Blog - The Movement Fam, Independent Hip Hop Record Label - Toronto + Montréal
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Jermiside
What's life without having lofty goals? The Movement Fam are 100% independent, yet we have the most powerful element at our disposal to help us achieve a career milestone - YOU. Cee is shooting to at least hit the Top 100 Hip Hop Albums on the Canadian iTunes charts with this LP, and y'all can help him get there!
Aight, so we're a bit delayed on this one. But y'all can forgive us. We'd never been to anything like this before, and the shit is hard work. Seriously. Networking. Trying to talk to that producer/MC/DJ/industry dude without looking or sounding like a groupie or a new jack. Yelling over loud music all night. Up early and paying attention to panels all day. It's a full time job doing this shit. But we ain't complaining; both of these conferences were some of the most amazing experiences we've had thus far with music, and in 2011, we finna be rockin' shows there, beleeeeedat. We kicked off Atlanta by scoring tickets to the Drake show at the Fox Theatre. Bonus. Notion and I walked into a room full of people rapping every word to a Soulja Boy song. Oh-kay. Five minutes after we got in there, Drake started so it was perfect timing. Apparently Tyga opened, so we prolly didn't miss much. The crowd, mostly women and their generally less-than-enthusiastic partners, stood up pretty much the whole time and there was a lot of screaming. Drizzy did most of the joints I wanted to hear bar 'Say What's Real'. 'Forever' was dope; he even brought Young Jeezy and The-Dream out for their respective collaborations (I have no idea what they are), and the pyrotechnics for 'Fireworks' were awesome. Great show.
So A3C (it stands for All 3 Coasts, for those who ain't know. I didn't til recently) kicked off on Thursday at the Masquerade complex in East Atlanta. The venue was dope as it had about 5 stages with either performances, demonstrations or panels on at any given time, so there was never a moment of boredom. We finally got to meet a gang of folks we'd built with over the years but never met in person (as well as a bunch of folks we respect and have admired for years), including North Carolina producer S.T.T.R.E.S.S. (below with The Fam), Kevin Nottingham, Dasha, Hassahn, Emilio Rojas, Hezekiah, Donwill and Von Pea of Tanya Morgan, Che Grand, Big Dho, Chaundon, J The S, DJ Evil Dee, DJ Z of DJ Booth.net, Crooked I, El Da Sensei, Illmaculate, Laws, The Bodega Brovas, Khrysis and a gang more.
Day 1 was the 9th Wonder interview by Dres The Beatnik, and included guests and collaborators Buckshot and Murs. It was an awesome insight into 9th's work ethic, inspirations and methods. The rest of the night included performances from Jamla artists like Skyzoo, The Away Team, Rapsody, Big Reemo, Murs and Jean Grae. And of course, DJ Evil Dee was on the mix (c'mon kick it!).
Day 2 was full of more shows and informative panels. The two main showcases we caught were Kevin Nottingham's and DJ Booth's. Kev's included dope sets from HiPNOTT Records artists like Jermside, Nobody Famous and the Hall of Justus cats headlined and tore it down (Rapper Big Pooh, Chaundon, Jozeemo and Joe Scudda). DJ Booth's showcase had sets from cats like J The S, Emilio Rojas, Cyhi The Prince, Laws, Exile and Crooked I. We ventured inside to catch Illmaculate's set, followed by Seattle native J. Pinder, both of whom murked it.
Nosh even caught Mr Douthit to get a quick photo and pass on a copy of his tribute mixtape to the man himself. And we also managed to chill with Crooked I for a while and explain our move to Canada from Australia to pursue our music, which he said he really respected and that we'll be successful with that sort of determination, belief and passion. That really meant a lot coming from him. Great dude.
Day 3 was just as hectic. More panels in the early afternoon and the weather was gorgeous. Atlanta turned it on for us, we were drinking beers in the sun; it felt like home. More networking and more shows, including Torae, Sha Stimuli, Lessondary Crew (Jermiside, Von Pea, Donwill and Che Grand), Reks and Statik Selektah, the big homies The Bodega Brovas (Traviii 7th, Keynote and Headkrack), Hezekiah and horn section 'Me So Horny' (who KILLED it), The Artifacts, Emilio Rojas, Camp Lo and Rhymefest. All up, it was an amazing festival and we'll be there next year for sure.
After a quick couple days in Toronto to do some laundry and re-pack, we were on the bus to New York City to catch CMJ (College Music Journal). Yet another amazing experience; though a little different than A3C in the sense that it was general music business across all genres rather than strictly Hip Hop. We chilled for a couple days to check out the city as it was VP's first time, but Notion and I caught the David Icke lecture on the Sunday before booking it to the Mayer Hawthorne show downtown at the Bowery Ballroom, missing half his set. We got to hang with the homie Cyclops too, which was dope.
CMJ started on the Tuesday, and it was full on. The panels went from 11am to 4.45pm every day, with only 15 minutes break between each one, where we had to fit in any quick chats to panelists and toilet breaks before heading to the next panel and trying to get there early to ensure a seat. It was like being back at Uni. But the information we gathered was absolutely incredible, and the people we met will definitely be either long term friends or business associates.
The first night we caught the New Zealand showcase at Le Poisson Rouge, where we saw awesome bands like Street Chant, Ruby Frost and Kids of 88, saw Blonde Summer over at Kenny's Castaway (where Bruce Springsteen apparently did his first ever gig), and then back to LPR for the Duck Down vs Blacksmith Showcase. It was Duck Down's 15 Year Anniversary so they went all out. The 16 year old in me lost my fucking shit when every Duck Down artist (with the exception of Louieville Sluggah pretty much) rocked the stage, performing classics like 'Le Fleh, Le Flah, Eshkoshka', 'Operation Lockdown', 'I Gotcha Opin' and more. Incredible. The newly signed Black Rob even came through to perform 'Whoa'. No words.
The Blacksmith kids killed it too. Jean Grae and Mela Machinko, Pharoahe Monch and Strong Arm Steady did an awesome job. We bailed after SAS so I'm not sure who else rocked, but it was an incredible night.
The rest of the week consisted of panels until Friday and shows every night. The soul showcase with Eric Roberson was amazing, the international showcase at 92Y Tribeca was really interesting, we even caught Aussies Paul Dempsey (from Something For Kate) and Angus & Julia Stone doing their thing. Israeli electro artist Onili was awesome, as was closing night with Foreign Exchange (who had Darien Brockington and Zo rocking with them all night, and they even brought out Rapper Big Pooh and Jesse Boykins III). Shouts to the big homie outta Jersey, Mike Philson, who we connected with. So after two weeks of shows every night and early mornings at panels, we're absolutely shambles. Now it's time to re-up, consolidate the networks and use the new info we learned. Until next year...
The homie Jermiside has been at it for a minute. Part of the Lessondary crew with Tanya Morgan, the ATL resident (via Cincinatti) has been putting in major work, and now he's about to drop his album with Irish producer Danny Diggs, 'Middle Classic', on HiPNOTT Records.
Check the press release:
"Afraid", featuring Irish singer Maverick Sabre, is presented visually in this stunning video that was written, directed, and edited by Ilyas (of Tanya Morgan). The song itself is an excellent example of the type of feel good hip hop Middle Classic represents as a whole.
It's here!
Friday February 12th, sees the FREE release of the latest instalment of The Movement Fam's Valentine's Day Mixtape, entitled Second Time Sweeter.
This year, we've hit y'all with the same smooth blend of tunes to soundtrack your day, ranging from neo-soul, to reggae, soulful Hip Hop, acoustic rock and everything in between. Y'all also get TWO exclusive songs this year; one from The Movement Fam's own Cee & Bekah ('Something You Forgot'), and another from The Lessondary Crew's Jermiside ('Time Flies').
We really think y'all feel this one. It's just a whole bunch of damn good music. Hit us with any feedback and enjoy!
Oh yes, it's damn near here! The second volume of The Movement Fam's now annual project, The Valentine's Day Mixtape, drops this Friday 12th February and today we're leaking the exclusive joint from the homie Jermiside, 'Time Flies'.
Hit us with your thoughts and stay tuned for the drop on Friday!
Download Jermiside - Time Flies
Week #6: Getting Busy
So the decision was made; we’re going overseas. Awesome. Just saying it out loud made me excited as all hell. I didn’t wanna come home when we lived in Toronto and travelled for 12 months, so since then I’ve always been jealous of folks saying ‘Yeah, I’m going overseas next month’. Shit killed me. Now I was that annoying prick going on a holiday. Boom. Happy campers, we were.
But this wasn’t just a regular holiday. When the haze of excitement eventually passed, I realised how much work it would be to actually put this together. Not only did we need to arrange the logistics, but we had appointments to arrange. Where the fuck do we even start? That was the first thing that came to mind. So I thought logically. We were only going to visit cities where we had contacts; like I said, this wasn’t no umbrella-in-your-drink vacation. So we knew we had folks in Miami, Toronto, Atlanta (DJ Grain, now part of The Movement Fam, is in the A-Town) and New York that would be worth visiting. That’s a good starting point.
Emailing time. This is where my networking skills (or lack thereof) would really come into play. I hit up damn never everyone I knew to get them to put me in touch with damn near everyone they knew. Now, being that this is the music business and I was dealing with artists, producers and the like, I knew this could take a long ass time. Lucky it was like May and we didn’t plan to leave until September. This was a useful exercise, as it really showed who my friends were. I know that if I had some folks overseas who were coming out here, I’d do my best to put them in touch with everyone possible, so I was hoping for the same.
I gotta shout out Eternia, who probably spent a good hour or two of her precious time (the girl is busy!) putting together a list of damn near everyone she knew in Toronto and New York. That list was one of the most useful tools that I had at my disposal in planning this trip, and I can’t thank her enough. She’s a true friend, big ups! Also, my dudes Kevin Nottingham and Travis Glave (Wake Your Daughter Up! Blog) were invaluable, as they worked real hard to put us in touch with a gang of folks that came through the goods in the end.
So already, after talking with three main friends in the business in the US and Canada, I had things moving. Wow, this wasn’t looking to be so difficult after all. Or so it seemed. I would estimate that in total, I probably hit up around 100-150 individuals in all sectors of the music industry, all over Canada and the US (including Hawaii). I must have spent a week staying up til midnight after work every night sending emails like a crazy person. Not only to the folks I had been put in contact with, but hitting up random radio stations in cities all over the place (which I got a list of from Wikipedia, of all places). Once I had contacted everyone on my lists, all there was to do was wait.
Of course, this wasn’t just a once off activity. This was a constant thing from May until right up to when we left, and even while we were on the trip we were still trying to arrange meetings and stuff. I reckon I probably got a 5-10% response rate, which is probably better than most direct mail campaigns. So I was happy with that. Plus, you can’t really expect random folks to really wanna help out unknown artists from Australia on a whim (or an email); although that was how it panned out at times.
So with the contacting industry heads side of things underway, we had to get the logistics issues sorted (which we couldn’t do much with until meetings, radio spots, etc were locked in), and of course, finalising two mixtapes in the space of two to three months, all the while working full time. Goddamn.
Plug of the week: The homie DJ Hyphen in Seattle has a dope ass blog, The Audacity of Dope, and he featured both our mixtapes after we appeared on his show:
Notion – World Domi-NoTiOn (http://www.theaudacityofdope.com/2008/09/16/notion-world-domi-notion-mixtape/)
Cee & Bekah – The Soul Movement Volume 2 (http://www.theaudacityofdope.com/2008/09/17/cee-bekah-the-soul-movement-vol-2/)
So until next time, listen to Raheem DeVaughn. I am right now. He’s soothing. Pause.
Blessings,
Cee.
The Movement Fam.
The big homie G.C. done came with a special gift for y'all to lead in the new year with...G.C. on the Beats, Volume 1. This is a really solid collection of a bunch of his favourite joints from the various artists he's worked with. Cee & Bekah's 'Ven Aqui' makes an appearance here in full, the only place you can get it for now (until The Soul Movement Originals drops next year)...
From Kev:
"We have one more exclusive mixtape that we are dropping today and this one is a personal fav as it is from the sole producer that I manage.
2009 has been a very productive year for G.C., who we first heard of in our weekly remix contests at KevinNottingham.com. Since then, he has worked with quite a handful of artists, such as MaG, K. Sparks, Trav Williams, Jermiside, and Punchlyne & Fokis. We decided to put together a collection of some of G.C.’s best work thus far. This is G.C. on the Beats, Volume 1!
Any support is greatly appreciated!"
DOWNLOAD G.C. on the Beats, Volume 1
So the homie Jermiside been dropped his long awaited mixtape, Die Jerm Die, with DJ Low Key on deck. Shit is a heater, Jerm is a beast on the mic so he doesn't disappoint. Another quality release from the Lessondary crew. Look out for more of Jerm on upcoming Movement Fam releases!
DOWNLOAD - Jermiside - Die Jerm Die (tracked version)
DOWNLOAD - Jermiside - Die Jerm Die (untracked/podcast version)
Shad - The Calling from 360 To Nowhere on Vimeo.
Spotted @ The Audacity of Dope.
The homie Jermiside is murkin' it. Seriously. This is the unofficial video from Shad's joint off the Danny Diggs EP, dopeness.
Now this shit is finna be heat. The homie Jermiside put us onto Danny Diggs when we were in Atlanta with him last year, and dude been had heat. And most definitely, look out for myself, Bekah and Notion who did a joint with Jermiside for the collab album with Danny, so hopefully we make the cut!
"Irish producer Danny Diggs drops this free EP entitled Introducing featuring guests Jermiside, Shad, Akrobatik, SoulStice & more. Diggs & Jermiside have a project together called Middle Class coming soon as well. Tracklist & link after the jump."
Spotted over at Kevin Nottingham.
No, this ain't got nothing to do with murdering innocent mispelled germs.
Just wanted to let the folks know about another dope remix competition the homies over at www.KevinNottingham.com are running at the moment. Fresh off of The Movement Fam and Trav Williams remix competitions, the next one for budding producers out there is for the homie Jermiside, for his upcoming Die Jerm Die mixtape, mixed by DJ Low Key.
There's two joints to remix for Die Jerm Die volumes 1 and 2 - 'Never Seen A Thing' and 'Crisis Times'. The former will feature on Vol 1 and the latter on Vol 2. So you have two chances to make the cut. This should be interesting...click the image to get the info.
It is truly amazing that Hip Hop has hit every continent and folks are producing good music. The Irishman Danny Diggs: producer, beatmaker, and maestro of sound has taken some time out of his busy schedule working for a brief insight into his world. I hope you all enjoy.
DJ Grain: Being from Ireland, what was the first Hip Hop music you heard?
Danny Diggs: It was an NWA - Straight Outta Compton casstete tape that I got as a present, back when NWA were no longer a group and cassettes were the last thing a young teenager wanted. It took me a long time before I found out there were actually Irish Hip Hop acts, but the first time I heard the Irish stuff, it blew my mind.
DJ Grain: When did you start making beats?
Danny Diggs: I started messing about rapping, then quickly moved onto making beats at about age 14 or 15.
DJ Grain: What artists have you worked with?
Danny Diggs: A bunch of different artists. I did my first album work on Canadian rapper Mello Black's debut album "At the Speed of Motion", I did 3 tracks on that. I just did a track ('Reflections') on the Killah Priest & Cheif Kamachi - Beatiful Minds LP.
Right now I'm working with an ATL based emcee named Jermiside on what will be my first album, I'm really looking forward to people hearing this. I think its going to be a solid record. On this side of the ocean, I'm doing a lot of work with rapper/singer/producer Maverick Sabre, he probably DJ's too. I'm doing a few tracks for his first official mixtape coming in the new year, and I've done random tracks with Shad K, Akrobatik, Nucentz, DJ Mayhem and others.
DJ Grain: What was the first song your produced?
Danny Diggs: Ah I don't know, probably some shite i was rapping over myself, but the first song that people are actually going to hear, I would be the Mello Black stuff.
DJ Grain: Thus far in your career, who has been your favorite artist to work with?
Danny Diggs: Bit early for this kind of talk. So far its a toss up between Jermiside and Maverick Sabre, I think both of them are great, both have crazy focus!
DJ Grain: What instruments or equipment do you use to make beats?
Danny Diggs: My set up is PC based. I run Ableton and Acid Pro (I've tried 'em all and these are the ones that suit me) controlled by a bunch of MIDI controllers (Korg pad Kontrol, Novation Le keyboard, Mackie controller), Krk monitors,bass guitar, some old Gemini turntables and lots of records.
DJ Grain: What project(s) are you currently working on?
Danny Diggs: Jermside/Danny Diggs album, and the Maverick Sabre Mixtape. I think I'm gonna put out a little MySpace EP type download with various rappers over my beats.
DJ Grain: Could you describe the Hip Hop scene in Ireland?
Danny Diggs: I would say it's good. Living on the West Coast, I'm a ways away from the Irish Hip Hop "scene" that centers around Dublin, but we have got some really good acts like Rob Kelly, Maverick Sabre, MJEX, Nucentz and Rawsoul, Scary Eire, Flithy Rich, DJ Flip, Scooby...there's too many to name. We have talent out the ying yang, hit MySpace, do a search and see we are about to invade.
DJ Grain: Who are some of your favorite producers?
Danny Diggs: Pete Rock is the man, Primo, J-Dilla, Black Milk, Ohmega watts, RJD2, and 9th Wonder just to name a few that I really like.
DJ Grain: Do you have any words of wisdom for young producers?
Danny Diggs: Ha, I'm too young to give words of wisdom, but for anybody starting out, do your own thing - don't go onto a fucking website forum and listen to a bunch of talentless cunts talk about how to make good Hip Hop. If you enjoy what you're making then it's good Hip Hop. Such and such software or a particular piece of gear isn't going to make you better, make do with what you have and learn.
Check out Danny Diggs at the following sites:
Danny Diggs on MySpace
Danny Diggs on YouTube
Dope beat tape from producer Aeon that has worked with the likes of Tanya Morgan, Che Grand, Jermiside and many other dope MC's. Watch for him in '09'
Download link:
Aeon Got Beats Vol.1
For those of you that don't know, Tanya Morgan is a rap group, and recently they won a MySpace contest that highlighted new artists. Make sure you pick up their entire music collection (Moonlighting, The Bridge and dropping early next year Brooklynati). Make sure you download this classic. Shouts to Jermiside who has the verse of the year on the track "Easy". I have a treat for all the fans that think hip hop is dead.
Download link:
Il Wil/Tanya Morgan Presents - Beat Thieves Vol 2
