As an artist I've had the opportunity to view the hip hop/indy scene in some of America's hottest cities. All of them have there pros and cons, in L.A. it's fairly easy to perform at a nice venue, but your going to have to bring every fan there. You can open up for a major artist.....just be prepared to sell $400 worth of tickets. In Houston your going to meet some really great people, probably the most genuine artists that you will ever meet. The hip hop scene will welcome you with open arms (if your spitting!!). The only problem is the hip hop scene really only consist of maybe 2,500 people out of a city of 4 million. You can get shows in Houston, but after 4-6 months you'll know everybody in the crowd that your performing in front of. (No disrespect). Tallahassee, Florida is cool, lots of young talent and people definitely support upcoming talent. But if your not doing mainstream hip hop......its gonna be tough....Your best bet out there is get in the Tastemakers Music Conference, kill that show and get FAMU and college radio to play you.
What makes Atlanta special right now is that they have found a way to combine so many different elements to create more of an experience than a music movement. While most indy hip hop shows consist of MC's spittin, freestyles etc. Atlanta is taking shows and putting there own spin on them. You may see a rock band headline a mixtape release party for a hip hop group. You may think your going to a live art event and be surprised with an impromptu performance. You may think your going to a live performance and be surprised with a live art instillation. I went to one party that Hollyweerd was performing at and when I walked in there were nude models receiving live body art paintings......WOW!! What this is doing is creating interest from people from so many different walks of life. Instead of a hip hop show being exclusively in front of backpackers, b-boys, hipsters, break dancers, d.j.'s and hip hop enthusiast their scene receives interest from socialites, women, college students, designers, artist, skaters, punk rockers etc. Lastly, the marketing out there is insane. Much of this is definitely due in part to MarkStarr Multimedia, the way they brand out there is insane. The art work is superb, you can see from the samples above, and they focus so much on product. I met an artist, Dreamer, out in Atlanta, within six months of knowing him he gave me four different cd's. All with amazing artwork and packaging. I can't remember the last show I went to in Atlanta without receiving something (shirt, ep, etc.) ..........for free that is. So to conclude, I'd like to salute Atlanta for the creativity that's been brought to the forefront of the hip hop scene out there!!!!!!
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Its a wonderful thing to only be 25, yet feel like youve seen a "movement" come full circle.
ReplyDeleteAs an Atlanta native and someone who wanted to be an Ent lawyer for the "indy" folks about 9-10 years ago...I never would have thought that there would STILL be so much opportunity in the A. I remember Apache on Sunday nights Freestyle Forum, people gettin LOVE!!, like you said from folks in so many walks of life. Then the when i interned with Atlantis Music Conference (which was originally created for bands),the hip hop indy people took OVER! ASCAP started doing "soul suite" showcases..and there was a mass infusion of "big industry folk" working with "indy folk"..this was also helped by the fact that you finally had a diverse group of leaders that were voting members for the Grammyas (atl chapter) ..I thinking the fusion of the BIG and the Small has made Atlanta, the creative,"welcome all", spot for artists of all types to be truly appreciated and actually make a profit to bring more good stuff to the fans. ATL! - Kristen.D