New Artist Feature...

Tori Lewis

http://www.myspace.com/torilewismusic

Attitude, her debut album is a mixture of Pop and hip hop-influenced R&B tracks that breathes life back into the genre with solid lyrical content and fresh new sounds crafted by the talented producer “Water”.

When contemplating a name for her album, the word “Attitude” just seemed to fit. Attitude is a way of thinking or responding. If you think you can, you’re right! If you think you can’t, you’re also right. "Since I have a choice, why not choose to think that I can. That’s Attitude, that’s me….Tori!"

"Rock"

New Media Pioneer: Jason "Macedonia" Smith of Radio BSOTS

New Media Pioneer: Jason “Macedonia” Smith

Radio BSOTS : Both Sides of the Surface

http://www.bsots.com/

BSOTS: A cyberspace archive of life commentaries and music reviews written between 1999-2005, as well as a portal to artist and record label sites and online music stores, also the home base for the Radio BSOTS podcast playing electronic soul, funk, and hip-hop.

Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a podcaster?

A: My biggest challenge is (and continues to be) successfully navigating my way through this world of new media and social networking. I consider myself an old head using new technologies in order to express my love for music and support for its artists. I am flesh, blood, and bone, but to be a part of the podcasting game you must learn the language of ones and zeros to some degree, whether it's RSS feeds, tagging blog posts, search engine optimization, or whatever new social platform will premiere in the next five minutes. All of these things fight for my attention; as a result, time management and prioritizing become rather challenging. Never mind that real life demands that you go to your day job, make sure your child gets to day care, etc. I can only speak for myself: I do not have a mind for marketing or metrics. I do, however, have a mind for music. My passion for music drove me headfirst into podcasting.

Q: I've noticed you tend to feature on your podcast more unknown and indie hip hop artists what's your reasoning behind that?

A: Radio BSOTS was created because I had so many friends that were making great music - MCs, DJs, producers, and beatboxers. I just wanted to be a platform for them, an avenue for them to get some exposure. So right from the beginning, championing the unknown and independent artists was key to the show. In my opinion, their efforts can stand alongside and even outshine so much of what's being released within mainstream circles. Soul, funk, and electronic sounds add to the musical makeup of the show, but hip-hop remains at its core. To be honest, I didn't even realize how much of a hip-hop head I was until I started doing this podcast.

Q: Any words of wisdom ... anything you've learned so far in podcasting that you'd care to share?

A: What's true for an artist goes for a podcaster: this has got to feel good to YOU, first and foremost. Podcasting is too much work for it not to be fun, so what got you excited about it in the first place has to remain present in order for you to continue doing it. All artists go through their creative slumps or feeling of apathy about their craft. However, if those times start to outweigh the good times, you seriously need to reassess your situation. Beyond that, there is no "right" way of doing this. Since August of 2005, I've been podcasting on a dial-up modem and a computer that still had Windows Millennium Edition on it. I just got a new computer in the past month, but the dial-up situation remains. I didn't let that stop me, though. When you have something that you're passionate about, you find ways to make it work.

Q: I see you are very active in the Twitter world. Why do you think Twitter is important for a Podcaster, Internet Radio Station, etc.?

A: Honestly, it was the simplicity of Twitter that got me hooked. It's a microblogging tool that's perfect for a person like me who's constantly on the losing side of time. With Twitter, you're forced to get your point across quickly and in a limited number of characters. Somewhere along the way, I started notifying people whenever a new episode was posted. A number of my followers tend to go check it out within minutes after that. For a musician, blogger, or podcaster, that's valuable real-time feedback from people who have a vested interest in your content. And if you're involved with communicating with your followers, it's only a matter of time before relationships build into something more tangible. What you have is a potential community.

Q: What's next for Radio BSOTS?

A: Right now, I just want to continue putting together the best shows possible. There's so much incredible music out there it's almost overwhelming. As much as I like putting together freeform shows, I see more genre-specific episodes in the future, as well as shows dedicated to one record label's output. With the summer coming up, it's a great excuse to put more continuous mixes together as well. The month of August will mark the third-year anniversary of Radio BSOTS and I've been trying to figure out how to celebrate. Maybe I'll unveil some "behind the scenes" recordings or audio collage craziness from my college days, who knows? What's next is more music, more episodes, and more reasons to spend your cold hard cash in support of talented artists so that they can continue doing what they love.

Rihanna - Take A Bow

Im so in love with this song and video.

Eventhough it's an UPGRADED version of Beyonce's "Irreplacable" it's still hot, and im all for WOMEN EMPOWERMENT :)

Work It Rihanna!!! She looks so HOT in this video!



Funny Fact: Ne-Yo wrote this song and Beyonce's Irreplacable

What's Hot and New...

Jump Off TV brings you their weekly show thats documents anything new in Hip Hop from movies and music to fashion and gadgets.

Hosted by Valerie Lora, the New Releases Show comes out every Thursday.

Check out jumpoff.tv for the full videos and songs :)

Man behind the Monitor: J. Dakar of Concrete Loop / Write State of Mind

2nd Installment of our weekly posts that will be coming your way. (the GOODIES just keep coming)

I've met so many great bloggers/podcasters/new media makers lately and I've decided to turn the tables and blog about them :)

Here is our PREMIERE Interview with Mr J Dakar of one of the most popular entertainment blog Concrete Loop


Man behind the Monitor: J. Dakar
Concrete Loop / Write State of Mind
http://www.writestateofmind.net
http://www.concreteloop.com
http://www.jdakar.com
Political/Commentary Contributor of Concrete Loop
He currently serves as political/commentary contributor for Concrete Loop, one of the most popular black entertainment blogs, offering social and political commentary with special emphasis on the 2008 presidential election.

Q: What's the biggest challenge you've faced as a blogger?

A: Traffic. Anyone can create a blog, but if no one is reading it or commenting on it, what's the point? For a while, I received very few hits and even fewer comments. It then hit me that I had begun writing for myself. I realized that I needed to appeal to my audience, and once I did that, I noticed an increase in both readers and comments.

Q: For aspiring bloggers, do you have any tips for growing their readers?

A: My only tip is that you should never give up. I've been blogging since 2001, had about twelve sites and endured, perhaps, at least three times that number of hiatuses from blogging. Fortunately, I have dedicated readers who commented on nearly everything I wrote (when I wrote), which really motivated me to continue writing. In doing so, I put myself out there more which really opened me up to new readers...and you never know who's reading what you're writing.


Q: How did you become affiliated with Concrete Loop?

A: Angel, Brian, Tianna and I frequented the 730 Forums (http://www.seventhirty.net/forums/) some time ago around 1999 or 2000, so I've known them all for quite some time. Once I began blogging, Angel read my work and continued to do so throughout the years. Last summer, she hit me up and asked if I'd be interested in writing for Concrete Loop. I, of course, said yes, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q: As a political writer for Concrete Loop, do you feel that music ever transcends into your blogging in any way?

A: I listen to music while I write...well, while I do most things, actually. I love music: I wake up listening to music; I go about my day listening to music; I fall asleep listening to music and then I do it all over again the next day. Suffice it to say, yes, music does transcend into my blogging.

Q: Do you feel that Concrete Loop has increased your readers at Write State of Mind?

A: Absolutely! I have an audience at Concrete Loop that appreciates my work regarding social and political commentary and visit Write State of Mind for a more personal look at J. Dakar. I analyzed my site statistics recently and discovered nearly 42 percent of my incoming traffic comes from Concrete Loop.


Q: What can we expect from your upcoming site, JDakar.com?

A: When it launches in May, JDakar.com will be my personal site where I share my thoughts on the things I love most like books, film and music in addition to my take on news stories and a few pieces on activism so we can all do good and do well (DGADW). Unlike Write State of Mind, which focuses primarily on my writing with rather lengthy posts, JDakar.com will feature much shorter ones published throughout the day.

All Thing's New...

So we've got a NEW weekly installment we will be including to finally help me make sure we got all grounds covered with what's new in the Music World

Hopefully this will keep me in check with posting DAILY ....

This week's NEW RELEASES brought to you by JUMPOFF TV :)

Enjoy