Artist Info
KENDRICK LAMAR
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper. He hails from Compton, California, currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath, and Interscope. Lamar is a member of hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, along with fellow West Coast rappers and label mates Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. He first gained major attention after the release of his fourth mixtape, Overly Dedicated, in 2010. In 2011 he released his first independent album to critical acclaim, Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes and instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year. Early in his career, before releasing his major label debut, Lamar amassed a large Internet following, and had already worked with Dr. Dre, Game, Drake, Young Jeezy, Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, E-40, Warren G, Bun B, Tech N9ne and Lil Wayne among other popular artists. His major label debut studio album good kid, m.A.A.d city, was released October 22, 2012 to universal acclaim, going gold.
“good kid, m.A.A.d city” was met with critical acclaim and debuted at number two, selling 242,122 copies in its first week. The album has sold 693,000 copies as of February 2013 and has been certified Gold by the RIAA. HipHop DX named Lamar Emcee of the Year for their 2012 Year End Awards. On January 26, 2013, Lamar performed “Swimming Pools (Drank)” and “Poetic Justice” on Saturday Night Live. He also appeared alongside host Adam Levine and The Lonely Island on an SNL Digital Short.
STEVE AOKI
Steve Aoki, the DJ/Producer, among many traits also founded his own label, Dim Mak Records, in 1996. The label has released music by other electro house artists such as Datsik, Infected Mushroom, Dada Life, Zeds Dead, his own collaboration with Tiesto, MSTRKRFT, The Bloody Beetroots, Felix Cartal and Mustard Pimp, as well as by Bloc Party, Battles, The Kills, The Gossip, Klaxons, Scanners, Whitey, and Mystery Jets to name a few. The label has released over 250 records so far.
Aoki’s debut mix album, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles was released in January 2008. He also had an Essential Mix that aired on BBC Radio 1 on August 2, 2008.
Aoki’s latest solo album, “Wonderland” was released January 2012 and features guest vocalists and musicians LMFAO, Kid Cudi, Travis Barker, Will.I.AM aka Zuper Blahq, Wynter Gordon, Rivers Cuomo, Lil Jon, Chiddy Bang, Lovefoxxx of CSS, Big John former guitarist of the punk band The Exploited, and others.
Aoki has also been busy in the studio collaborating with other fellow producer friends and thus far has released singles with The Bloody Beetroots, Armand Van Helden of Duck Sauce, Afrojack, Laidback Luke, Tai, Sidney Samson, Tiesto. In his interviews, Twitter feed or from his YouTube channel, he has shown teasers or has discussed doing future collaborations with Diplo, Knife Party, Datsik, Chris Lake, Rune, Iggy Azalea, Angger Dimas, and Dirtyphonics.
He has remixed many artists and bands, including Jackson 5, Drake, Kanye West, Eminem, Lil Wayne, Mike Posner, Girls Generation, All American Rejects, Refused, The Killers, Bassnectar, Lenny Kravitz, Bloc Party, Snoop Dogg, Robin Thicke, S.P.A., Kid Cudi, Chester French and Peaches.
Through relentless touring he gained huge support from colleges. Performing an average of 250 shows a year, he has recently started touring with production via bus tours like the spring 2012 Deadmeat Tour he headlined over 55 cities in 60 dates across the United States and Canada.
In March 2010 Aoki released “I’m In The House”, a collaboration with Zuper Blahq—alter-ego of The Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. The song charted at #29 in the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release.
In May 2006, Aoki became a board member for MC5 bassist Michael Davis’ Music Is Revolution Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides music education support within public schools
BAD RABBITS
The genre-smashing musical force known as Bad Rabbits will fully unleash their post-R&B futuristic funk-punk assault in the form of their anticipated debut album American Love on May 14, 2013. It’s sexy, smooth and soulful, fusing together classic ’90’s R&B, post-rock, funk, punk and metal influences to create a futuristic new jack swing. Since the release of their buzzed-about Stick Up Kids EP in 2009, Bad Rabbits have been making a name for themselves as one of the most compelling and eclectic groups to emerge on the music scene. They quickly garnered a loyal following, especially in their hometown of Boston, MA. Over the past four years, the quintet – Fredua “Dua” Boakye [vocals], Sheel Davé [drums], Salim Akram [guitar], Graham Masser [bass], and Santiago Araujo [guitar] – has honed a sound that can be described as some kind of sonic Pulp Fiction. With a high-octane live show that encompasses flashes of old-school synchronized dance moves and bone-rattling hardcore musical antics, it is no surprise that the band has opened for the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Passion Pit, Deftones, Mos Def, Travie McCoy, GlassJaw, Bad Brains, Foxy Shazam and played the Vans Warped Tour. They also recently shared the stage with John Legend, Common and T-Pain at OurTime.org’s Inaugural Youth Ball during the 2013 Presidential Inauguration Weekend. The release of their debut album American Love is not only a presentation of their expansive musical palette but also of their cultural diversity. Sheel, Dua, and Santiago are all first-generation Americans. Their parents originally hail from India, Liberia and Ghana, and Italy and Argentina respectively. The cultural melting pot of the band, representative of America’s vast diversity, served as the inspiration behind the album title – a nod to the band’s diverse backgrounds and their shared love for a wide variety of musical styles.
WATCH THE DUCK
Longtime friends Eddie Smith III, Jesse Rankins and Jonathan Wells were at a crossroads. It was 2010 and the Alabama natives were accomplished DJs, producers and musicians living in Houston. Yes, they were making a comfortable living making music, but something was lacking.
Eddie, Jesse and Jonathan had a phrase that had long before become a mantra of sorts: WatchTheDuck. “Everybody sees the duck traveling smoothly on top of the water,” Eddie says. “But nobody sees it kicking hard as hell under it, struggling to stay afloat. We would always say ‘WatchTheDuck’ whenever we were in certain industry scenarios, when everyone’s your friend and is trying to be of importance. We say it to each other to kind of lighten each other’s mood.”
Embracing WatchTheDuck as both a mantra and a lifestyle, the three unplugged from the music industry scene and adopted a new mindset. They also began creating music that reflected their disparate musical influences: rap, soul, electronic, dance, trap, booty, dubstep. The results – with Jesse focusing on vocals, Eddie bass and Jonathan keyboard – were revolutionary.
FLY UNION
Fly.Union is comprised of three artists whose individual personalities and talent blend to create the music causing fans to follow their every move. Meet iYe, JaySwifa and Jerreau the trio that make up Fly.Union and The Greater Than Club.
Add the talent of emcees/producers iYe and JaySwifa (also known as Mnkeywrench) along with Jerreau and you get Fly.Union. Jerreau brings a rhyming skill and wordplay that further separates him and Fly.Union from the rest. A strong, witty delivery allows their lyrics to remain “catchy” to the average listener while creating a thought-provoking response from your most avid hip-hop fans.
HUEY MACK
Joey Michael a.k.a. Huey Mack is a hip-hop artist from Morgantown, West Virginia. Huey is a West Virginia undergrad and is a die hard Mountaineer. His music focuses on the fun outgoing college life that some people only get to dream about. His beats are diverse and have fast and catchy lyrics to go with them. Huey is part of The RLES society which also includes artists: Scolla, Devin Miles, Jo Christo, K-Bunz, G.Pitts, Roscoe Wiki, Lambo GotEm, and Chechi Sarai. Huey’s last mix-tape “Freshman 15” was downloaded over 30,000 times. Huey has been releasing a lot of new music lately and just announced that his first album, A Boy Named Hue, will be dropping April 23rd!
FIVE AND A DIME
5 & A Dime is a DJ and Producer from Philadelphia. With his unique blend of EDM and Top 40 sounds, he has received serious recognition from major music publications such as Elektro Magazine, ThisSongIsSick.com, BarstoolSports.com, GoodMusicAllDay.com, FreshNewTracks.com and many more. Similarly 5 & A Dime’s singles have topped the charts of Hype Machine and Next Big Sound. Due to his online popularity, over the past year and a half he has performed over 75 times in 26 states and 2 countries with his 16 foot by 6 foot LED Curtain and #BASSMOB hypemen. Be on the lookout for the #BASSMOB Tour to hit your city soon!
FOREST AND THE EVERGREENS
Many bands claim diverse inspiration; Forest & the Evergreens backs up such boasts. Every member of the “young funk” combo contributes songwriting, channeling such disparate spirits as soul man James Brown and cafe diva Leslie Feist. What emerges is not radical so much as slightly askew — art-damaged O.A.R., if you can believe it. It’s eclectic and approachable, a series of natural yet unforeseen evolutions.
BROOKLYN EARICK
At 15 years old, Brooklyn Earick, a kid from Bellefontaine, Ohio, assembled his first set of turntables and dropped the needle on a piece of vinyl. Despite being from such a small town, where DJ’s were simply unheard of, Brooklyn built his vinyl collection and honed his skills by traveling to the “big city.” He rocked his first live set at a rave before he was old enough to drive! He eventually joined the national club circuit and signed his first record deal in 2009. Brooklyn found himself spinning at some of the hottest clubs from New York to L.A., and events such as the Sundance Film Festival and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
SANTINO CORLEON
Santino Corleon is very active in the music scene. In his hip hop career he has opened for Method Man and Redman, J.Cole, Mac Miller, Big Sean, Machine Gun Kelly, Gucci Mane just to name a few. Santino has been involved with some major music festivals in Ohio. Santino has been appart of one of the biggest collage parties in the nation, The Number Fest. Starting at 7Fest in 2010, each year after that he was on stage infront of over ten thousand students! Another festival is held in the heart of Cincinnati, “SummerSLAM”, Santino performed along with Machine Gun Kelly and the next year with Most Dope DJ Clockwork.
Last year Santino Corleon released “The Hangover” that was hosted by DJ E-V and was presented by LeakJones.com, TheOneMic.com, and Live Mixtapes. The Hangover has thirteen tracks with only three features and all original production. Along with the thirteen audio tracks Santino released seven music videos.
Since “The Hangover” drop, Santino Corleon has released a couple videos while working on “Keep The Change”, his next project. One video he dropped titled “Tats” has gotten over ten thousand views. The other video is a more serious song talking about the beginning of Santino’s rap career that is called “Birth of Corleon part 1″.
Corleon is currently prepping for the “Keep The Change” release that does not have a set date yet. The thirteen track project will be released to the public around March or April.
DJ LOCO
Representing Ohio University, undergrad student Logan Cassidy (aka DJ LoCo) was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, but has established himself in Athens. Logan began DJing just over a year ago spinning at various venues around Athens, Cincinnati, and Columbus. His popularity comes mainly from his ability to mix and twist a variety of genres, specializing in EDM.
LoCo quickly became a sensation throughout Athens opening up for local artist Bailee Moore, dubstep duo No Limits, and national phenomenon, 3LAU, who was the headliner at last year’s 10Fest. Though he is new on the scene, his rapid growth in the music community did not happen on accident; but has been a result of his high-energy sets that quickly get a crowd to their peak. The way he is identified is not just a DJ, but also an entertainer who fires up the crowd and brings the energy.
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