@Judahonthebeats Choose Wisely Video

Sunday, March 1, 2009

A thought from KT

“I think i finally figured it out!!!!!  The main difference between the DMV music scene and ATL music scene......never dawned on me until i was browsing a couple of websites.....

MIXTAPE DJ'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We dont have any popular DJ's making mixtapes...ALL THESE RADIO DJ'S...NO PROJECTS!!!...sure we have a few, but i've seen 7 new ATL artists this week alone!! lol ATL have alot of DJ's puttin out mixtapes and gettin names out in high magnitudes!!! WE DONT HAVE THAT HERE!!!!! Where are the DJ Quicksilva mixtapes??? The DJ Alizay mixtapes??? the DJ Rico mixtapes??? the DJ Analyze mixtapes??? And i dont mean just a mixtape with the Dj's fav artist on 14 out of the 22 songs on a mixtape either....im talkin an actual DMV take over.....we have more than enough talent and more than enough DJ's but MOST are not putting out projects or even taking interest in our music.

Now u prolly can name about 100 popular ATL DJ's along with 700 mixtape series...lol..We have a few people standing behind some projects (DJ heat's mixtapes and judah helps out several artists, and a few others) but how come there isnt any real support from our so-called "DJ's"??? Now granted, not all of the artists u hear on these mixtapes are good.....and thats UR decision, but what I AM seeing is those DJs atleast giving these artists a chance to be heard and letting more people give opinions about them.

Im not a expert, but i think that this can be a vital step in taking the DMV to the next level, what yall think????

~KT”


Thanks KT for coming with some analysis of the area.........

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

ITS ALOT OF BS BEHIND THAT...LIKE ALOT...A TON...A BALE....A DRUM....ALOT...DJ'S IN THIS AREA ARENT HERE FOR THE PUT ON...THEY JUST...BLAH!

Anonymous said...

good thought kt..we do need more mixtape dj's..I have released A few(2 to be exact one with djpanic from coredjs & and one with GhettoAllStars Hosted by Don Juan) and just picked up a new series with designs by anmlhse so u will be seeing more from my company but I would like to also say that alot of the dj's u see dropping mixtapes in atl charges that artist especially if their a hot dj,then some get with a artist and just decide "Imma break you"..Alot of people dont dj in dc and the dj has never been a real factor in dc cause of gogo, nobody wanted to be dj more then they wanted to be in gogo band. The Mixtape scene is crazy u got all types of dj's just like you have all types of mixtapes.In dc you have to start your own mixtape series.

I have friend name Wendy she works with alot of major artist and she told me the reason why ATL poopped off cause they got tired of everybody else ingoring them and started doing they own thing. Like mixtapes, parties, conferences..etc etc..And enough artist devolped in ATL and the industry had no other choice but to move their..but

To be Honest with We Have One DJ thats holds the fort down, goes to battle and thats DJHEAT,other folks only come out for award season.
aND TO BE EVEN MORE HONEST..CAUSE IM FEELING A LITTLE HONEST TODAY..ALL THESE DMV RAPPERS , YALL DONT FUCK WITH DMV FOR REAL. MAJORITY OF YALL DONT EVEN HAVE TABI NEW ALBUM. I SEE IT FOR MY OWN EYES HOW YALL DONT SUPPORT EACH OTHER. YALL TALK TRASH ABOUT EACH OTHER, YALL BEAT EACH OTHER OVER THE HEAD ON DEALS.SO A DJ FROM DC HE/SHE AINT GOING GET NO BURN, ITS POINTLESS CAUSE EVERYBODY IS SELF IN DC.

DC Artist arent involved in alot of things that other cities do like conference calls, mixtapes, giving drops, music sessions, conferences, email blast..just regular PR shit. I do these things for living, so I know how they can help ur movement and Im shocked that dc is so behind and when I read the blogs, hear the beefs I see why.They rather get mix IN the drama , or hope wale give em verse or they heads blow up cause they get on a few sites.Sad part about it is I go for battle for dc in alot of these things, and yall let me down sometimes...I could go on and on. This was a really good topic..

We have alot coming up so stay tuned KT you just might be surprised..

www.igotit4free.com
info@igotit4free.com

RATHEMC ON CAU RADIO MARCH 3rd @ 1pm
Don Juan on ghettoallstars.com coming soon

DJ Torkaveli said...

**grabbing popcorn**

J-Sparks said...

Bulls Eye....u hit the mark! don't wanna say no names but it's a certain dj in the area who through the years was actually able to make a name for himself, appearances on Mtv and all that...but I was shocked when looking at his mixtape series that about 95% of the artists on em weren't from the dmv, and you should see the titles, DMV on the cover right in front for everyone to see.

Anonymous said...

You're making a good point, but I've been traveling to the ATL for 15+ years and it's a little different from DC. ATL has a long history of mixtape DJ's; going way back to DJ Jelly and more recently DJ Drama. They have a market already established and they have people used to buying mixtapes looking for the "next" rapper. At this point in the game, I think myspace, youtube, facebook, etc., is more important than creating a mixtape culture.

Anonymous said...

CHECK DJ SOUNDWAVE. HE'S CONSISTENTLY PUTTIN TAPES OUT!

DJ Heat said...

As a DJ that is a part of two heavy DJ crews that drop mixtapes on the regular (one crew even winning an Justo Mixtape award for Best Mixtape Team), I can say that the DC area is not that big on mixtapes. When DJs from other states ask me to trade spots with them (someething mixtape DJs do a lot), I sadly tell them that I really have nothing for them. Granted, the RIAA has limited spots, but even before that, folks in DC are not really looking up at the mixtape DJ like New York, or ATL. Ya'll know me for the Mumbo Sauce joint I drop for DMV artists, but my other series I have where I have put DMV tracks on there get overlooked here. They get more love down south cuz they really heavy on mixtapes still.

Now on the other side of things, after what happened to DJ Drama, a lot of folks are not risking things to drop mixtapes. Mixtapes are ILLEGAL. Point blank period. Places here have been raided. It's a risk to drop a mixtape. Tork was telling me how even DatPiff.com is scaling back on things. So those DJs you named, KT, may want to drop mixtapes, but with a big name comes a big risk. Everyone you name has dropped stuff before though. Quicksilva even had a deal with Universal Records for the Lethal Squad mixtapes he did.

Then again, not every DJ has an interest in doing mixtapes. Every DJ has their lane they want to stick too. A lot of the big names ya'll know just may not have an interest in doing mixtapes. Their focus is on smashing clubs, parties, etc. In the meantime, you still have DJ Rob dropping heavy, PCutta, DNA, Tork, Lady Blaze. Heck, I have at least 3 joints hosted by national artists I'm just sitting on and will drop one day. lol

Finally, I want to say that a lot of artists tend to look at what other cities are doing and saying why doesn't the same work or happen in DC. I tell this to everyone...DC is not like every where else. This is a very UNIQUE musical city as far as tastes and what works. What works and happens in other major cities more than likely will not work and happen here. DC is SUPER different. The national labels even know that. Stop looking at the other cities and trying to make that happen here. Focus on different aspects here to make things happen.

KT said...

thanks for the comments yall..

@ byrd:

im sure alot of artists in the area wouldnt mind paying for mixtape slots if we can be assured that the project would be heavily distibuted and not just something thats gets pushed to the left. I just get tired of the dmv complaining about how hard it is to do this when we dont even try it. and yea DJ Heat be my fav dmv dj because i actually witness and benefit from her efforts!

@ J-Sparks:

im pretty sure i know who u talkin bout! lol

@ DJSuperSid:

i think its kinda like football, how long is a team going to run the same offense to no prevail while other teams pretty much score at will? Sooner or later they are gonna have to adapt to the success pattern! Or are we so stubborn on making our shit work by the original plan that we avoid the obvious reality that another offense is working for most of the successful teams (cities)

@ DJ Heat:

you know i know how u be lookin out for us and thats wassup!!...but its too the point where im tired of seeing how others are doing it and people in the dmv, mainly radio dj's and personalities (no offense..lol) keep stating that the DMV is just too different to follow the same patterns as others...IT CANT BE THAT DIFFICULT!!!! ANOTHER THING, im not just putting the blame on the dj's because there are alot of garbage rappers, not only here but everywhere and there has to be good music to push...but as a DJ, are you not tired urself? Do you not see how many ATL artists are just GETTING on??? i mean im hearing alot of these old ass clowns saying "i started rappin back and 06' and it just took off and blah blah fuckin blah"....2006???? ARE YOU SERIOUS????? IMO, all they had that we didnt have was promotion and atleast the attempt of someone tryna expose them!


GENERAL COMMENT:

When i 1st heard "The Pocket" by Tabi it was garbage to me, but the fact that i heard it over and over again made the song kinda warm up to me! We have no consistency in our outputs. I honestly think our artists are doing everything that we know how to do, and so are artists in other areas, difference is SOMEONE with more of a voice than the artist (whether it be a DJ, PR, A&R, or whatever) attempted to help out for whatever reason (interest, money, etc.)

DJ Torkaveli said...

DJ Heat boosted my ego like 200 points by mentioning me LOL

DJ Torkaveli said...

You know what else the DMV doesn't have that other places do? A population of people that care about rappers (or more specifically LOCAL rappers.

The DMV is unique because it's the only place in the US where most people turn their nose up at new artists because they prefer hearing a gogo band cover songs that are spinning on the radio.

The DMV is the only place where it's hard to GIVE AWAY a mixtape with local artists on it.

This war has been fought by many for longer than some of you know. You can't get anywhere off of mixtapes in the DMV if nobody listens to mixtapes in the DMV.


Your best hope of coming up as a new artist from the DMV is to get on the highway. I get more love 50-100 miles north/south than I could ever imagine getting here, and anyone else that has hit the road would agree.


Ask Judah going up to Rhode Island
Ask Lyriciss/Davy Fresh/others hitting New York
Ask the multitude of rappers that picked up and completely MOVED to Atlanta!
Calico stays getting love on Houston mixtapes
I know of one artist that made a few hundred performing up in PA


Wale didn't get a bunch of love in the DMV until he left and went all the way to Europe then came back!

HIT THE ROAD, the fans are out there - they ain't here!

KT said...

@ tork:

i feel what you are saying, but you have to atleast TRY....both Tabi and Wale got some type of exposure around here. the fact that u hear songs over and over again and start to like then when you hated them at first is mainly because of rote rehearsal.

DJ Torkaveli said...

Wale and Tabi and exceptions to the rule, and I can't speak on how they got exposure initially because I don't know, but I feel pretty confident in saying that it wasn't a local mixtape presence.


Trust me, I'd love for the mixtape scene to pop off here, but besides the rappers themselves, nobody cares about mixtapes in the DMV.

I wish I was wrong, I really do.

Mr. 40. Watt said...

Good discussion KT U 1000% on point wit dis 1 homie especially 4 dat out of town shit!!! I'll be out NY saturday myself they invite De-U up every year 4 an event we're a part of. I don't know it's like we're just not used 2 supporting anything out here but GoGo bands. Only DJ's I can vouch 4 are DJ Heat, DNA, & Furious Styles. They on da come up heavy & it's not hard 2 get up with em' on some business shit.

- Mr. 40. Watt -

youtube.com/mr40watt

Anonymous said...

Check mixtape series called "Sessions from the Beltway" Mixtape Vol. 1. you can go to myspace.com/sessionsfromthebeltwaymixtape

Have over 1300 units on the streets in the DMV

Vol. 2 in the works in a couple of months and would love to have some serious DC artist on it. Vol. 1 had the likes of Don Juan, Aye B, and more from the DMV.