DC Talent...keep hope alive!

[Sabiya]

Why do you suppose it takes D.C. artist soooooooooo long to breakthru tha arts(media xposure/movies/actors/hip-hopers...etc). I do notice a few artist make it into "M-stream" but then the buzz does not seem to last long enuff to make a deep indentation! Could it be our independance or individual need for recognition causing our non-growth as oppose to interdependance and collective efforts to produce creativity 2gether? What r u're thoughts?

[Phil]

I think it has a lot to do with a lack of motivation in a marketplace that clearly can't or won't support its local Hip-Hop artists in an active way. What could these artists unite around beyond their collective resources? A chance at radio presence? Slots on major tours? Venue connections? Nah. Because we have no chance for radio presence in THIS city until OTHER cities validate us. DC is just not a hotbed of entertainment industry activity, and it has tried. What driven local artists need to do is travel, travel, travel, and perform, perform, perform. The more exposure you get, the greater chance you get of building buzz, attracting potential backers, and most of all, build a fanbase of some kind. Those needs are far too limited in DC. Unless you target the white kids, and even that will yield limited returns.

Collectively or individually, we have to reach out to the world, expand, and get those listeners. DC never catches on until much, much later.

[Heron Gibran]

playa wit a passport

[Liberated Muse Productions]

I don't think many of the artists in the city know how to market themselves well and have haphazard marketing skills that don't focus on the business aspect of expanding celebrity, but, rather, believe that their skills will come across the right person at the right time and that be it.

However, nowadays, the time is ripe for performers from the district to gain income and celebrity if they link up with one another like Sabiya suggests. The Rock the Bells concert tour is just one example of how lucrative and popular a tour is when it offers diversity and appeals to an audience that has more than one "favorite".

When we put the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest, we offered the participating artists the opportunity to sell their music in a marketplace we created. They would receive 100% of their sales. We had meetings with the artists to give pointers on ways to market themselves during the festival. Once the festival took place, out of the 19 acts, maybe three of the acts arrived at least two hours prior to their act and spent time mingling with the festival-goers and getting in some face time. The one who was there for most of the festival but wasn't performing until the end was the one who sold the most CDs and other items he had brought to sell. Most of the acts arrived, performed and rolled out.

This type of mentality is indicative of another trait I am amazed to see. Many DC acts who think they are too good to get to know the people they expect to buy their music. If you have a gig following, you are telling me you don't have one person who is close enough to you to stay behind and sell your music like there is no tomorrow? At bottom level, you need to be hustling your music with a vegeance. You have to make people want to hear you. Singers and rappers are a dime a dozen, what makes you so special?

I am appalled with the arrogance that many performers have and the abundance of more acts with these traits then the want to hustle like a champ. That is the difference between people here and in New York. The only reason I would suggest someone to go to LA or New York is if you need more of a sense of competition to inspire you do what you were supposed to do in the first place.