Ladies and Gentlemen! It’s been more

than a year and GMoz is still here, bigger,

better and forging forward with our new

website and lots more in the pipeline!

Sure, we had a few bumps along the way

and we made some mistakes however we

learned from them and have grown.

This means every quarter, you can expect

quality work from us as we continue to

bring the best and most comprehensive

coverage, not only the hip hop scene, but

the entire underground movement in Trin-

idad & Tobago and beyond!

After all, we at GMoz are Hip Hop, and as

such, we will be expanding our range to

include some of the talent from around

the region! That’s right, we growin' again!

Wanna’ be a cover artist? Well that de-

pends entirely on you as an artiste… you

put in the work and reap the benefits, that

doesn’t mean you have to a super huge

mega star, it just means you gotta’ put the

work in for what you want! I think that

hold true for every publication.

We promise that we will ALWAYS promote

our local artistes, create a forum to voice

the concerns of the industry, be the link

between artistes and will always be ethical

and fair!

Thank you for supporting us! We hope you

have as much fun reading as we had

writing!

Love and Blessings, Joy Downer Cameron. - Editor Here at GMoz Productions Ltd, we strive to produce a good, well bal-

anced and quality publication. We , however, are still only human and we

sometimes make mistakes. we encourage you to email us at

gmoz.productions@yahoo.com if you find any such errors.

Editor: Joy Downer Cameron

Asst Editor: Travys Artyst

Photography: Aaron “Tiny” Richards

Layout & Design: Travys Artyst, Dominic Thomas

Team: Ayodelle Cuffy, Yolanda Thomas, Joy Downer Cameron, Travys Artyst,

Dominic Thomas, Aaron Richards, Ashley Peterson, Highway Records

Special Thanks ; Anika Huggins, Chanelle “Da Virgo” Seymour, Akim Thomas,

Ezra Doyle, Xplicit Ent, Ronald George

p3 - Wha iz de latest?

p4 - Judah Maccabee

p5 - lil bling

p6 - Batle of the sexes

p7 - Unstable d' Gift

p8 - Focused Figures

p9 - Focused Figures + mic technique

p10- Ladymore, the soul of hip hop

p11- Kane past to present

p12- Studio profiles Studio12 & Synod Ent.

p13- 5 questions with Gazi Gates

p14- Feature Story M.I.H

p15- Feature Story

p16– Wassi j

p17– Fashion— That Synister swag

p18– Deerty Boy Fresh + sss update

p19- Immortal Vybez Dj PUN

p20- Caribbean Connection Lil Killah

p21- Photo spread Agenda video Launch

p22- Photo spread Agenda video Launch

p23- Riatt - What's the Industry

p24- Highway Records

p25- Highway Records

p26- Hard Liquor

p27- Technology - Website vs. Social site

p28- StormWatch

p29- Make Money Homz

p30- From the Underground Tahir Roachford

p31- Tobago's Finest

p32- L.I.V

p33- Caribbean Connection Sepul2ra

TAB

LE OF C

ON

TEN

TS

Da Face will released his 5th mixtape

in September 2011! “Keep it Trini 2”

scheduled for a September, featuring collaborations

with Make It Hapn, Judah Maccabee and Frostblaze and

the artwork of Simon Fortune.

He performed at numerous venues within the last year & he reveals

that while Keep it Trini Pt.1 boasts only 3 local beats, Keep It Trini 2 will be

100% locally produced by DLL, Sean Hinds, Simon Fortune and many oth-

ers . Also on the album will be some family connections that prove music is

in his blood. Claudius , Da Face’s brother is credited with production of two

tracks and another brother Daniel lends his vocals on the track Nice In The

City.

Da Face promises videos for Nice In The City and Renegade 2.1 ft. St. Ans,

Frostblaze and Bongah Chops coming soon. Look out for a possible album

collabo from Da Face & Scoon in 2012 and later this year, the Christmas

release of Keep It Trini 3 with maybe a lil parang flava? Stay tuned…

You know him from the hit single Your Love and that unforgettable collaboration with Sovereignty’s Synister on the track Deuces earlier this year. After taking a break to re-analyze his musical direction, Rondelle is back in studio again, this time releasing the tracks Fallen and It’s A Thing as he illustrates his prowess as an artiste and growth as an individual.

With production by Flipo out of D6 and Chenko Productions, the track Fallen features the chords of guitarist Keron Charles who has also done work with Sherwin Winchester. While Fallen is edgier than Rondelle’s usual style, it’s been described as ‘raw’ ‘real’ and ‘emotional’ and for the artiste is close to his heart, based on a very real experience that will no doubt be relatable.

Like Ying, Rondelle switches gears and takes on a socially conscious stride with the pre-viously written It’s A Thing produced by Damion Preston of Supreme Studios and featur-ing New York’s jazz guitarist Marvin Dolly. The relevance of It’s A Thing to the current SoE is striking as it voices the cries of the people and “that feeling of frustration and not being able to do anything where we just throw our hands up in the air.”

Clearly he’s not sticking. Several potential collabs and performances in Boston and New York indicate that Rondelle is on a mission to take his music to the world and with up-coming videos for both singles and 24 hour studio grinds in the books, Rondelle is an artiste you should definitely look out for!

Link him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Rondelle to keep updated and to check out the new material!

“I want to do this but I want to bring it with a message” those are the words of the hip hop poet, Judah Maccabee, following the release of his debut mixtape in January 2011, Truth Not Entertainment, which features collaborations with St. Ans, Frost Blaze, Make It Hapn, Da Face, Roger Garrison and Bongahchops. Consisting of 15 tracks, Judah has sold out almost all 150 copies of the album produced.

Crediting his inspiration to legends Tupac, Wu Tang and TnT’s own Make It Hapn, Judah recalls listening to an early recording which he used an American accent “After listening to the song I was like ‘that’s not me!’ You should talk in truth, can’t put on no persona.”

And it’s not an easy road. “When somebody singing enter-taining songs it’s just a beat, yuh put two or three lines to-gether but when you doing what we doing you have to read books. You spend months reading a book and what you learn in the book you summarize. That makes it harder for us, people who doing truth music. You have to get this book and study it, we have to learn so that it’s facts that we’re talking…this is gonna be immortal. You can’t put a song on record and then somebody says “You see that shit Judah talking, it’s not true you know” because they check it up. Whatever you read you have to check and double check to make sure it’s fact. You have a lot of work to put in before it’s actually ready.”

So why Truth Not Entertainment? “I want people to ask ‘why’ and to start asking questions. Why we are the way we are? What made us who we are now? I want people to ask these questions. Then my music will kind of halfway accom-plish what it’s supposed to accomplish.”

Performing recently in Da Lover and Da Revolutionary alongside Highway Records’ John John and a slew of talent-ed artistes, the audience felt the depth of his music from the moment he hit the stage. His presence and the pro-foundness of his words was like having a one-on-one with your conscience. Impressively, the 27 year old St. Joseph native handled the job like he’d been rocking the mic for years and you’d never guess that he’s only been rapping professionally as of 2010 after being inspired by the Lion’s Den crew!

“Hardly anybody wanna hear truth but even though you have this small audience you’ll always be appreciated for what you do, they’re understanding what you do.” Copies of TNE can be collected at Highway Records in Curepe or pur-chased from Judah himself at 366-0869 for only $20.00. For bookings or info. link him at judahmaccabee01@gmail.com or on Facebook at Judah Maccabee.

“We all want to be popular; we want to be in the limelight. We want to experience having fans, real fans and we want to make money.” No one can deny that making it as a hip hop artiste in Trinidad and Tobago, or perhaps anywhere in the Caribbean, is a challenging, if not impossible task. For many artistes the move to adapt to dancehall or Soca has be-come a necessary evolution. For artiste Lil Bling of the popular group Millionaire Family, it was not a difficult transition to make. How-ever he still holds a passion for hip hop, citing KRS-1 and Trini’s Firestar as some of his musi-cal influences.

“I ended up branching off into dancehall and I ended up liking it because when you’re around Orlando Octave, Kerry John & Makamillion you tend to like that vibes”, Bling says. The San Fernando native first got involved in music three years ago under the tutelage of rapper Firestar, beginning a journey that would even-tually bring him to the some of the biggest audiences in the Caribbean after a chance meeting with Makamillion who, upon recogniz-ing Bling’s talents, invited him to perform with the Millionaire Family.

“Working with the Millionaire Family is great. It was fantastic performing alongside Sizzla and Assassin!” The group, who do a lot of work on riddims, is currently doing work with Millbeatz on the Bad Mind and Haters riddim which will feature Jah Mel, Bling and Makamillion. And for Carnival 2k12 the group is preparing to make a big impact. And for Bling, solo projects coming up include the single I Know which was produced by Yung Seechie out of the Cloud 9 studio.

But while Bling has shown great potential in the music production arena, he’s decided to focus his energies on perfecting his craft as an artiste. “Persistence is the key. You always have to remain focused because if you lose focus you might lose out on opportunities. Give it your all, it will pay off sooner or later and always expect to get back what you put out.”

What Men Want As Opposed To What They Say They Want… It’s like being in Subway all over again. The line long

and niggas can’t seem to make up their mind what they want. Is it because women are made too readily available?

That women are too easy? Even some men who are considered the biggest guntas have nuff chicks at their beck and

call while we women scrunting to find a good man! And singers like Vybz Kartel are no help with their infidelity-and-

multi-woman-ism-promoting songs.

Men claim to want a woman who is faithful but 90% of men given the chance would cheat! Men ogle women in

short, tight or revealing clothing but beyond sex want nothing to do with them! Men like Popcaan want to be ‘the

only man she wants’ but won’t put a ring on her finger! Really, men are full of contradictions. And they have a dis-

gusting habit of blaming their hapless lower regions but in this jungle of life, what sets us apart from animals is the

ability to rationalize and make informed decisions as opposed to being guided by simplistic instincts for gratification.

Men clearly have not evolved to use the whole 10% of their brains as yet. While women are not always the most

decisive of creatures (yes we bargain hunt for shoes!) at the end of the day, most women have ideals intact. We

know what we want in a man and when we find him, we vow to never let him go. So much so that we would give

our last dollar if he needed it, fight another chick for that dude and go to any lengths to make sure he is happy and

taken care of. The problem comes with reciprocation, the scale becoming imbalanced. Is it asking too much to want

a man who is good looking, financially stable, respectful, trustworthy and knows how to handle his scene?

MEN ARE DOGS! That’s the chant of women everywhere, but ask a girl what she wants in

a man and you likely to hear either a man with real money who could “handle she”, or a

man who toting a “Gorgan Wood”. The few that say they want a good and honest man

eventually find out how bored they are, and seek... no...crave the excitement of a “bad

man”. So they start to go in search of a covert way of getting that exciting attention that

the honest and faithful man she claims she wanted not giving her! And they very suc-

cessful at it too! Just think guys… if Shameer Moore or Morris Chestnut (think the male

version of Gabrielle Union or Alicia Keys) were to waltz in, she gone! Reality check, this is

a Caribbean country, we have exotic men here too! Let her loose in a carnival fete and

she wining on ANYTHING! It only takes one burn to spoil a good man! When he realize

the type a man he get horn with, guess what going to happen? So perhaps, men are

dogs, but it takes a BITCH to make them!

Well Unstable d’Gift is at it again, out to prove why they’re rated as one of the top dance crews in TnT!

From 27th July-1st August 2011, UDG represent-ed Trinidad and Tobago at the World Hip Hop Championships held in Las Vegas, Nevada US and danced their hearts out before a global au-dience broadcast in over 60 different countries!

Repping TnT for the first time at the Champion-ships were UDG members Stephan Sterling, Tak-yha Springer, Adande Woodsley, Matthew Mc Clean, Curt Alexander and Kromatiq’s Shandelle Loregnard. Up against stiff competition, the group placed 40th against some 60 plus coun-tries, but the experience was a valuable one that none of the members will ever forget!

“We learned as a team that dance in Trinidad is not far off at all compared to dance in other countries. For me personally it was a huge learn-ing experience in leadership, dealing with cer-tain experiences and being able to deliver. We kept a strong positive mind and gave it 110% every time.” Says Curt Alexander, the group leader.

Competing against countries such as the Phil-lipines, the Netherlands, South Africa, Canada, Brazil and the Bahamas they were most im-pressed by New Zealand’s delegates who had a strong support system at the competition and offered support to other crews as well.

Now inspired to work even harder, the group has returned to TnT and back to grind with up-coming shows and new dance classes on the horizon and Curt extends the group’s gratitude “Thank you to all the people who supported us, Blackout, Eclectik and the North West Laventille Cultural Movement especially.”

For more updates check out Unstable D’Gift Dance Co. on Facebook or link them at unsta-ble.dgift@gmail.com and (1-868) 383-1412.

GM: What does Focused Figures Repre-sent? Tell us a bit about your team and your goals

FF: We represent anybody out there getting money and doing it the smart way! Remaining focused on they figures! Focus is a key part to success, they say prepara-tion + opportunity = success therefore if we prepare well and focused on what we want the opportunity will present itself and boom here comes the money!

Focused Figures is a family and we are all equal partners and we all have a role to play and my name is Amazn (the name speaks for itself) and my role is mar-keting, promotions, and producing and getting the music out! The other are artist and all three are extremely talented! First we have Ka$h a.k.a. Money Meech he also plays Streetball but his music is like fun. bounce, and street all in one! His mixtape is coming soon its called Street Ballin’ and its going to be a problem and he has a song on there with Bliss called "Go hard" He will give you the reality of the streets and the club hits that we all love, with a sprinkle of hits for the ladies! Next we have Free and free is the most lyrical he has the swag of the 90's.....his best music is reflecting the pain from the streets. He has an awesome voice and merged to-gether with soulful beats its a hit every time! His mixtape is called Son of a Hus-tler....in these times and its really soulful and melodic and his lyrical content is CRA-ZY on it! Last but not least TY a.k.a. Ms. Incredible she is the female of the camp! She is a voice for all the ladies out there who are independent and making they own money...yet she is extremely talented of reflecting the pain, joy, and a range of emotions that women go through she can give you a get money song and in the same breathe teach you how to be a lady and empower women. She already a mix-tape out with this awesome Rn’B artist name Ms. Fields called " A League of their Own" and its nothing but an Anthem for the Ladies and they have a video on youtube called "Say Yeah" club banger

and so does Free and Ka$h called "F@cked Up" they all have twitter and facebook you can hear all of their music through there!

GM. How easy is it to balance your basket-ball career alongside your music career?

FF: Actually its pretty easy because I play streetball therefore I can relate to the streets more than an NBA player, and hip hop is a part of streetball and somewhat the heartbeat of streetball! So when im traveling I get a chance to meet inspiring artist like Chromatics and lil saint from Trinidad, Bongani Fassie from South Afri-ca ,Bliss from Guyana and DJ Outkast in St Maarten and many more. It gives me an opportunity to do both!

GM: Basketball and Hip Hop - some say it's the perfect fit. What are some of the sim-ilarities (or do you think that some other genre is a better fit)

FF: Music fits everything well because it speaks directly to your soul, but as far as hip hop basketball are concerned I believe its a perfect because that's what I grew up on! but it depends on the players and his likes or dislikes!! Similarities in streetball and hip hop are uncanny because we are painting the same picture in the different art forms!! We are putting our swag in the game and painting a pic of what the streets wanna’ see the same way the hip hop artist do with words and beats we just do it with a basketball. So basically hip hop and streetball go hand and hand like Peanut butter and jelly!

GM: How was your experience in Trini-dad? (The games, the music, the ladies, etc.)

FF: I can say my experience in Trinidad was just like my name! Amazn! I had a great time ....I love the food, I LOVE mu-sic!! I'm a huge fan of Caribbean music and highway records! we went to the stu-dio with chromatic and laid down a track when was there! Great times! The ladies are absolutely gorgeous! although I was only with one and she is all I want.......she keeps me in a blissful mind state when I'm with her ;)

GM: Is there a future for Basketball in Trinidad - what did you think of the talent level?

FF: its a future everywhere for basketball as long as the love for the game is there! Trinidad had some incredible athletes and as long as they work hard and keep the love I know I will see a team representing T&T in the Olympics!!

GM: What are your views on the state of Hip Hop in T&T?

FF: The state of hip hop in T & T was good from what I seen! The artist I met are NICE! and they work hard! Jay - Z said the reason he is where he is today came from hard work and god given talent! There-fore hard always beats talent when talent fails to work hard but if you have both that's a recipe for greatness! They have both and if they keep grinding I have no doubt that they will be in the Grammy's soon!

GM: Some say that you are best at con-trolling the game with your vision, drib-bles and ability to keep defenders honest with your jump shot. You came to Trini-dad and dunked on a guy! What's that about? Was that your highlight of the year

FF: Thanks for the compliments I really appreciate the love on my game, and speaking on the dunk I just felt good that day and got past the defender and said y not? and it was by far the highlight of the year for me!! I work hard at basketball and stay in the gym and that was product of all my hard work! Shout out to TY she is my trainer and she kept me in the gym! BTW everybody in focused figures are athletes, Free played football me and Ka$h play basketball and TY is a trainer and hoops too!

Contact Twitter: @Kashdakilla, @500_free, @SayWhatUptoTyTy

Contact Facebook: Alonzo Miles (amazn),

Ryan freeman, Ty Thompson,

A lot of artists are very versed when it comes to spitting lyrics, and in the studio, they are the hardest, but when it comes to stage performances… they come up short. It’s not because they don’t dance, let’s face it, most hip hop artistes don’t. The live shows don’t suffer because the audio equip-ment was poor… it’s because the artist sounds muffled. Like they are sing-ing with a mouth full of cotton and spit and the reason is poor mic tech-nique. Luckily, there are some very simple methods to avoid this.

1. DO NOT CUP THE MICROPHONE! – Yes it looks cool, and a lot of “big acts” do it, but it reduces the range of the mic and increases the chance of feedback. The proper method is to hold the shaft of the mic, al-lowing it to capture and reproduce a healthy range.

2. DO NOT DROP THE MIC BELOW WAIST LEVEL! – When the mic gets too close to the monitor speaker, it causes feedback, and that is never sexy on stage. The best way to avoid this comfortably is to keep your elbow at a 90 degree angle from your body when resting.

3. WATCH THE CORD! – Unfortunately, not all events will afford you a cordless, so in the event of this, it is wise to hold a section of the cord in your free hand to keep a tag on its position, and allow free movement.

4. WATCH YOUR VOLUME AND DISTANCE! – Shouting into a mic is a huge NO! The membrane inside of your mic is very sensitive so if you need to belt a big note, keep the mic at a reasonable distance from your mouth, relative to your volume. Closer is good for low volumes and intimate words, further for the big notes.

5. WORK WITH YOUR SOUND TECH! – Not all of us are able to do a sound check before a show, so it is always a good idea to know where your sound tech is an work a few quick and inconspicuous signals with them so that you can get the levels you are comfortable with without killing your performance!

There are much more things you can do to

improve your mic technique, but these five

will vastly improve your live performances so

do the research and rip them up!

The jazzy, hip hop and soulful style that she produces is unlike anything you will ever hear. The smooth baselines and thumping percussions meld seamlessly with her voice and makes her a dream to listen to. She is lAdymore.

"I’m not signed; I like to go where the music is"

The Tobago born singer started singing in the halls of the church, where she developed her unique abilities but surprisingly, never really pushed into singing outside of that arena partially for a fear of encountering a rowdy crowd, who are known for stoning stages with objects and cussing.

Her musical desire would see her overcome this with her first time in a recording studio under Gareth and Farmer (R.I.P), who had previously produced for such stars as Machel Montano etc. J-smoke of Cloud IX took her to Highway Records, where she purchased a beat produced by Beebo who asked her to do back-up on a track he had produced and the two have forged a rela-tionship that lasts till today. Her 2009 mixtape “Preview”, rec-orded at Cloud IX studios, was a heavily hip hop based, soulful, rich experience, featuring production by Daniel Reyes aka Ninja Bling "Foolish" .

This led to her first radio play when Later that year, Tim Starr aired one of her songs “Fade Away” off of her mixtape on his radio show the D’ Rapture, on 94.1, which was soon followed by her first major live performance outside of the church, at club Alchemy. She was sensational, and it was undeniable that she was a force to be reckoned with. She is unfazed by the male dominated industry

“its all about the music, the message and making an impact on the entire scene” she states and refers to artistes like Rene da’ Illest and Roxii as female holding their own in the industry.

She is working on a yet untitled mixtape to follow up "Preview", but is taking her time citing costs as a factor, maintaining that it’s not about the commercial rush, but about the love of the art form. She has been performing at many shows as both front line and backup, and recently completed a trip to Mexico, however, she is focusing on her studies at present, and while her music has had to take a back burner, she is still undeniably one power-ful influence in the game.

“I didn’t know that it was hip hop, I just used to listen to the songs and like the songs but after getting to really know about music, after listen-ing to a few Tupac albums, it gave me a differ-ent perspective on life because for me it was like I could relate to this more than anything else. I can express myself through this music more than anything else.”

“Kane is a lyrical monster. He addresses social issues which is his greatest strength. He’s a force to be reckoned with and I expect great things out of him.” Shares Stuart Fortune, who manages Kane along with three other artistes at Highway Records.

From not knowing what was rap to becoming one of the illest most respected rappers in Trini, Kane aka Kensen Bertrand has grown from a boy to a man, repping his native Fyzabad to the fullest. Known for his baritone and blue appar-el, the 23 year old rapper made his debut as a member of south sensation Yung Veterans in 2007 alongside artistes Rene da Illest, Shy and Reece out of Planet Rock. He initially met Stu-art Fortune of Highway Records through his involvement with the Rap A movement but it was only after his acclaimed performance in Hip Hop Mania I in 2009 did he begin talks to sign on with the Curepe based label.

“I didn’t know that it was hip hop, I just used to listen to the songs and like the songs but after getting to really know about music, after listen-ing to a few Tupac albums, it gave me a differ-ent perspective on life because for me it was like I could relate to this more than anything else. I can express myself through this music more than anything else.”

“Kane is a lyrical monster. He addresses social issues which is his greatest strength. He’s a force to be reckoned with and I expect great things out of him.” Shares Stuart Fortune, who manages Kane along with three other artistes at Highway Records.

“We do have a lot of things happening in south that you don’t really see. My main thing is just to let peo-ple know what south has… What we capable of do-ing.” Kane promises revealing his respect for artistes Tupac, Nas, Chromatics, Nemesis, Cloud 9 and Squeezy Rankin among others. His greatest inspira-tion he credits to his older brother, also a talented singer.

Of the mixtape Past to Present dropping in Septem-ber 2011, Kane reveals “I wanna really show songs that I did before with a mixture of songs that I’m do-ing now to show that growth span, how I’ve devel-oped. If you look at me you’d think, oh he’s just gon-na sing gangsta rap but I have songs like Better Dayz in which I’m talking about Hope and Sean Luke, God rest their souls and about things happening in real life.”

Comprising 17 tracks including the singles Better Dayz, the ladies tune I’m Into You and one of Kane’s favorite tracks on the mixtape Sunday Evening which he described as “Many different events which took place on a Sunday evening while chilling with my home boys” the mixtape has been highly anticipated and will feature collaborations with Lil Saint, J-Smoke of Cloud 9, Chromatics, Andrew Prescod and John John. With production done by Cloud 9’s Quake d’Mic, JD Belcon, Mustapha and Highway Records, Past to Present is the future of hip hop in Trinidad and Tobago!

For bookings contact 729-8909 or email high-wayrecords@gmail.com. Stay updated on the artiste and his music at Highway Records on Facebook.

In 2008, Reon Labadie formed studio 12, acting as music producer, audio mastering engineer. Coming out of Trincity and named after his house number, He got into production after gaining a love for the art form from MTV and seeing producers Timberland and Dr. Dre. This encouraged Reon to pursue higher learning in the field and he enrolled in online studies at Berkley College of Music in Boston, USA. This he says, has given him a far more in depth knowledge of the field, seeing it a science, which has changed the way he looks at and approaches the music.

Airplay was cited as his biggest challenge locally, stating “The program directors of each radio station determines the good and bad music. It's based on their personal opinion, if your music may have an impact or not”. He also stated that quality of music is a factor with professional equipment run-ning into millions of dollars, too costly for the regular per-son.

Studio 12 produces a wide genre of musical tracks including Soca, Dancehall, Reggae, RnB, PoP and Hip Hop, with Re-cording, mixing and mastering included.

Some work coming out of Studio 12 include Dawg E Slaugh-ter, Olatunji Yearwood, Benjai & 3 Suns with more coming out in the future.

Studio12trini@gmail.com,

studio12pro@hotmail.com

Facebook: Re St

Contact no. 6815230

Ice Cold Beats… Lyrics like Fire! FrostBlaze takes it straight to the wire! The man is a poet to his heart and you can hear it in his music. The man who helps form the powerhouse of Synod Entertainment, with Justyn aka Holliwood Mayers and Lucid.

The team does not have a physical “studio” but have devised a unique method of full production, including Graphics, Photography, Sound engineering, Video Pro-duction and much more. Frostblaze cited that space is the only real issue as far as the studio is concerned.

Synod, which was named after a church council and some long since forgotten philosophy, was founded in principle in 1998 and officially in 2008. Synod picked up and dropped artistes over the years, but as ‘Blaze states “we want to keep the team small for now”. The Video production is done primarily out of Petit Valley, while sound engineering is done in El Soccorro. They have teamed up with Lions Den and Hole in the Wall studio for recording and boasts not only Frostblaze and Lucid as artistes, but have worked with Xology, Paranoid, Synis-ter, Roxi, KG, Andy and a slew of underground acts. Along with that, they have also worked with Chromatics DaFace, Bhongachops, Judah Maccabee, Make it Hapn’ and much more.

What does Synod have planned for the future? Frost-Blaze said “In October, We will start recording my next album that will be coming with a lot of video production and a big promotion push next year, apart from that we have a few videos in the air right now… one might drop this week…I think holliwood mayers blows up zen in that one”

GMoz: How did you get the name Gazzi Gates?

Gazzi: My name was Regazzi, but everyone just started calling me Gazzi for short. The "Gates" I got from Bill Gates. He's someone I respect and aspire to be like. He's an innovator.

GMoz: Are you signed or linked to a Label presently? If you could be signed to a major Label in the US who would it be and why?

Gazzi: No label. I'm doing my own thing right now. What people need to understand is that there are hundreds of artistes signed to labels who you will never hear about because the label doesn't really have faith in them or doesn't know how to market them. I would just like to be in a situation where the people I'm working with believe in what I'm trying to do and are willing to work hard to help me succeed.

GMoz: You were a member of Spotrushaz, what did you gain from the experience and why did you leave?

Gazzi: I gained a lot and I have a lot of great memories. I learned how to perform properly, learned about both the good and bad sides of the music industry because we went through a lot, and I made some valuable connections. The whole experi-ence really helped toughen me up mentally and prepare me for whatever might come my way. But it was just time for me to do my own thing.

GMoz: How have you seen hip hop change from then to now?

Gazzi: Everything is so commercial these days.. image and ap-pearance is everything. Also, the internet is probably the most powerful tool you have as an artiste, before it was just your talent. Because of the net, artistes have a lot more power than they used to. A lot of the new acts get signed because they have an internet buzz and already have a following. This gives you the power to negotiate much better deals with the labels.

GMoz: So what’s next for Gazzi Gates?

Gazzi: I'm about to drop my mixtape “No Quarter Given” around the end of August/beginning of September and I plan to shoot a couple videos for the songs on it.

Link me on Twitter @GazziGates or Facebook: Gazzi Gates. For the songs I have recorded so far the production was done by DLL (Trinidad), Blitz Productions (Canada), StarBlu (Trinidad), D. Focis (USA), Chiwale & Mike Magic (Trinidad) and Lostsun (Holland). I just collaborated with a few people on this tape. One of them is a great singer from Atlanta called Mykel who was on NaS' last album "N" on a song called We're Not Alone. We have a couple joints together. Then Kelli Griffith from 2 Ntrigue helped out on one, Meet Source from Spotrushaz jumped on another song called Dem Know and my boy Sose from Sovereignty does the hook on a song I'm about to release called Domination.

The Trinidad and Tobago hip hop industry stood still on Sunday 28th August 2011. It was the day that the news broke that Rayon Bernardo aka Make It Hapn (MIH) was in-volved in an altercation with two security guards at Kin’s Supermarket on Southern Main Road in Curepe. No one knew the de-tails at the time or how badly he had been injured as he was hospitalized at the Eric Williams Medical Complex in Mount Hope but as days went by and the information was posted by the artiste’s mom Shazz on Face-book, scores of well wishes poured in while the industry remained indignant and de-manding answers. Beef or no beef at the end of the day we’re all brothers and sisters in this and what affects one affects us all. The attack on MIH was akin to an attack on the industry and it was one that was definitely felt.

Thankfully despite the original bloody un-conscious form that was rushed to the Mount Hope hospital on that fateful night, Make It Hapn survived the incident with lac-erations under his left cheek and lip (which required sutures) fractured facial and skull bones and contusions on various parts of his body. When GMoz visited him at the hospi-tal, he was in good spirits and in typical MIH fashion still attempting to break all the rules as he wandered off the compound with us to get a drink (of water) and have a quick chat. For those less familiar, the name ‘Make It Hapn’ could not more aptly describe the

artiste, who is a head strong, determined visionary having been inspired to adopt his pseudonym after an intricate dream. Not only is he constantly on the grind but he will promote anything local and has been known to decry the use of the American accent by Trini rappers, becoming one of the biggest pioneers of the ‘twang’ (trini dialect rap). He’s described TnT as a ‘goldmine’ with some of the best lyricists in the world just waiting to be given a chance to shine and having grown up surrounded by music, he wrote his first song at the tender age of 11 years and taught himself to play several in-struments including the guitar, drums and bass. No surprise to learn it runs in the fami-ly as his mother was also a singer and his uncles were DJs.

Most recently and before the attack, he was busy making things happen for underground artistes in pursuit of the new radio show the Hot Summer Show on 91.9fm which he was the Producer and Host and which was geared towards promoting young acts in music, dance and modeling as well as incor-porating a street team. The show, with 1000 hours sponsored by International Artistes Marketing and Management (IAMM), was being broadcast in 20 different countries and included a live show, Showtime Saturday held at the Esplanade in Tobago on Satur-days from 9pm-1am and another live show at the Alchemy (Port of Spain) on Sundays from 4:30-6:30pm.

And if you’ve ever had the opportunity to interact with the individual you’d know that MIH is one of the most outspoken artistes out there, with the release of his single Truth Is My Gun in 2010, establishing him as one of the most feared and revered in the indus-try

Co-founder of Ras Fam Entertainment which manages such artistes as Tropical Storm, Cu-rious Ringo and Metric Man, Make It Hapn recently released his 6th CD entitled De Noise From De Ground featuring collabos with Freshwater, Shorty de Deportee and Nature Child produced by Ras Fam and High-way Records. Word on the street is that he has a new album dropping on November 11th 2011 which will feature live music by MIH on the drums, bass and guitar as he in-troduces the Ras Fam created universal beat Mess a versatile 120 bpm ‘master key that can unlock any lock’ based around triplets and pauses. However, all his plans and pro-ductions would come to a sudden halt on Sunday 28th August 2011 and this is a New Beginning…

GMoz: Tell us what happened?

MIH: I got in a fight a few weeks back with some security guards. I sustained some dam-ages; I have some broken bones in my face. Right now it’s preventing me from rapping loud, when I go loud my bones are vibrating. I have four broken bones in my cheek bone and I also have a broken eye socket. I didn’t get the surgery (after a 2nd opinion the hos-pital said it was too late) so what I do is mas-sage it every night and try and put it back into place with my hand.

GMoz: At the time that it was happening, what was going through your head? Were you afraid?

MIH: I was unconscious during most of it. I was handcuffed and beaten. I was beaten with a metallic night stick, next thing I spent real days in the hospital.

GMoz: Did you know that the damage was as serious and what were your thoughts when you realized it was?

MIH: Nah, well it hasn't damage my brain so it not that serious. So in a way it’s serious and it’s not that serious at the same time. I’ve gotten in plenty fights before and you never know it might have more in the future.

GMoz: What do you believe was the motive for the assault?

MIH: No comment.

GMoz: What is the status of investigation or court proceedings at this point?

MIH: It doesn’t have any. The videotape of the incident disappeared so I will have to let it be what it is.

GMoz: How do you think this incident is go-ing to affect you as an individual in the long term and what influence do you see it having on your music?

MIH: Well I haven’t gotten to write any songs yet. Long term effects: I have a scar. It’s just adding more reason to my mind and collec-tively the thoughts I process and it will even-tually find its way one day in a song. I have faith I can go against anything and conquer it.

To get your copy of the new mixtape, De Noise From De Ground, contact Make It Hapn at (1-868) 312-7308, email: rasfamrecords@gmail.com or get it at the Highway Records music store #1 Evans Street, Curepe. But also check out the contro-versial Truth Is My Gun and other tracks by the artiste at www.bandcampmakeithapn.com and www.YouTube.com/MIH868.

“If it really happens for me the way it should, I will bring a difference to TnT hip hop. I will try to help others and expand the game; I will help bring others togeth-er.” Mawasi Johnson vows.

Known as Wasi J by friends and family since he was a child, he recalls ‘beating bucket’ with his young friends and making up songs to the popular instrumentals of other artistes. Wasi, then known as Roll It, was initially linked to Golden Alliance be-fore it evolved into Grindhouse Inc., and released his first song on radio airwaves in 2004 under Alliance. The track Trini’ Flava which featured a blend of Soca and hip hop, received substantial airplay on fre-quencies such as 94.1fm, 96fm and 91.9fm and led to several live performanc-es including at Youth Fest as well as land-ing him as a contender on Synergy Soca Star. Eventually, inspired by rapper Nas, Wasi decided to make the switch entirely to hip hop working alongside his Grind-house allies producer Johnny Killah and artistes Nemesis Redrum and Money Homz while setting his eye on the skies.

Also inspired by rappers Tupac, Notorious B.I.G. and Raekwon, he cites his local in-fluences as Big Spree, T-5th and Grind-house’s Nemesis and Money Homz refer-ring to his labelmates as, “My team, I’m not leaving them just so you know. They are people who stand for real rap. All of us on the same journey, same goal so it’s not just about singing it’s a partnership and a love.”

His views of the industry echo the senti-ments of many other artistes. “It’s like you have to have a partner or a friend to make it in this industry, they say it ain’t have too much of room for rap in Trinidad so we does get fight already. And then I don’t only rap I also work so that’s anoth-er challenge as well. I don’t get all the time I need to focus on the music itself but I’m fighting, I’m not giving it up.”

And giving up is not something that Wasi J fans will allow either with favorable feed-back in Atlanta and England for his works as well as here at home, Wasi is in talks to undertake a number of collaborations with several foreign artistes and has re-ceived the support of online radio station Frontline.

With the new mixtape The Wasi J Admin-istration on the way which will feature collabos with Trini artistes Nemesis, Mon-ey Homz, Big Spree and Slasha as well as rapper J.Life from Atlanta, Wasi has clocked studio time with Johnny Killah, Shot Shellz and Golden Alliance’s Cody on this one. Look out for the track J Be Win-ning Em dropping soon off the mixtape and later this year the release of his al-bum Blue Twin Towers with powerful sin-gles such as Can’t Hold Us Down, Back It Up, Stunna Day and As The World Keeps Turning. For more info and updates link him on the Wasi J fan page on Facebook or call 1-868-364-8415.

I'm sure you'll agree that being an entertainer involves

having and maintaining an image right? We caught up

with one of the best dressed in today's industry, Synister

of Sovereignty, to get his take on what it takes to really

bring the swag! He laid it out for us in 5 major points and

we took a look inside his wardrobe to see how he put it

together…

5 - Be open to advice when it comes to dressing

4 - Never be afraid to try a New look at least

once

3 - Be creative don't be afraid to wear some-

thing because you havent seen anyone else in it

2 - Don't be afraid to wear Pink Guys, you never

know it might be your color

1 - DON'T FOLLOW EVERY FASHION

STATEMENT THAT MIGHT SEEM COOL AT

THE TIME CERTAIN STYLES HAVE A TIME

LIMIT TO IT!!

Sovereignty We In The Building!!!

He was impeccably early, accompanied by Smokey, a producer and Director of Pounds Entertainment. After the intro-ductions were made, we got right into it. The single Laser Love had received a good response on local airwaves and this was a rapper I had heard about from people in the industry so I was eager to learn more…

“I used to live in New Jersey and my cousin used to rap. I used to do dance-hall but I liked the rap vibes so I started to be in lil ciphers and then a couple unfortunate mishaps in my life caused me to end up in YTC. Most of those fellas in YTC was rapping and everybody was like ‘yuh good!’ Music was a way to ex-press yourself and express your frustra-tions cuz you’re locked down 23hrs of the day so we just found something to do and music was it. We had no radio.” Derrty Boyfresh begins as he recounts his years spent at the Youth Training Centre which he credits with nurturing his early passion for music. He laughs at the memory: “There were plenty YTC hits! People would be walking down the corridor singing a tune from somebody who sang it in a cell. That’s what the youths need. An outlet to release stress and for understanding. So I came out

and I linked with Smoky the Chemist. He

heard me spit two or three times on the block and he was like yea, lewwe go from there.”

After linking with Smokey in 2010, the now 25 year old DBF began to earnestly grind with the goal to tell people his

story. He caused quite a sensation on Season 1 of the Streetstyle Saturday program in 2010 before releasing his first mixtape Out of the Shadows in Jan-uary 2011 which to date has received 300+ hits on music site Datpiff.

Inspired by his life experiences, DBF hopes that the new mixtape The Derrty Life which will drop later this year and features original beats by Smokey and collaborations with Lee Merrique out of the FFRICH camp and Yogi will share the real essence of who Derrty Boyfresh really is with the people including tales of his personal struggles, dreams and aspirations. Songs like I’m Just, Never Left and Overkill are tracks he’s particu-larly excited about.

“We don’t want to rush it, we want to put out a quality product so when peo-ple put in this mixtape, they won’t want to take it out their deck. You have to get fed up of that mixtape before you take it out!” promises Smokey, a former Chill Factah Dj who has also been linked to dj-ing group Crossfya International. “As an artiste Derrty Boyfresh’s very good, he’s growing and I think he could be one of the best things that come out of the Car-ibbean region.”

To check out his music link him on Face-book or follow him on Twitter @ Derrty Boyfresh and email derrty-fresh@gmail.com or pounds.ent@gmail.com to get your copy of The Derrty Life coming soon!

Streetstyle Saturdays was at it again on Sat-urday 10th Sep, as we caught up with them filming Season 3 at Brian’s Hollywood Bar in Diego Martin. New host Gabby kept the crowd lively and with a line up of very talent-ed hip hop acts, it was a great event to be a part of and was particularly interesting to see the SSS crew hard at work maintaining an impressive level of professionalism and good nature despite technical challenges.

Representing the hip hop scene this time around was the hardcore D3 Entertainment members Da Virgo, Chance and Raynier. Raynier kicked things off with the song “Rayn” Followed by Chance performing “Lyrical Homicide” and Da Virgo dropping the single “Stay Away”. The team then per-formed together on “Olympian” to the ap-preciation of the crowd. Their versatility was obvious and they worked together extremely well, supporting each other while bringing their individual styles to the forefront before the SSS cameras and patrons who looked on with interest. The only female rapper in the line up, Da Virgo stood out holding her own among the guys with her hardcore delivery while keeping it classy and feminine.

Other artistes to hit the stage that night in-cluded up coming artistes Frame, AK and Kareem who brought that raw street vibes in their performance of a song called “The Message.” Frame, the brother of SSS mem-ber Jerry Riley, then hit the stage to do a solo track “Badess” (recorded and produced by Sky Entertainment and Xplicit Entertain-ment) transitioning from hardcore rap ar-tiste to Soca star within seconds while main-taining the energy and dynamism of a true star.

Stay tuned to Streetstyle Saturdays via Face-book at www.facebook.com/StreetstyleSaturdays and contact the team at streetstylesaturdays@gmail.com or call 290-4980/353-6221 for more information.

On the Trini hip hop scene, he’s one of the most familiar of faces, booming of presence and respected of voices. Deejay Pun is extraor-dinary DJ and sound engineer whose skills are matched by his raw wit and sense of humor.

He’s not the kind of guy you’d mess with but if you wanted a top of the line mix and recording or someone to bring life to your party, he’s the one you’d call. But beneath the no-nonsense, business de-meanor and the rough exterior, is a very warm, caring, charming indi-vidual who makes rare appearances such as in Pun’s gestures to young upcoming artistes with whom he’s always ready with a word of advice or assistance with production. Known as ‘Punishah’ in his youth, his contribution to the music industry has been more of a blessing than a curse initiated by his advent into sound system/studio Sound Reaction in 2001. Linking with the Immortal Vybz sound system in 2009, he’s been linked with DJs Rusty and Bingeemon in Bermuda, Japkaman in Israel and Mercury in Toronto, Canada while repping with DJs Marvin & Anarchy in Trinidad.

“I never planned to go out there and DJ, everybody would just come home by me and I’d be mixing and everyone would be enjoying themselves. Then I realized ‘I love to do this, people doing it and making money, why not live my dream? Why not work and do what you love doing?’ so I started to pursue DJing in 2005.” His decision was concreted by successes in several small shows including The 1st Heineken Green Synergy DJ contest in which he placed 3rd Unfortu-nately, the result forced Pun into retrospection and he abandoned the field for a while. Re-surfacing in 2009 to link up with Chromatics and as part of the street team selling CDs to fund the Highway Rec-ords store and studio, he became the first Highway Records DJ and Studio Engineer.

“Professionally self taught” is how the Tunapuna resident describes his skills, moving on from Highway Records to open Lion’s Den Studio in the later part of 2009 with fellow sound engineer Beebo who he also became familiar with while working at Highway Records. For-ward ever backward never, Pun recently ventured out of his comfort zone of audio and mixing to try his hand at full production which has since proved a huge success for him. He recently completed the vid-eo for his first single, and R&B song called Curfew which tells the story of “a girlfriend who locks down her boyfriend and tells him he's not going anywhere.” In an attempt to look at the current SoE in the country from a different, more positive angle.

He’s set to take over the world with his own clothing brand (Punz Wear) and has a couple foreign events lined up as well as another show coming up in TnT in December that will feature some of the biggest international rap and R&B stars. For more info or bookings link Pun at 1-868-343-4651 or email punandmarvin@gmail.com.

Born in Martinique, now residing in Paris, France, 23 year old Little Killah has been doing his thing since 2004 creating his own unique style influenced by dancehall and rap music. We came across his music when a friend from Martinique (also known as Madinina by the locals), posted the link to Little Killah’s Dillon Neisson Mauny, a remix of ‘Beamer Benz Bentley’ on Facebook and we were really im-pressed!

GM: Name one thing you love the most about your country.

LK: Hmmm...One thing isn't enough...I’ll give you 3: the sun, the beaches, the beautiful girls!

GM: How did you get into rap music?

LK: I listen to a lot of rap music, one day I tried to carry my own voice, own lyrics, own style...and the result wasn’t too bad, so till today I continue work-ing to make good songs !

GM: How would you rate the standards of produc-tion in your country as compared to those in the US?

LK: There is a big difference, in the U.S rap music is a business, but in my country it is still seen as a hob-by. That's why artistes have many difficulties getting into the market.

GM: Tell us about your culture and how they have responded to local artistes singing hip hop.

LK: We couldn't say that hip hop is part of our cul-ture, but we listen to US and French artistes, so why not local artists. In my country rap music isn't taken seriously, so artists have to make their work alone, from the recording to the promoting, and that's the difficulty.

GM: Do local radio airwaves support local hip hop in your country?

LK: Not enough I think, we hear more US and Jamai-can artistes than our own, nevertheless there are talents who are worth being listened to!

GM: What mediums of promotion do you use for your music?

LK: Internet, internet, and internet!

GM: What changes would you like to see made in the hip hop industry in your country?

LK: More support from local media.

GM: Name some of your previous releases (albums or singles) and the public’s response to your music?

LK: I’ve released a lot of songs, and those which have been most successful are "Presentation" a dancehall song, "Amsterdam" a reggae song and of course the rap song "Dillon Neisson Mauny" the remix of "Beamer Benz or Bentley".

GM: Tell us about some of your current projects and what’s coming up for you.

LK: I got many mixtapes on the road...and later, why not an album? Stay tuned!

GM: Where do you see yourself in the future (musically)?

LK: Hmmm...Number one hit!

GM: What advice would you give to a young person wanting to get involved in the industry?

LK: Well...be a hard worker, be serious, and don’t get a big head.

For more info on Little Killah or to check out his music link him via email at littlekillahmu-sic@gmail.com or check him out Facebook at Face-book.com/littlekillahoffishall.

Entertainment Lawyer:

One of the backbones in an artist / label’s team. An entertainment lawyer is responsi-ble for looking over and looking after an artist / label’s contracts and agreements right from the start. Who owns what, who gets what, who does what; publishing, management, record contracts - it’s an es-sential role. Formal training is key- enter-tainment lawyers work sometimes on com-mission, sometimes on a flat fee, the mon-ey is generally good when you reach a re-spectable level.

The Booking Agent:

A person who finds employment for artists or performers in return for a percentage of the proceeds of that employment, usually ranging from 10 to 15 percent. Booking agents frequently negotiate two contracts ( the performance contract and the "rider")

Concert Promoter:

An agent or agency in charge of promoting a concert event with duties including book-ing, ticketing and public relations and mar-keting said event.

Artiste Management

Personal Manager:

Personal managers provide an artist with overall career direction and guidance. They will coordinate all the team members who play a role in the artist's development. They will negotiate record deals, publishing deals, find an appropriate agent, publicist, business manager and other team mem-bers. In return for their services, personal

managers usually take 15 percent of the performer’s gross (entertainment-related) income.

Business Manager:

Business managers manages the artist's finances. This team member is usually add-ed once the artist is making a substantial income requiring a full-time person to han-dle finances at gigs, artist investments and general financial advice. A business manag-er typically charges the artist five percent of his or her income for their services.

Road Manager:

Road managers takes care of all the details prior to and during the tour. They advance each tour date; make sure the artist arrives at each date in optimum condition to fulfill their contracted duties. If a band can't afford a road manager, a member of the band may serve in that capacity.

Publicist:

Coordinates artist's publicity and marketing campaigns. Provides public notice to the media to create an awareness of the artist. Good writing and communication skills are also required. Publicists coordinate inter-views and appearances for the artist when a new product is being released.

Band - Amateur or Professional:

A band to play for a wedding, in nightclubs, resorts, cruise ships, cafes, bars, or any oth-er concert venue is usually for entertain-ment purposes. This type of band would play all types of music. Bands may work in one venue for a long period of time or move from place to place. High level of en-ergy and an ability to entertain is required.

TAPPS is an organization set up to col-

lect and distribute royalties attributa-

ble to performers, studio producers,

studio musicians, background vocalists

and executive producers.

These royalties are not collected by

any other collection agency in T&T.

Other collection agencies only collect

for authors & composers.

Now, if you buy a song from an author

- you will still generate royalties as the

singer, if you play an instrument on a

track - you will generate royalties, if

you paid for a production - you will

generate royalties.

For further info, please contact Fabien

Alfonso @ 7070400 or David Bereaux

@ 7997930

INTRODUCING

Hello again GMoz readers, Today I’m going to discuss one of the most important marketing tools for any artist – The EPK.

An Electronic Press Kit (EPK), also referred to as the Media Kit is a vital tool to be used when shopping your product to Program Di-rectors, Promoters, Record Labels, etc. The Main components of your EPK can be broken down into five main sections:

Artist Bio, Music/Videos, Photos, Reviews & Press Coverage.

The Artist Bio: This is basically the story of YOU and YOUR accom-plishments to date. You can consider it to be your resumé. The Bio is not a novel about yourself and thus should be limited to one page. This would quickly give the reader an idea as to who you are, your major accomplishments, some of your goals and exactly where you are in your career.

Music/Videos: This section, as the title suggest would include your hits (if you need hits check Highway Records…lol). This sec-tion speaks volumes about your career and can even say more about you than your Bio. Don’t praise yourself in your Bio and then attach bathroom studio tracks as it would send conflicting messages. You won’t be taken seriously and your EPK will end up in the biggest box in the office – the don’t call back box.

Photos: Professional Photo shoots should be set up and the best High Quality 8x10 pictures should be placed in this section. Re-member, in most cases, these are the photos that would be used by Editors when an article is published. These are the pictures that you will send so choose wisely and only use professionally taken, High Quality pictures.

Reviews & Press are pretty straight forward. A database should be created to collect all reviews & Press releases concerning your career. This may serve as a third party endorsement and may actually validate your very existence to some.

So start putting your EPK together today and ensure that you con-tinually update it. Your EPK is an vital tool in your quest to be taken seriously in the music industry.

Thanks for reading and remember to send in your questions.

Yours truly,

Stuart “Cuban” Fortuné

BANG EM :http://lilsaint.bandcamp.com/track/bangem-2

BANG EM Remix (ft. Ill Payne & KANE) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQoaxc4B_Wk

Good Morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfPUYA1GFCE

The Best thing(ft. Andrew Prescod): http://lilsaint.bandcamp.com/track/the-best-thing-ft-andrew-prescod

Superficial (FT. Axis & Levell): http://chromatics.bandcamp.com/album/superficial

EXTREME FT. MX PRIME (formerly Maximus Dan) :http://chromatics.bandcamp.com/track/extreme

Puppet: http://chromatics.bandcamp.com/track/puppet

Cold Blooded (ft John John): http://chromatics.bandcamp.com/album/cold-blooded

Against the Grain Mixtape : http://chromatics.bandcamp.com/album/against-the-grain

Hit the Club up http://kane.bandcamp.com/track/hit-the-club-up

Better Dayz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gwk25tN2Bs

Go Crazy :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU0h1RVqfC4&feature=related

Angel: http://johnjohn.bandcamp.com/track/angel

State of Mind (ft. lAdy More): http://johnjohn.bandcamp.com/track/state-of-mind-oh-no-ft-ladymore

Freedom: http://johnjohn.bandcamp.com/track/freedom-1978

& MORE

Red Wine Riddim - Call & Request today!

Highway Records Fam - Hitmaker: http://lilsaint.bandcamp.com/album/hitmaker

When you hear ‘Hard Liquor’ what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Well if you’re a limer you’re probably thinking ‘a helluva good time’!

But in hip hop, we know him to be a tall introspective guy with a mean spit and a slight American twang. Hard Liquor spent most of his forma-tive years in the United States before returning to Trinidad after 20 years to do damage to the rap music scene. He’s an amazingly talented artiste/producer and gleans inspiration from Ryan Leslie who he admires for his individuality and versatility. In 2003 he started the Suspect Rec-ords Label with two friends in the US and after years of beat boxing on the block, he was persuaded to write and rap. Currently his singles Tyme 2 Let Loose and So They Say are causing a stir as he explores his groovy Soca and conscious styles. And having observed the industry in the US and here in Trinidad and Tobago, he shares his views with us on some of the disparities between hip hop at home and abroad…

Hit him up on Facebook at Hard Liquor DaMavrick or email him at hl@lavatvhd.com and kmills12383@yahoo.com to stay updated on new Hard Liquor tracks coming soon!

“The industry up there *United States+ is a bit more difficult be-cause you got so many people, it’s a much broader aspect just in size alone. So between the popu-lation *size+ being against you and the fact that you come out you might be the one individual in one city in one state and then there are other artistes in other states around you doing the same thing you doing so it’s a matter of you know it’s a fight to see who’s gonna be the one to actually come out first to be the one to bring that style to the ta-ble first and do it right. Because you can come out first with that style and nobody likes it and then someone else comes out when people finally accept it and go from there. In America to make it in the industry is not as easy as everyone thinks it’s a major sacri-fice and you have to be really on your grind with your music other-wise by time you come out it might have a few other artistes who doing what you did and so nobody’s trying to hear you.”

“As far as Trinidad, if you have the right mind you could do it easily but while it’s a little bit easier to get into the industry down here, to actually make it might be harder in Trinidad. When you on the streets and you talk to people they say ‘yea! They love hip hop’ but you don’t really hear a lot about hip hop down here and a lot of people who doing the music tell me they like the vibe of hip hop but they don’t see it being popular enough to be lucrative as far as music goes. You don’t hear much of it on the radio and it’s sad because as far as local stations you would think you’d hear more of it here but you hear a majority of music from the States or other islands. Or they overplay a song and then just cut it from their playlist so everybody gets the impression that the song gets played out so it doesn’t really help the artiste to get out there.”

If you have ever used an iPhone or an iPod or even a Macintosh computer or laptop, then you have had an opportunity to delve into the mind of Steve Jobs. A man described as a mysterious and eccentric genius, who has had a major part in shaping the way we use computers. With-out him, even those people claiming to be a “PC’ would still be typing code to access simple things on a black and green con-sole. Steve Jobs was wholly or partially responsible for the desktop, the menu system, the mouse interface, touch inter-face, the look of com-puters, the way we get and listen to mu-sic. So weather you’re a Mac or a PC, you have to admit, the world has lost an in-novator.

Most of us these days have a Facebook Page, a Youtube page, a Reverbnation page, we twitter, we datpiff and the list goes on. And while this is all very good in the scheme of promotion, how seriously are we being taken by interest persons? Yes a website involves lots of work and maintenance and calls for some money jumping out our pockets but is it an investment or just an expense? We asked Jeffers John- Charles, founder of Alliance Internet Marketing his views on the matter…

To get more information or access the services of Alliance Internet Marketing for building, marketing and website maintenance contact Jeffers John-Charles at jeffers7@gmail.com.

1Personalization and Profes-

sionalism

“Even though Facebook has a lot of functions, which makes it interactive, the page itself is basically restricted. If you have your own personal website you can actually put content, change the layout and customize it to your own look and feel. The ability to make adjustments and change the layout to fit the theme of your website is there rather than with Facebook it’s just one (blue and white). If for example an artiste wants to put his/her album or tracks he/she can actually add things with a proper layout or have a link to go to that section. Having your own website gives your person-al touch as well as shows pro-fessionalism as you’re in a zone where it’s just you and the viewer. It’s basically saying ‘This is who I am.’

2Market Research

“The next thing that Facebook doesn’t truly offer is web ana-lytics, these are the key pieces that you need to know and you don’t get this in full detail from Facebook. The data you get from this (web analytics) is about those who visit your site and provides info such as their gender, age, location, site fre-quency and even the duration someone stays on a particular page of your site. This type of data is what you need to know and once used properly is where you profit the most. Hav-ing your own website hosted on a plethora of services that pulls this info for you is essential as you’re able to better analyze a variety of key market research points. This can further enable you to perhaps even obtain a niche from the web analytics data from your site...”

3Security and Distribution

“We should all know by now or experienced the random spam, harassment of one Facebook user to another and account hacks that occur. These types of issues need to be managed and handled vigilantly as ignorance can cause your reputation to be at stake. One of the worst things is the lack of monitoring as to what happens in the back-ground where perhaps a Face-book user is being heckled for making a good comment on your product/service or worst waiting on Facebook to respond to a threat or report someone has made on your Facebook wall. Security measures and rules of conduct must be put in place and highly enforced whether it is Facebook or your own website. Websites removes at least half of these worries and is easier for you to manage and respond in a timely manner.

“We started doing small shows with Surge, Sherwin Winchester, Maximus Dan people like that. Just to get some exposure, we would do shows for Radi-cal Designs and these places. We used to touch on all kinds of underground scenes and karaoke scenes too. Tropi-cal Storm was evolving.”

Originally a four member group started in 2001 consisting of Curious Ringo, Rhyno Sparxx, Lady Distressor and Wilde Apache, Tropical Storm merged with Mass Murder and Ras Farm to create Hurricane Mafia in 2004 before starting their own label Stormwatch Entertainment in 2005. The label cur-rently incorporates 9 artistes including Rhyno Sparxx, Curious Ringo, Yung Al-lan, Mo’Stylz, Lady J, Lady Distressor, Shy lox, Manne Smoothe and Boodan. Now with a target release date of No-vember 11th 2011, the group has com-piled a history of unreleased works dating back to their inception.

“It’s a storm so we coming from differ-ent angles, coming from different pro-ducers, different vibes just bringing different things to the table.” Founding member Curious Ringo reveals. True to their name, Stormwatch tries to incor-porate different styles of music includ-ing hip hop, Soca, rnb, reggae and even poetry from group member Shy Lox. To their credit they have also worked with a myriad of studios across TnT including Detnator, KVA- CNS, Lion’s Den, High Red Family, Fadda Jam, LVT and Next Level Productions .

Hailing from residences in Carenage, Morvant, Laventille, Petit Valley, San Juan, Cocorite and Tobago, everybody on the label plays their part and con-

tribute towards Stormwatch produc-tions, while each pursuing individual projects. They’re a self-managed, self-motivated team who enjoy easy cama-raderie with each other though you can tell that they mean business when it comes to music. Contributing on solos and background vocals, the female members have been a driving force in the group and when asked how she felt being one lady among a group of men Lady J, known for her soulful rnb vocals inspired by greats such as Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin, casually replied: “I feel comfortable because I have six older brothers and they’re the ones I’ve been around.”

But it hasn’t been an easy road. Rhyno Sparxx, another founding member and the hip hop head on the team reflects on the group’s ten year musical experi-ence, “It really hasn’t evolved; they’re still fighting down the hip hop. It’s only certain people within the hip hop game who’re really having the funds to really push their music.”

And Yung Allen adds, “Trinidadians don’t really appreciate locally produced hip hop music. Once they know it’s lo-cal they will have a problem with it but if it have a foreign stamp on it, they will go off on it.”

Get your copy of the long awaited al-bum or book the team for your event by contacting Ringo at 393-3546 or Rhyno at 393-9739 or email the group at swetnt@gmail.com.

You know the saying, ‘Success is when preparation meets opportuni-ty’?

“He’s a real passionate dude, he loves his craft, he’s true to his thing and I like working with ppl like that. In terms of work ethic, he’s always on it. He’s definitely got potential. When you’re true to something, you’re al-ways gonna have a market. He’s al-ways gonna have a market: the peo-ple who feel where he’s coming from.” Says Canadian rapper, Ill, who has worked with the artiste on tracks soon to be released and has travelled extensively to promote his own music including touching the shores of Trini-dad and Tokyo in Japan. “He’s not one dimensional and he knows how to get it, like I said he’s a go-getter.”

Known as ‘Make Money Homz’ for his businesslike demeanor, the 28 year old later shortened his name to simp-ly ‘Homz’ and has been linked to the Grindhouse Inc. Label. With a vision to expand locally produced hip hop to markets outside of Trinidad citing his own experiences with audiences in Canada as being explosive, Homez has been inspired to assist in opening doors for other local artistes.

“When I look at Trinidad it has very few artistes that put shit out on the radio, commercially. Most of the oth-er artistes are underground.” Faced with the limited local promotion, Homz decided to add his own weight to creating avenues in Trinidad and Tobago for himself and other artistes with events that promote under-

ground battles.

Consultant and talent manager Kareem Powell aka Reemo a sound engineer from Atlanta whose reper-toire and knowledge about the music business has made him a valuable asset to Homz, agrees “I still see him growing in his music, he’s able to talk about more things and communicate to more people. I think he’s definitely come a long way and everything he’s seen so far to get where he’s at right now, it’s not easy to make the next step. But I think he’s realizing there’s a bigger picture to it now, he’s not just looking at helping himself but helping other people and that’s more of a pioneering role than a solo role so it’ll be a different kind of success.”

And Homz vows “I love hip hop, I’m trying to take this to another level, I ain’t trying to come out of the booth, ain’t trying to stop singing!”

Currently he’s finishing his pre-mixtape MOE (Money Over Every-thing) which features collaborations with Nemesis, Big Spree, G-Menace, Young Chemist and T-5th and was produced by Shot Shellz Productions, Grindhouse Inc and Chucky (M.O.N.I.E.S.). With tracks like ‘LMAO’, ‘We Don’t Play’, ‘Hate If You Wanna Hate’, ‘Real Life’ and ‘Iron Bars’, the mixtape is sure to sell off so make certain to get your copy at 472-2337 or 324-7537 or link Homez at moneyhomz@yahoo.com and stay updated on the artiste at http://te-in.facebook.com/public/Nick-Homz on Facebook.

“I was actually impressed by him. He’s so young, he’s 19 and he’s only been rapping seriously for the last year and honestly, he’s pretty good and I like working with him and I’m devoted to working with him in the future and reaching that next level.” Says producer Niko Duncan of Premier Studios.

Inspired by the versatility of artistes such as Machel Montano, Tahir Rochford began his musical journey at age 7 writing notes which would later evolve into songs. As he grew older, Tahir developed a passion for a wide variety of music including Soca and dancehall mu-sic but only began to seriously pursue the art of hip hop within the last year as he begun to record some of his songs such as Watching It Fall.

“Watching It Fall was my introduction song. That was me sitting and thinking about if I actually got into the rap game and pursued it seri-ously what would happen, and I just saw money falling. And I came up with the idea ‘watching it fall’, so that’s basically the theme.” The artiste shares. Watching It Fall has received airplay on several radio stations locally including 96.1fm and Slam radio alongside Tahir’s oth-er releases, the heart stirring My Girl produced by DLL and the Star Blu produced club banger Goodnight recorded at Premier Studios. With positive feedback and calls for interviews from radio stations as well as love from the public, he’s undeterred by the few negative comments he may have received. Tahir adds: “I’m very thankful for the support especially from Premier Studios.”

Tahir recently returned from a visit to Canada where he was inspired by the reception he received for his work having also undertaken collaborations with artistes in Toronto and though he has observed differences in everything from the industry structure to the public’s reception of hip hop music in Canada, he also noted that the support for the art in TnT has increased significantly within recent years. And with an eagerness and fresh outlook promising much more good mu-sic, be sure to look out for this dynamic up and coming star in the near future.

Check out Tahir’s music on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/tushout1 and link his fan page on Facebook at Tahir. For book-ings you can email him at tahirroch@hotmail.com.

We know the island for crab and dumpling and its stunning beaches and friendly people, but today we bring you a different side of the sister isle.

Repping hip hop to the fullest is Randy Junior Samuel Reid aka Tobago’s Finest who hails from the village of Pump Mill in the beautiful island of Tobago. “My life is a rap” were his exact words and with a lifelong love of music to his credit, the artiste took on the pursuit of his craft professionally about one year ago. He counts himself as the source of his inspiration and raps about his own personal experiences creating music that many can relate to. Having released tracks such as “Welcome To Scarborough” and “Feel My Pain”. He’s been linked to the LVT crew alongside rap veteran Shinez.

And while every artiste has faced ‘fight down’ on at least one occasion in their career, hip hop in TnT continues to receive mixed reactions from the public. But if Trini artistes think they have a hard time at it, Tobago’s Finest, one of the few represent-atives of hip hop in the sister isle has gone through so many chal-lenges that he finds it difficult not to become disenchanted with the entire pursuit.

“Every time you turn on de radio is only *Vybez+ Kartel yuh hear-ing whole day”. He says. As such he’s been inspired to redirect his focus beyond the shores of Trinidad& Tobago because of the lack of support for the art by the general public. He believes that peo-ple and radio stations here are more caught up in promoting and endorsing foreign brands such as international hip hop and dancehall rather than playing the music of the local artistes.

When asked about future projects and what people can look for next, his response was that he likes to surprise people so just keep an eye out on facebook. Link him at 308-7049 and stay tuned for lots more coming out of Tobago!

It’s every artiste’s dream to be signed by a major label and have their careers take off. And it’s not that he’s not looking for a deal, he’s just looking for the right deal after having nurtured a passion for music for some twenty years.

Hailing out of Trincity formerly a part of the 3 man group DGA (Dead Give Away) in Philladelphia, US, he started off as a dancehall artiste with the group, incorporating a rap/reggae BushBabies inspired style in the late ‘90s. However following a creative separation from the group in 1999, he became more involved in background roles while the other members went on to form the group Larceny later linked to Ruff Ryders and spawning rapper Cassidy. Although previous-ly known as Damage, his growth as an artiste prompted him to try singing and he later changed his name to L.I.V. aka Living In Victory.

“I don’t want people to put me in a box. A lot of people like to put you in a box. I am an entertainer and I do popular mu-sic.” L.I.V. says firmly. Inspired by R. Kelly and the whole Mo-town RnB and soul music style, he’s also a music producer who has gleaned from artistes such as Bounty Killah refusing to limit himself to any one genre or style.

And while he has encountered challenges ranging from the support of family to the support of the industry still he has endeavored releasing Who’s L.I.V. in 2007 and utilizing the street style promotional strategy he’d observed in New York for the mixtape, recording an impressive TT$10,000.00 in sales. This success along with a favorable response and buzz with his groovy Soca attempt Set The Dance On Fire in 2007, has propelled L.I.V. to work steadily towards the release of his debut album with the goal to pre-empt its release with several singles in the near future including the dance/pop infused Hopscotch.

But he’s also a music producer and it may surprise you to learn that he’s a budding actor having starred in two Univer-sity of the West Indies student created films Falling For You and Freshwater Trini which are to be featured at the 2011 Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival. What’s more, he’s an en-trepreneur.

“I took all my experience and formed my own company called Last Laugh Entertainment. It’s a media house. We’re small but we have a nice underground following. We do par-ties, coverage with the HD cameras, we cover events, we try to help young artistes who want to get into the entertain-ment world, we have our own studio set up and we write and produce our own music.” L.I.V. informs us of the compa-ny which also comprises members Karlyle Morris and Vechenko Noel, both producers and artistes as well.

To link with L.I.V or access the services of Last Laugh Enter-tainment email lastlaughentertainment68@gmail.com and check them out on Facebook @ L.I.V. or Last Laugh Enter-tainment.

Hailing out of Paramaribo, Suriname comes

20 year old rapper Sydmill Amsterdam aka

Sepul2ra. He has been rapping since he

was 8 years old influenced by Tupac and

Kanye West as well as golden oldies music ,

his inspiration is drawn from daily life expe-

riences.

GM: Name one thing you love the most

about your country.

Sepul2ra: Parbo Beer

GM: Tell us about your culture and how

they have responded to local artistes sing-

ing hip hop in your country?

Sepul2ra: In Suriname we have different

cultures but my culture is a culture named

‘Winti’ and a culture named ‘Hip Hop’. The

response of the people to local artists sing-

ing Hip Hop in my country is growing day

by day. In my opinion, after five or ten

years we will have more interested people.

In my music I add local influences on sever-

al occasions. I use words that are a trend in

my country nowadays. It’s challenging at

times though because we have different

styles of music in this country that are

more popular than Hip Hop and a small

population.

GM: Do local radio airwaves support local

hip hop in your country?

Sepul2ra: It’s not how it’s supposed to be

yet but I think that after 5 years we are

gonna have more airplay on the radio.

GM: What changes would you like to see

made in the hip hop industry in your coun-

try?

Sepul2ra: I would like to see more appreci-

ation between the Hip Hop artistes and

from the people to the artistes.

GM: Name some of your previous releases

(albums or singles) and the public’s re-

sponse to your music?

Sepul2ra: I’ve released two mixtapes to

date. The first one is called ‘De waardering

‘ ( The appreciation ) and the second one I

named ‘The Young One’. Hits I’ve had in-

clude ‘Zo romantisch’ ( So romantic ) feat.

Mecy, ‘Tot het eind van het feest’ ( Till the

end of the party ) and the biggest one is

named ‘Gi yu’ ( For you ) feat. Rashly. Some

of the current projects include a single

‘Doe het voor je nieuwe man’ ( Do it for

your new man) also featuring Rashly.

GM: So what’s on the horizon for

Sepul2ra?

Sepul2ra: I’m working on an album with my

label Okasi. In the future I want to have

my own recording studio, be my own pro-

ducer. I want to have my own record label.

I want to live off my music.

For more info on Sepul2ra or to check out

his music link him via email at ambamu-

sic@hotmail.com or sepul2ra@live.com

and check him out Facebook or Youtube at

Sepul2ra.

GMoz Magazine is a production of GMoz Productions Ltd. © All rights reserved.

Cover Photography by Aaron “Tiny” Richards

Photography by Aaron Richards, Akim Thomas, Ezra Doyle

Graphics by PDG Customs