Here are the Facebook contest rules for the Ecko watch giveaway. They’re really simple. On our Facebook page is this image. Tag yourself in the image, and express why you love hip hop. Feel free to be as creative as you want. You can use just words, a photo upload, or video etc. A winner will be selected by our crew and announced Monday morning, Aug  22nd. Good luck.

Tomorrow on Friday, August 19th, 2011, IndieHipHop.net along with Marc Ecko and Co. will run a contest to give away this fly-ass watch to a lucky reader. The contest details will be revealed tomorrow. To enter you must join our Facebook Page

Oh boy! Has it been 2 years already? Running this blog has occasionally taken me through emotional highs and lows. Only because it takes a huge amount of time away from the other thing I love to do; producing music. But, the rewards of running this blog far outweigh any troubles I’ve encountered along the way. And those rewards are not only measured in monetary profits. While running this blog has provided me with many opportunities that have helped me business wise, by far the most valuable return has been the people that I’ve met along the way. Most of whom I’ve never seen face to face. And then there’s the music!!! I can’t imagine any other way I would have discovered some of the talented hip hop artists that have sent me music to post, had it not been for me starting this blog.

Also rewarding, are the many stories that I hear about artists finding each other on this blog and collabing on projects. How dope is that? This blog has benefitted me in ways that I couldn’t have foreseen 2 years ago. That’s is why i encourage artist to continue to have passion for what they do, make genuine connections, and network. Trust me! I’m just a producer. I never had faith in my writing skills and I didn’t know a damn thing about running a blog. If you don’t believe me, go back to some of my first posts. It’s obvious that I was trying to figure out what the hell I was doing. I had over 15 years of experience riding the tides and grinding to keep make a living in the music business, and there was information that I wanted to share.

Hip hop is in great health. If you can’t find good hip hop music, then you’re certainly not putting in any effort to look fo a slimmer chance for fame or riches in that profession. How many paintings have you bought recently? Do you know many people who have? Probably not. Yet the world is never short of people who continue to paint. Niether should the doomsday headlines of a crumbling music industry deter you from continuing to create your art.

My goal has been to educate artists on the rights they have and potential profits to be made from that art because there are many who seek to take advantage of the unknowing. I’ve never been anti-major label, but I am pro-artist. I believe that good partnerships can be made with labels when artists are fully educated about the business. I’m going to remain consistent on that message. If you want to hear about Weezzy’s baby mamas and who’s beefin with who, there are plenty of other hip hop blogs and sites for that. I’m trying to create another lane. One that not only informs but gives a platform to independent hip hop artists. I need your help. Help me spread the word, continue to give me feedback, and let’s build a movement that won’t play by the warped rules created by those who have aimed to surpress creative artistry. I thank you all for your continued support these past two years. I’m looking forward to what the next few will bring.

I’d planned to have a compilation of some new and archived music from artists posted on this blog today, but a minor setback prevented that from happening. That compilation will be up Saturday. Stay tuned!

Funk-dub

It’s a new year and with it, the beginning of a new decade. A lot of other blogs and writers have been offering their opinions on what the next 10 years will bring for music and technology, so I thought I’d add my two cents to the convo. Here are a few things that I think we’ll see in hip hop before the next 10 years are over.

1. Advance technology for the lyrically challenged

Gotta weak flow? Much like it’s distance cousin, Auto-Tune, helped the lacking singer, the Flowmatic will help the rapper who needs a little boost with his lyrical dexterity. Just plug your mic into the input, and turn the dial to your favorite emcee, and you’ll soon be on everybody’s top 5 list!

2. Anti-theft chains

Okay, you walk in the club ready to floss for the ladies with your new, diamond encrusted, spongebob squarepants chain, when some hater tries to jack you for your shine. Little does he know, that you have a Smart Chain.

This chain recognizes the owners DNA, and when an unauthorized person tries to wear it, they receive an electric shock the equivalence of a taser gun.  This will render the hater helpless long enough for you to get your chain back and bounce to another club.  Never again will you have to worry about fools passing your chain around and filming it for Youtube. This can be detrimental to your rap career.

3. Congress passes the E-blast Violation Act

After many protests and riots in the streets from angry citizens fed up with unsolicited email from hip hop artists, congress finally passes the E-blast Violation Act. There are a small number of people who think that the strict minimum of 25 years in the clink is a bit excessive, but the majority think that it’s well deserved.

Have a prosperous new year!

50 cent’s first week sales of his album, “Before I Self Destruct”, came in at a very disappointing 160,000 sales. These numbers are great for an independent hip hop artist but terrible for a hip hop artists of 50′s caliber. In my opinion it wasn’t his worst album, but this post is in no way shape or form an album review. Fifty gives early leakage of the project as the reason for low sales. Recent history has shown that early exposure to projects more often than not, increase album sales for artists.

What makes his dismal sales week so fascinating is the fact that during the weeks approaching the release date, 50 was EVERYWHERE. He was on every late night talk show and was interviewed by high profile web and print magazines. 50 even has his own very popular website, “This Is 50.”  Added to that, was a movie to promote the album, a fragrance, and a new book. How did this happen with this much fuckin promotion and exposure? Where was the fan loyalty.

50 was under the illusion that his outside antics was more important than his music. Yeah, that shit is amusing for a minute but it’s not going to make people spend money on a mediocre album. 50 seems to be more proud of his business moves than his ability to create good music. Cool with me.  It’s just that, fans don’t stand in line to buy tickets to see businessmen.  And you can’t keep fooling people with the same formula.

50′s career was launched off the hottest label, with the most respected hip hop producer (Dr. Dre) and the biggest rap star at the time (Eminem), cosigning him. Shit, my grandma could have gone multi platinum with that kind of support.  But he it seems as though he got stuck creatively. Instead he relied on beefs that went way to far to keep him relevant. Even though he was loosing ground, the corporations seemed to still falsely believe in his ability to draw people.  He was still offered movie roles and other corporate deals.

50 has no real connection to whatever fanbase that exists for him and therefore, he seems unable to cultivate and relate to them. I mean really, in these times I don’t want to hear my my favorite artist tell me how many “niggas” he’ll kill and how much more money he has than me on almost every fuckin track.  Here’s hoping that this highly visible loss inspires not only Fif, but other artists to create better hip hop music.

Independent hip hop artist, A.G., hails from Seattle, Washington. Coming off the success of his 1st single entitled, “We Fly” ft. Bizzy Bone, which gained ground with local and national markets and reached #9 on the Billboard Charts, A.G. furthers his quest to put Seattle on the map. Check out it club joint, ‘Call That’, featuring Wingo (Jagged Edge).

myspace.com/wrecklessAG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zXWVjFidqc

Meet independent hip hop artist, MarVo. He’s buzzing hard in Chicago right now because he’s got an ill flow and a dope pen to match.  He has a mixtape out right now titled “Respect & Live Vol. 2″ that’s free to download.

http://suprememoney.net/RespectAndLiveVol2Master.zip

http://marvo.suprememoney.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACY_tidmXTQ

I first heard about this group when I came across and article about a rap group who’d manufactured cassette tapes to promote their new album. Article here .
I thought, “how dope”. They cassette also comes with a digital download card.

Dood Computer and Stir Crazy are from Albany and Detroit. This single, “Rachel Profiling” is off their album “Penny Dreadfuls”.  The video is crazy and funny as shit, but it’s the kind of break from the routine that I need in my hip hop.

Check em out

www.AllInMerch.com/DoodComputer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld0FFMs7h1w

Independent hip hop artist, Tommy Lee Soul, Is currently in Atlanta, Georgia. His single, “Go” is a hot joint off of his already released album, “Elevate Heartrate”. Check it out.

www.tommyleesoul.com

Independent hip hop artist, Black Mask, from Montana, sent me this sick video to the song “Last Summer”. Check it out.

myspace.com/blackmaskhiphop