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Estill and Hampton, SC are located in what is called the Low Country. Both are assessable to Hwy 321 and are near Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA. Mostly predominately African American, they take pride in their culture and music.
Allowing local artist to showcase their music at their Fall Festival. The people are friendly and the towns are far from slow. The party scene is poppin, the only thing is that you would be partying in a “Hole In the Wall" but I can assure you that you will have a blast.
Best Record Shop
Spin Bad in Hampton, SC located at 204 Lee Avenue has an array of new releases, and mix cd's. Many local artists drop by daily to keep up on the local music happenings.
Best Urban Clothing Store
In town need new gear? New Image has laid out some of the hottest gear for their customers. They have designs by Coogi, Izod, Nike and more. Located on Hwy 321 in Estill, SC
Best Hang Out
Need to find someone? Go to BoBops. I know you’re all wondering; what the hell is BoBops? It's an Gas Station and the towns favorite hang out spot. This place has more traffic than Grand Central. Stand there long enough, you're sure to meet and greet everyone in town.
Best Club
“Melody’s” is the hottest ticket on Saturday and Sunday nights. Some weekends you can't get through the door. The music is great and the drinks are cheap. Located on Hwy 321
Dirt Road is an Editorial Feauture in The Niche Carolina Magazine
So You Want To Make Beats? Part II
By, Midi Marc
So let’s backtrack for a second. So far you've learned your equipment,
practiced nonstop to improve your talent level and you've been
hitting the streets to network with artist. I can't really give anyone
a timeframe to expect results, but results are guaranteed. At the end
of the day it all falls on your work ethic. If you've followed the
first three steps and added some of your own ideas and creativity,
your name should be generating a small buzz.
Step 4: Mixtapes and Compilations
At this stage in your career you should know enough artists to either
work with a group of artist exclusively or at least on a regular
basis. I've found that a lot of times the artists that I work with are
diligent in the studio, but after the song is completed, mixed, and
mastered and all, they don't give an honest attempt at pushing the
song. Trust me when I tell you that 9 times out of 10 you can only
expect an artist to be an artist. Remember that your name is attached
to the song as well, so you have every right to push your project. By putting together mixtapes featuring your production and placing them any and everywhere is a great idea. It’s an even better idea to contact mixtape DJs and see if they will get behind your music. I'm in South Carolina, so I do a lot of work with DJ’s in my area.
Step 5: Hit the Streets - Promote Your Product
Promoting and advertising is essentially the same thing. You are
letting people know what you do and how they can get it. If the music
scene in your city is anything like mine you see flyers for showcases
and mixtapes all over the place. If you see the same flyers and
posters enough, your going to eventually remember what's being
advertised. Producers have an advantage over artist though. Think
about it? When a rapper puts out a mixtape the only people that are
more than likely going to support the project is fans. Other rappers
in the area won't necessarily support because they are in competition.
While the people of the Carolina's appreciate the shirt-swangin' movement Petey Pablo and Timberland introduced the game to, the Hip-hop waters are ready for a new southern splash and GDA head honcho, Derty Den, plans to go in cannonball style.
Towering at an enormous 6' 3'' and 320lbs, Derty Den a.k.a. Big Gates was born and proud to be raised in a small town in North Carolina built on rampant drugs, alcohol, and violence. However, after studying other artists to be a great Master of Ceremonies, and wanting to reflect on the "good" in the hood instead of the constant negatives, Den aims to create a sound that needs to be heard at loud volumes only. "I want to show [that] the South is more than [just] screaming, yelling, and stereotypes."
With today's globally lukewarm music climate, the task does seem like bit of a stretch but if anybody is capable of grabbing the people's attention, it would have to be Derty Den. At times, his swagger, energy, and flow can be reminiscent of the late, great Biggie Smalls, as he too is comfortable with size and confident in his abilities. His true-to-life, story-telling style of rap has earned him Best Southern Artist credentials at the Underground Music Awards and continuous coverage in major music publications such as The Source, Ozone, and the largest Hip-hop magazine in France, Rap U.S. His latest street-single "Poppin," is steadily gaining momentum on the Southern home-front, as that track coupled with the instant smash, "Heatwave," was all Don Cannon (Apphiliates) needed to hear before agreeing to do his mixtape. "To have a DJ as strong as Cannon support me is tremendous to say the least," he happily explains with a hint of gratitude.
Although he vows to "do for the Carolina's and Virginia" what Eminem did for the market in Detroit or what NWA did for the West Coast, he knows the road to success may be a bumpy ride all the way through. Musically he is ready for the journey however and plans to put the Carolina's back on the map even if he has
to take the drive alone.
(Via Text to Text)
Shera: B Lord the next issue, I want u 2 do a story about ur Happy Juice.
DJ B Lord: LOL that sounds hot, but I will let u know I can’t give away the ingred’s.
Shera: Ur not right, that’s cool LOL
DJ B Lord: Give me a min.
(15 mins later)
DJ B Lord: Aight...here it go..check ur email
So everybody ALWAYS asking me "B-Lord, what’s in your Happy Juice." And all I can do is smile with red lips and hazy eyes. See, I never tell what’s in my Happy Juice because for one, I like to keep shit exclusive. Like, in order to get my Happy Juice, you got to either have know me personally, come to one of my parties, or be at the studio when I’m there (shout to Snook, Kenny Kane and Sab Young...they get it in with the Happy Juice).
Step 6: The Internet
These days it’s very important to have your name and work floating around the internet. When someone out there wants to know about your
music, even locally, they're not going to ask someone about you, they're going to go straight to Google and type your name in. So where
do you go to promote music online? Any hip-hop website that's worth a damn has a message board. The message boards are great for networking with folks all over the world and of course promoting your beats.Don't just post a link to your MySpace page and say “I got beats!".
Make sure you get involved in the discussions and connect with the members. There are also mixtape websites that get hundreds of
thousands of hits everyday. One of my favorite mixtape websites is www.datpiff.com. After you upload your mixtape and it’s approved, it is
placed on the websites front page for the entire day. A few of the features are a flash player that can be embedded on your MySpace page,
a counter for total downloads and listens, as well as permanent hosting your project on the website. Another great site is
www.soundclick.com. A lot of people can tell you about the days before myspace was popular, producers used to be all over soundclick. You can
upload as many beats as you want. The more you promote your soundclick page, the more listens you get, and the more listens you get, the
higher you rank on the website's charts. Once again, these steps guarantee you positive results. This isn't "the" way to get your name out there, it’s simply a way. I am a witness to each of these steps. Don't just read the article. I want to hear from you...let me know what you think
midimarc@gmail.com
So when The Niche asked me to write a article about Happy Juice and explain what it is and what’s in it, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it or not. And I still ain’t sure. So let’s see how this sh^t turns out.
First of all, Happy Juice started the night of Snook's Mixtape release party at The Coop. I was at the crib getting dressed and was trying to think how I was gonna get my mind right at the party that night. See, I got all kind of ways of gettin' my mind right. Before Happy Juice, I would take shots of Patrone, or mix Grey Goose with Red Bull, or bust down 2-3 bottles of Rose'. But me being the individual thinker that I am...and being the trendsetter than I be...I decided to make my own shit. Something that I could sip all night...something that would get me high...but without all the usual downfalls of liquor...See when I drink regualar liquor (Patrone, Goose, Hennessey) i'll be good for the first couple hours, but then after a while, the shit starts bringin' me down...so I needed something that would get your right, but keep you up all night...ya dig?
So I added my favorite liquor, some Aquafina water, half of a sliced lime, and a "few more things."
For obvious reasons, I cant say tell you the exact ingredients of Happy Juice...I don’t want to start a epidemic...besides, Happy Juice can make you TOO happy...you don’t believe me, just ask Collardgreens...ask Lil Ru...Ask Rob Lo....Ask Snook...It can have you up all night and all day...calling girls that you aint called in months...texting people that you wouldn't dare text unless you was on Happy Juice...it will have you calling your Mom telling you how much you love her and how much she means to you...at 6:30 in the morning...it will have you calling your Uncle
Freddy and asking him if he's sure he don’t need no money for his knee replacement surgery...it will have you outside at 7:00 am washing your Hummer and feeding your Rottweiler....by 8:30 you'll be vacuuming the floor for the second time, and by 11:30 am you'll be watching 300 for the second time in a row...then by 12 noon, just when the Happy Juice syndrome is just starting to fade away, and you cant find shit else to do...all 7 of the females you was calling and texting at 4:30 am will start replying to your texts and calling you back...so NOW, you got to figure out if you going to sleep...or going to post up at the Holiday Inn Express for the rest of the day.....
so Happy Juice is something to indulge in with caution...with care...because believe me, TOO much Happy Juice can result in exhaustion, permanent red stains on your shirt and shoe strings, carpet burns on your knees, and a high ass Trojan Ultra Thin bill from your local Circle K.
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This Article is Powered by Happy Juice
(Via Text to Text)
Shera: LOL that was hot!!!!
DJ B Lord: thanx
Now imagine you pushing a mixtape or compilation produced by you. You end up getting double the support because you can get regular people to check it out as well as rappers. I still haven't met a rapper who isn't looking for beats.
By, DJ B Lord
