The Independent Artist Showcase gives artist the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience which includes music executives from some of the best labels in NYC. The best 2 artist wins cash and meet with real industry executives at the record label.
thIS SHOWCASE IS FOR ARTIST WHO WANT TO TAKE THERE CAREER TO THE NEXT LEVEL SIGN UP TODAY AND BECOME A WINNER.
This showcase is a “Artist Competition” / Doors open at 8PM – Show starts at 9PM [EST] / Each artist will have 6-8Min. stage time. This showcase will be Judged by Rap of Republic Records, Jeff Juin of Sony Music Group, Airplane B of Flight School/Atlantic Record, and City of T&B MusiQ.
LOCATION: [IGUANA NYC: 240 W. 54TH ST. NY, NY 10019]
After you make your deposit make sure to fillet the form below and upload a full body photo with (the artist standing up) for your custom Flyer.
HOW ARTIST GET PAID:
Each artist that register to perform will receive a uniqueticket code to give to their supporters. The artist will be paid50% of their ticket sales (Minus transfer fees) for each ticket sold AFTER they reach 35+ tickets sold through their unique ticket code. [Artist must sale (35) tickets before they qualify for payout].
All The Right I would like to thank everyone throughout the 25 years for all your support, love and friendship. Please come celebrate with us and have some fun with the elements of hip hop.
Please come celebrate with us and have some fun with the 4 elements of hip hop.
Artist can register to perform live from 3-5PM at the Block Party Concert with a chance to WIN $1000 CASH. If you have talent come out and perform [must register first]. Hosted by Pretty Lou [Hot97/Terror Squad] – Judged by: Ron Millz [Sirius XM], Mia Belle [Hot97], JazzPo [Roc Nation], Nems [FYL Brand]THIS EVENT IS FREE FOR ALL AGES.
LOCATION: [48TH AVE. BET. 92ND & 93RD STREET ELMHURST, NY 11373 – QUEENS]
Each artist that register to perform will receive a uniqueticket code to give to their supporters. The artist will be paid50% (Minus transfer fees) of each ticket sold through their code. [Artist must sale 35+ tickets to qualify for payout] Independent Artist Showcase only.
On the way to the top it is expected that there will be times the credit deserved will not be the credit received…. there are living legends all over who haven’t received their respected flowers. But Virginia bred lyricist Smiff is planting his flowers early with the release of his second album “Flowers”. Smiff harnesses a flow and delivery otherwise not commonly found in mainstream HipHop. Sharp bars and real life draw listeners into a place of artistic perfection. After the release of his firstrecord “To Whom It May Concern” Smiff experienced traction that fueled the evolution of his career. His content accompanied by his delivery is a shift from what is currently found in Hip-Hop. But it is the refresh everyone needs, and a culmination of life lessons, observations, and an ode to how far Smiff has come.With an elevating career it was only right for the artist to gift his fans a body of work that would serve as an honorable follow up to his first drop.
Who is Smiff? And how did you come up with the name?
Smith is actually my last name, but it’s spelled the incorrect way, my last name, but it’s just how I pronounced it. You know what I’m saying? People kept saying like, “Bro, are you saying like it’s spelled S-M-I-F-F?” I’m like, “Nah, it’s just, it’s how it sounds when I say it, but it’s spelled the right way.” So that’s really how I just ran with it. A part of me… ‘Cause before Smiff, I had a bunch of other names that just was trash for real. So I was just thinking I wanted to be more genuine to who I am as a person,” which is how my music is too. I tell real life stories, things I’ve really been through. So kinda like how Nas did, his name is Nasir, so he shortened it down. So I just thought like, “What could I use as, really, J. Cole use his real name?” So, yeah.
When did you start writing music?
When I first started writing music, I think, was probably eighth grade maybe. Before then, we was doing battle raps, rapping people or either write a rap in class, go to the lunch table, battle at lunch, battle in the hallways, shit like that. We started doing that at first, and then my man, by the name of Sails, he was recording in the eighth grade. He was like one of the first dudes I knew that had a studio at his house, and he was like, “Yo, come through.” So I pulled up and I was recording with him for at least a couple of years for a while to about 10th, 11th grade. But it was more so, kids just fooling around, just recording different. It wasn’t nothing serious. It’s like, “Oh, he got the studio. Let’s go pull up over Sails’ house and record.”
What was the turning point for you then that made you really wanna start doing it?
When I really realized I was nice. When I really thought I was nice, and then I started really looking at the climate of music, I’m like, “Yeah, I could really do this.”
Did you have a moment at an event or something, or did somebody tell you, somebody specifically tell you? How did you realize?
Just people telling me, and then just different people saying, “Yo, bro, I mess with the music.” But more recently, when I dropped my last project, To Whom It May Concern, when I dropped that project, I started getting a lot of real things happening that made me realize like, “Nah, you need to take this serious.” One, for example, was it was this random lady at my job, we knew each other, but we were really getting to know each other. And one day, she was just singing this song. And I’m like, “What are you singing? Stevie Wonder?” She was like, “Nah, this is not Stevie Wonder.”Because that’s a sample that’s in the song.
She was like, “It’s this dude that was rapping that my homey put me on yesterday.” I’m like, “Alright, let me play you a song and you see if this the song, ’cause I think I might know the song you’re talking about.” So I played my song and she was like, “Bro, that’s the song.” I said, “That’s me.” And she was floored and like, “Yo, I think it’s dope. I had no idea.” Da-da-da-da. In another instance, I hopped in an Uber, pre-COVID, I hopped in an Uber headed home, and when I got in, the Uber driver was playing one of my songs. It’s like little things like that that’s been happening, that’s showing me like, “Something that I’m doing is connecting with people in a real way.” So it just helped me focus where I’m like, “Keep building, keep elevating.”
I saw people were actually buying the physical digital album, which I feel like is kind of rare for a lot of new artists right now.
Yeah, but man, so many… One dude Cash App’d me. He bought the album, and then he hit me up and was like, “Bro, this album’s worth more than $10.” I was like, “Bro, I appreciate it.” And I didn’t even say nothing after that. I said, “I appreciate it.” He was like, “Drop your Cash App.” And I just said, “Thank you for buying the album.” He was like, “Nah, but drop your Cash App.” And then he sent me $100 cash for the album, bro.
Your content really touches on real-life and society and things that people need to hear. Your music is very for-the-people. what inspired you to really share those experiences and those truths through your music?
That’s a good question. You know what? I think I just recall back to when I fell in love with music and remember what it was about the music that I was falling in love with, that I connected with, and it was always real ass songs, that it’s like, “Damn, bro, even if I was 10 years old, I can’t relate to what he’s saying, but I know I can hear the genuineness in it and what the lyrics and how authentic it was.” And it just stuck with me growing up. I always try to gravitate towards something that I can feel. And so when it came to me making music, in my mind, everybody in life pretty much go through the same thing or some variation of it.
Not everybody has an artistic expression where they could write something down, whether it be a poem or whether it be music in general, to express themselves. So who’s going to speak for those types of people who are going through this? That’s what I think about. Not everybody wanna turn up, and I love turn-up music. You feel me? But you can’t turn up 24 hours a day and sometimes you’re gonna have to sit with yourself. Sometimes you’re gonna have to really analyze the world and see what’s going on, you know what I’m saying, or a relationship that you might have with a female or your mom or whoever. I pull from, like, “Okay, let’s really touch on topics and subjects that the everyday person could touch… Relate to.
Another reason, I’ve never really been a trendy person ’cause… I don’t know. I don’t know. I guess when I came up, for me, you never… I know this is different, but you never wanted to be in the same pair of shoes that somebody else had, you never wanted to be in the same clothes. People would take trips out of town to go get different shit. So when you pull up at school, you just wanted to stand out and not… I think that’s the best way to be, individuals. You know what I mean? Individualism.
Talk to me about time and work that went into Flowers. I think I saw somewhere, it took two years almost, right?
I dropped To Whom It May Concern in 2018. And so the reason why it took me so long to drop Flowers is because I was constantly pushing that body of work. And someone told me, “If it’s good music, then just keep pushing it and something… It may catch. Some people have songs that’s two, three years old, and that’d be the one that blow them up.” So when it came to Flowers, like I said, I’ve been pushing To Whom It May Concern. So then in the midst of that kind of running its course and people saying like, “Yo, when are you gonna drop another project? When are you gonna drop another project?” I started picking up with Flowers.
I started, I would say, I think like May of 2019. I was in Atlanta, actually. And one of my homeboys, Bravo, he lived down there. He’s from DC, but he was out in Atlanta. And that’s when we did Heaven’s Kids. And then from there, I just continued to write and listen to hundreds of beats. That’s another part that people don’t know. You listen to hundreds of beats, some of them is trash. You know what I’m saying? Some just don’t fit the project. So it really is a process. But yeah, cracking from May 19th to… I finished, I think, either December 20 or either maybe like January this year.
Talk to me about the title and what the whole overall message behind the project was.
With the title, when I thought about flowers, I just kept thinking about, “What do flowers mean to people?” You know what I’m saying? We give people flowers in celebration. We give people flowers in passing. You know what I’m saying? And then I also thought about just the terms of people knowing that they’re worth… They deserve flowers, but people not necessarily can recognize that to give you the flowers. So it’s like, so it’s many different meanings for me. But also, the rose from the concrete idea, I feel like as Black people, we’ve come from may not be… Maybe different environments, maybe harsher environments, but we still blossom into beautiful people. There’s beautiful experiences that come out of the struggling and tough times. So I feel like if you listen to this project, there’s gonna be something that’s on there that’s gonna connect with you in some different form, whether it’s the celebration, whether it’s the struggle, whether it’s the environment that caused the rose from the concrete situation.
Let’s get into who helped you on the project? Producers? Who was involved?
So most of the beats came from BeatStars. I just would go on there and listen to them and buy them. But one dude on there, number two, Heaven’s Kids, Dar’rell Banks, he’s a Virginia producer. So I met him and worked with him on my last project, found him on SoundCloud, ended up DMing him on Twitter. He lived in Manassas, Virginia at the time. So I just drove out there and met him face-to-face, and told him what I was trying to do, and bro just been sending me beats ever since then. And that was like three years ago, maybe four years ago.
He’s tough, he’s a real good dude. Who else is on there? Let’s see, Othellobeats. All of these people… Yeah, really just BeatStars. I went on there and found beats that I thought was dope. Oh and one other dude, D.Woo, who produced What Love Is. So I got a guy by the name of Ka’ree, who designs a lot of my merch and other little things for me. He’s real dope. He does a playlist where he just randomly puts different artists or different producers on. And I was listening to one of his producers, and I’m like, “Yo, who is this? This dude is fire.” And he was like, “That’s D.Woo.” So he connected us with him. I ended up buying a beat from him. And it turns out that later on, D.Woo went on to produced “Sue Me” for Wale off his new project.
What influence do you as an artist want to have on the world with your music?
My influence, I just want people to be themselves. Know that it’s okay to be you. Whatever it is that’s about you, it’s okay. Don’t let nobody shame you. Don’t let nobody tell you or steer you into doing something else, and also to really analyze what’s going on around you. Really be aware of what’s happening, how you feel in this particular moment. That’s what I would want my influence to be as an artist, someone that’s gonna make you like, “Okay, yeah, let me be aware of what’s going on. Let me be comfortable in my skin, who I am.”
He Rock. He Roll. He Rap. He’s Choze! Kamil Jones otherwise known as “the chosen one” is a rising rapper based in the ATL.His flow and style mixes the old school with the new, gifting listeners a whole new vibe. As an emerging artist he sports a hustle and grind supporting of his growing career. During a short stint in the military, Kamil would keep the barracks lit with his energy and lyrics. Realizing that the strict environment was not a place for him to attempt his rise in the industry… he finished out his time then went full speed into his music. Consistency is key and Kamil has been steadily releasing new tracks and gaining momentum.His most recent release was an 8 track project titled “Big Choze”. With songs like “Chakra Glow,” “Sunflower Seeds” and “Hi Tec,” the artist is using beats and bars to shift the energies of his listeners.
When did you start making music?
It was a long time ago. Just like make… As far as just making, it was a long time ago. I wanna say, we started in seventh grade, six, seventh grade, me and my friends used to freestyle. We used to just freestyle in class, and that’s how it really always starts. Freestyle in class, record some songs on your phone, show your friends. We even played it in our class for our teacher, she laughed at it. I’m from Danielsville, Georgia which is real country.
They don’t really hear a lot of hip-hop and stuff. But even back then, I will say we was rapping pretty decent, but it’s just us being us. It didn’t really move people but we just kept going.
Since hiphop wasn’t really common where you grew up, how was that?
It’s interesting because at first, as I kept going, it’s like everybody know there’s a shift in the culture. There’s always been a shift, every so often there’s a shift in the culture. So by the time we got to high school, it was like people started feeling it more, but in middle school, it was just like a gimmick. Even in high school, there was people that laughed, just laughed like “Why ya’ll wanna rap?” And I’m just like, “Well why do half of y’all wanna do lashes and nails and y’all wanna be barbers?”
There’s always somebody hating.
There’s always somebody hating. And then even one of my buddies, the dude who I consistently make music with, they used to talk a whole bunch about him and stuff. And just as we kept going, it was just, you realize you don’t care because the local people are always gonna hate. The people that know you are always gonna hate, but it’s like when you reach out and you continue and you start putting yourself on SoundCloud, you get reactions from people that don’t know you personally. So they don’t try to paint a picture of you, so it just became more… It came easier, honestly. Being confident in your music and stuff. It came way easier.
What are some of the people that inspire you, musically?
Casey Veggies, Dom Kennedy, others like… If you know all them 2012, all those 2012 West Coast rappers like… Really, that’s it, like who else? Skim, I don’t know if you know if you know Skim.
What are some of the goals that you have for yourself as an artist?
Honestly, at first, I guess when we first started, everybody kinda imagines themselves in the lights and stuff, but as you continue and you learn more about the business, my biggest goal really is just to like make music well enough, and I guess be so successful in my own standard, in my own lane that I can just pay… At least pay my rent and a car note with it, you know what I’m saying? Just to be able to survive off of it because it’s like more so just… I do want like, you know, everybody wants to go as far as they can go, but right now it’s just like my main goal right now is to be able to get that sustainability so I can not have to… Wait till 5 o’clock to do an interview, you know what I’m saying? So I can have free times in my hand, so I guess time freedom is the biggest goal. That’s how it really is.
In your bio, it says that you are chosen. You have a lot of spiritual stuff going on with your brand. So talk to me about where that comes from and why you choose to do that?
It’s like the triple 4s, like the triple 4s, every time you see like 444, is like the the number of manifestation and stuff. So like to say I’m the chosen one, I ain’t trying to say it in a cocky way, like, “I’m the chosen one.” It’s more so just like, everybody can be chosen, you could be chosen at anything that you wanna do if you wanna be chosen, you know what I’m saying, so it’s just… It’s just all about manifestation, you are chosen. If you say you’re chosen, then you’re gonna make it in whatever you’re doing, that’s the biggest goal behind the brand it’s the message I try to push though. That if you put a whole bunch of hours into a craft, I don’t care if you suck at it, if you put a bunch of hours into a craft, you know what I’m saying, somebody’s gonna vibe with it. It’s gonna turn into something, ’cause I put this like this, in my opinion, Riff-Raff is not that good. But Riff-Raff put the hours in, you know what I’m saying, look at him.
Who are some of the people that support you right now and do they make music as well?
I got a handful of people. My friend Moe Da Don, her Instagram is backinthefuture, she’s a photographer. Honestly, sometimes she does a lot of candid photography that she’ll go and edit up, just to make sure I have content to push out all the time. I got my boy Cody, he shoots videos. Shoots real good videos. Nala London, LondonMakesBeats, Tez, my boy Tez, always has my back. It’s like just really, it’s a friend group, Kali, you know what I’m saying, my homeboy Anaias, he always taps in, just hits me. Sometimes he’ll text me and just quote a lyric and just let me know that he’s still out here listening or like if I drop something, he’ll quote a lyric from it to let me know that, you know, he is still out here supporting and watching stuff.
What is one thing that you would want everybody to know about who you are as an artist?
I’m somebody I’m not gonna cap my rap. I’m not gonna sit here and lie about stuff, everything I rap about is me. I rap about situations where I’ve been broke, you know what I’m saying? So like, you rap about situations where you ain’t… Where like, I only had a dollar in my bank account, you know what I’m saying? I’ll never be ashamed to rap about stuff like that, just being humble and not trying to always glamorize, I don’t like to glamorize the flashy lifestyle and stuff, even though it would be nice, but I don’t wanna glamorize it too much because it’s just like, I guess, chasing money. When you chase money based off of your goals, like if your goal is to be the best painter in the world, but you’re doing it because you want money, your art’s not gonna be genuine no more, you know what I’m saying? It’s gonna be money-driven. So if your money is, if you’re hustle is money-driven, it’s cool to be money-driven, but if it’s too money-driven, it’s just always gonna… It’s gonna backfire, it’s gonna hurt worse whenever you have failures, you know what I’m saying? If you expect to have a million dollars tomorrow, it’s gonna hurt worse when you don’t get it. When you expect to have just like some people appreciate your art, whether it be three people or 300, 3000 or whatever. If you have that… That intention is just basically pull people in to love who you are and get to know who you are and just appreciate you as a person, and appreciate your craft, and you just start appreciating your craft and be genuine to it, then you’ll be okay, you know what I’m saying?
Stream “Big Choze” everywhere and check out Kamil’s visual for his track “Sunflower Seeds” now!
Virginia bread artist Wayve is captivating listers with his harmonic flow. He stared off 2021 with the release of his single “Uno”, gifting listeners smooth vibes. The track served as a follow up to his debut album “Self Discovered” which released mid 2020. As he continuities to excel, the artist has caught the attentions of fans and influencers across the country. He is an artist and college student putting in the work to nurture his flourishing music career. While COVID put a wedge between shows he had lined up, he recently performed for DMV ReVamped, hosted by The Clout Cloud, Heir Wave Music Group, and Refresh Music Group. Wayve graced the virtual audience with his smooth flow and catchy lyrics. I had the opportunity of catching up with Wayve to talk about his career to this point, and what’s in store for the future!
When did you first start writing music?
I first started writing music when I was probably 16 or 17. I started with my cousin. We would just record music in his like closet type, and do little stuff like that to start out. And then he kinda got me introduced to it when I was probably in 11th grade or 10th grade, with me and my other cousin.
Is that when you started taking it seriously?
No, I didn’t take it seriously until 2019, summer. I mean, I was dropping stuff on SoundCloud, just for… You know? But I feel like 2019 summer was when I first started doing music videos and stuff.
What changed that made you decide to really go hard for it?
I feel like for real, it’s ’cause I started getting… I started noticing the progress. I feel like when I first started out, it was… You know, my cousin was telling me from the very beginning that I was good. He saw that I was talented, but I feel like I wasn’t taking it serious, like I said at first. But 2019, I did, I started doing the videos and… I started doing videos, started really paying for studio time and that was like, “Alright,” you know?
Talk to me about your style a little bit and how did you become Wayve?
Well, I got the name because my name, Wayne… And I was with some friends and we were just thinking like, “What could your artist name be?” And then she was like, “Well, your flow kinda like melodic. You kinda got some wave-y type vibes to you.” So she was like, “Maybe you should just call yourself Wave.” But I feel like me as an artist, I feel like I make real melodic music, like singing type, but rap at the same time.
Who are some of your inspirations?
Drake. Drake is like a big inspiration for me, just because he touch every genre of music. I feel like I want to get to a point in my career to where I could make like a Latin song, or make an alternative type song, because I feel like I appreciate all type of music, for real.
What are some of the other types of music that you’re into?
To be honest, I like everything, but I listen to classical music, piano music. I do listen to pop, anything that sounds good to me, for the most part, I like. But yeah, I grew up playing the violin and stuff, so I’ll say the biggest thing that’s outside of regular hip-hop, rap, would be classical music, like listening to piano, Bach, Beethoven type. I mean, I don’t do it that often, but if I wanna chill, calm down, I feel like I get in my zone with that.
Talk to me about the two of your tracks that ended up getting picked up by the YouTuber, Tommy Craze? That was right when you started releasing too!
Yeah, that was like, when I started releasing. He actually worked with us, or picked up one of my homies named Troy the Rapper, he picked up him and his brother’s video. He was like, “Dang,” and he kind of… He followed Troy and we got kind of in tune with him, and then I dropped a song called Luxury two months after… No, first we made a song called Die a Legend, I made that with Troy, that was not… That was last January. And then he posted that on his page and then he got familiar with me, so when I dropped Luxury, he ended up posting that, and then Switch Lanes too.
How did you end up getting linked up with Ilias? And what is your relationship like, with him as your manager?
I really don’t even know how I met Ilias, to be honest. But actually, I think I just got familiar with The Clout Cloud and then I met him and I met Joe, we have been cool for a few years, and then as a recent, he just was like, “Bro, let’s really like lock in, I can manage you,” type. I mean, I’ve never had a manager before this. I’m used to being self-managed, very independent. But yeah, I got tuned in with Ilias, he… Shout-out to Ilias, ’cause he real tuned in… A lot of stuff… He did do a lot of stuff behind the scenes. So, I felt like that would be really beneficial for me, but linking up with him… Because he’s so in tune with everybody, he’s so business-minded, and I feel like that was good for me because managing myself, I know how I wanna be managed, and I know what I expect out of a manager. I feel like linking up with him was definitely a good move.
Talk to me about the VA story. That just dropped right? With Pedro and another artist.
Yeah, Pedro and Why Not Deuce. Yeah, shout out to both of them. I’m glad I got on the song with both of them. It was long overdue with me and Pedro, but I met Deuce probably two, three months before we made that song and I was like, “Oh, this dude fire.” I was trying to link up with him. And then when Joe and Pedro had sent me the track, they was like, “Bro, I want you on this.” They sent it to me, I did my part, then I was like, “Yo, we gonna put Deuce on this too.” So when that happened, I’m like, “Alright, yeah, this definitely ’bout to be a hit,” ’cause when he first sent me the song, I was like, “Dang, this definitely like a vibe, I wanna do my thing on it.”
How has it been for you as an artist, especially just kinda getting into it and releasing music during the pandemic?
I feel like that the pandemic kinda screwed up a lot of stuff because performing is a big type thing to gain exposure, obviously, and gain fans and stuff and… I was in school, I go to UVA and February, January, last year, I was doing a lot of performances for the events we had here at school. And I had three more like that coming March. We had went home for spring break, and I was supposed to come back and do… I had three things lined up to do. I don’t know what I could have done over summer or later last year, but I definitely feel like it affected it, but I was dropping… I was still dropping music, dropped the EP, I dropped my album, and I feel like both of those have been doing well.
Sohow do you manage too, balancing the music and the schoolwork?
It takes up a lot of time ’cause both of them full-time things. I’m a full-time student, but I’m also trying to be a full-time artist at the same time. So times that I do get free time, I try to record, but then sometimes I’m like, “Dang, I’m taking away from my studying, I need to be studying, I need to be doing work.” So it’s definitely hard trying to manage both of them, but I’ve been managing to get by, so might get by, do well in both, I feel like.
What are you working on right now, music-wise?
I dropped an album in October, so these last three months I’ve just been hammering videos, doing photo shoots, trying to create outside of just making music. I wanna push my album a little bit more, so I’ve been just… Like I said, I’ve just been making videos, just trying to create good quality content to put out in front of people to build my image. But I still record, I still have unreleased stuff. I’m just not dropping as much right now because I’m trying to build my image and push the music that I did before because it’s a whole lot of saturation as far as the music industry. So I wanna be able to make sure that the stuff that I’ve released already it’s gonna get heard before I give out more of myself type.
What do you feel like you as an artist offers the industry that’s different than what’s out there right now?
I feel like I have a genuine appreciation for music. Like I said before, I grew up playing the violin, I started in sixth grade, I finished when I was… I stopped playing my senior year and I feel like that created my melodic sound, singing, and then I also wrote poetry, so I combined both of those to create my sound. But as far as the saturation part, I just feel like it’s a whole lot of people that’s just doing music for… To say they doing music or influencers who got a platform, and they’re like, “Oh, I can make music off of this,” but they don’t… Never appreciated music, they just dropping it to make money off of it. And I feel like I’ve been doing… Consistently making music for years now, and I get paid for my music, but it’s not… You know what I’m saying?
I just really enjoy making music, I enjoy the process of making music, I enjoy creating with people. So I feel like it’s a lot of, right now at least, people just dropping, dropping, dropping, or random people who never made music before just making it because it’s like, “Oh, this is just an opportunity to get by.”
Virtual shows have become a new innovation within the industry. Nonetheless giving fans the option to watch artists perform from the comfort of their own home. Platforms like Twitch have become third-party concert venues broadcasting shows to fans.
The Clout Cloud wanted to showcase the talent that has come out of DC, Maryland, and Virginia… best known as the DMV. They teamed up with Refresh Music Group and Push T’s label Heir Wave Music Group to takeover twitch for one night. 13 artists took to the stage from Songbyrd Music House & Record Cafe in Washington DC. Specifically highlighting the talent bursting from the DMV, the show featured rising and established artists from across the DMV.
Headliners included Maryland’s own Q Da Fool and Shordie Shordie. The two performed some of their hits that have been making a wave in the industry. The virtual crowd heard from several others including Bandhunta Izzy, 3OhBlack, Fe_Lie The God, and Kahri 1K. DJ Hypeee handled music curation for the show and kept computers and cell phones lit across the country.
The show was opened by rising artist Wayve who recently released his first album. He was recently featured with WhyNotDuce on a track titled “VA Story” by PaidDro. The three took to the stage together to deliver a boastful performance highlighting the talent the lives in Virginia. In addition to the heavy hitting male artists who performed 2 female artists took to the stage as well. Shaolinn delivered soulful sounds to mellow out the hype followed by Almira Zaky who brought out her dancers to perform her debut single titled “Miss Me.”
After the pandemic changing the way fans consume live music… The Clout Cloud, Heir Wave, and Refresh Music have set the bar high for virtual performances with DMV REVAMPED!
Based in Massachusetts, rising artist Trace is winning the hearts of listeners with his purely indie vibes and down to earth personality. Always having a love for music, Trace is more than just an artist as he plays a wealth of instruments on top of possessing a raw and organic voice. With a growing discography Trace continues to turn out upbeat and catchy hits. From his tracks like “Everybody’s Gonna Die” and “No Chill” to his feature on the track titled ” Ooo That’s Nice,” Trace has shown no fear in not only making indie pop but showing an appreciation for rap as well. As his hype grows, he continues to hone his sound and expand his brand to match the energy he is generating. Upon the release of his new guitar flooded single titled “Poison,” I had the chance to sit down and talk everything Trace and his new hit.
What got you into music?
Originally, my go-to answer is that I used it as a therapy, which I think it’s true for all writers or all artists, really but I think that I started writing because my parents divorced when I was around 10-ish, and it really sucked. And I grew up with a single mom, and so I remember writing a song in… Let me fix this before… There we go. I remember writing a song for my mom when I was a kid and her loving it, and so I just remember that feeling of how she felt when I did something like that. And I guess just when I was growing up, I always remembered that and kept just wanting it over and over again, so now I write.
When did you… Did you just start releasing music? When did you start putting it out?
I’ve been putting out music for about six years. And I used the past probably four and a half to five years to really develop my sound and really develop my craft and learn how to song-write and learn the music theory, and kind of grow up around my favorite artists and listening to the greats, like Kanye, Jay-Z, Nas, Pac, all of them. When it was time to jump, when Buppy called me, and he told me he had this idea for something he wanted to really do and said, like, “This is it. It’s go time.” I really could bring it, and I really could show him that, I know what I’m doing, and I really want it.
What did you go to college for? Did you go to college?
I went to college for commercial music production. As almost every artist’s story when it comes to college, I really went to college for my mom and just like… Because it’s like the thing to do. You graduate high school and then, okay, time to college, and what else? And I didn’t really realize that I had other options. While I was in college, I was talking with my music professor, and he found a workaround to hire me as a TA, so I worked for the school for about a year and a half until I dropped out. I recently dropped out, and now I’m doing this full-time.
Ithink especially when people go to school for music, they end up dropping out only because… And in a college, it’s really, really, really hard. It’s a lot harder than you thought to go through the process on your own.
Yeah, I think that if you pursue music in college, it’s more for the music theory and more for the classical or the classically trained musicians. And I’m classically trained in almost 15 different instruments, and I know how to play a lot of them by ear. I just grew up around a lot of different instruments. So, when it came time to go to the college classes, I already knew what they were teaching. I did this in my free time. My final project was an album for senior, when I was a senior. I’ve been doing this a long time, so I know all the stuff already, so that way I can just skip that and go straight to what I don’t know, like the music business part of it and stuff like that.
For sure. Do you have a favorite instrument?
My voice. And I really like producing. But I think that I’m classically trained the most in piano, and I’ve been playing piano for a little more than a decade.
That’s cool! Describe to how you would describe your style?
It’s interesting, because my manager told me that I would get this question and that I needed to be ready to know what my style is. But if I’m honest, I really don’t know yet. I’ve done everything, and I can do everything from just straight hip-hop music, straight R&B music. I can write a girl a love song, I can’t write a girl a break-up song. I don’t want to like toot my own horn, but I know, on that end of it, I really know what I’m doing. I’m basically anything that I’m feeling in the moment. I think that that’s my style. I think my style is… I think right now it’s like indie pop. And by indie I don’t mean the genre indie, I mean just really, really independent. I don’t want to be industry. I want to take what more of the mainstream artists are doing and challenge it and take what they’re doing, because I write songs like The Kid Laroi, and I have beats, all those like Juice WRLD and stuff like that. But I want to take that and push it further, if that makes sense.
Who are some of the people that inspire you then?
I grew up on Ye, so I know every word to 808s & Heartbreaks. That’s my favorite. That’s my favorite album of all time, is 808s & Heartbreaks. Yeah. I think Ye is an extremely underrated project. I love Ye. I really like Kanye. I think Jay-Z is the greatest rapper to ever do it. I love Jay-Z. And a huge influence in the pop side of it is Jon Bellion actually, which sounds kind of weird because I know he’s known for two songs, and they’re really, really mainstream pop, but he grew up, and he still is, as a songwriter. And he got signed… He signed a songwriting deal. And he’s written, just in the past year, Memories by Maroon 5, half of Katie Perry’s album, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, everyone. And it’s cool because all of the songs are massive, and everyone is like, “Oh, my gosh, what is it about these songs?” And it’s because Jon Bellion wrote them. He’s just so good at writing, and he produces them and everything. So, I think he’s one of my biggest influences and he’s just a pure genius. He’s just a genius.
Talk to me about Poison. What inspired that?
Poison, I wrote about an ex, that I was in a toxic relationship my first year of college. And we dated on and off for about nine or 10 months, and then we called it quits. I think I was chilling with my friends in college one night, and we were talking, and my friends… My college friends and I, we’re really close. They’re some of the most supportive people ever, and I love my friends to death. And we were talking about this girl, and my past with her. And one of them was like, “Dude, she’s really bad for you, she’s really your poison.” And I was like, “Dude, she is.” And then, yeah, I found the beat online. I just really love Pacific Beats, that’s the people who produced the beat. I recorded it, and I went to Buppy and I told him, “I want to release this on a big, big, big scale, bigger than I’ve ever done before,” that I want this to be the song that legitimized my brand. And he said, “All right.” And then he helped me through it. Him and his sister, Eleanor, really were some of the biggest people to do it.
When did you meet them?
Buppy is awesome. Buppy is my favorite. Yeah, he’s super dope. I met Buppy, it’s the weirdest story. I went to a church camp five or six years ago, and I met this girl there who… And this was when I first started doing music, on an old 2004 laptop with fruity loops, and I just messed around. I started with a Roland, it was… Yeah. And I told her I did music and she said, “Oh, I know this other guy who wants to get into music.” And she introduced me to this kid named Jake Crum, who’s doing well now, shout out to Jake Crum, he’s super dope. But I hit him up, and I was in his lives sometime, and he previewed a track with a girl named Eleanor Kingston. And so I followed her, and then she posted her brother’s music, and then we’ve just been showing love to each other. And then come beginning of 2020, he hits me up.
So, when is the video coming?
Friday. The video is coming. And the video is shot by Isaiah Kim, he’s a director, he’s shot a lot of stuff for Zedrin. I don’t know if you know Zedrin.
Yeah.
Yeah. And he’s insanely brilliant. He’s topnotch, he’s really good, and I think it surprised me how much he brought to life. I would say something, just on the fly, I’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, let’s do this.” And no expectation to actually do it, but he would work it in, and I’d be like, “Dude, that’s insane.” Yeah, he’s really amazing.
What do you want to be known for as an artist?
When I was going through this re-brand that I went through, I came up with this slogan that I really, really liked. The slogan is “From Memories, For Memories.” And I think that really kind of… Just to speak on that, and what I want to do, I think that that perfectly encapsulates what I want to do. I write songs from my memories, from what’s happened to me, from my life experiences, and I’ve started to write songs about other people’s life experiences. And I think I’ve always acted like life is a movie, and I want my songs to be the soundtrack. I think it’d be super dope because… I mean, Poison, you can even hear it in some of the other earlier stuff on SoundCloud, and just in general or whatever. I kind of wanted to be that guy, but I just didn’t know how, but now that I’ve spent so much time on it. Poison, that’s a big song. It’s really intense and it’s really jamming, and I think that that’s just what I want my music to be, just from memories, for memories.
Maryland born engineer and producer Biggz, has been the creative brains behind some of the hottest tracks on streaming platforms. From EarthGang to Lil’Boosie and more, Biggz discography continues to grow with collaborations from some of the biggest artists in the industry. He jumped into the game at an early age determined to build a household name. 2020 was a solidifying year for Biggz as he inked a deal with BeatStars and Sony/ATV. From The Street Team, to DNA Recording Studio where he operates his label “Prime Records…” we go into it all in a sit-down with Biggz.
How’d you end up in Virginia? You came to Virginia when you were young?
Yeah, I came to Virginia when I was 14…My mom… Just to keep me out of trouble and stuff like that. Maryland is real… I’m from Baltimore, Maryland, and then I moved down here to Virginia Beach when I was about 13, 14, and got into the band. And it’s crazy because I moved right across the street from Bridle Creek, and that’s where Pusha T, and Pharrell, everybody… That’s like their prime time, when they were around that… When I was around that age. So it was dope just to be in the midst of them.
Was that inspiring for you?
Yes. That’s what made me just make the decision that I can do it, just by seeing everybody else doing it around me, and being in that environment.
I saw you started The Street Team. You started that like mad young. How old were you?
Probably about 15, that was like a year after that. My boy… Me and my boy, Wax, was just talking about that last night. that was my boy, that’s my boy, T Butts. He passed, but it was him. He was… Me and him… I was the producer, he was the rapper, and my boy, Jay, Gerard, and then Keith, they were like our mentors. And then I ended up moving to Norfolk, and that’s when every… That’s when I started The Street Team, with my boy Wax, Dallis and Don. And Butts came with us too, my boy, Anthony Butts. But yeah.
Your team got the attention of Hood Platinum Records and stuff. Y’all were really doing things.
Right, right. That was like the hometown heroes for us, because we were like, “Yo, that’s where we want to be next.” It was… That was inspirational.
How old were you when you ended up getting their attention? How long after?
Probably… It was 16, 17, ’cause we started sneaking in the club. We were sneaking into the club…The open mic events, and then we just eventually just was in there having fun. We were the young kids on the block. So it was fun.
You studied under some big people too, Double XL and CEO P. So how did you get… End up getting mentored by them? And what were some of the biggest things that you learned from them?
Alright, so from Hood Platinum, those were the CEOs of Hood Platinum, and then Ms. Blends was like my mom. So as far as when it comes to music, they taught me how to grind, how to hustle, what the music scene was like, what it was lacking, what it wasn’t, how to put people in position, and how to help people take it to the next level that’s around you. They was teaching me all of this stuff at like 16, 17.
Sothey really taught you how to move.
Yeah. And so at 18, that’s when I started my label with my boy, Hemron, and my boy, Intense, and a couple other of our buddies. We started Major Movement.
That was Major Movement?
Right, we came together, and we had like…Man, that was different. It was like 50 artists under us at that time. And I’m 18. So like from 18 to 22, I had this record label. And it got to a point, my mom was helping me manage the artists, and cutting their hair, and we had the whole studio going. It was crazy. And that’s what made me see that anything was possible here. From 18, I just was like, “Alright, it’s go time.”
So you ended up dissolving that though. What… If you don’t mind sharing, what led to that decision and what ultimately did you learn from that specifically?
Well, they just dropped me. Because I ended up letting go of my label, because it was a lot of stress on me and I needed some guidance and help. But they dropped me and didn’t say anything. So one of their producers had pulled up to my studio and we had… He was doing a session with somebody or he came to kick it or something, and he was like, “Yeah, you ain’t heard? You got dropped.” And I was like, “Oh, snap!” It just tore my heart up for real, but it made me stronger, it made me go harder, and that’s what gave me the courage to keep going. I was like, “Oh, nah, we… It’s go time even more now.” It wasn’t no love lost on my end though, it was always love.
Black Vinyl Recordings, what was the original goal for that and who were some of the people that you had an opportunity to work with there?
Oh, from there, Black Vinyl Recordings, that’s when I was like in full-fledged, just engineer mode. I just was like, “I’m not doing the label thing.” I was just going through a lot. So there, I started meeting EarthGang, that’s where I first discovered them. And it was my boy, J-Slim, he brought them to me, and they all did this collab session. And this was at my first studio. I was like, “They gonna be lit.” And this was like probably ’15… Oh, nah, probably like 2011 or ’12.
This was a minute ago. So with them, I got a chance to work with Gucci Mane, around that time. I got a chance to work with… Not work with Rick Ross, it was just a track, but I had got a credit off of that. We had Freeway, he came to the studio. Yeah, it was just my, Grand Hustle, some of the artists was coming there and this one, he had Pimp Squad Clique but it was just, it was a lot man. I was all the way in my grind… God was just blessing me. I was just all the way into my grind. God was just blessing me, my journey is speaking for itself.
I did see on, on your BeatStars when you got the deal, that your favorite placement was Lil’ Boosie, why?
His energy was just… It was so honest, it was like having a child in there and for him to be so seasoned for him to still had that energy, it was inspiring because around that time I was just like lost, it was like refreshing to see him come in to my environment and bring that energy. I’m like, if he could do it, I could do it too. And that’s why I always give him credit for that for me.
What is one of the biggest changes that you’ve noticed about yourself over the years?
To embrace… And I don’t mean to say this in no braggadocious way, but to embrace me being a GOAT, that shit is hard. It’s hard to embrace because you don’t want to get cocky or… But I do have a story to tell and I love to show people my story and help them advance this, so that’s what GOAT to me is like. I’m still in the field with you, but I’m willing to teach you with the mistakes that I did, so you don’t have to make them too, you know what I mean? It’s just embracing that and just understanding that some people look at me in a certain light, so I have to move a little different.
Talk to me then about DNA Studios. When did that come into play?
That was my partner, Mr. Dan, he’s my mentor. And he just believed in me, so I was getting kicked out of my studio, downtown Norfolk, because somebody was smoking weed and all that, so… You know how that go. So I was just stressed. I got two kids on the way, it was just a lot on me, and then once I got kicked out, he had a studio…So once we did that, he was like, “Here, build your platform here and make this your base.” So I did that. I partnered up with my partner Haze, and we started Prime Records within DNA Studio and from there, we just took it to a whole another level.
What is really your goal right now for Prime Records?
Well, Prime Records right now, what we’re doing in Virginia is breaking the doors down and getting the artists, showing artists how to fish for themselves, if I was to put it in the most perfect way. We teaching them how to have an industry in this area, so that way they can carry it a certain way and then teach others, so we can build the area around here and have our own industry and not have to rely on anybody else to build that up for us. And that’s my passion and it’s showing the industry that we have something to bring to the table too, we don’t just want to snatch from the table, and not bring that into it. We got something to bring too.
So what was the inspiration for the This is Biggz Show?
Really the same ambition I have for the city. Just giving game and knowledge and showing people, showing the underdogs that are really putting in the work, some love. You know what I mean? Helping people, educating people on money, music, and business, just the ins and out of it all and sharing experiences with my colleagues and peers, also through that platform. So that way… because like I said, understanding that I’m at a certain level, have to be able to give back in the best way that’s comfortable for you, you know what I mean? When I’ve seen the opportunity and we have a studio, we have the resources to do it. I was like, we just might as well just do it ourselves, so I just figured it out. I’m not no podcaster or nothing I just figured it out and now I enjoy it. So it was something that I have fun with too.
So this year has been BeatStars, and Sony ATV, How did that happen?
That was different. They sent me an email, just saying, we’ve seen your credits, this, that and the third. So I thought they were just like somebody trying to sell me something for this, so I was like going back or forth. And then I hit my homie DJ Pain up, that’s one of our producer homies. I got a little consultation with him and talk to him about it, and I was like, “Should I do that?” He was like, “Yeah, they hit me up too. They want me to do some stuff, this, that and the third. And I didn’t know if it was that… ” I was like, “Bro, yeah let’s do it, bro. Let’s do it.” I didn’t know what to do, but I just went out and just was like, alright, let me figure it out, let’s see what we can do it and if it’s official, and then I’ll bring everybody else along with me. And that’s what’s going on now.
What is one thing that you can share with people who are on the grind trying to get to where you’ve made it to?
Don’t give up and stay consistent, stay focused, stay focused on whatever plan you build and just stick to the script. Don’t divy away from the plan. Stay consistent and it’s going to pay off. Consistency breeds success. So if you rob banks really good, then that’s what you’re going to be really good at, you feel me, if you keep doing it. So like anything you do, you keep smoking, you eventually going to know how to roll a blunt really, really good. So it’s like, don’t create habits that’s bad for you, create good habits and do ’em consistently.
For more on Biggz or his show check out his website thisisbiggz.org
He’s more than a rapper, he’s a hood Rockstar! Luh T5 hails from West Palm Beach Florida, and is delivering head-banging trap hits to listeners across the state and beyond. Embodying every bit of slime energy, the rising artist is making all the right moves to hit the top. After beginning to view music as a career, Luh T5 has released a versatile discography filled with his mellow flow, and of course those heavy 808’s for your car speakers. From club hits to chill vibes, this Rockstar is mastering the ability to create energy altering hits for both his day one and new fans. He recently released a new project titled “Reincarnated,” which happens to be 11 songs of heavy vibes and a new extension of the official Hood Rockstar.
4 years ago, what changed for you that made you decide to pursue music as a career?
I learned more about the business and I learned more about what I could receive than just music. I feel like it’s just like, it could help me get more into the doors and to other bigger things I want to do.
I know young thug is one of your inspirations talk to me about what about him inspired you and why his label interests you?
I feel like the reason why I love Thug so much is because he’s different. Like, just like me, I’m different. I always want to be creative, I want to try new things, I want to experience new things, I don’t care if they’re going to judge me. I like, I want to be the one to walk so they could run.
I feel you. Is that why they call you Rockstar?
Yeah. You feel me, I’m the Rockstar. I’m the Hood Rockstar.
You’ve been busy you were on a mixtape with a bunch of artists from Florida, the “Palm Beach Mixtape.” Talk to me about the tape and DJFourteen who put you on it.
It was like, Fourteen was trying to put everybody together because everybody’s not really together, so he tried to put everybody together to see what we could do as a whole. And like that he came to me, and he was like… He’s a close friend of mine so he just told me he felt like I should be on the tape. And I work hard so he was like, yeah he got me. Sent him a couple of the songs and he made it a day for me. He made it happen.
What are some of your goals for your music and what other avenues do you want to pursue?
Yeah, I’m more of a multi-talented entrepreneur, so besides music, movies, books, property, just everything. I just want my name to be a part of everything, I want to tap into everything and see, just learn, I just want to… The more knowledge I get I feel like the more happy I can be. I just want knowledge, I just want knowledge from all around the world.
You have a new video about to drop in a few days, talk to me about who shot it and the vibe that can be expected from the visual.
Shoutout to Nemo. He the one who shot it and… I don’t want to say which song it is because I want it to be a surprise. But it’s a song off of my mixtape though, song… And I just dropped my mixtape cover today, “Reincarnated.” That’s going to be a whole new side of me, a whole different side of me, I just feel like I had to be reborn, I had to… Not restart, but I had to really understand how I’m going to go this way, how I’m going to do it this time. It was like that and also today Fireboy, what’s up Fireboy he part of the Thug crew, me and him because we dropping a tape today, I have to call him to see what time its going to be released. But that I got that mixtape, the visual coming up, and I got my mixtape coming up.
So being independent right now and being so business-minded, what are some of the challenges you’ve ran into?
Really, I wouldn’t say really challenges, I would just say everything that I get, that comes my way… Everything that comes my way, I just have to go with it, because that’s just part of it like nothing comes easy. Nothing comes easy. Nobody just blows up overnight. They are not going to feel it as working hard for it. I feel like…I like the challenges, I’m happy I get challenges. I’m happy they come. They don’t, it stop me, it just makes me go harder and it makes me into a better person.
The DMV is known for many things, from GoGo and mambo sauce to being the government’s home place. But what does The Clout Cloud have to do with all of that? Well…under its founder Ilias Anwar, and his close team, it has become one of the top media companies and the biggest Hip-Hop platform for the DMV. Currently, at over 93K, the expanding Instagram platform highlights the most popular industry news and promotes growing stars.
Ilias Anwar founded the platform back in 2017 from his dorm room at Virginia Commonwealth University. Just three years later, The Clout Cloud solidified its potential to be one of the most influential media outlets in the area by selling out a show with DaBaby. This sparked the evolution into a full-fledged media company partnering with countless other artists including, Megan the Stallion, Rick Ross, and PnB Rock. The CloutCloud offers promotion, interviews, event coverage, and shows, making it a one-stop-shop for media needs. The platform has also created several opportunities for rising artists through its “House Party” shows which began at Ilias’s house. After creating such a buzz, the platform was approached by Poor Boy’s in Richmond Va., to host a sold-out event at the venue.
The Clout Cloud’s interview with $not.
The Clout Cloud has solidified its spot as the most live and connective Hip-Hop platform in the DMV. Successfully throwing several events and providing media coverage for many industry stars, The Clout Cloud has become a household name in just a short period of time. Constantly evolving, the company launched its website during COVID and is now finalizing the details of its next event. Coming soon, The Clout Cloud will be partnering with Pusha T’s label, Heir Wave Music Group, and Refresh Music Group to bring about one of the dopest online showcases, highlighting some of the hottest upcoming talents in the DMV.
For more information about The Cloud Cloud, the events, and to stay in tune with some of the hottest upcoming artist check out the website www.thecloudcloud.com or check them out on Instagram!
