There is no precedent to this. Soul. Hip Hop. Rhythm and Blues. One vocalist. One MC. Cee & Bekah.
Creating your own genre is no easy task. After their debut mixtape The Soul Movement Volume 1 smashed the scene in 2007, Cee & Bekah have barely stopped to breathe. And it could never be said that these captivating artists don’t move with the times; their grasp of the internet and digital marketing has assisted them in spreading the word about their music in ways which most artists don’t invest the time to create. Capitalising on a strong online buzz from their MySpace page, Twitter, www.TheMovementFam.com blog and extensive downloads of the first two mixtapes in The Soul Movement series, the duo never paused on making music, banging out close to 50 songs to select from for their latest release, The Soul Movement Volume 3: The Final Chapter, mixed by none other than Mick Boogie and Terry Urban (who have mixed and hosted critically acclaimed mixtapes for Kanye West, Little Brother, Skyzoo, Adele, and many more). Their own niche “Soul Hop” genre has never felt so real.
A mixtape of this quality and scope has never even been attempted by an Australian artist, let alone executed successfully. Cee & Bekah are most certainly the first artists from Down Under to work with Mick and Terry, and the first to release a mixtape on such an ambitious international scale with an independent mindstate (and budget). And The Soul Movement Volume 3, their third and final mixtape before the EP and album, is undoubtedly their most cohesive and strongest body of work to date. After all, since Volume 2 was mixed by the most successful DJ in Australia, DJ Nino Brown, the only logical place to go was to the big leagues in the USA.
In March 2009, Cee & Bekah, along with Notion and Tommy Gunnz, were signed by respected blogger Kevin Nottingham to his brand new label, HiPNOTT Records, based out of Miami, FL. This move essentially cements The Movement Fam as viable members of the international Hip Hop community, being the only non-American artists on the label, and giving all of their releases a stamp of authority not usually associated with Australian Hip Hop/Soul artists.
Now that Cee & Bekah have completed their run in the mixtape scene, it was time to give the people a completely original release. Compiling all of the original production from The Soul Movement series, along with three bonus tracks, The Soul Movement Originals is essentially the unofficial debut album from the duo, with twenty smooth moments of Soul and Hip Hop, including a guest appearance by Cesar Comanche of the Hall of Justus (Little Brother) and a collaboration with the Bay Area’s The Understudies, recorded in Berkeley while Cee & Bekah and Notion were on their radio tour of the USA and Canada in 2008.
While the buzz continues for The Soul Movement Volume 3 and The Soul Movement Originals projects, Cee & Bekah aren’t slowing down. They’ve begun work on their debut EP, The Precedent, as well as their as yet untitled official debut album and numerous other projects coming out of The Movement Fam. And even though Cee & Bekah’s brand of “Soul Hop” is still in its infancy, folks from all corners of the globe want in. It’s official. The Movement is here.
Place your comment