TV I had some of the best neighbors. I still talk to my neighbors that I grew up with as a kid; we’re really good friends.  I grew up in a house so I had a backyard, was able to go out and play, and have block parties. That made my childhood fun because I could ride a bike. That’s why I started the song off “I used to ride bikes” because I was the kid on the bike in my neighborhood. I rode the bike from sun up to sun down; I had nowhere to go most of the time I just liked bikes. Basketball and riding bikes was my childhood, and cartoons.  Actually, that still is my life. I need to grow up!

25: What should we expect to hear on your upcoming EP The Audition compared to your other EPs like No One Knows You?

SC: Really dope shit. I tried my best to create a different sound that I’ve never done before. My past music was really intellectual and I tried my best to not be like anybody in my area, and sometimes I went over people’s heads.  I tried to over think my music too much in order to stand out when really I could just be myself and stand out. So this project is more me than I’ve ever done. I have fun with it, tell jokes on songs—I personally don’t take life too seriously because I like to have fun. I think that it’s something that people can relate to; people can have fun with it and play it in their cars. I think people really are going to fuck with it.

25: Are you going to pursue production more than being an artist in the future?

SC: Not more so than being an artist but production can carry me a long way because I can produce until I’m dead. I can’t rap when I’m 50. I will never turn my back on either one of them—I love them equally because I love to perform, I love to be in front of the crowd, but I also like to create music. As a producer, the same way a painter paints a blank canvas, we make songs out of silence. We sit in the studio with nothing and we create something that people either love or hate, but at the end of the day we started from silence. That’s something that I thank God every day that I have the ability to do—that I can create art from silence. I would never stop producing or rapping; I would do both until people get tired of hearing me rap and then I can produce the rest of my life. 

Photo courtesy of Elitaste Management

25: What impact would you like to make in hip-hop music?

SC: The whole purpose of doing what I do is that I want people to see the west coast in different light. I think that with movies like Menace II Society and Boyz in the Hood people automatically think that’s all we are, especially in Los Angeles.  What the gangster rappers did for L.A., like 2Pac put us on the map, I want to do for L.A., just on the other side of the spectrum.

25: Where do you see your self musically in the next five years?

SC: I think I will already have at least one Grammy or Grammy nomination, I will be on the cover of a few magazines, and have foot in the door for pursuing fashion. I really love fashion. I don’t just want a clothing line; I want to design for high end line that’s already out. In five years I think I’ll be able to travel, meet people, and go to fashion shows. Then I’ll be able to do both music and fashion.

25: What is something that fans might not know about you?

SC: I watch TV on mute. It started out when I was little. I used to be up late watching TV on mute because I didn’t want my mom to know.  When I would watch TV on mute I would make up my own stories with dialogue and everything. It was all in my head and had nothing to do with the show, but it made me feel like I wrote it. Now people come over my crib and point out that the TV has been on mute for two hours, but I don’t even notice anymore. I love watching TV on mute because I can still do other things and at the same time create my own episode.

Check out Shawn Chrytopher’s commercial for upcoming EP, The Audition:

The Audition – Shawn Chrystopher | Download Here

Gold of The Five One and Killah Priest

One fourth of band The Five One, Gold blogs from the SXSW festival in Austin, TX! Download The Five One’s Road to SXSW at thefiveone.bandcamp.com.

What’s up everybody.. I’m blogging from Austin’s SXSW Festival, the night before our show at Opal Divine’s Freehouse. I injured my foot somehow and rolled it awkwardly a couple of days ago. I’ve taken breaks in walking by taking these bike taxis, which is a huge relief considering how much distance we cover in one day. It’s a beautiful concept that I hear they have all over Europe, so it’s great to see it at this Festival. Your ride is all about what you work out with the bike rider, sometimes they’ll treat the whole charge as a tip, while others they’ll set a price for you to meet. My buddy Billy Carranza from Reston, came to kick with us from a suburb of San Antonio. Here’s a picture of Billy with GREEN rockin’ the Colorpillar Tee:

First stop was Nice Kicks, a street shop that sells modern/pop-culture/hipster/hip-hop influenced tees, shoes, watches, etc. GREEN wanted to stop by and pick up these GREEN Supras, but they had an orange color incorporated that made him less interested. I thought they looked like Miami Hurricane shoes, but the owner of the store insisted that they were St. Pattys-themed. While we were there, I managed to snag this sweet watch:

Basically, this event is a huge conference. Every venue has a line-up of bands with some sort of theme. One of the events we attended consisted solely of “Duos,” one of which were El Ten Eleven, who wrote the original song for “Stuntin’ Like Mufasa” (Don’t ask me the name of the real song, only GREEN knows as far as the colors are concerned). Each day, we’ve been hopping from place to place and networking with folks representing anything and everything aligned with the art/music industry. We’ve met hired musicians that are between the ages of 18-20, to a Columbian punk rock bands, to musicians part of a touring act signed to Sony Japan. It’s been all over the place, and it’s clear as day that any artist/musician or whatever you call yourself that is interested should definitely be EVERYWHERE. I saw a dude rockin’ a Wizards tee, so I approached and met a writer for the Washington Post. Today, outside of the Muse show (which I did not see), this camera man for Myspace approaches me and asks what I think of the show. Obviously, I said I loved it and said that they should come out to DC, other colors chimed in, and we signed release forms to be in this Myspace video.

A couple of days ago, we were at the Austin Convention Center, where we picked up our artist wrist bands, which gives us freedom to get into most of the events for free, and we attended a conference that show-cased all kinds of different companies and organizations. I met someone who is in charge of Miami Music Festival and exchanged information. Turns out that the gentleman occasionally visits The Five One’s hometown of Reston for business. It was great to meet him and he said that he would love to have The Five One support the event. Miami has a great music scene and we have yet to play in that area, so this was one of the first booths I had to approach. We also approached Blackberry, who were more than happy to play our single, Mandatory for all the attendees approaching. The Starkey Hearing Foundation had a booth that gave hearing tests to anybody interested. We got these sweet ear plugs with cases, I’ve been taking them out all over the place since the music is BLARING everywhere. At some point, we were chatting with an acoustic group (can’t remember the name for the life of me) that gets a lot of attention on the blogosphere, when Erik Estrada rolls in. I met him and we got footage. It’s hilarious, it came completely out of nowhere:

Mini-Me was also there, which was awesome. We also met Morgan Currie, who is the violinist for the Canadian group The Tom Fun Orchestra. Morgan is a computer wiz who created Marcato, a software that bands can use to get organized. It is completely free and he explained to us how to use it. One of the highlights would have to be chatting it up with some folks that run a record label based out of Scotland. Love the accent and culture/music, so it’s always a pleasure for me to link with them. I explained our band and the concept and they loved the idea. It’s really important to me that The Five One is heard around the world, and not just the states. Scotland is a place I have to see and experience one day, why not have them already know who we are when we come through to perform!

In going through the West-side of the Downtown area, we checked out the venue that we are performing at tomorrow. In doing so, we met this dude Miles, who is in the band,Outernational. It was crazy to run into this guy because just the other night, RED and I saw this guy perform a song with Tom Morello’s latest project. Apparently, Outernational’s album was produced by Tom Morello, which is crazy! The song that they performed with Tom Morello’s band SSSC had a heavy gypsy influence. It’s always interesting for me to hear that Eastern European-esque sound, coming from Romania, home to one of the highest gypsy populations. I took this shot from the rooftop venue that they performed, it gave me a Miami vibe:

On the way to checking out Union Park, the venue that Outernational rocked, I spotted myself a GOLD beauty on the way:

Did I mention that I miss New Orleans? I didn’t want to leave that place, I liked it so much.

By the way, we definitely set up our instruments and performed on the street today. This cop pulled up, we thought he was going to have us cut everything out. He told us to play a song for him, which was pretty sweet. He then took off and we continued to rock. The highlight was jamming on this DC Gogo tune. Gives me a great deal of pride to play some hometown music in Austin. Folks stopped to hear Gogo, as I’m sure most, if not all, aren’t familiar with that DC sound. It was beautiful!

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to use power from one of the venues or stores and perform on that main 6th street strip, where EVERYBODY walks through. Wish us luck! I’m exhausted, time to get a few hours of sleep in time for more craziness.

PACE SI PRIETENIE (PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP)

GOLD

[All photos courtesy of The Five One]

25 Magazine catches up with D.C. band, The Five One between sets at the “Our People, Our Haiti” benefit concert at the Warehouse Loft to talk upcoming EP, Deuce Day World. The video features their oldie but goodie, “Sak Passe.” Listen to The Five One’s last few LPs here!

Photo courtesy of eightyocho.com | Eric Vogel

WORDS BY LAUREN MCEWEN

Cosigned by long-time friend, Kanye West and equipped with a nice flow, a gift for production and a hyphen in his name that he takes very seriously, 88-Keys is gunning for a spot among hip-hop’s elite. His first album, The Death of Adam, was a feature-heavy tribute to a fictional friend named “Adam,” who allowed his love and lust for women to lead him to his demise. Executively produced by West, 88-Keys’ debut was a virtual roll call of musical talent. Artists including Kid Cudi, Phonte of Little Brother, J*DaVeY, Bilal, Redman, Shitake Monkey and of course, Kanye West all paid their respects to Adam, the fallen “everyman.”

After the video for his first single, “Stay Up! (Viagra),” featuring Kanye West, began popping up on video playlists, 88-Keys gained a considerable amount of buzz in the music world. The Death of Adam made it’s way onto a variety of top albums lists, including MySpace’s “Top 50 Albums” and AllMusic’s “Top Hip Hop Albums.”

88-Keys’ latest song “Baggage Claim,” produced by multi-platinum talent Needlz, is themed after ABC’s hit show Lost, shows that Keys has more hits to offer hip-hop. He is currently working on a follow-up album to Adam and it should not disappoint.

Check out his new single, “Baggage Claim”:

Baggage Claim by 88-keys

25 Magazine: When did you decide to pursue a career in music?

88-keys: I guess it was ’97 or ’98 when I first got paid for my music, after doing it for a couple of years. I got about 700 or 900 bucks for selling my very first music that I ever made on a machine that I still use to this day. So I was like, “Ok, so, this is how this is going down. I see.” So I decided to make music my life.

25: Who are your major inspirations?

88-keys: Overall, my inspirations are my brother, Dr. Anthony K. Njapa, Q-Tip, Ralph Lauren and Pete Rock.

25: What’s behind your Polo obsession? Just loving the brand?

88-keys: It’s like you can’t go wrong with Ralph. I started buying the Polo brand back in ’91, but back then I was still buying other brands, but I always noticed that I was spending a long time rummaging through other people’s brands, and always coming up short because I didn’t really like the stuff, but by the time I went to the Ralph Lauren Polo section, of the department stores I used to shop in I couldn’t even decide which ones to pick because they were all fresh.

Finally I just said, “Why am I wasting my time trying to shop with other brands when I don’t love their clothing,” but I always love Polo stuff, so that was it, since ’92 until now. And then since ’06 is when I decided to wear Polo from head to toe. I don’t own any Nikes or whatever cats are wearing now days, Supras. I don’t own any New Era, or New York fitted hats, or anything like that. It’s just all Ralph Lauren Polo.

25: What made you choose dedicate entire debut album to your friend?

88-keys: It’s a story that everybody knows, and everybody is familiar with, but I felt like that story hadn’t been told through music in such detail. Sure, there are love songs, of course. There are songs about meeting that special someone. There are even songs about catching STDs out there, I’m sure, but I don’t think anyone has pulled it off quite the way I have: making the story very concise and fluid, almost.

25: Your bio on your website said that some of his other friends were upset that you dedicated your entire album to him. Why do you think that they feel that way?

88-keys: My bio is actually just a play on my album. Anything regarding myself on my bio is all true, but Adam is actually a fictional person, but he’s everybody. I do have friends who went through the same stuff that Adam went through, and I feel that every man has gone through some, if not all, of what Adam went through on my album—like what he actually went through physically and thought processes and his emotions.

And I feel that every woman of age knows an “Adam” in their lives. Whether they dealt with that person or their homegirls went out with that person and they were trying to steer them clear of that person. Adam could be mine and your father. So, Adam is every man in one way or the other.

Photo courtesy of eightyocho.com | Eric Vogel

25: How does it feel to be a family man breaking out into the music industry? Hip-hop isn’t always the most family-friendly of genres?

88-keys: I’m a father of two and a husband of one. That’s one of the reasons that I made the album because I’m trying to restore the traditional family unit. It definitely has its downsides. I don’t work on my music as much as I used to because I have other obligations to my wife and my daughters, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I love them, and we plan on making more to add to the clan.

We’re actually working on a schedule. The schedule has allowed me to have three free days to work, and then my wife helps out as often as she can, like holding the kids down while I try to bring home the bacon. But she brings in bacon, too. She actually might wind up bringing home more bacon than I am, because she’s awesome and she has her creative business going on that she started.

25: Doing what?

88-keys: I’ll just say that it deals with photography. My wife is a self-taught photographer. She’s pretty dope. She has a website up. She met another woman who shares her interest and is a self-taught photographer. They clicked and formed a business plan, and it’s crazy. I think she might wind up making an “M” before I do, to be honest. But we’re married so, what’s mine is hers and what’s hers is mine.

25: What’s your favorite song on your entire album?

88-keys: My favorite song would be numbers 1 through 14. Had you asked me the same question before Kanye came in as executive producer, I would have said a song that no longer appears on the album, and everything else was secondary. But now, that the song was taken off I just love every song as much as the previous one. Yeah…my album’s pretty dope.

25: Who are three people that you would love to collaborate with in the future?

88-keys: Michael McDonald, Lupe Fiasco and, had he not passed so suddenly, I’d like to say the late, great, J-Dilla.

25: Do you have any plans for a tour in the future?

88-keys: Yeah, my management is working to get a meeting with a very well-known, reputable agency, but it’s been pretty hectic. The agency actually put me on tour with Kid Cudi, Asher Roth and B.O.B., and through them I also did a show with Lupe Fiasco a little while ago at Governors Island. As far as getting more touring gigs, that’s kind of up in the air right now. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna happen, but we just have to get the meeting. I’m actually happy that I’m not on the road right now because now I’m working on my next album, my next mixtape, and a bunch of projects, like some feature verses that I owe people, and my next beat CD—so I am a busy man!

25: Do any of your other projects have themes to them?

88-keys: They will. My next album most likely will, but I haven’t really decided yet. But I will say this—it’ll be dope! You heard it here first, folks.

25: Do you have any advice for other people who want to break into the music industry?

88-keys: Yes, don’t do it! Stay your ass in school! No, seriously. Be honest with yourself. That’s first and foremost. If you’re a rapper, and you know you’re not rapping as well as a Consequence, or a Lupe, or Kanye, or whoever. If you’re nowhere near their level of freshness, work on it behind closed doors, but don’t start putting songs up on MySpace, like “Yo! I’m the next Kid Cudi!” Be honest with yourself.

I have a feeling that people actually know that they’re not that fresh, but they’re just, like, throwing pasta at the wall. If you’re not that fresh then you’re just wasting people’s time. For producers, it’s the same thing. If your beats aren’t that crazy, keep working on it and actually surface when you have something buzzworthy. I mean, music is all a matter of opinion, but there are some people who should just know that they’re wack. I’m not saying hang it up completely—well, there does come a time when one should hang it up completely—but don’t like puff your chest out when there’s no air in your lungs.

For more on 88-Keys, check out www.eightyocho.com.

Peep 88-Keys’ video for “Stay Up (Viagra)” feat. Kanye West:

25 Magazine interviews neo-funk California native, Nino Moschella.

WORDS BY MAYA RHODAN

It’s 9 a.m. on a windy Tuesday and while other emerging California artists are turning over in their beds after a long night of gigging, soul singer Nino Moschella is on his way out the door of his O’Neals, CA home taking his wife and daughter to work and school. Not the standard morning routine of an artist days away from his second album release. But Moschella lives his life like any other Bay Area family man; the self-proclaimed house dad is the father of three-year-old daughter, Stella, and husband to indie artist Mia Birdsong. Despite his Danny Tanner tendencies, Moschella is a hardworking artist, dedicated to representing all things funky and soulful in his music.

In 2006, Moschella released his first studio album, The Fix, on the San Francisco based Ubiquity Recordings, renowned for their devotion to cult music lovers of funk, soul and jazz. On his debut, Moschella’s underground roots were revealed through his non-conventional use of beat-boxing and hand-claps instead of the standard drum kit sound. Critics and listeners alike were wowed by the west coast singer’s soulful sound and deemed his album a hit, despite low numbers and mainstream recognition.

Since the start of his music career, Moschella has taken on the challenge of trying to reacquaint the world with the power of pure funk. Heavily inspired by the greats such as Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown, Moschella uses his music as an opportunity to demand respect for the genre that is only subtly represented in mainstream music. His sophmore LP Boomshadow, is a testimony to the style, the sound, and the artists that defined funky but also an original, soulful and personal work of art.

Nino Moschella - Are You For Real

25 Magazine: It has been about four years since your first album, The Fix was released with Ubiquity, how have you progressed as an artist in that time?

Nino Moschella: Good question. I would have to say that there hasn’t been a specific way that I have progressed but my feeling about the music has taken me to the next level. This album is definitely a step up. My feeling about the music has helping me to develop a knowing of when to push through and make a song work and when not to. I recorded about 40 songs in the making of this album, but I let the songs tell me when to push through. I’ve become more in tune with the music.

25: We hear the title of your last album Boomshadow came from a fictional character you and some friends made up, how does this character represent the album?

NM: [laughs] The character doesn’t even really represent the music. About 10 or 15 years ago me and my friends would joke around, while drinking and talk about this character Boomshadow. I hadn’t even thought about it until after the record was done and for some reason the name came back to me. The title does represent the sound of the album, but it was definitely an afterthought-it doesn’t relate to the creation of the record but the name relates to the sound that is the music.

25: On your first album you were making beats with a broomstick and handclaps, can you break down Boomshadow?

NM: Yeah, none of the beats were actually made with a broomstick, that’s just something the label says, but a lot of the sound was created without the traditional drum kit–there was a lot of beat boxing. I still like beat boxing and a lot of the music on this album comes from the same place rhythmically, but there is a lot more drum kit and structured sound. The drum was my first instrument and I naturally gravitate toward it, so there’s a decent drum representation on the album. I guess you can call the beats homemade, but there were no broomsticks involved.

25: What in your life has the biggest impact on your music?

NM: I think just the day to day experiences with those that are closest to me has the most influence on me and what I do. I mean there are definitely the musical influences in terms of what I listen to and who resonates with me musically (Jimi Hendrix, Oscar Brown Jr, John Lennon, Etta James, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, prince etc), but I would say the thing that has the biggest influence on what I write about and where my desire to express myself comes from, would be all the challenges and blessings that I go through with the folks that I’m closest to. I feel that is where I’ve learned the most about myself, being around and sharing experiences with the people I love.

Nino Moschella (prod. Shawn Lee) - Kiss The Sky

25: Speaking of day to day experiences, what is a typical day like for Nino Moschella?

NM: Everyday I get up, get my wife and daughter ready for work and school. Work on music, rehearse…I’m a house dad.

25: How does being a Dad impact your music?

NM: Definitely hard to pin exactly how. But generally, [my daughter] has opened my life to new experiences. She has introduced to me a new capacity for a different kind of love. I have written songs for her; the affect that she has had on my life and my wife’s life is so great. We are constantly trying to view the world how she views the world, which is so different than how we do, and so unique. Stella has given me a different awareness. The thing about children is you have an instinct to take care of them, it’s so natural. Being a dad definitely impacts my music, but not in one specific way.

25: When did you first realize that you wanted to do this for a living?

NM: I didn’t realize that I wanted to until about high school. I always knew that I wanted to make music, but I had to realize that I needed to make money while I was doing it. I played the drums in high school, my dad was a musician, and my mom was a music lover; there was never a separation from me and music. But my becoming an artist wasn’t a conscious decision; it was the most natural progression for me. It wasn’t like I said ‘Either I’ll be a doctor or a musician,’ I knew it was going to happen, but I had to decide I wanted to make it happen for myself.

25: How have other artists influenced you?

NM: I love music, I have always loved music. Anything that perks my ears, I am attracted to. I do my thing and I appreciate other people doing their thing. Any music that I do is a reflection of what I like to listen to. My mom and dad met in Greenwich Village in New York at a time when artists were being openly creative and exploring their craft. I grew up listening to artists like Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, and Etta James who were very soulful and Stevie Wonder, Prince and lots of California funk. I developed my style from what I love and I use my music as an opportunity to express myself the most openly-you create the best when you’re just being yourself.

25: How do you classify yourself as an artist?

NM: I try not to [chuckles]. My style has been derived from Funk, Soul, Rock, Folk…everything I grew up on, I draw inspiration from. I try to challenge myself not to create predictable music. When you listen to artists like Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles and bear witness to how they were able to cross categories on so many occasions-even the Beatles did it. Music isn’t supposed to fit into a category, its experimental. I guess if I wanted to be classified it would be as funk or soul, but I its best not to get wrapped up in style and just do it.

25: How do you feel about marketing music over the internet?

NM: I think it’s great in that it gives so many people access to music and it’s great for independent artists. Marketing is too general- I don’t feel you can be completely represented by a paragraph written by a label. The words they publish shouldn’t be what lead people to understand me- that’s why I write the music. The marketing goals of record labels have purpose, that’s why the internet works so well for independent artists. Independent artists have to hustle, but you have to put in the work and make things happen. The internet helps people to push themselves and it gives them complete control-it’s empowering. And there is so much music out there! Back in the day there was a filter so only so much music could get out and only so many people could actually get in the studio to make it. Now everyone can make it, anyone can market it and there is a constant influx of new music and a lot of it is good! The only downside is that there is a lot of not-so-good music out there too.

25: So, do you have a twitter?

NM: I don’t have a twitter; I don’t think I will either. My friends have them, but I don’t think I need to tell everybody, everything I’m doing. I can’t remember my phone half of the time. It would be cool for when I’m in the road to be able to tell my family stuff like “It’s snowing in Denver,” but no twitter for me.

25: What has been the most challenging song you’ve recorded or written?

NM: Definitely Stella, it’s featured on this album. I wanted the words to be articulated perfectly because its about my daughter. I needed it to be a certain way both lyrically and visually, so that she could hear what I wanted her to know but at the same time paint a picture in her mind. The words were the last part I even wrote, the song was done for six months before I did the words. I had them in my mind, but it took me forever to commit them to a piece of paper. I just needed it all to mean something. After it was done my wife cried, so I guess it worked out cool [laughs].

25: Where do you see yourself in the future?

NM: Still here, making music. If people like my music, I’ll still be doing it for the next 30 or 40 years, and even if they don’t, maybe even 60 years. I think I can live to be 93…but I really hope people enjoy it!

25 Magazine is the proud recipient of the 2009 Black Weblog Award in the Best Post Series category! A total of 8000 ballots were cast in this year’s awards and we got the popular vote for our Starving Artists series! Thanks for your support! There’s no trophy but we do get this cool banner thing. Check it out after the jump!

Hip hop is tired of being hip-hop. Kanye is diving further into fashion, Lil’ Wayne is engaged in a torrid affair with rock & roll, and everyday a new rapper starts a film career. Some fans claim that artists need to branch out creatively to express themselves, while some cynics scream that strolling down every media avenue is just a shrewd attempt at getting rich. Whatever the case, spreading talent too thin leads to a decline in quality music. Cliché rants about Hip hop being dead come to mind. Just as we were all beginning to dread flipping on the radio, fresh voices are pumping in new blood to revive the music industry.

Such is the case with U-N-I, a rap duo hailing from Los Angeles, California. Their music seems to immediately connect with people. After releasing their first mixtape, Fried Chicken and Watermelon in 2007, U-N-I has been receiving increasing amounts of recognition from both listeners and the press, with growing coverage and performance opportunities. Avid rap heads have greeted each offering with the same greedy anticipation. Their follow-up mixtape Before There Was Love caused the blogosphere to ignite with reviews and promises of free downloads, and their latest musical contribution, A Love Supreme, which features the insanely catchy single “Hollywood Hiatus” enjoyed a similar welcome.

The men behind the music are members, Yonas “Y-O” Micheal and Yannick “Thurzday”Koffi. They met in high school in 1999. After realizing their mutual love of music, they began to devote their lunch periods to defeating cocky upperclassmen in rap battles. They soon joined a four-man group called Rap-Ture Kamp, but in 2006 they splintered off and began to work together. They derived their name from The Roots’ track “UNIverse at War,” one of their favorites, and have been sprinting after their shared goal of rap fame ever since, using mixtapes and performances to get them closer to their dreams.

They have made significant progress. Not only have their Google hits risen to internet-celebrity status, but their developing resume includes making Billboard Magazine’s “Acts to Watch” list and the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards “Best Breakout LA Artist” award.

Although this heightened interest in the duo means they are successfully breaking into the music industry, it also leaves room for lazy comparisons and knee-jerk expectations. Some take a glance at U-N-I’s mutual appreciation for bright colors and Y-O’s mohawk and instantly label them as “hipsters.” Others immediately assume that they will spout the g-funk that is heavily associated with the Los Angeles area. However they seem to be different, more honest. Their music centers on their individual memories, goals, shoe fetishes, and celebrity daydreams. There is a certain level of self-awareness in their lyrics, as they allow their clever rhymes and well-delivered punch lines to speak for themselves.

Check out their latest release “Land of Kings”:

25: Where’d your love for music come from?

Thurzday: It comes from the people we grew up listening to Mos Def, Talib, Redman, Nas, Biggie; we were really influenced by Prince, listened to that reggae music and all that stuff, so we really loved music.

25: How did you two meet?

Y-O: We basically met in my freshman year and Thurzday’s sophomore year at St. Bernard High it was 1999. We met during lunchtime when we were either playing basketball, or on the courtyard doing freestyles up against upperclassmen and we just became the talk around campus, because we just demolished these upperclassmen who just thought they were just the ish and we did a talent show and joined a four man group during our high school years, we put out a couple of mix tapes, albums, and the request that they wanted to hear myself and Thurzday [do something together] so finally we made that division and we hopped out in ’06 and followed that with Fried Chicken and Watermelon in the year 2007.

25: What made you decide to really pursue a career in music?

Thurzday: Because 9-5’s are wack! I couldn’t see myself doing anything else that made me happy. This is what I wanted to do since I was a kid. Some people wonder why –it was like, the only thing we wanted to do as far as having a career. I looked up to people who’ve done it and I could never see myself doing anything else.

25: What made you realize that a career in music was right for you? How did it make you feel?

Y-O: Well, music has always been a part of our lives. I can tell you that growing up as a kid there was always music being played in our houses. But, before I got deep into music, there was always basketball, and with basketball, you know, you warm up to music. So, I noticed as I got older music has just always been something that was a part of me growing up as a kid and it just always made me feel so happy. When you write rhymes it’s just a way of [releasing] some stress off, getting stuff off your mind, and just putting it in your own words, and it just makes you happy; makes you get through the day easier. So, when we did the talent show in high school and just hearing the people’s reaction that kinda, like, made me feel great and I said to myself, “This could be a future; something I could do later on down the line.” So, just getting older and older and doing more shows—I guess I just took it more seriously and people respected it.

25: Many complain about a lack of originality in the music industry. What makes you different?

Thurzday: We’re not anybody else. We’re only us. So that’s like the only thing that makes us different from anybody. Everybody hasn’t lived our lifestyle. Everybody hasn’t experienced what we’ve experienced. So, through our own voice, we project who we are throughout our music. And it’s nobody but us. So, that’s really what makes us original. We’re true emcees. You know, we’re not a gimmick act. We really have talent, and we display that.

Y-O: And just to back him up. Our music is about things that actually happened in our lives, but outside of that, our live shows. I would say that It should be mentioned that even though we don’t have the biggest amount of money backing us up, we’re able to put our minds together-myself, Thurzday, our DJ and sometimes our band-and we just put on a live [ass] show, which some artists are not able to do these days.

25: Speaking of your music, it seems that you have a thing for Lauren London?

Y-O: Yeah, that’s a true story, once again. The song was basically inspired just from me having a crush on Lauren London, and I brought it up in the studio, with Ro Blvd, and we were just all joking and laughing about it. Everybody was like, “Yeah, she’s hot”. So, we started laughing about it, and it eventually turned into a record. She actually heard the record, and I guess it put a smile on her face. I thought she responded on Twitter, and she hit us up, well a fake hit us up, saying she loves the music, and she was acting real brand new. Then I remembered months ago that she’d heard it, so I was like “This can’t be Lauren” so I asked her a question about a mutual friend and she had no clue who I was talking about, so that kinda like, brought me down cause I thought I was really talking to Lauren London and come to find out it was a fake, man.

25: And shoes? You like those enough to write a whole song about them, as well?

Thurzday: We basically got an idea to take the original “C.R.E.A.M”, from Wu-Tang, and apply it to our lifestyle and a lot of folks were into kicks at the time, so we changed it to “Kicks Rule Everything Around Me”. We shot a video for it, and it took off.

25: You’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback lately from the media, but what’s your career goal?

Y-O: To be bigger than Kanye, with more money than Bill Gates.

25: Any advice for aspiring artists?

Thurzday: Starts with quality music, and a quality team and you can do anything.

Y-O: Step outside the box, just be yourself, and have fun—always have fun.

Download their music at www.yothurz.com

25 Magazine catches up with Von Pea and Donwill of rap trio Tanya Morgan on the heels of their LP,  Brooklynati.

Music has met its match, the internet, and over the past decade they’ve built a strong alliance and revolutionized music discovery and distribution. Many artists have benefited from the joining of the two mediums. Some notable offspring include Soulja Boy Tell’em, who has over 400 million views on YouTube; The Cool Kids, who formed after finding each other’s music on Myspace in 2005; and Asher Roth who was signed by Atlanta based manager Scooter Braun through Myspace in 2006. But long before these artists used the internet to network and share music, rap trio Tanya Morgan had already been there and done that.

Rapper Von Pea credits the internet for Tanya Morgan’s formation. Its connecting power brought Von Pea from Brooklyn, and Donwill and Ilyas from Cincinnati together. Back in 2000, Donwill was working with Ilyas in a group called Ilwill, and first heard Von Pea’s music on okayplayer.com. By 2003, the three emcees formed Tanya Morgan and released their first mixtape Sunlighting online in 2005, as well the EP Sunset later that year. In 2006, they dropped their debut album Moonlighting and took their career on the road. During the mid-2000s, Tanya Morgan made their presence in the indie Hip Hop circuit performing in Toronto’s NXNE Festival with Noveau Riche and performing in the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival with Consequence and Ghostface Killah. Just last week they headlined with Torae & Marco Polo at Southpaw in Brooklyn.

In the past six years, Tanya Morgan has received nods from rap notables De La Soul and Black Thought from The Roots for their affinity for both lyrical complexity and content. The trio has pumped a steady flow of music into the blogosphere over the past few years, releasing their mixtape Tanya Morgan Is A Rap Group and The Bridge EP in 2008, and their LP Brooklynati in June. Although Tanya Morgan has not hit the mainstream Hip Hop scene, their focus is not on commercial cross over. They understand true success, and rather than define themselves through records sold and Myspace hits, they’d rather focus on making the best “intelligent car music” possible.

25: What is the story behind Tanya Morgan’s name?

Donwill: Pretty much the name was designed for a one-off project. It was to throw people off with the album so they discover that it’s rap. It’s kind of like a weird inside joke and the name stuck. We’ve adopted several meanings to the name but it’s to expect the unexpected.

25: How did you all form Tanya Morgan?

Von Pea: Donwill and Ilyas met in college. They went to college together in North Carolina and they’re both from Cincinnati. I’m from Brooklyn. They hooked up and became homeboys in college. I was just starting to try to get my demo together. I was working with DJ Brainchild and Phonte back when Phonte was a solo artist. Donwill was one of the first people to hear my music when I first started in 2000, I guess through internet music sites like okayplayer.com and mp3.com. From there we started working with each other, but as far as being a group, me and Don became a group and he and Ilyas were already working together. From there, I just started working with both of them. We decided to do what was supposed to be a one-off project and we got stuck together.

25: You guys merge styles from Cincinnati and Brooklyn, how does that impact your sound?

Donwill: I would say our music is a mix of the east coast boom-bap and the mid-west stump. We make intelligent car music. It sounds good in your truck bunk and sounds good when you think about what we’re actually saying. In short, we make smart car music.

25: What distinguishes Brooklynati from your other productions?

Donwill: I think if people have ever heard anything that we’ve done it’s just a progression of the things we’ve done. It’s just everything is on a more professional, better version of what we’ve done. More thought out. We just did our own production this time around.

25: Do you think your music would be heard without the internet?

Von Pea: It would be interesting to see that, because we would have never become a group if not for the internet. I wouldn’t have any way to meet them, [Donwill and Ilyas]. I would have to go to Cincinnati. I don’t have friends or family in Cincinnati. They’re like my family in Cincinnati now but before them I had no reason to go to Cincinnati. We wouldn’t even be a group.

25: Why did you sign with Interdependent Media?

Donwill: We were actually, since our first album, signed with a subsidiary label called Loud Minority and that label got dissolved into Interdependent Media, as opposed to switching up the whole team that was part of the creative line up. A lot of our ideas are unconventional, and we wouldn’t be able to receive that sort of creative control from other vessels. So we just chose to rock with what we’ve been rocking with, and try to see what we can do together on a slightly larger scale.

25: How do you feel about the music industry and how has it impacted your work?

Von Pea: I feel like the music that we make is influenced from our life, and is the music that we gravitated to and listened to growing up. As far as hip hop, it’s more of the same. It hasn’t really changed. It’s more of a financial or monetizing thing. You see less intelligent music and more commercial, mainstream music. It’s harder to find, but if you go into Fat Beats, I guarantee it is all there. I think hip hop is okay. I think the rap game is in crutch right now because we don’t have record stores. We have Fat Beats and your local mom and pops. You go in there to look around and they carry our products and many of our friends. Hip hop is alive and well. It’s not really dead, it’s just harder to find.

25: You have been making music for some time, how do you feel about your slow rise to recognition?

Donwill: Still waters run deep. Nothing is overnight. Even if it looks overnight, it was probably 10 years in the making. You can’t really name an artist that was just concocted and rose to this meteoric success, without understating the 10 years or 20 years of work they put in until they get to that point of even having a meteoric rise. Name any artist, and there’s at least 10 years worth of grind and hustle. They just don’t talk about it because it’s behind them; it’s the past. It may work to be slow and steady, but 10 years from now after all is said and done and we have our cult following-I’m not in it for the fast run. The quicker you get in the quicker you leave.

25:What has been the defining moment for Tanya Morgan?

Von Pea: I think every time we meet artists that we grew up on, they always seem to know us and show us love. Just to see emcees we grew up on and we’ve learned so much from have respect for us, gets me every time. It’s been De La Soul, Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest, and Black Thought from The Roots, the whole Hieroglyphics [artist roster], and DJ Jazzy Jeff. It’s been so many people that you would think pay you no mind at all, and then they go, “Oh yeah! We know you! We like what y’all do! Y’all are dope!” They understand that you’re the next generation of what they do. They still have the torch and they’re still running, but if they say, “If I stop today, the torch will be handed to y’all,” that’s special to me. That’s defining to me. That’s how we know we’re doing the right thing.

25 Mag – Jabari Video Exclusive from 25 Magazine on Vimeo.

25 Magazine catches up with Jabari @ the premiere of his track “Dopeman” Ft. Nicki Minaj & Pusha T off the upcoming compilation album Famous on the Internet. Read more for download and cover art.

Famous on the Internet will drop in late 2009 and  feature Pusha-T, Wale, Nicki Minaj, Raheem Devaughn, Max B, Young Chris, Curren$y, and Charles Hamilton among others.

“Dopeman” Ft. Nicki Minaj & Pusha T (prod. Cookin Soul) – Jabari | Download here

Props to the NMC supporting a student from HU [the real HU that is]

Remember coming home from school to watch your favorite music video countdown show? Whether you were into the teen pop on TRL, the rawness of Rap City, or the cool urban edge of 106 & Park, there was something for all music tastes. You could not catch new videos or see your favorite artists make appearances anywhere else. If you missed it, you knew you would be left out of the conversation the next day at school. The exclusivity these shows offered were priceless. But today we no longer have to wait to watch music videos thanks to the internet, our generation’s new best friend and the music video countdown show’s new worst enemy.

“If I hear a new Jazmine Sullivan song…and I want to see if she has a video on YouTube, I can go there and check it out. Its instant access and this is what this generation is becoming affixed to,” says Martin Berrios, music editor at AllHipHop.com. After holding sales and marketing positions at music companies such as Warner Brothers and Sony BMG for 15 years, he started writing for Allhiphop.com in 2004 as a plan B due to the shrinking music industry. “If you’re going to have to wait two hours for Rap City to come on, it’s just like what’s the point when you have the internet.”

Originally music video shows were the only place one could see videos. “Me being from the Bronx, or living in any borough that wasn’t classified as an upper-middle class borough, we weren’t able to get cable. So all we had was…Video Music Box, which was huge to us because we would…finally see what these artists and tastemakers of life would look like, act like, and talk like,” says Berrios

Video Music Box, created by Ralph McDaniels, has aired for 25 years, and is the longest running TV show centered around Hip Hop. “I think Ralph McDaniels pioneered so much. He would brand each day differently like Old School Wednesdays, Flashback Fridays…and he also had social and political commentary. When the Central Park jogger got raped, God bless her soul, he was definitely advocating for the arrest of the kids who raped her. So I got to give him props for…really laying down the blueprint for every other urban video show to follow,” Berrios said.

But now music video shows are losing their appeal. Recently, BET’s Rap City was canceled and will be ending it’s 19-year run on October 29, 2008. It was one of the only music video shows to cater to the rap fan and is known for the freestyle booth in which rappers showcased their rhyming skills. Big Tigger, former host from 1999-2005 was known for freestyling with artists in the booth. Shortly after his departure, the show was cut from a two hour format to one hour in October 2005 due to a decline in ratings. Rap City’s replacement, The Deal will air this winter.

Similarly, MTV’s TRL was canceled in September 2008 and will aired it’s finale on November 16, 2008. The show was most popular during Carson Daly’s reign as host from 1998-2003. According to Nielsen Media Research TRL’s ratings peaked at 757,000 in 1999. TRL is the catalyst that boosted the popularity of teen stars such as N’Sync, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera.

But now that music video shows are losing popularity, artists must now find other ways to promote their music videos and create buzz. “They’re going to have to catch up with this whole viral online thing. These music video shows are going the way of the dinosaur,” says Berrios. He also mentioned 50 Cent as an artist leading in online marketing and promotion. “He had some vision because he was the first major artist around to have his own social networking site, THISIS50.com…So now you have a hub where anybody that’s a fan of 50 Cent…will know that if a freestyle dropped 10 minutes ago, it will be up there.”

Jahi Whitehead, senior Audio Production major, and Programming Director at WHBC feels similarly. “Artists are creating their own blogsites and are doing their own reality shows whether online or on TV and putting their music videos on before or after their shows. They will also utilize YouTube for promotion like Soulja Boy.”

Artists, like Soulja Boy Tell’em, who was unknown only two years ago, exploded onto the music scene using online social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube. “The internet definitely lowers the cost of production. Before you had to have a huge crew and set, now all you need is a green screen and a good graphic artist. And you don’t need CDs when you can just upload it to Imeem or iTunes. Nowadays people can have studio quality work with a really small budget,” Whitehead says.

The music video show’s relevance may also be declining because enough attention is not given to the actual music video. Cris Thorne, a junior, Film major says, “The emphasis is more on the person now than their music, and they don’t play the whole video.” To him the VJs are no longer interesting. “The people who used to do it were more involved in the music industry like Fab 5 from Yo! MTV Raps and Carson Daly on TRL. The people today don’t really have personality.”

To Thorne, artists simply are not being creative enough. “There’s a lot of stories people tell through music, but you’re not seeing the actual visual adaptation through the music videos…You want to appeal to the 5 senses and put a different twist on it, instead of the normal themes like women, money, cars, etc.”

Because of the lack of interest, the future of music video shows may seem dim. “I think we have to break out of the normal format. Let’s think of something new. Let’s do something fresh. We can listen to radio and guess who will be one, two, three, four and five on the countdown. I don’t care who you have hosting it. If you have 50 Cent hosting it day in and day out for a year that’s going to become tiresome too,” Martin Berrios says.

As MTV, BET, and VH1, all originally music television channels, eliminate music video shows from their lineup and increase their number of reality television shows, prepare for the music video show extinction. Now that television, once thought to be giant of all media, has been taken over by a new king, the internet, the music industry must now bow down and adapt to the new rules of the internet age.

Check out the Top 5 Most Shocking Moments of Music Video Show Television

1. The Michelle Williams Fall

2. Kanye West vs. 50 Cent Battle

3. Usher Response to Rumor Mill

4. Rocsi and Terrence Butt Heads

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ__FVBdoIE&feature=related

5. AJ & Free’s Last Moments on 106 & Park

By Kendra Desrosiers

It’s Yardfest. And while thousands of stylish undergrads, D.C. natives and proud alumni are commandeering the university courtyard for some hardly headliners and overpriced vendors, a band from Atlanta is a few blocks down the hill in a damp hallway, trying to make a name for themselves.

They’re six deep and just squeezed out of a “quaint” campus radio booth eager for exposure, and now two of Thunderkatz’ members are attempting to win over the few straggling Howardites with tales of their days at HU, Hampton University—clearly delusional.

Thunderkatz have been cross-country, pushing their dance single “3 a.m.” and are now in the chocolate city trying to cash in on some Howard love—seemingly they missed the Kanye censure of ’05. But this doesn’t faze the sextet. They were the unlikely victor at BMI Atlanta’s annual unsigned urban music showcase in 2006 so an aloof crowd of amateur critics are small potatoes. A few years have since passed and Tkatz have signed a brand-bending deal with The Inc., gigged nationally, dropped a radio-friendly single and despite their early success, few above the Mason-Dixon know their name.

There are thousands of great acts that have been signed that you’ve never heard of—a million maybe. Record labels are like family heirlooms. They grew dusty over the years, and like grandfather’s Vietnam transistor radio and Dad’s A-trak, they’re now obsolete and merely decorative antiques.

Everything’s digital and the 40 plus record execs can’t wrap their heads around it so your new favorite band never makes it to your myspace or the blog scours. It’s not in the torrents, on the ringtones or the late muxtape (darn RIAA). They get shelved, and according to Thunderkatz—a rock hop band you’ve never heard of— if a band doesn’t get on their viral hustle, they’re exiled to 2.0 oblivion—so much for getting signed.

Luckily for Thunderkatz, their timing is impeccable. Two years ago no one was on the hipster tip. We were still dancing. But now that M.I.A. can remix rap allstars, Janelle Monae has a mainstream audience and The Cool Kids are well, cool, “alternative black music” is no longer an alternative and genre meandering acts can join the ranks of their left predecessors. The industry is changing, as are the tastes of its consumers and now the band from Atlanta can finally get some play.

25 Magazine: How did you guys meet?

O8O (Vocals): We didn’t, I don’t even know these people [laughs].

Ginger (Vocals): Yea, I don’t know these guys. Him and I went to high school together, Del [O8O] and I. And they went to college together, Mel and Del.

Jive (Bass): John and Del worked together at the hit factory. And that’s how I met those two guys at the hit factory.

Ginger: Those two have been BFF since the womb or something and when he was working at the hit factory basically that was when everybody met each other up in New York City, and they were a band before I came along.

25: What have you guys been working on? An Album?

Ginger: Yea it’s supposed to be released sometime next year, that’s when we’re on the calendar. And right now we’re pushing our single “3 a.m.” We don’t really know what the impact is going to be on that but I mean we’re just trying to get out in clubs right now, get spun and any radio stations that you know have started to pick it up hopefully that just snowballs through.

“3 AM” – Thunderkatz

25: You’ve all come a long way from town band to signed artists, what was your big break?

Juno: We won a BMI contest.

O8O: and I think it was a big deal for urban music too because it was a urban showcase and kind of the fact that we came out with a band and killed it and it was the height of down south music.

Ginger: It was kind of scary. It was cool. It was really the point where things started rolling for us we decided to move down to Atlanta after that.

John: it was like a month later we moved down. Half way back up to New York and New Jersey we had sat down actually in D.C. wasn’t it and we’re like how do you guys feel actually the independent owners at the time we’re like how do you guys feel about moving down here and getting things poppin? So we were like let’s do it! A month later we came down, it was me, Jive and June and we came down and looked for a place to live and its [history] since then.

25: As a pop/rock/rap group what role do you play in the branding of The Inc?

O8O: I don’t think it’s ever going to be the same. Once we actually start impacting and spreading I think hip hops going to change. I think it’s already starting to change and I think that The Inc is one of the most solid hip hop labels outside of Def Jam and they work very closely with Def Jam so it’s like those two.

Ginger: I think it going to change them too a little bit because when this pops off its going to give them more leverage to do more things like us but sometimes now. Like Ja Rule and Ashanti are who you know and I think that once things start moving for us it’s going to open people’s eyes like to a whole different side of The Inc. it will be good for them.

25: What distinguishes you all from any other emerging artist in the hipster trend?

O8O: I’m not going to say way before any of that but we’re definitely leaders of those packs I know when those people were coming up and they came across our situation especially being in Atlanta a lot of hipster hop, hip hop whatever it is the scene has been budding there and a lot of those people have come across we’ve all crossed paths. The biggest difference between us and a lot of what’s going on there is that we’ve brought music into it and we’ve brought live music into it and that’s a big element we brought the band element into it and I think we kinda like, it’s just like…like Mcdonalds and Burger King. We’re kind of like what they listen to [when they get their start].

25: As an emerging band what would you describe as your most frustrating moment?

Mel: [There'a always something] especially with the business like the music business you know. When you’re new I think you have aspirations and reams of how an artist is supposed to get signed. How things are supped to magically unfold but it’s really just learning how you have to be very tactful and very mindful of what goes on with your business, how to handle it, really knowing contracts the actual process of breaking an artist so its like everybody looks at oh he’s signed I made it he signed a record deal and that’s realistically the very first step and it’s the beginning of the journey to really go up the mountain. I think that has been the frustrating part just learning the business and making it work for us.

John: On a new indie label that’s what it feels like. When we first signed as a band on a independent label it doesn’t feel any different than when we signed with a major label because now a year later we’re still footing it. Like how Mel said the way you thought it was is not how it is until they see a return from you.

O8O: The nature of music business has changed its all about an artist and their impact virally it’s all about the impact virally crossing over into the major media streams like radio everything is touchable now it’s not like before where it was all about a promotions budget and the street team it’s about the artist relationship with their fans.

25: Are you guys finding that you’re doing most of the leg work out there since the consensus is that label heads don’t understand digital?

O8O and Mel: they do not…

Ginger: it’s hard, it really is. We’re pretty savvy when it comes to things that we should do we’re kind of telling people what we want and that’s how things have sort have been happening and we’ve got to figure it out a lot of it ourselves but if we don’t do it nobody else will do it [laughs]

John: or it’s just not gonna get done the way it would. You know there’s like a million other great acts that have been signed that you’ve never heard of it. You’re shelved which is the worst possible scenario.

Mel: Unfortunately, record labels are like dinosaurs now they are used to working a certain way for so long that with the impact of like iTunes and downloading.

Juno: They’re playing catch up.

Mel: They’re really playing catch up and trying to figure out how to make it work for them so that’s a struggle.

25: With that said, what do you all think is the future of music?

Mel: Honestly I think the future of music is really what we’re doing in the sense that people are going to start believing in what they see, they wanna see somebody get in front of them and not be a studio product where you’re working with great songwriters and engineers and mixers but the talent isn’t being showcased. I think that’s what’s happening. People don’t buy albums anymore because they’re like I don’t wanna spend $17 on three songs that I like when I can go to iTunes and download the songs myself but when there’s it always speaks for itself when you fall on an artist who is putting the work in and giving the talent, hitting the road and actually giving shows and tours something that’s really tangible for people to hold on success happens i.e. Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Jonas Brothers.

O8O: I think lifestyle has a big impact on music now too. People buy into the whole persona of the artist they like everything from the socks they’re wearing to the type of toothpaste they use. If you buy, I think that if you’re an artist that has an interesting lifestyle that people can get down with you can also have a healthy career of providing all different aspects for your fans.

25: What would you say is your biggest grievance with the industry?

John: I think that the whole label thing like you know music in its self [inaudible] it’s become very dumbed down and a lot of it’s the same. I know when we first moved down south I was like I can cant event turn on the radio I was not really into that snap, crunk stuff you know what I mean. I guess even that starting to change even that is starting to get more musical. It’s up to you to see what’s positive and grasp that and not so much focus on what’s negative because there’s so much negative stuff in this industry, it will drive you crazy and make you not want to do it.

25: Anything you’d like to add?

O8O: Tkatzmusic.com check us out.

John: And come to the show wherever we play.

Ginger: yea check us out.

John: wear soft shoes.

Ginger: you need to see us at a show.

John: be prepared to have beers spilled on you, more or less thrown

If you’re a Scorpio odds are you were conceived on Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day is the best commercial overindulgence next to Santa Claus as lovers not only partake in rich chocolates, intimate dates and extravagant gifts but the sultry serenades of rhythm and blues heartthrobs. In February, Black music shines as Jazz, R&B, Soul and Blues greats are the premier aphrodisiacs of choice. Valentine’s Day is upon us and The Grind has created the playlist to make February 14th the hottest day of the year.

1. “Still Ray” – Raphael Saadiq. A sweet and romantic ode to the lady in Saadiq’s life describing his undying devotion to an unusually appropriate tuba solo.

2. “Touched a Dream” – R. Kelly. The Pied Piper of R&B makes a beautiful and dreamy song listing all the visions he had while he was making love.

3. “The Beautiful Ones” – Prince. The Purple One asks a lover “Is it him or is it me?”

4. “Weekend Love” – Dwele. This neo-soul crooner sets the mood over soft horns and snares as he reminisces over morning after breakfast during weekend getaways.

5. “You” – Raheem DeVaughn: A haunting ballad of devotion by a singer who evokes D’Angelo and Marvin Gaye and make even the most reserved of women blush.

6. “Getting Late” – Floetry. This song is sweetly mastered by the poetic stylings of the floacist, Natalie Stewart and earthiness of the songstress Marsha Ambrosius’ vocals speak on how temptation arises from the deep lustful stares of an estranged lover.

7. “Nothing Even Matters” – Lauryn Hill featuring D’Angelo. As if the name D’Angelo didn’t say it all –The two soul singers complement each other as they sing nothing really matters as long as they have each other’s love.

8. “Say It” – Ne-Yo. Leave it to a reformed sex addict to really get you in the mood. Ne-Yo’s mesmerizing harmonies will surely shed your sweetie of any inhibitions between the sheets truly communicate.

9. “So Anxious” – Ginuwine. This track has been the soundtrack to many a lap dance and late night nookie. For the less romantically inclined, the bubble baths and back rubs he speaks of top the list of surefire foreplay.

10. “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”–D’Angelo. As if this sensual number needed an introduction. D’Angelo’s falsetto will make even the coldest of hearts melt among other things.

Keep in mind that the lyrics of your favorite slow jam can make or break the mood. While 112’s “It’s Over Now” may be in your top five a hasty break up does not make for the fondest of subliminal messages. Now that we’ve set the mood you’re free to steam the windows and sleep in.

Blessed is the only word he could come up with when asked to describe the current state of his career. Gangsta L. Crisis, better known as G.L.C is one of the most successful artists to come onto the scene without having dropped an official LP. Fresh off a tour with Kanye West and already two time Grammy winner, G.L.C. considers himself to be a “man of honor.” With an upcoming clothing line, cartoon, movie, and debut album in the works that doesn’t seem too far off.

Long time friend of Kanye West, G.L.C first came onto the scene with an appearance in his fellow Chi-town native’s Spaceship in 2004. Since his mainstream debut, he was hard at work behind the scenes in the mixtape game and eventually made his way onto yet another Kanye track, “Drive Slow“.

G.L.C began his music career at an early age as an escape, a release from the harsh real world in order to stay positive. “I went through a few things when I was growing up, like losing my parents, being diagnosed with diabetes, and certain things that make people say ‘man, how did he survive? His backs on the wall, he probably won’t get up right now’, but I kept it moving,” says the Chi-town native. His perseverance brought him out of this slump and closer to success every day. With his debut album Love, Life and Loyalty on the way he says that he couldn’t be more pleased with life.

He explains, “My album is going to make people aware of the consequences of their actions, but also, it’s going to make you smile, it’s going to make you feel good, and give you something to ride to. You know, when you’re on your way to work, when you really don’t feel like being bothered; something to take you away for a minute,” but don’t expect to be lectured by the gospel of this rhyme veteran, he swears he’s no preacher. “In my album you’re not going to feel like I’m talking down to you, you’re going to feel like I’m talking to you.” G.L.C’s personality and spirit set him apart from other MC’s in the music industry, and give him the ability to connect with his audience.

After gaining recognition from working alongside Kanye, G.L.C. is ready to have his own music heard, and have listeners understand who he truly is through his work. “I am the evolution of a G, the vision. I am a man of a legacy, a man who is built of legacy, and my legacy is to build up my accomplishments and bring hope,” which is exactly what the public should expect.

Check out G.L.C’s Official Myspace