Volumes: Athens Hip Hop - Vol 1 Issue 8

ATH ENS

HipHop

EVENTS

p. 3

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Mike Dyer & Dan Sohi p. 4

CULTURE SERIES

Hip Hop Don’t Stop p. 7

BUSINESS

Choosing Your Platform p. 8

INTERVIEW

Square Up With Producers p. 10

NETWORKING

p. 11

Vol. 1 Issue 8 • August 2017

Letter from the Editor This eighth edition of Volumes is based on loyalty. That might seem a little silly or cliche, and everyone definitely has a different opinion of what that entails. However, Volumes never could have evolved to what it is now without our loyal friends and fans. There’s a lot of REAL people out there trying to make something of themselves and this community. We try to always help those that help us, because we respect that realness. This is a big thank you to everyone that has built something with us in 2017 and to those that keep joining our movement in this city we love.

-Scrap God

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Events September 2017

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World Famous Hip-Hop (First Tuesdays) Hosted by Mon2 & Chief Rocka One year anniversary party!

DK @ Cypher Night WE

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AY RID

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TU SA

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Freestyle Cypher Night Go Bar Hosted by Space Brother & D.K.

Volumes Presents: Gang Gang Gang 40 Watt Featuring Y.O.D., B.Y.V., Space Dungeon, Squalle, Dictator, and Kxng Blanco Hand Me Da Mic Iron Factory Featuring Mad Ace, Caulfield, PDSY,Y.O.D., B.Y.V., Squalle, and SterCurt

Birthday/Release Party The Island Night Club Hosted by Motorhead2x & Scotty2Hotty Featuring Squalle, Mula Meech, A. Mack, Queen Wavey, MajorPoet, Solo10k, and Scotty2Hotty

FR

Y IDA

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Volumes Presents & MEU Radio: Grassroots Iron Factory Featuring Y.O.D., B.Y.V., We’re Weird, Son Zoo, Paper Boy, and The Bear Cats

ADVERTISE HERE Get your business or project out there!

Take advantage of our affordable ad space in the next issue of Volumes.

Contact volumeszine@gmail.com for rates and ad specs today.

ADVERTISE HERE

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INDUSTRY PROFILE:

Mike Dyer & Dan Sohi

You’ve seen these guys around Iron Factory giving Athens hip hop a fresh platform since the Spring, and they even gave Volumes (hey that’s us) their start in booking shows.

No strangers to the scene, Mike Dyer and Dan “Sohi” are finishing the season strong at this venue while also continuing their own unique projects.

Mike got involved at Iron Factory working sound and doing booking through Matt “Sound Boy” Nero, a veteran sound engineer around Athens, who he met after DJing at

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Athfest Wired. Also known as DJ Cabbage Looper, Mike got his start DJing through “T,”v local DJ, at Little Kings. He learned a lot about the business from her, such as what he had to offer a bar owner or booking agent. This has greatly impacted the rest of his business relationships with bar owners ever since. Mike reflects on his position at Iron Factory as another great learning experience. This opportunity has taught him how to “run that weirdo mixer” unlike anything Mike has operated in the past. This gave him a chance to learn a new piece of equipment at no cost to him in a very experimental environment.

Outside of the venues, Mike is working on a new project with his girlfriend Keisha and Rick Bedell, a Native American flute player. Mike and Keisha play bass on top of 808 beats to accompany the flute. Coming out at the end of August, this will be a monthly installment of Echo Bass Records, which Mike heads as CEO and chairman. The Screwy Chopper Mixtape, a tribute to DJ Screw, was the company’s July release, and it featured local artists that submitted their work as a way of promoting the hard work and talent here in Athens. Future goals and efforts for DJ Cabbage Looper focus on expanding out of town and even out of state.

On the other hand of business, Sohi gained a lot of public relations and networking experience through this Iron Factory adventure. As an Athens non-native, this also helped him get to know the Classic City and its people better. For Sohi, the most satisfying aspect of these shows has been having a free event that everyone can come to in order to experience the varied musical talent here. An artist himself, Sohi has CDs at Wuxtry and Low Yo Yo Stuff Records. “The Island of Misfit Toys” is a new album that will be coming out, partnered with Mina Kim and Wyatt Nicholson of Other Voices Other Rooms.

“The Unified Theory” is another ready-torelease album Sohi has been working on with artists from South Carolina.

However, Sohi’s interests expand outside of music into film as well. Dean Ray’s “Porcelain,” an independent horror film, will start filming in Athens in September.

Sohi has been casted for a small part, which is something he’s always wanted to do. In true independent spirit, a lot of input has been drawn from the actors during the planning and filming. They are looking for extras if any locals are interested!

Sohi hopes that Athens’ artists will take on roles as extras as a way of marketing themselves and creating a true “Athens cult classic.”

Our community is full of talented individuals trying to enrich the music scene, so make sure you stop by Iron Factory Thursday-Saturday nights through the rest of the Fall season! Mike and Sohi have put a lot of effort into creating these free events that bridge all the Athens music scenes.

- Scrap God IG scrap_goddd

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B.Y.V.

Twinzo

Mayweather V McGregor

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ATTENDED THE

VOLUMES PRESENTS: Y.O.D. House Party 2

Javae

Li Booly

Son Zoo

Caulfield crowdsurfing!

Brice Anthony

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Hip Hop Don’t Stop

Y.O.D. & B.Y.V..

Dad

Scott Sutton & Caulfield

Griff of B.Y.V. B.Y.V.

:CULTURE SERIES

My goal in writing this series of articles was to educate, preserve and promote Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop is a modern-day village, prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve Montu its rich heritage. The drummers or the DJ’s/producers transmit non-verbal communication to the community, griots or Emcees/poets/orators verbally communicate the consciousness of the community, scribes or Graf Writers visually transmit the consciousness of the community, community dancers or breakers/ Bboys/Bgirls channel and protect the energy of the community, and lastly and most importantly, there is the community as a whole experience.

Afrika Bambaataa, one of the founding fathers of this great culture calls this the 5th Element, the knowledge/experiences of the community.

Hip Hop is a village of community leaders that is now and will forever be global. It has a foundational support rooted from Africa. Hip Hop will survive current and future attacks from mainstream media. Many corporate-imperialist with unrighteous intentions have attempted to destroy this culture. It will never be eliminated; the roots are too deep, and the movement is too strong. The natural elements of the community have always existed and always will exist in one form or another. Respect for Hip Hop must be provided and maintained from all sectors of our global community; most that do not freely give it respect are those that do not understand it. Hip Hop will not stand idle or continue to tacitly endorse its own demise.

So the next time you see something or hear someone claiming to represent Hip Hop, remember Hip Hop is more than a musical genre or an American sub-culture. Hip Hop is both sides, the positive and negative aspects of some people’s life.

It’s like everything in life and should not be held up to some unreachable standard. Nothing is all good or all bad, and if you take the time you will probably learn something new from both angles.

Hip Hop culture began as a reaction and is now a global community of people with a rich and living legacy. We are no longer asking for your respect, we are demanding it and taking it!

- Wm Montu I Miller @ mon2miller

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BUSINESS:

Choosing Your Platform - Self Distribution

When it comes to putting yourself out there, the modern music industry more often resembles the wild west than the big studios and dreams of meetings with label heads that I had when I was young. The days of waiting “to be heard” are over with the advent of multiple self distribution outlets, which include major platforms such as Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music. Musicians used to have to jump through the hoops of businessmen and management to find the right distribution, but now it is as easy as having a credit card and a little bit of a knack for googling.

The free services like Soundcloud, Youtube, and Bandcamp all offer a way for an artist to upload their own music and promote it through groups, comments, and social media linking. While Bandcamp offers a premium service that allows you to sell your music just by linking your paypal, Youtube still offers the option for monetization from ads on your original videos. Soundcloud’s premium service allows for more customization and provides access to a community of artists and fans that have propelled many artists (ex.

Chance the Rapper, xXxtentacion, etc.) into the national spotlight.

As for the major paid services (such as Spotify, iTunes, and Tidal), there is still a remnant of the old industry in how you access them. There are major self distribution companies (such as CD Baby, TuneCore, and Distrokid) that all offer the service of linking your bank account or credit card to the account, and they send your songs to these major platforms. Distrokid specifically allows you to pay a yearly fee for an unlimited amount of uploads and provides an easily readable statistics break down. CD Baby and Tunecore are both longstanding companies in the self distribution business. Both offer a larger statistics breakdown than Distrokid, provide access towards printing physical copies, and provide different pay scales for individual projects versus a yearly subscription.

In short, when it comes to choosing distribution it’s all up to where you want to focus your marketing.You may find yourself with a huge following on Soundcloud and want to focus your marketing dollar that way, or you may have a song that starts trending on Spotify. The only real advice that stuck with me when I made my choice was to “pay attention to ALL the features and ask all the questions.”

- Trvy

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@trvyf

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ARTIST SPOTLIGHT:

SQUARE UP WITH

Producers Space Brother Donald Whitehead FB/ Space Brother IG/_space_brother_ soundcloud.com/ spacebrothersoundsystem

Where did you grow up, and how has that impacted your music?

I was born and raised in Athens, attending public schools and living all my teenage years on the East Side. There is a feeling if you stay here long enough that the whole town switches paradigms every five or so years;. Athens has definitely exposed me to a huge cross section of art and wonderful characters, and I think the constant flux of a town in transition is rendered in my music as well.

Kid Foo Forest Lane @ itskidfoo FB/ Kid Foo IG/kidfoo soundcloud.com/ kidfoo Where did you grow up, and how has that impacted your music?

I’m from Athens, born and raised. I don’t really think that affected the music I chose. I feel like there are certain sounds people hear and they adapt to it, so they grow fond of it. That’s the sound that makes them who they are as an artist.

Is your creative process for producing different from your rapping one?

I would say everything ties in the same way, but producing is trying to get the background sound for the vocals. Recording is more like you writing on the Before online memes were ever around, I looked paper right now, but producing is making the paper. up the meaning of “meme” (because I saw it in a song title) and the dictionary defined it as a “mind What has been your biggest learning experience as an virus.” I like to think of raps as dense packets of artist/producer? information that are loaded with symbolic imagery. Be open minded. Take in what everyone is saying.

It’s such a complex tool that I usually guide myself Know what you know, but listen to what everybody with a workflow, kind of like automatic writing but has to say because anybody can make music nowatempered with heavy editing. I try to let this creative days. So you never know what they have to offer, you process guide me in art as well as life in general. never know what you have to offer to them.

Is your creative process for producing different from your rapping one?

What has been your biggest learning experience as an artist/producer?

I often relearn the same lessons over and over again.

There have been times where I thought I transcended a creative or emotional issue, only to have it grow back in a different area of life. I’ve gotten to a point where I accept that things never really die or go away, they just regenerate themselves in different configurations. As above so below.

What do you consider to be your purpose as an artist?

Just for people to understand me as a human.

Sometimes I do feel off-set, out of this world. I’m not like everybody.

What’s next?

I have projects lined up, but the one that’s going to be releasing soon, which will be in December, is called Pitch Black. It’s a debut EP. It should be December 12th, that’s our release date. Me, El Spiffo, What do you consider to be your purpose as an artist?

My purpose as an artist is to spread love and and Mojo have a group called Keyboard Lords, and encourage others. we’ve been releasing instrumental tapes on spinrilla. We’re about to start working on a third instruWhat’s next? mental tape, and it’s called Trap Symphony.

I’m excited to say that I’ve finally finished an album about four years in the making, “A Prevailing Sense of Melody.” While it’s being released under the Space Brother moniker, I’m extremely grateful To hear the full interview, check to the many amazing friends and artists that helped out the Volumes Soundcloud! make it a reality. I’m excited for everyone to hear it.

If nothing else the album will be self-released on my soundcloud.com/volumeshiphop birthday, December 8th.

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:THE NETWORK

Producers Dexter Sims dextersims89@gmail.com FB: Dex Does Music IG: theblvkjesus Twitter: @Twinzodadon Snap: cruz_89 Work Money Entertainment, LLC 404-781-5308 workmoneyent@gmail.com FB: Carlos Jones Kaliko Liberty Entertainment - Owner Ear Candy Studios - Owner 706-248-9523 FB,YT, IG, Google+, & Twitter: @itskaliko Kid Foo officialkidfoo@gmail.com FB: Kid Foo IG: kidfoo Twitter: @ItsKidFoo

Engineers Trevor Wiggins 706-499-9923 trvyfeatures@gmail.com Social Media: @trvyf Imorie Curry 706-308-4190 lexcallahan@hotmail.com Social Media: @lexcally

Marketing/Promotions United Group Of Artists 678-740-3884 P.O. Box 49096 Athens, Ga. 30604

Photography KatTookIt Photography Katherine White 706-621-2822 kattookit@gmail.com

Video Production No Silver Spoon Production Jeffery Welborn & Ricky Campbell 706-224-9669 Owen Hunt owenm.hunt@gmail.com Social Media: @bootsygreenwood

Illustrator Danielle Summers danisumm@uga.edu danisumm.com FB: /danisummart IG: danisummart

Photography/Video iGoByGoodie 706-207-1345 igobygoodie@gmail.com Josh Hart Media 678-637-9927

Hip Hop Artists A. Mack Booking: 706-308-5539 amack068@gmail.com FB: Aviyon Mack IG: A.mack706 Snap: A_mizzlee Dictator 706-818-0387 tothapoint@gmail.com DK Cell: 706-920-8093 Alt.: 706-340-8071 dk.nowles.nowledge@gmail.com FB: /dedric.knowles Twitter: @DK_nowles Snap: dedric1225 Soundcloud: /dk_nowles_nowledge Kxng Blanco kiddblanco706@gmail.com Social Media: @KxngBlanco SoundCloud/Spinrilla: Kxng Blanco L.G. (HOTC) hotclg15@gmail.com FB: L.G. or @hotc15 Social Media: HOTC_LG Seline Haze 706-340-8071 iamselinehaze@gmail.com IG: @SelineHaze_ Twitter: @SelineHaze Space Brother spacebrothermusic@gmail.com FB: /spacebrothersoundsystem Soundcloud: /spacebrothersoundsystem spacebrother.bandcamp.com ZiggyRoxxx 706-621-9000 iggylocz@gmail.com IG: ziggyvoodoochild Soundcloud: /ziggyroxxx

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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR DONORS: • Friends & Family • Everyone who bought our stickers!

ATHE NS

HipHop

PRESENTS:

THURS SEP $5 cover

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GA

ATES & D P U R O ATION F M R O F N I MORE s Presents at 40 Watt Volume

Y.O.D. B.Y.V. SPACE DUNGEON SQUALLE DICTATOR KXNG BLANCO

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For more information contact Sam Lipkin volumeszine@gmail.com