INTERVIEW WITH 112'S SLIM

“When God has a plan for you sometimes the devil comes in and tries to mix things up for you. You have to see the bad before you can see the good”

INTRO: So tell me about the new album.

SLIM: Yup, well this is what it is its Slim from 112. Actually I have my own label entitled M3 productions. Its under- neath Asylum/Atlantic so the way that I am doing it is that I assigned myself as an artist to my own label. I am doing it the independent way. Basically the al- bum “Loves Crazy” is suppose to come out in September. I have my single “SoFly” featuring Young Joc and Shawty Lo in the remix. Its doing really well. Its in the top 20 across the board. Its do- ing extremely, extremely well. That's what it is. I didn’t want to do a solo project really but to start up the label faster I knew that I already had a sound/brand and the type of system that they had in Asylum worked for me. I put my stuff just to get things started. I am work- ing on my new artist Die- sel AKA Fresh Money. He also performed with me today. I am getting him groomed. Getting him on the stage so that he can get used to it so I can sit back relax and watch him grow.

INTRO: You didn’t want to do a solo project. Will you be doing another group project or better yet will there be another 112 album?

SLIM: There will definitely be another 112 project. I can say that for sure be- cause I am the CEO.

INTRO: I loved 112! I will admit I didn’t like the way that the last album was promoted. I don’t think that it was promoted properly.

SLIM: Here is the thing the one pro thing about being on Bad Boy. Its a boutique label and when it is a boutique label its not that many artists so that they can concentrate on one particular artist. Puffy is a marketing genius. So of course your gonna see us whether you like it or not. Fortunately for us we made quality music so our fans were there for us thru and thru. Once we left the system and went to another we had to get used to the system. The last album “Pleasure and Pain” went platinum. We have a fan base following.

INTRO: You have a large fan base.

SLIM: Fortunately for us when we drop an album our fans are like “We got you”. We sell the records its just the the hype around it. Some- times we work with the hype and some- times we work without it. We feel that as long as we make great music we can we have the have the outlet to get it out there. We kinda have ourselves 68% out there. That is why I started my own label. Me and Puff are in cahoots right now. He is grooming me to be a young CEO. He hit me up and said that “ I feel you, I am feeling you right. You are making the moves” I reached out and asked him to help me out. We are still boys. He seen me out there working. I didn’t ask him for anything. He came to me and said “I got you”.

INTRO: Tell me a little about Diesel. Who is he?

SLIM: 19 yr old phenomenon. He is probably the best 19 yr old rapper that I never heard. I will go on record with that. You don’t have to baby-sit him. He can really put his words together. He knows how to write songs and put them together. He can work with the younger artists that are out right now. We did a song called “ Freak Bunch” with legends like 8 Ball, MJG, and 36 Mafia. I don’t know many 19 yr old s that can get down like that.

INTRO: He was able to step to the plate.

SLIM: I think I found a diamond in the ruff. I have to give a big shout out to my M3 staff. They really hold me together because I will admit at one particular point in time I was ready to give up. When God has a plan for you sometimes the devil comes in and tries to mix things up for you. You have to see the bad before you can see the good. There were a lot of times where I thought that certain people had my back didn’t. So just going through that over and over again I decided to got to Australia to do some soul searching. I went to Bondi Beach and said to my self what am going to do? I had incredible investments. I was mak- ing a whole lotta money their. However I still had a love for music. I wasn’t sure if I was going to give up music or what. My staff and I were all friends first before we were in business together. That’s why we call ourselves Fam First. They grabbed me and said “listen to yourself. Tell your fans that you don’t want to sing anymore and listen to what they have to say”. So I did it first in Australia. I told the fans that I wasn’t going to sing anymore and they started crying. I had some fans asking me “How could you do that to us”? I had one guy come and ask me that he has been there since the beginning and that my songs helped him through his life why my songs don’t help me through mine. That is why the new album is called “Loves Crazy”. Its like a music type therapy situation. Not only will it help every- body else but it will also help me. You know I said that if this was my last hurrah then I said that I am going to do it my way. Frank Sinatra my way. I said that If I am going to do it then I want to be the CEO. I thank GOD for using his talents through me. special edition 2008

KEYSHIA DIOR INTERVIEW

"I would wear different color lipsticks and my fans wanted to know where they could purchase them"Keyshia Dior is the new “It Girl” that has been featured in the Timbaland and Drake video “Say Something”, the new Gucci “911” video, “Loose My Mind” with Jeezy and Plies, and also the next issue of Show Magazine. As the new “It Girl” it hard to make time for interviews but we got a chance to get one from Keyshia Dior.




INTRO: I understand that you are in the beginning stages of creating your own cosmetics line. What was the inspiration for the line? What do you think will make your line different from current cosmetic lines?


KEYSHIA DIOR: What inspired my lipstick line was my fans. I would wear different color lipsticks and my fans wanted to know where they could purchase them. My line would definitely be different from other lines because I will
have crazy unique color lipsticks.

INTRO: I read that you are also a stylist. Who have you styled and for
what occasions?

KEYSHIA DIOR: I've styled for many people for different occasions.

INTRO: You wear many different hats as a business woman. What lead you to become a model? What other videos have you been in?


KEYSHIA DIOR: People would automatically think I was a model when I wasn't, so I took that and ran with it. I've done Say Something w/ Timbaland feat Drake... 4my town w/ Birdman, Wayne and Drake also Bedrock with Young Money.

INTRO: I read in an interview that you did with 24HourHipHop that you are interested in acting. Are you currently taking any acting classes or
audition?


KEYSHIA DIOR: Yes, I just started acting classes.


INTRO: How did you get the name Keyshia Dior?


KEYSHIA DIOR: Keyshia is actually my real name. The Dior represents my fashion side.


INTRO: Who is your favorite photographer and what photographer would you like to work with?


KEYSHIA DIOR: My favorite photographer is Alain Green. I would love to shoot with Derek Blanks.


INTRO: What video/movie director would you like to work with and why?


KEYSHIA DIOR: I would love to work with Hype Williams because he's very creative and so am I.


FOR MORE INFO:
@KeyshiaDior
www.keyshiadior.com

Secret Kisses Lipsticks vs Keyshia Dior's Ka' Oir Lipstickhttp://www.intromagonline.com/2012/01/keyshia-diorby-aaviana-while-surfing.html

J. HARDEN INTERVIEW BY LOLA SIMS

“165 shows won in a year and a half, 36,000 single giveaways, 4 shows a night until I was hoarse for a month”


Hailing from Atlanta, GA, J. Harden is the original “King of Hood and Blues.” With a sound that is uniquely his own, his new single “Work Dat Pole,” which pays homage to the women who take their craft seriously, is making quite a few waves. Inspired by Marvin Gaye, Teddy P, BB King, R.Kelly, Prince, and a number of other greats his sound is completely different from what is out today. Bringing originality, power, excitement and a one of a kind stage performance, J. Harden has the ability to make a mark.

LOLA SIMS: What makes you different from other new artist that are now coming out?

J HARDEN: I do HOOD & BLUES. I don't have a direction. My direction is whatever comes to heart weather it be motivational, street, inspirational. do what the artist of the past did. I write what I see and just so happen a lot of people can relate to it. For instance work dat pole, Strippers can relate to it and professional pole dances can relate to it. It is art imitates life. Another song is. We fucking , everybody fucks lol. Songs like lifting me up feat. Jadakiss in today’s economy people need to be lifted up spiritually. People don't understand the state of society shit it's about more than the bezzeled out necklaces, 32 inch rims and super models. health care is down, houses are foreclosing left and right and instead of bringing our troops home we are sending thousands of them away. So I understand that someone needs to be lifted up!!

LOLA SIMS: As an independent, what do you find is one of the biggest challenges you face in trying to get your music out there?

J HARDEN: Finding real people ,that do real shit, to help you accomplish a real goal and what I mean is that you have real people out here like Wendy Day, Bigga Rankin, and list of other DJ's and promoters that will see you grinding hard and will jump in the game with you. Then you have these other people who just want suck your pockets dry and won't give a dam if you make it or not.

LOLA SIMS: You had some early success with your 1st single. How do you feel you were able to make such a great first impression without being on radio?

J HARDEN: 165 shows won in a year and a half, 36000 single giveaways, 4 shows a night until I was hoarse for a month, performing in front of 1000 people, 100 people, performing in front of just chairs, loading up my pole by myself on cold winter nights and searching hot summer days riding from town to town trying to prove myself, having pole dancers come and go, having business partners stop believing and parachute out of what they thought was a burning plane and last but not least believing in J Harden and hoping that god would make a way and he did. "Work Dat Pole" has been making money for me and that shit feels awesome.

LOLA SIMS: How do you stay consistent in your genre?

JA HARDEN: Stay grinding and sticking to my single and sound no matter what " WORK DAT POLE". and " THE KING OF HOOD & BLUES!

LOLA SIMS: What are you working on now and when can fans expect to hear more from you?

J HARDEN: I'm Working on taking Work dat pole to radio and letting the masses here it and feel this Hood & Blues. The street album is coming The King Of Hood & Blues!!!

@lolasims

The Underground Railroad:Hip-Hop’s express to escape the Minstrel Show PART 1

“Hip-hop, as a culture, was a masterpiece painted by folks with no art supplies, no art training, and whose arts funding had been cutoff.”


African Americans have always been faced with negative stereotypes in the United States. During the U.S. colonial period, African American slaves used the Underground Railroad as a means to es- cape slavery. The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, but a system of routes and checkpoints designed to help slaves reach free states. Along with the Underground Railroad, white people showed what they really thought of Afri- can Americans through min- strel shows. Minstrel shows made fun of African Ameri- cans and displayed them as lazy, buffoonish, cheerful, ignorant, gullible and musi- cal. The Underground Rail- road and minstrel shows were major issues through- out the 19th century. Al- though no longer utilized, there are traces of both that exist in today’s music industry.

Today, hip-hop is one of the most popular forms of music throughout the world. What originally started as a cul- tural movement in the 1970s has become a million dollar industry. Hip-hop was used as a musical way for African-Amer- icans to speak about things that were hap- pening in their lives. Over time hip-hop has divided into two distinct sub genres, commercial rap and underground hip- hop.

A hip-hop artist named Derek Jennings wrote an article about hip-hop in the booklet of Little Brother’s 2005 The Min-strel Show album. In the article he gave a timeless definition of hip-hop. Jennings wrote, “I know what it started out as was ‘party music.’ But it was also more than that. It was some- thing created by marginalized people living in marginalized conditions. Hip-hop, as a culture, was a master- piece painted by folks with no art supplies, no art training, and whose arts funding had been cutoff.”

Commercial rap is hip- hop music made strictly for the radio by very wealthy record compa- nies. The music is typi- cally hollow in regards of meaningful messages for African-Americans. Underground hip-hop is hip- hop music that is not backed by wealthy record companies and not made for the radio. The music usually consists of hip-hop artists who speak about more adult issues such as politics, church, reduc- ing gun violence and raising a family. I believe it is morally wrong for record companies to promote commercial rap over underground hip-hop because 1) commercial rap is the modern version of a minstrel show, 2) the issues spo- ken about in underground hip-hop need to be heard, and 3) the growth of underground hip-hop will show that African Americans are more than thugs, gangsters, pimps and hoes. Commercial rap is the modern day version of a minstrel show. The common themes of pimping, gangsterism, bling and slang are typically found in every song. Every artist claims to be a pimp or thug. Whether they are in color- ful suits with long hair, wife-beaters and sagging pants, or oversized shirts with doo-rags, they are displayed as a typical black male. They come off as male pri- ma-donnas and are shown in videos as being extremely narcissistic and very chauvinistic. These “pimps” are loaded with jewelry from head to toe. Their necks are covered with large pieces of jewelry that hang to their waist. If the man is not in a suit, his pants start at his knees and end at his ankles capped off by the newest pair of tennis shoes or Timberlands. On top of his appearance, the rapper stresses how easily he will kill or stomp somebody into the ground. They are the standard characters in com- mercial rap.

The second, and maybe the more important, character is the “Ho.” She is in every single rap video there is wear- ing almost nothing. The Ho always makes sexual gestures with her lips. She dances seductively and is always seen with her pimp or thug. The Ho is always considered to be a conniving “bitch” who is very promiscuous and the subject of verbal and physical abuse. She is degraded to the point where she is noth- ing but eye candy on her man’s arm that can easily be replaced.

These characters are the most preva- lent in commercial rap and looked at as the typical African-American. It is this collection of images that the music in- dustry pushes over underground artist who don’t fit that mold. The artists that the industry pushes justify it by saying they are making music for the people.

50 Cent, a rap artist best known for being shot nine times, justified the con- tent of his music over an underground artist in Spin magazine. He stated, “In the music business, you do what makes sense for music and business. So if the artist makes a record they know ain't gonna sell, then why do they allow the company to spend money marketing it?” When the music industry has an artist justifying the violent degrading nature of his music because of record sales, it only makes the industry right. It allows the industry to continue making deci- sions they believe are accurate about black people. The artist is selling mil- lions of records and he fits into the mold that works. The industry executives know that the artist is not a direct repre- sentation of all black people, but it is their representation. They are in control of the music that comes out and those images are the ones they push. It is a modern form of minstrelsy where whites are once again mocking African Ameri- cans. The minstrelsy of commercial rap is the main reason why the issues spoken about in underground hip-hop need to be heard.

“To be blunt, there are many avenues available for black folks wishing to live fulfilling lives in this country, but still precious few (*cough* rap and sports) that get the Good House Negro Keeping seal of approval from the mass media,” Jennings continued. “And boy it seems like the road to riches in the music biz is much easier for those whose subject matter mostly includes pimping, selling crack, strip clubs, and materialism. Sure, all those things exist, but is that ALL there is to talk about? ALL there is to us?”