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BRINGINGDOWNTHEBAND.COM PRESENTS UNICORNS, GOLDCHAINS, AND TASSEL JACKETS? P. 06
A DYNAMIC DUO P. 18
BLAKE, ROBOT P. 28
2013
MASTERING THE BEATS P.14
WIZARD ON THE MIC P. 22
NAPTOWN’S CULTURAL LIAISON P. 32
The WRAP UP
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“ I founded Bringing Down The Band in 2008 with the intention of helping share some of my colleagues music, and it kind of spun into what it is today. I like to think that what we do is very important for our music community, and our goals are to continue help push the musicians around Indianapolis closer to the front line - but also to help them understand what they’re up against. ”
-Sean Stuart
UN I C ORN S, G O LD C HAIN S, AND TAS S EL JAC KETS? by Brendon McAvoy (P. 06)
MASTERIN G TH E B EATS by Brendon McAvoy
ONE OF NAPTOWN’S YOUNGEST EMCEES SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES ABOUT TRYING TO BRAND HIMSELF AS A REAL ARTIST.
CREDITS
(P. 14) HOW NAPTOWN’S BUSY PRODUCER HANDLES THE DAY TO DAY OF CREATING SOME OF THE MOST UNIQUE BEATS.
publisher: SEAN STUART editor: BRENDON MCAVOY assistant editor: TERRANCE COLEMEN
A DYNAM I C D UO by Brendon McAvoy
WIZARD ON TH E M I C
(P. 18)
by Brendon McAvoy
THE PRO LETARIANS, BLOO MINGTON’S TOP EMCE E / PRODUCER COMBO, DISCUSS HOW THEY WORK SO WELL TOGETHER.
photographer: THOMAS ROBERTS layout & design THOMAS ROBERTS
B LAKE, ROB OT by Brendon McAvoy
(P. 22) AN INTERVIEW INTO THE WORLD OF HOW SIRIUS WENT FROM ROCK TO HIP HOP AND HOW HE PLANS TO CHANGE THE GAME.
NAPTOWN’S C U LTURAL LIAI S ON
(P. 28) AN INTERVIEW WITH BLAKE ALLEE ABOUT HOW HIS BEDROOM USES MECHANICAL FENG SHUI.
by Brendon McAvoy
(P. 32) A DISCUSSION FROM ONE OF THE CITY’S BIGGEST ASSETS.
Departments Favorite Releases (pg. 05)
THE BDTB TEAM (pg. 10)
AND YOU SAY CHI CITY (pg. 11)
The WRAP UP
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The WRAP UP
bdtb ’s Favorite Releases of 2012
As we did last year, below is the list of our favorite projects this year: locally, globally, hip hop, eclectic, and instrumental wise. We also want to state that this is by no means a “best of” list, just the projects that we were bumping and/or feeling the most. We each chose close to 15 hip hop releases while also adding a few of our eclectic / instrumental favorites. We suggest you check out anything we post, but being said, we REALLY suggest checking out these projects. ‡ = we all selected it
g = seangevity chose it
d = jay diff chose it
b = baby d chose it
Favorite Hip Hop Releases:
Chuuwee – Wildstyle (b)
Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid m.a.d.d. City (‡)
Dag Savage – Salvation (g)
Favorite Eclectic/Instrumental/Other Releases (Not Hip Hop):
Grumpy Old Men – Free Lunch (d, g)
Dark Time Sunshine – ANX (g)
Flying Lotus – Until The Quiet Comes (d, g)
Kids These Days – Traphouse Rock (d, b)
El-P – Cancer For A Cure (d)
Frank Ocean – channelORANGE (d, b)
Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music (d, g)
Fly Union – Zenith (d)
Robert Glasper – Black Radio (d, g)
Nas – Life Is Good (d, b)
G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer (b)
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Seeds (g)
Oddisse – People Hear What They See (d, g)
Joey BadA$$ – 1999 (d)
Jared Evan – The 4th Chapter (g)
Sean Price – Mic Tyson (d, b)
June – Old Inglish (b)
Kyle Rapps & Diwon – Syndication (b)
Schoolboy Q – Habits and Contradictions (d, b)
Kardinal Offishal & Nottz – Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself (g)
Lonegevity – Reverb (d, b)
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist (b)
Shuko and Friends – In Remembrance of Amy (b)
Skyzoo – A Dream Deferred (d, g) Ab-Soul – Control System (d) Add-2 – Save.Our.Souls (g) Aesop Rock – Skelethon (g) Apollo Brown & OC – Trophies (d) Big K.R.I.T. – 4veaNaday (d) Big K.R.I.T. – Live from the Underground (g) Brother Ali – Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color (g) Chiddy Bang – Breakfast (b) Childish Gambino – Royalty (b)
Oreo Jones – Betty (b) Pac Div – GMB (b) Phony Ppl – Phonyland. (d) Rashid Hadee – Aural Sex: The Search for Pinky Tuscadero (g) Soul Khan – Wellstone (g) TI – Trouble Man Heavy Is The Head (d) The Black Opera – Libretto: of King Legend (g) Wale – Folarin (b)
Chuuwee – Crown Me King (b)
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Miguel – Kaleidoscope Dream (d) Small Professor – Cool Story, Pro (b) Talen Ted – The Difference (d) The Weeknd – Trilogy (d) TNGHT – TNGHT (d)
The WRAP UP
UNICORNS, GOLDCHAINS, AND TASSEL JACKETS? BY BRENDON MCAVOY
ONE OF NAPTOWN’S YOUNGEST EMCEES SHARES HIS EXPERIENCES ABOUT TRYING TO BRAND HIMSELF AS A REAL ARTIST.
2012 gave EJAAZ, voted as not only the Best Emcee/ Rapper but also the winner of Best Hip Hop Release, lots to get hype about - and rightfully so. His album, “Chain of Memories”, which was a concept album based on the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise from Square Enix, obtained 124 (28%) of the votes in our end-of-the-year “Wrap Up”. “Chain of Memories” was entirely produced by The Antydote, and was the first of 2 releases for EJAAZ in 2012. He also released “+HARTNESS”, an album that he composed himself with the help of ColDesacke and Marley Lyons.
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The WRAP UP
A THEME FOR AN ALBUM IS KEY TO “ CONNECTING WITH THE LISTENERS
”
Outside of the video game Kingdom of Hearts being an influence, EJAAZ also looks towards anyone that creates art for art’s sake, in any medium, and allows him to feel inspired by looking at and observing. Musically, in particular though, he listens to Kid Cudi, Andre 3000, Imogen Heap, Pharrell, and the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s to name a few. EJAAZ also says that many of his personal experiences contribute to the making of his music, which helps him attain a higher understanding of the work that he presents for his listeners. Early in his career EJAAZ rapped under the moniker EJAY, but realizing that he was going to be taking his musical career seriously he changed it to his birth name, EJAAZ, which is Muslim in origin meaning “miracle”. He made this switch in hopes of portraying a more “real” image with his audience. In his mind this allowed them to see that this was him, essentially as a person and artist, someone that was real with his presentation. Best Hip Hop Release from Indiana Artist in 2012 1st – EJAAZ “Chain of Memories” (28%, 124 Votes)
3rd – Oreo Jones “Betty” (21%, 93 Votes)
2nd – G-Scott “Weekend in Los Vegas” (22%, 98 Votes)
4th – The Pro Letarians “Not All of Me Shall Die” (21%, 92 Votes)
Indiana’s Best Emcee/Rapper in 2012 1st – EJAAZ (25%, 130 Votes) 2nd – Jupiter Jim (of The Pro Letarians) (24%, 125 Votes)
3rd – Blake Allee (19%, 97 Votes) 4th – G-Scott (18%, 91 Votes)
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The WRAP UP I asked EJAAZ how important a theme was in creating an album. “A theme for an album is key to connecting with the listeners. The music, cover art, song choice, and song arrangement are very important.” He also believes that paying attention to these traits helped him connect with new listeners across the U.S., and that The Antydote’s orchestrated tracks helped him develop the appropriate lyrics to tell the stories. “People love to hear stories!” he
excitedly replied, when discussing developing “Chain of Memories”. He stated that the album leaves the listener asking things like, “what did he mean by that last line, where is he going with this, or what is coming next” often, and mentioned that you have to finish the album to totally get the full message. EJAAZ believes that creating this story within the album helps resonate with his audience, and he hopes that this will also help his audience grow with him.
CONNECT WITH EJAZZ TWITTER: @EJAAZtheSPAZZ FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/EJAAZTHELION
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SOUNDCLOUD: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/EJAAZ BOOKING: JEFFOFAMOTHINGS@GMAIL.COM
The WRAP UP
The bdtb Team Bringing Down The Band fosters the growth of the hip-hop community by bringing its readers and listeners the dopeness every day by releasing the most dope downloads, releases,
music videos and silly shit we find in our day to day lives. We are also sponsors to some amazing releases, shows, and social events. We work hard so you don’t have to when trying to keep up with the hip hop community. The team consists of five members. FOUNDER/OWNER/EDITOR IN CHIEF: SEAN (A.K.A. LONEGEVITY)
As the editor in chief, Sean maintains and overlooks the day to day website content, oversees upcoming sponsored projects, and builds relationships in the community to help promote the brand. He promotes synergy within the team.
EVENT & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR: TERRY (A.K.A. DJ JAY DIFF)
Terry shares a sound different than what Sean does, including a lot of sounds our listeners may not normally find. Known for his Cadence mixtapes, he also is a DJ at many of our hosted events and performances. Terry also manages a lot of our merchandising.
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: TR
TR graduated, moved to Naptown, and got connected into the hip hop community where he linked up with BDTB founder Sean. He has designed album covers, made t-shirts, shot music videos for many artists (such as Blake Allee and Hinx Jones), and handles the photography at our events. He is really looking forward to helping BDTB become an influential brand in the hip-hop community. “I just want to make cool shit.”.
EDITOR: BRENDON (A.K.A. BABY D)
Brendon graduated with a writing degree and love for hop hip, so he found it a simple combination when joining forces with the team. He shares music on the website, manages the Instagram account, and handles most of the interview write-ups. You can find him around town at events bobbing his head to the beat, and looking to assist in the expansion of the brands audience. EVENT COORDINATOR: KISHA Kisha, a tourism, convention and event management graduate, helps the brand by promoting and organizing special events. Kisha’s current monthly event, Social Experience Saturdays, is hosted at New Orleans on the Avenue in the heart of downtown. She is excited about how this event will bring in new people and allow for the public to get to know our team a little bit better.
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The WRAP UP
And You Say Chi-City
With the ever-changing beast that is the hip-hop scene, it can be somewhat difficult to keep up with what people are wearing or banging in their headphones. But as much as it is difficult for us looking in
on the game to keep up, it can be even more frustrating for those who are putting themselves out there daily looking for that break that will lift their career. I sat down with PAGE 11
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four artists based out of Chicago who have been dealing with this shape-shifting career for over a decade, got their opinions on how the Chi-town scene has progressed, asked them where it is heading, and approached them on how they have dealt with this cultural hydra. Mike Schpitz and Slot-A, while claiming the Windy City as their own now, both are originally from different locales. Schpitz’s born state was Kansas, and Slot hails from our northern neighbor Michigan. The fellas have recently put
The WRAP UP together “Have You Seen My Stapler?”, which has been a project that they have both been trying to get out for a while. They took their time with this project because they wanted to give a good first impression, and the Stapler project really allows you to hear the sound they have been working on. It also gives a great preview of what is to come in the near future. 2012 was also a busy year for Mike because of the amount of sound he dropped. He and emcee Pete Sayke are a two-man duo that go by Grumpy Old Men, and they dropped the BDTB sponsored “#FreeLunch” in May. Mike also hooked back up with his hometown homies The O’s (which consist of Mike Schpitz, Stik Figa, and Adullessence) for a few records. Slot, aside from seeing his production credits drop all over the map, also released an instrumental tape entitled The Shoo-Ins. Papi Jamon and Ves120, both Chicago natives, have been working together for a long time as emcee and DJ, respectively. In November, Papi dropped the 8-track EP, “Connect Game”. This was a project produced in full by Lonegevity, and works as a connecting bridge for Naptown and Chitown that merges both cities’ styles in one harmonious compilation. Ves120 did the artwork for the EP. While talking to both sets of artists about the Chicago scene, Mike, Slot, Papi, and Ves all agreed that while the hip-hop community is big, they could create their own lane with hard work. Mike and Slot see the success of so many talented colleagues around as a sign that they are moving the right pieces on the board. Slot noted that he finds it inspiring to see many diverse groups in the community get recognition for their efforts, either with beats or lyrics. “I’m not saying everything is for me, but there are some young cats out here doing some pretty awesome things.” Papi Jamon though, talks about a problem he sees in the community. “Everybody wants to be a boss, they think they are a boss, and this mindset potentially hurts the progression of some of these artists.” When asked where these young artists acquired this sense of entitlement he stated
that, “what bothers me is that these older guys are guiding these younger guys and not really giving them any direction to be themselves, and that a lot of them don’t become memorable because of it”. This process creates a lot of copycats in the scene. Ves works with the youth at his 9 to 5, and he mentioned that many aren’t paying attention to those who came before them; they neglect to realize the history of what was done, and just pay attention to what is happening now in the videos. They “see these videos and want to emulate that to gain success without pushing themselves to try out new ideas”. Ves and Papi both attest to this aforementioned methodology by admitting to being that snobbish listener that tends to only mess with certain artists and styles, but through opening up they have allowed themselves to see how others were playing the game. This in so helped them realize that there wasn’t one direct route to the finish line. Understanding the history behind the craft allows one to grow as an artist, and with that it really helps to unleash ones potential to create new music that is always growing. It is important that the younger generations pay attention to their surrounding culture of what is fresh, and not only gear wise, but also to what people are feeling musically. That is the beautiful thing about the hydra, once you cut off one head, two more will appear. Sound familiar? Mike and Slot have a busy year ahead of them as we’ll see more videos from “Have You Seen My Stapler?”, and they definitely want to get out of Chi-town a little more to take their show on the road. They are in high hopes to get back down to A3C, and are trying to get down to SXSW to perform as well. Slot was pretty excited to say that what they do has its own flavor. “We’re old school enough to care about lyrics, but forward thinking enough to push ourselves to embrace new sounds.” Meanwhile, Papi and Lonegevity plan to release a sequel to “Connect Game” later this year.
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The WRAP UP
MASTERING THE BEATS BY BRENDON MCAVOY
HOW NAPTOWN’S BUSY PRODUCER HANDLES THE DAY TO DAY OF CREATING SOME OF THE MOST UNIQUE BEATS.
The WRAP UP
Lonegevity always has something going on to keep himself busy, and 2012 was no different. He released the year’s best instrumental project, “Reverb”, as voted by our devout readers at Bringing Down The Band. He completed a remix project with Add-2 from Chicago in which two of the singles reached over 25,000 listens in less than a week. He also turned out “Beats and Breakfast” with Skitts from The Proforms, “Connect Game” with Papi Jamon, and executive produced Scoot Dubbs’ recent release “The Difference Between Night & Day”. Aside from all of the music, Lonegevity also graced the cover of Indianapolis magazine and publication Nuvo in February of 2012.
The WRAP UP
“IF I FEEL LIKE MAKING BEATS, I’LL MAKE BEATS AND I FEEL LIKE RAPPING, THEN I’LL RAP.” Lonegevity is not slowing down at all in 2013 either. He has a remix project entitled “Sunday Brunch” lined up with Grumpy Old Men, a hip hop duo of Mike Schpitz and Pete Sayke from Chicago, and that is due out in February or March. He is currently sitting on an instrumental album entitled “Sometimes I Still Dream”, but is waiting for a videographer to be able to capture visually what he has accomplished musically. Hinx Jones, his own hip hop twosome, has a project lined up for the first quarter, and his partner from said group, Gritts, is planning on releasing his first solo album at the end of the year that will be executive produced by Lone. Even with all of this, we’re just hitting the surface. He has more than a handful projects in the works with multiple artists for 2013 that will put him all over the map artistically. Although it seems as an artist he never slows down, I had to ask him where he goes when he just wants to himself. It is understandable that it can become difficult to find or hear your own sound when producing for so many other artists, but Lone says, “If I feel like making beats, I’ll make beats, and I feel like rapping, then I’ll rap. But as far as the creative person I am, if I am not in a creative mood, I won’t create.” He continues to say there will months where he creates thirty beats and some where he will only create VOL. 1 ISSUE 1 02/13/2013
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The WRAP UP one or two remixes; it all just depends on how creative he all-trades to the hip hop community, and this next year is is feeling. He allows himself to breathe creatively by not shaping up to be a big one. pressuring himself because simply, he “can’t work that way”, and it is not conducive to his talent. It is because of BEST INSTRUMENTAL OR PRODUCTION BASED RELEASE this though that he says it can be difficult to get beats to FROM INDIANA PRODUCER IN 2012 different artists within their ideal timeframe. Sometimes he will have to go through the archives of beats he has 1st – LONEgevity “Reverb” (50%, 73 Votes) previously made to see how he can tweak them to a specific artist’s style to accomplish what they might need with 2nd – Milky Way Vandals “MWV” (29%, 43 Votes) their project. Lonegevity has proven himself as a jack-of-
CONNECT WITH LONEGEVITY TWITTER: @LONEGEVITY FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/LONEGEVITY SOUNDCLOUD: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/LONEGEVITY
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WEB: LONEGEVITY.COM BOOKING: SEAN@LONEGEVITY.COM
The WRAP UP
A DYNAMIC DUO BY BRENDON MCAVOY
THE PRO LETARIANS, BLOOMINGTON’S TOP EMCEE / PRODUCER COMBO, DISCUSS HOW THEY WORK SO WELL TOGETHER.
The proposed apocalyptic year of 2012 was a fast paced year for the Bloomington-based duo. They were able to release two mixtapes, “Hello Forever” and “Not All of Me Shall Die”, which propelled their hip-hop status in Indiana and beyond.
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The WRAP UP
The duo’s second release last year was “Not All of Me Shall Die”, and with this release they garnered enough attention to be a feature in XXL’s online magazine. This allowed Jupiter Jim and J.O to grab the attention of A&Rs, which is always a good thing for talented young artists. The Pro Letarians didn’t stop there though; they also dropped “#Rugrats”, a track that features a sample from a video Jupiter found on YouTube while studying for finals down at IU. This song won Best Single in our “Wrap Up” polls, and will hopefully make it onto a new project they have cooked up. I asked the guys the age-old question of which comes first, the rhyme or the beat, and they responded that while normally J.O starts with the beat, on occasion Jupiter will have something brewing beforehand. Sometimes J.O will have a track in the works in the background to help Jim’s thought process.
What really helps The Pro Letarians stand out is Jupiter’s well thought out lyrics mixed with J.O’s ability to make older existing beats relevant. While Jupiter started rapping when he was ten years old, J.O didn’t start making beats until his sophomore year in high school when he was introduced to Fruity Loops. For the song “#Rugrats” he sampled the likes of “Mambo Italino” for a new listening audience. He has also used music from the likes of great artists such as The Beatles and Jackson 5, and although he may sample a lot, he still possesses the ability to make some incredible original beats. Either way, he’ll make it so that you never stop bobbing your head when listening to Jupiter Jim present his flow.
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The WRAP UP
The Pro Letarians are in high hopes for their musical careers, and in 2013 they plan to continue to expand on their potential. They have a show coming up on February 23rd at the Old National Centre in Indianapolis. Best Hip Hop Single from Indiana Artist in 2012 1st – The Pro Letarians “#Rugrats” (28%, 107 Votes) 2nd – G-Scott “4 Finger Ring Rap” (22%, 83 Votes) 3rd – Grey Granite/Blake Allee “Armando Alvaraz” (20%, 79 Votes)
CONNECT WITH THE PRO LETARIANS TWITTER: @THEPROLETARIANS FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/THEPROLETARIANS
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SOUNDCLOUD: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/THEPROLETARIANS BOOKING: BOUVYJ@GMAIL.COM
The WRAP UP
WIZARD ON THE MIC BY BRENDON MCAVOY
AN INTERVIEW INTO THE WORLD OF HOW SIRIUS WENT FROM ROCK TO HIP HOP AND HOW HE PLANS TO CHANGE THE GAME.
Sirius Blvck was in the band Indian City Weather, but in May of 2012 he decided to break away and create his solo mixtape “Smoke in the Trees”. The project was highly successful in the Naptown community. He is a part of the Ghost Town Gang, which includes artists like John Stamps, Knags, Grizz, and others. This past November allowed the release of his first solo EP, “Midnight Musik”, from local recording studio Galthouse Records with the help of Paid Roza on production. “It was a good year for Indianapolis and the Midwest in general, I think. We’re coming up.” Sirius also had his Fight Club inspired visuals for “Nocturnal” win Best Video in our “Wrap Up” contest. The video was directed by Mike from Digital Rabbit. Amongst other work, Mike was also responsible for the videography for the Oranje Festival, the recent Red Bull Thre3Style, and took care of Blake Allee’s video for “Headlights” (that ended up third in voting).
The WRAP UP
“ THE INDY SCENE IS A COMPLEX SUBJECT” Trying to survive in the hip hop community in Indy can be difficult, but Sirius had this to say about it, “I’ve come to realize the Indy scene is a complex subject, yet so simple. Everything works/runs in cliques or crews. There’s not much genuine effort to restore some spirit in the scene because everyone focuses on themselves or their team”. Although his outlook may seem dismal, he wants his audience to understand that he realizes Indy and the Midwest are up next. He just hopes for more camaraderie
between the artists like there is in the rock scene, where he got his musical beginnings. He also thinks that his crew Ghost Town is going to help usher in that togetherness. He knows that this city is 100% conducive to allowing for success. As for the future of this young artist, he hopes to work with emcees Ab-Soul, P.O.S., and Yoni Wolf of Why?, and locally he is trying to get Flaco, MethCoast, and Oreo Jones in the studio. He also mentioned that he’d like to link back up with VOL. 1 ISSUE 1 02/13/2013
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The WRAP UP Tony Styxx, who he used to cross paths with on the spoken word circuit. Looking forward to this year, Sirius is planning on a lot of releases as a solo artist, as well with his Ghost Town crew, telling us to expect a release every month from at least one member in the crew. Later this month he plans for his 11-track project, “Ancient Lights”, to drop with production from Bones of Ghosts out in California. He also has planned a project with Lonegevity entitled “The Bill Murray Theory”, and hopes to get it out sometime this year. In May he is going to put out the sequel to previous “Smoke in the Trees”, entitled “Smoke in the Trees II: Covenants”. He hopes this project will be as successful as his previous. Sirius is also taking his show on the road outside of the city boundaries to the SWXS music festival, and is taking Ghost Town on a college party tour. Best Hip Hop Music Video from Indiana Artist in 2012 1st – Sirius Blvck “Nocturnal” (27%, 120 Votes) 2nd – EJAAZ “+L.Y.D.O.B.V.+” (27%, 119 Votes) 3rd – Blake Allee “Headlights” (25%, 109 Votes)
CONNECT WITH SIRIUS BLVCK TWITTER: @SIRIUSXBLVCK FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/THEREALSIRUSBLACK
SOUNDCLOUD: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/SIRIUSBLVCK
CONNECT WITH DIGITAL RABBIT TWITTER: @DRABBITP
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WEB: THEDIGITALRABBIT.COM
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Blake, Robot BY BRENDON MCAVOY
AN INTERVIEW WITH BLAKE ALLEE ABOUT HOW HIS BEDROOM USES MECHANICAL FENG SHUI.
The WRAP UP
Blake Allee is definitely an artist to lookout for in 2013, and beyond. He is a man on a mission, and it sounds like he is letting nothing get in his way. Be sure to download his previous mixtape, “My Best Friends Are Machines�, which features the help of DJ Green Lantern and DJ Whoo Kid. You can grab that BDTB sponsored project for free on our site.
The WRAP UP “Televisionn” is going to be Blake’s next project, and he is calling it “the most forward thinking and advanced hip hop project of the year”. The project is completely in his hands as he is producing, rapping, mastering, recording, and even mixing the entire thing. When describing the project, Blake says that, “the concept in a way is seeing music as art; just a semi cool weird dude creating an imaginary world in sound, every piece made by himself in his bedroom.” At the end of the day, Blake is just hoping to be one of the
producers out of Naptown to make some noise… and get the honeys to notice as well. When Mr. Allee needs inspiration, he clocks every second of life and uses it to his advantage. The ups, as well as the downs, help create his unique sound. He looks at every beat as creating something that wasn’t there before, so every beat is something new that no one has heard. What you can really appreciate about an artist like Blake is that he
“ A SEMI COOL WEIRD DUDE CREATING AN IMAGINARY WORLD”
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The WRAP UP Indiana’s Best Hip Hop Producer in 2012 1st – Blake Allee (39%, 114 Votes) 2nd – LONEgevity (36%, 108 Votes) 3rd – J.O. (of The Pro Letarians) (33%, 99 Votes) wants to create change with his sound, and doesn’t mind if that makes him sound egotistical. Ultimately though, he just wants to make Blake from elementary school proud, and I believe that young Blake would appreciate the smoking hot Little Red Riding Hoods in his video for “Headlights”, which he also dropped this year. Speaking of elementary school, Blake says that is where he first dug into his hip-hop career with rapping. He stated that even back then he, “always wanted to be a different type of musician, so what better way than to create your own sound scape”. So on his quest to manufacture a different sound, he picked up a Yamaha Motif and scored a job at Guitar Center so he abuse that discount for future equipment. After that, Blake started going to hip hop shows, made connections, passed out beats to local artists, booked shows, started performing live, and that is where Blake Allee is today.
CONNECT WITH BLAKE ALEE TWITTER: @BLAKEAlLEE FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/BLAKEALEE SOUNDCLOUD: SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BLAKEALEE
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WEB: BLAKEALEE.COM BOOKING: BLAKEALEE@GMAIL.COM
NAPTOWN’S CULTURAL LIAISON BY BRENDON MCAVOY
A DISCUSSION FROM ONE OF THE CITY’S BIGGEST ASSETS.
The WRAP UP
It is no surprise that DJ MetroGnome won Best DJ in our ”Wrap Up” contest, the man does everything he can to showcase the dopeness that Naptown is, was, and will be in the coming years. 2012 was just a small representation of those accomplishments. “(It) was another solid year. I survived as a fulltime DJ and was able to support my family, which is first and foremost.
The WRAP UP
MetroGnome is the Indiana representative for the Red Bull Music Academy. As he is also a “cultural liaison” of sorts for Red Bull, he has already in 2013 put on one of the most successful Red Bull Thre3Styles to date, which was a five way DJ battle that featured winner Buck Rodgers against other great Indianapolis DJ’s (Action Jackson, Indiana Jones, Limelight, and Cool Hand Lex). MetroGnome also has one of Indy’s longest running hip-hop parties, Take That! Tuesdays at Coaches, which is set downtown. Another random fact? He is humbled to have shared the stage with the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff.
MetroGnome considers himself a hip-hop DJ as that is where his roots are, but throughout the years he has really been able to test himself as well as his audience by mixing afrobeat, hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae, and down tempo. This is done because he wants to help extend their knowledge as well as his own. He finds it unsettling when DJ’s only stick to one genre of music. “I can’t believe how limited most people are when it comes to the music they’ll be willing to check out or get into.” When MetroGnome DJ’s an event or party, he likes them to be branded so that he can give listeners only a taste of VOL. 1 ISSUE 1 02/13/2013
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“ AS A DJ, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND OF PARTY/VENUE YOU’RE PLAYING” what is to be expected when they arrive. “Ultimately though, as a DJ, you have to understand what kind of party/ venue you’re playing at and who the primary audience is. I have the ability to play wide variety music, but you can’t please everyone all the time.” With his gift of playing so many different types of gigs, he also is allowed to advise people on what spots to hit based on their taste of music, and therefore, allows them to see more of the city that they may not
know was originally available to them. “Diversity is a good thing. We just have to keep pushing the boundaries and offer Indianapolis plenty of options and we’ll be just fine.”
Indiana’s Best Hip Hop DJ in 2012 1st –DJ MetroGnome (54%, 121 Votes) 2nd – DJ TXTBOOK (24%, 54 Votes)
CONNECT WITH DJ METROGNOME TWITTER: @DJMETROGNOME FACEBOOK: FACEBOOK.COM/METROGNOME
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WEB: DEEJAYMETROGNOME.COM BOOKING: TICKTOCKMEDIA@GMAIL.COM
The WRAP UP
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