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Brzowski: Blazing Your Own Trail
Posted by Justin Boland on Sep 02, 2008 | 0 Comments
Coming from New England, I’ve known about Brzowski for years. He’s been forging his own sound and style, pissing off purists and building a reputation for sweat-soaked, brutally honest live sets. Hip hop is easy when you’re not trying to be original-but Brzowski has a lot to teach about finding your audience when it’s not already identified and established for you. If you rap like Jeezy, promoting yourself in 2009 is a no-brainer. Brzowski has walking a weirder road, and I caught him mid-tour to conversate about booking shows, promoting yourself right, and squeezing blood from stones on the road.
Enjoy.
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Eyeris: Getting Ready for the Spotlight
Posted by Justin Boland on Sep 01, 2008 | 0 Comments
Interviewing Eyeris in May 2009 is like a photograph of an athlete in midair. She’s currently towards the beginning of a national publicity wave and she’s aiming high for 2010. This is the busiest, most rewarding and most dangerous part of a music career, so I was grateful for the chance to talk shop with her.
Here, Eyeris is sharing experience with promotion, DIY touring, and how to blow the room away at SXSW, too. DIG IT.
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Getting Ready for a Long Cold Winter
Posted by Justin Boland on Aug 28, 2008 | 0 Comments
Everywhere I go, everyone I talk to, the word remains the same: “DAMN.” The US is going through a slow-motion economic collapse and hip hop is feeling the pain as much as any other industry. For underground broke rappers, the situation looks downright apocalyptic. What’s the point of making music when it’s all going to be free, right?
Well…real artists don’t ask themselves that question, first of all. Since you’re probably making hip hop because you fucking have to, the end of 2008 is going to be a long, frustrating winter. This article is about how to survive and thrive in a hostile climate. It’s also an opportunity for me to round up everything I’ve already covered here at Audible Hype. My articles are constantly over-stuffed and I randomly go off on tangents longer than most blog posts. Here’s the best of everything, plus everything I learned since I stopped, plus everything else you’ll ever need to know. Just kidding.
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The DIY Hip Hop Business Master Class
Posted by Justin Boland on Aug 21, 2008 | 0 Comments
Nothing beats having a mentor. Helpful guidance and advice from experienced elders is solid gold, no matter what you’re doing in life.
Unfortunately, Audible Hype is about DIY Hip Hop, which is a cut-throat and over-saturated business where nobody particularly gives a fuck about you. Even once you’re getting things done, the people who reach out to you are acting strictly out of self-interest. This is a culture where information is valuable and connections are everything-so “sharing” is not part of the game.
Unless you’re a dumb hippie like me, that is. This is a collection of the most valuable gems I’ve assembled in the Audible Hype Forum.-business and career advice from established masters, psychotically driven hustlers, and crusty old veterans. Your kind of people, if you know what’s good for you.
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The No Bullshit Guide Hip Hop Demographics, Part One
Posted by Justin Boland on Aug 04, 2008 | 0 Comments
Back when I first started Audible Hype, I did an article about hip hop demographics. I had no idea how ambitious that topic really was, and did a half-assed job. Today I’m going to fix that mistake and do this up properly, because it’s a topic that shouldn’t be complicated.
Demographics shouldn’t be complicated. Accurate statistics should not be the exclusive property of corporate consultants. Artists should not be basing their career on second-hand bullshit ideas of “who really listens to rap.”
Basically, I made a pot of coffee, sat down in the kitchen, and banged out the most detailed, useful and honest report on the demographics of hip hop I could possibly give you. Enjoy.
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Audible Hype Interviews iCON the Mic King
Posted by Justin Boland on Jun 05, 2008 | 0 Comments
“Twice as arrogant as Kanye West.” That’s not my diagnosis, that’s a direct quote from iCON the Mic King’s own PDF press kit. There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding him over the years, but the real point to take home is that iCON the Mic King has been a topic of constant conversation for years now. He’s also been a constant inspiration for anyone doing DIY hip hop-from his “Rent Money Music” mixtape series to his infamous Greyhound Bus tours, iCON embodies the work ethic and determination that it takes to get your name out in the most over-saturated music market on the planet.
After all, that same press kit also contains this gem: “At the end of the day the real issue is the quality of the music and the struggle to get it heard by the masses.” That’s the sole focus of Audible Hype, so I’m honored that iCON the Mic King agreed to do an interview about exactly that: managing your own career in an industry that gets more insane every day.
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Be Innovative, Episodic and Interesting and Get Free Publicity
Posted by Justin Boland on Jun 03, 2008 | 0 Comments
Here’s a common question I get: “If I’m broke and unknown, how can I start getting paying gigs?”
My first instinct is to reply YOU DON’T, but that’s not entirely true. There’s other avenues, and the fact is, the old system of “paying dues” is broken. You can be paying dues for years and never see much happen from it. This is an article about “viral marketing” but I feel that term is so cliched that it’s become useless-the core point remains the same, though: be interesting, and people will be interested. If you’re doing something remarkable, people will talk about you.
Here’s a detailed look at what works, why it works, and how to make it work for you. Interested?
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Three Reasons I Stopped Writing Audible Hype.
Posted by Justin Boland on May 08, 2008 | 0 Comments
“It’s been a long time-and I’m glad that I left you
I’ve been snacking on fresh fruit and practicing chess moves”
It’s been a couple months but I’m back. I appreciate the concerned emails, and the project is starting again. I stopped writing Audible Hype because I was bored with the topic-I moved on to more interesting things, like studying 5th generation warfare over at Skilluminati Research.
Why did I get bored? Why am I re-starting the project now? I have three basic reasons.
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Audible Hype Interviews Othello from d_Cyphernauts
Posted by Justin Boland on Mar 04, 2008 | 0 Comments
The New England based d_Cyphernauts embody everything I’m advocating here at Audible Hype: they’re dedicated, positive and intelligent-and they’re running an increasingly successful career entirely by themselves. Even more impressive, they recognize the importance of building a community and put in endless hours to develop their local scene and help everyone around them progress. Needless to say, I dig what they do.
So I was honored that d_Cyphernauts member Othello agreed to do this interview-a very detailed, practical and inspirational look at his daily routine, his past achievements and his plans for the future. He’s politically outspoken, business-minded and holy shit does he ever work hard. In addition to running his own business and maintaining a prolific musical output, he’s also a full-time teacher.
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Weekend Brainfood: Visions of the Future
Posted by Justin Boland on Mar 01, 2008 | 0 Comments
The music blog echo chamber was full of Big Announcements this week: all the heavy hitters in the biz got together in New York City for the Digital Music Forum East. Is there anything more exciting than a bunch of rich white guys repeating common sense like it’s amazing news? I guess not.
Now, I might be a cynic, but I’m too young to be jaded, and too laid to be grumpy. A lot of really interesting insights got lost in the mix, and I want to focus on that material for this installation of Weekend Brainfood. The dinosaurs are finally catching on, but the really valuable stuff came from the upstarts, tech-heads and outsiders.
