I just wanted to take the time to introduce you to our latest signing and our next project, Marcii. Those who follow this blog know that our original plan was to release the Full Fam project which consisted of rappers J.R., Marcii and L.C. but due to lax work ethics, that has since changed. Instead Universal Indie will be releasing a 6 song solo EP and video for Marcii entitled “First Flight”. As with the majority of our releases it will be available as a free download under the Creative Commons license.

“First Flight” represents a departure of such for Universal Indie in terms of musical content. By sifting through our catalog you can tell that much of what we release features that “classic” hip hop sound. Marcii’s project, at least musically, is more in touch of what’s happening in the music scene today. Now before you go and cry sell-out, you can be assured that like our other releases the lyrics will be up to par but this is music from a younger artist geared towards younger fans.

We’re also shooting a professional video for what we think of as the lead single, “U Know Who U R” featuring Zahra. If you’re interested in hearing a taste of what’s to come you can peep two unmastered songs on our Facebook page.

With this release we are really counting on the fans and the press to get on board with this release and help spread the word. Join our mailing, add us as a Facebook friend, review the release and/or add the video to your site or blog. Anything you can do to help is sincerely appreciated.

In this episode Cartel talks about the new production style he’s using on these projects, “Hoodgrown Swag”.

I knew the title would get your attention, but it’s something I’ve been pondering for a while now. Like really what the hell is wrong with hip hop fans? Before I go off into my rant let me explain what happened the other day.

I get an email from Jamendo stating:
“Someone on Jamendo made a donation to the artist Cartel. Here are the transaction details:
* Name : ColdShiver * Message : There’s already so much taking in this world i figured i’l give something back, the least i could do. Thank you for this A-grade music, these tracks blow most commercial stuff away if you ask me, Cartel, Gang Starr and Nas are my favorite rappers, keep up the great work. Tracks i loved: 1. Cartel Ft. Gates – I Remember When 2. Cartel Ft. Tommy Mula – Elevate 3. Cartel Ft. Gates – U Know My Style 4. Cartel Ft. Brix – Real Talk 5. Cartel Ft. Mallz – Green 6. Cartel – Intro Prepare For Glory (too bad its so short, love the melody)”

It was definitely a pleasant surprise that someone liked my work enough to want to donate money to me because while there are donation buttons on the site for just this sort of thing, indie hip hop artist don’t usually see money from these type of promotions.

The real question is “why not”?

Hip hoppers like to consider themselves rebels… we go against the status quo… or so we like to think but in my opinion, the indie rock guys go against the grain more than we ever do and I attribute a lot of the blame for that to hip hop fans whose views are limited to how the music should be promoted.

Some of the most exciting, experimental music models have happened in rock and other genres of music. You have groups like Radiohead who allowed fans to pay whatever they felt their album was worth to the donation scale where the more you contribute to an artist to help record his project… the more you’re rewarded.

Hip hopper’s constantly scream about how being independent is the way to go and how the internet is the great equalizer but then they seem stuck trying to market their music just as the majors would. What’s the sense of spouting this indie/internet crap if you’re not going to try anything different? So you’ve set up a Myspace, Bandcamp and/or Facebook page. Yes you’re giving away your album/mixtape for free and/or have it on sale at iTunes. Then what? Who’s not doing that? How is that any different than what the majors are doing? Where’s the hip hop equivalent of the band, OK GO?

That’s why I applauded Public Enemy for utilizing Sellaband or Ras Kass for turning to Kickstarter.com to try and fund his latest project in a manner that most hip hop artists aren’t. You would think fans would reward his efforts to think outside the “rap box” but when you visit sites like HipHopDx (which has the most juvenile posts).. here’s what the fans stated:

“lmao this dude cant find the funds to put his album out, so he askin his fans to bail him out.”

“How are you a veteran in the game and struggling for studio time. This isn’t about conformity. He doesn’t know how to grind.”

“what a joke he is pimping himself what a hoe”

“Is this nigga that broke or something what the fuck donate, nigga is crazy and then you get limited edition handwritten song what the fuck. this nigga crazy”

Wow… Really??? Talk about a lack of vision. So I ask again what the hell is wrong with hip hop fans??? Is their vision really that freaking limited? If people like Josh Ryan, I Fight Dragons or Kelly Richey were creating hip hop they wouldn’t be in the positions that they’re in now. The 1000 True Fans Theory just does not seem to pertain to hip hop.

With fans as ignorant as this… it begins to make you wonder why even bother?

Ok so track 2 ‘You Know You Did’ is a classic, late 80′s Hip-Hop style track. Laced with funk – in fact the only apparent difference is the looped nature of it all. I’ll hand it to these guys, they’ve got me interested at this point. Very, very fresh. Not too long or overbearing, i’m really rather chilled at this point. I get the feeling that some serious homework has been done by these guys, that 70′s flavour that we can usually enjoy from a Nas track is all there. My Funk/Groove knowledge isn’t encyclopedic (so I can’t say either way) but if this isn’t a collection of looped samples then it’s an extremely well executed shot at authenticity. Kudos.

Roll on tracks 3 and 4, ‘Baby Love’ and ‘This Is Love’ and you can see the same. A punchy kick, a looped Soul vocal and/or bassline, massively compressed drum sequence and we’ve still got good, solid music. Very basic, quite bare, but seriously good! Hip-Hop runs in these guys veins, I’m wondering if the purpose of these mixtapes is to provide budding MC’s to get recording? Or maybe just for DJ’s to mix it up? Tasty Beatz seems to be free, and it would explain the brazen use of sampling – so if you’re intending of spitting over these tracks yourself, it may well be you that gets the lawsuit. We need to look into this… They’re boasting this as an ‘Instrumental Album’ and it certainly is that.

‘I Agree’ is pure butter. Yep, butter. Tasty, melting, and I’d happily get a dose of it with anything. Mos Def could do worse than use this, or Rakim, Jurassic 5, Erykah Badu, any of them. Sexy sax on here, in fact I can easily imagine Jazzy Jeff passing this one on to the Fresh Prince. Summer Summer Summertime, we just sit back and unwind. ‘Act Like That’ could be an instant success with even the least talented singer/MC over it, it carries itself! Again very basic, very dependable, in fact are these guys serious? Are these actually just stolen archive instrumentals from Rawkus Records HQ? I honestly can’t believe what I’m hearing.

If indeed I’m hearing entirely sampled music then DJ King Flow and DJ PLK have been crafty, I dont recognise a single riff – and I’m wondering what I’ve been missing out on from the world of 60/70/80′s Blaxploitation. I need to speak to these guys, I’m genuinely intrigued. ‘Gangster Music’ is a touch of a let down, merely because it’s not as catchy as the rest – that’s it.

I’m speechless. If I had a bad thing to say then I may have made a more entertaining read – but I dont. With a mission to make 1st class Hip-Hop instrumentals, these guys have done it – and then some. I’m just blown away. I may download this. In fact, yeah, I’m going to download this. 5 stars guys, 5 huge stars!

This article was reprinted from thecreativeuncommons.com

Still teenagers, the two have released dozens of mixtapes since the age of 14. “I’m 16 and PLK is 17 and we’re both from the city of Orleans. We’ve been friends since we were 14 years old so, it was only natural that we’d come together to do a project”, states Flow.

The releases will be available for free download under the Creative Commons license from the Universal Indie Website.

Reprinted from Track Elements.com

If you’re interested submitting to this project, please send an email with the the following information:

1. Track Name
2. Producer Name
3. Ascap of BMI Publishing Company Name (optional)
4. Email address
5. Phone number you can be reached at.
6. Send only ONE TRACK PER EMAIL

To hoodgrown.productions@gmail.com with “PRODUCER SUBMISSION” as the subject line.

The artists who are involved in this project will be responsible for choosing the tracks and those whose tracks are used will be notified upon completion of the recording process and emailed a copy of the song.

Insanity? High expectations? An impossibility? Maybe, but King Flow & PLK along with their label Universal Indie Records are planning to drop an instrumental album every 2 weeks in 2010 for what could be an epic effort if they rise to the occasion.

The 16- and 17-year olds, respectively, cut the first in their new series dubbed Tasty Beatz Vol 2 (where’s Vol 1 at? Hmmm..) this weekend, available for a recession-friendly free.99. Though I was skeptical before I listened, these young’ns are pretty decent behind the boards as they craft some soulful, quality jazz-hop.

I’m intrigued to see how they progress with this concept, so I’ll be keeping an eye on my inbox each and every fortnight (yes, it’s a word Einstein). I’ll be sure to share, so please feel free to leave some feedback on how you feel about these jawns.

Check the link below to download. Big thanks to Jenny at Universal Indie for the heads up, Enjoy!

Reprinted from oldTheThrone.com

“I’m 16 and PLK is 17. We’re both from the city Orleans and we’ve been friends since we were 14 years old so it was only natural that we’d came together to do a project.” states Flow. “We’re doing jazzy/soulful instrumentals. PLK has more of a feeling to his instrumentals and mines are more like Madlib or MF Doom.”

The “Tasty Beatz” series is available as a free download under the Creative Commons license from the Universal Indie website.

http://universalindie.com/

Reprinted from Kevin Nottingham.com