When creating things, we are pressed to categorize and place names on them. Whether it be a new song or a painting, eventually the piece must be given a title, so that people can get a better understanding of what it is. Sure, you can listen or look at the thing and get a general idea, but the name usually helps drive the message home. Some might say you are branding your work. If you ask me, there is no question about it, YOU ARE.

When a group of musicians decide to give their collective self a name, that’s branding. Now you may not like this for whatever reason, but it is true. That is why it is good to assume responsibility for the brand that you have inserted into the public minutiae.

While it is hard to control how you are perceived, you can still be proactive in managing what is out there in relation to the brand that you are associated. Ultimately, your customers, fans or associates aid in defining your brand. You can help them by supplying them with the information you would like them to share.

On October 8th, in metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan, there will be an event that is set to help you manage your personal brand. Aptly called BrandCamp, it features internationally-known speakers that run the gamut of entrepreneurs, communication professionals and folks with significant celebrity. This event was founded by Hajj Flemings, author of The Brand YU Life (Amazon affiliate link).

I was recently interviewed by David Murray for BrandCamp on my thoughts on personal branding. The main takeaway that I iterated is good for artists that lead “double lives.” Hopefully, both of your personalities are on the up-and-up or you will find yourself in a lot of trouble in places you might not want.

I would prefer the artists I support be who they are at all times, but if you must distinguish your different personas, then realize that your fans may be different than your friends. With that comes more work, because life is hard like that. I plan to talk about this more in future blog posts, so stay tuned.

Check out my brief interview and let me know what your thoughts on personal branding in the comments.

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Today, we have a special guest blog brought to us by Alexander “Benny Ben” Moore, a DJ from Metropolitan Detroit. Benny Ben is a long-time friend of Frying in Vein, so when we found the following tweet from Stones Throw CEO, Peanut Butter Wolf, we asked him to weigh in as an SME (Subject Matter Expert). We hope you enjoy the knowledge dropped!

Detroit Booty… it was almost the fucking exclusive soundtrack to the city in the midst of the 1990s.

photo by Al Myers

I’ve been spinning and collecting records since like ’95-’96 when I was in 12th grade and it’s taken me until 2010 at age 32 to finally make the mix I’ve wanted to make since then. It’s called “One Track Mind, Four Track Heart” (title pending). It will be released shortly as an installment of the A-Side Worldwide podcast and it’s 60 minutes of the type of music you could only be from the Detroit area to understand… but what is it called?

Growing up in the shadows of the State Fairground Band shell (where I once heard Luke and Poison Clan perform “Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya’” live on my front porch, one block south of 9 Mile Road). You might say I was a bit of a loner for awhile there. Since age 11, I’ve been the type of hip hop junkie who can’t go even one minute a day without likening some everyday situation to rap lyrics or syncing it to a beat.

From about age 12 to 15, I spent my Saturday nights listening to and taping mix shows from the local radio stations 96.3, 107.5 and WJLB. At 1:00AM, there was the Hip Hop Explosion with Reggie “Hotmix” Harrel, whom I often credit as the reason I became a DJ and he is, but maybe there are others who were just as influential and maybe I haven’t been giving them enough credit.

See, I had to stay up late past 1:00AM to hear new music from Spice 1, Jeru, Daddy O, Masta Ace Inc., Original Flavor, Dred Scott, leaked cassette-hiss copies of Snoop Doggy Dogg demos and interviews with local heroes like Bo$$ and MF911.

Detroit DJs took the best from Miami- and Chicago-style records and mixed it with the Detroit techno to create the booty sound, much in the fashion that Flash, Bam or Herc created hip hop from funk, soul, jazz, disco and rock breaks.

But from 8:00PM – 1:00AM, there was a different soundtrack to my muted games of NBA Jam, Street Fighter II and let’s be honest, Sim City. DJs like DJ Dick, Claude Young, Gary Chandler and others would play the music I would never hear on the Hip Hop Explosion, except for the weeks that Reggie brought the wrong crates. 2 Live Crew, Poison Clan, Disco Rick & the Dogs, 95 South, Crazy L’eggs, Slack Pack, Kilo, Pretty Tony, Prince Raheem, MC Shy D and MC A.D.E. provided a heavy dose of the Miami Bass sound. Though some like X-Change and Bass Association were from the D and 2 Hyped Brothers and a Dog of “Doo Doo Brown” fame was from Baltimore.

Of course, there were the Old school LA and NY joints mixed in like, “Play At Your Own Risk,” “Planet Rock” and “Egypt Egypt,” as well as other songs by Professor X (aka Arabian Prince), World Class Wreckin’ Crew, LA Dream Team and The Unknown DJ.

However, these were just the names I could figure out and buy at the Record Town store in the mall or Sam’s Jams on 9 Mile Rd. What would always intrigue me the most were the dope instrumentals (maybe they might have a one-liner that repeated) that the DJs NEVER mentioned, but you heard every week. “What’s the track that goes dmm da dmmm dmmmm/ dmm da dmmm dmmmmmmm?,” I’d ask a hapless record store clerk.

Some of them like Cajmere’s “Percolator,” Eon’s “Spice” (a European oddity) were easier to track down, but I didn’t hear about joints like “Cosmic Raindance” by Cybotron or “In Synch” by Fade to Black until I started copping wax (a couple of true Detroit classics there).

And think about this. This is coming from someone who actively seeks out the music I love. Most of the people that truly enjoyed this music in its prime (read: those that were partying and getting laid instead of taping radio programs), will never know the names of all these songs and Time Life will almost certainly never compile them, not that you would probably want to hear these tracks unmixed in their entirety.

So if you noticed, I still haven’t told you what genre of music I’m talking about here. Maybe it’s because no one ever told me!

Booty, Detroit Booty, Booty House, Ghetto Tech, freak music, mix music… I’ve heard so many terms used to describe it, but I’ve never heard it replicated, but it was almost the fucking exclusive soundtrack to the city in the midst of the 1990s.

Keep in mind that most of my DJ career (1997 to present) has been centered on the type of rap music that almost no one in the world gives a crap about, so I may not have a lot of “credibility” in the eyes of some when it comes to breaking down this unique amalgamation of genres. I’ll put it this way, I’m a fan who can spin records really well and the first summer I had turntables I made it my mission to finally cop all these classics on wax. The thing is, I rarely spun them in public before about 2007. Before I did Elevation with DJ Graffiti and Buff 1 in Ann Arbor, none of the little hip hop spots I played at seemed appropriate to play something like “JPE Live” by Jam Pony Express (the crux of any booty set, btw).

That having been said, I’m glad to break this down for you from my perspective as a fan.

Pre-1996, what I prefer to call “Detroit Booty Music” was a unique blend of Detroit Techno (records like “Time Space Transmat” by Model 500), Chicago Ghetto House (records like Eric Martin’s “Hit It From the Back”) and Miami Bass (a record like “Gold Diggin’ Hoes” by MC Nas D and DJ Freaky Fred, for example). There was always random stuff thrown in for fun too – maybe a random R&B bass remix, a double-time down south hip hop track, “This Is How We Do It (instrumental)” by Montell Jordan played at 45RPM or the acapella to “Elevator Up and Down” by Interactive.

There was even a TV Show “The New Dance Show” on Channel 62 that showcased dancers “jitting,” high schools (my own Ferndale High represented one time) and DJs like Tooshay and Jesse the Body spinning this music. It was like a Detroit version of Soul Train (Miss Energy > any Soul Train Dancer).

I always liked this stuff, but there was one mixtape that made me fall in love with this style. “Volume 8” by DJ Wax Tax-N Dre. I dubbed it off this kid who used to ride with us to Taco Bell on lunch hour and it was the craziest thing I’d ever heard. It started out like a regular booty mix, then it got faster, the mixes got quicker and by the last 15 minutes of side B there was an airhorn and an announcement of ‘”The Graaaannnd Finale!”

To say this was a four-track outro would be the biggest understatement ever. To give you an example of four records that would be blending at the same time: “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)” by Bucketheads, “If I Ever Fall in Love (acapella) “ by Shai, “Bounce Your Body To The Box” by Reese & Santonio and the aforementioned “Time Space Transmat,” at least one of these may have been played at 45RPM.

As volumes of Wax Tax-N Dre tapes progressed, the grand finale would get longer. First, the whole B-side and eventually the whole tape would be in that style.

Around the spring of ’96, I started hearing original tracks by Detroit DJs like Godfather (who is the one who showed me what pitch control was on the turntables at Record Time) and Assault started creeping into the mix. While Godfather’s seemed more electro-bass-inspired at first, both DJs were dominating with tracks that featured the one-liners of Chicago records (DJ Assault’s “Same Hoe,” for example) and sometimes Miami-stye rap verses, but set to funkier Detroit Techno-esque beats (think Juan Atkins, not Richie Hawtin). They were almost the perfect mixture of the previous Detroit, Miami and Chicago sounds. Like a mixtape inside a track. It was shortly after that others like Disco D (RIP) emerged and I started to hear the term “Ghetto Tech.”

I’ll back up for a second. Around the time I discovered Wax Tax-N Dre tapes, some raver kids I knew put me up on DJ Funk tapes. Funk was from Chicago and made a lot of my favorite tracks that I heard Detroit DJs play. He was also a dope DJ. His mixtape at the time ‘Freaky Style” though was exclusively Chicago Ghetto House tracks. It was cool and put me up on a few joints I hadn’t heard, but it lacked the funk and flavor of the Detroit sound I was used to. 60 minutes of basically the same beat didn’t make for regular listening.

Miami had a rich DJ history with Ghetto Style DJs, Jam Pony and other DJ crews cutting uptempo breaks, DJs “pulling down” the volume and creating their own routines on the fly. There were a lot of dope records that came out of Miami back then and for the most part could also stand on their own outside of a DJ set.

Detroit DJs took the best from Miami- and Chicago-style records and mixed it with the Detroit Techno to create the booty sound, much in the fashion that Flash, Bam or Herc created hip hop from funk, soul, jazz, disco and rock breaks.

Coming back to the emergence of “Ghetto Tech’ records, I liken them to the early rap records in that they try to incorporate a whole night or partying (and perhaps an entire culture) into one three-minute track. Sometimes with great success, other times with bland results.

Within a couple years, through the late ‘90s and early “00s, many DJs sets had shifted from the old hodgepodge-style (as my homie Radd 1 once called it) to straight-ahead Ghetto Tech, which was cool and had its moments – tales of “check stubs,” “mouths blew out,” “player hatin’ girls,” “bustos with you and all your friends,” but by itself gave me the same blah feeling after awhile that the Chicago tapes did. It just wasn’t as funky. To be fair, Miami bass had died out and Chicago DJs (DJ Slugo, for example) were releasing records on Detroit labels, so the scene – as a whole – kind of shifted to an emphasis on Detroit, which is not a bad thing.

After about ’98, I lost track of a lot of this music. I wasn’t close to Detroit for a few years there and wasn’t hip to the scene anymore. I have heard of a Juke vs Jit documentary (Chicago vs. Detroit dance styles) that I probably need to see but haven’t bothered to.

I think I’m just stubborn and want to spin and hear this music the way I want to remember it, and as with hip hop, have very little desire to stay current if means pretending to like music I don’t like.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and I truly can’t wait to share this mix with you. It (or this blog post) is not by any means a definitive history of the genre, just me playing and writing about the records I love. If I can’t spark some old memories, I’d like to help create some new ones.

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Religious readers may remember my post on independent music labels where I highlighted some of my favorite places to find new tunes.  I was reminded that I forgot about an outfit that happens to be based in my backyard.  This “label” is none other than Ghostly International (GI).

Ghostly lives up to its name with their eerie ability to be everywhere. With their brand associating with the likes of Adult Swim and Behance, it is obvious that there is more to them than music. Ghostly shows a distinct understanding of what it is to have vision. In this day and age, it takes a lot of garner respect in one’s own space, let alone in other spaces. GI is managing to do that. With a knack for releasing forward-thinking, electronic-based music and packaging it with artwork that can be appreciated separate from its inspiration, the Ann Arbor, MI-based art aggregator is a shining example on how to be a brand in the 21st century.

Ghostly is one of the greatest labels to ever be birthed in Michigan.

- Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier

A couple of weeks ago, FutureMidwest – a technology and knowledge conference – took place in Royal Oak, MI, which is a suburb of Detroit. Ghostly International Founder/CEO, Sam Valenti IV, spoke about the story of Ghostly and how they have dealt with dips. Hopefully, his presentation makes it on the web, so we can share it here. It was quite inspiring. Sam’s message of innovation leading the charge in shaping a brand is what we here at Frying in Vein hope more art curation hubs strive to be. As fellow curator Renaissance Soul Detroit‘s Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier proclaims, “Ghostly is one of the greatest labels to ever be birthed in Michigan. They have been able to successfully brand a label based on a method of making music, so it gives them that legroom to move with the times.”

Inspired by Ghostly, we want to showcase some favorites of their latest material that they have out now.

Deastro

Known for their techno-based artists, Randolph “Deastro” Calbot is a refreshing pick of electronic pop on Ghostly. He had us at Keeper’s, but he probably really started to gain traction when his song “Light Powered” was featured on the Ghostly Swim project.

Phantogram

Phantogram is not on Ghostly, but GI released a vinyl pressing of their debut album on Barsuk. The vinyl is sold-out, but you can buy a digital download from Ghostly. It is highly recommended that you buy it as it is one of current leads in albums of the year.

Mux Mool

What would the curation of electronic-based music be without a hip hop producer? Mux Mool brings the swing and the whimsical instrumental proto-funk to the genre.

Solvent

This artist is hard to describe, but he’s a favorite here. Check him out in the player above or just Google him.

Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble

GI has curated this band’s rendition of Terry Riley: In C as a physical release, which you can preview and buy via the hyperlink on the band name. This very cool project is also a contender for “best of” distinction this year.

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

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I get this tweet from one of my good friends:

Instantly, my life has been changed. The momentum for this blog build a little more. It is packaging like you see in the video below that fortifies my belief that artists need to make collectable goods. It only took 15 seconds for me to find my wallet and make a pre-sale purchase. I am a fan of Jake One and I dig some Freeway stuff, but if not for the creative shelf-worthy packaging, I would have passed or waited for a friend to send me a CD rip of Stimulus Package.

Now none of this would not be happening if not for forward-thinking independent labels like Rhymesayers Entertainment were not on the job. This particular packaging was designed by Brent Rollins, who has been deemed by Jeff Chang to be the best graphic designer in the hip hop space for the past decade. Rhymesayers fans may remember the unique packaging for Atmosphere’s last album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.
Mind you, both Atmosphere and Freeway have seen success on a career level, so they can afford to put that kind of money into their projects. It is probably going to be a stretch to see a lot of the smaller acts having packaging as lavish as Stimulus Package, but that does not mean you should be lazy on your physical goods you plan to sell.

Make sure cop that pre-sale at Fifth Element Online or Amazon (affiliate link – I make money if you use this) for Stimulus Package.

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In my quest to become one of the premier music marketing minds, the first thing I did was jot down the things I wanted to accomplish while being a music marketer.  My longstanding goal is to become a serial entrepreneur, so in developing my goals I realized that being in marketing is only a means to an end.  This would not have been realized if I had not taken the time to write it all down with pen and paper.  Writing my SMART goals down keeps me focused and accountable to something actual; it also fulfills my human desire for purpose.

This site is a part of my plan to achieve my goal to become a full-time music marketer, which I hope will lead to entrepreneurial opportunities.  Writing blog post on here is not all I feel I need to do, so you can expect the following in the coming months:

• Video Blogs (vlogs) with quick tips, exclusive interviews with music professionals and artists on the move
• Case Studies from my applied work with various artists
• e-Books with practical advice on the sensible to try and build a career as an entertainer
• Branded Products – for all those that just want to show support and keep me along in my quest to achieve my goals

When I consult with individual artists now, I always ask them to prepare a list of SMART goals before we begin to talk about strategy. In doing this, I can give them practical advice that will actually resonate with what they want to accomplish. Sure, every person that makes music will say they would like to be able to do it full-time, but when they note their other interests it may be easier to see how they will be able to make that goal a reality. In some instances, it might be obvious that a music act is not as serious as they think they are about making music a career; thereby, saving us all a lot of time.

Sometimes my artists are clueless as where to start or how to approach coming up with them, so for setting music goals I always forward them Ariel Hyatt’s tips on Setting Goals article for inspiration. I still use it personally as a reference when I need to re-evaluate my goals.

Artists, do you actually have goals written? If so, what resources do you use to keep yourself focused on achieving your goals? Let me know in the comments.

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Leadership by pedrosimoes7

I was on the Weightless Recordings forum the other day and there was an interesting tangent conversation, which happens a lot on web forums, that revolved around the surprise of how much Weightless product a certain fan claimed to have collected. Basically, someone made mention that they have purchased every piece of merchandise the label had ever released. That is quite impressive, if you ask me – a fellow collector.

It was kind of weird to see people on a fan forum poke fun at someone for being too much of a fan. Is that not the point? Mind you, the folks are the forum are pretty much a fun-loving clique. There are plenty of inside jokes and micro-memes that pop up on the regular (Google “Purgatorious“). I know the gang was not really serious in their teasing of another forum member being maybe too open about his STAN tendencies (think: Eminem’s hit).

The real trigger for my slight angst is that a lot of the forum members are actually hobby artists themselves. Now I may be coming off a bit overly sensitive to some, but it would seem that such a group would be more em-/sympathetic to the plight of the independent artist (collective) and/or label, meaning such jokes would not really be propagated. Then I got to thinking about how often links for downloads for new albums are shared on the forum. That is when my blood really got to boiling a little.

From here on out, it needs to be about putting your money where your heart is.

All the time, we hear artists pleading, “support good music!”  Well, how about this?  You do it first!  Artists are just as guilty of illegally downloading content as the folks they feel are ruining their chances of success.  If that is not irony, then call me Alanis Morissette.

Honestly, how can you expect anyone to treat you with any kind of respect when you are not even doing so?

From here on out, it needs to be about putting your money where your heart is. Every other industry expects a certain level of integrity out of its leadership. Politicians are scrutinized for every move they make in office; artists should have it very much the same. Let’s see some real action taken!. If you want to have a sustainable community that supports itself, then you need to do more than just showing up and looking cool at events. While showing up is half the battle, there is still another half that needs to be fulfilled. Some sort of giving back needs to applied. The best way you can do that is by showing substantial support to your fellow artists. There are many ways you can do this. Whether you make a point to buy t-shirts from your favorite local band or you volunteer your time at the same band’s merchandise table, it all has tangible value.

Regardless if you want to believe it or not, you are an influence to someone. Recognizing this fact will provide you with the power you need to really build up to your 1000 true fans. As you build this tribe of fans, your interaction with them should be one of genuine trust and appreciation. Keep this group growing and staying true by showing them how to be a self-respecting individual. Your call-to-actions should not always be about your gain. Give of yourself. Introduce your network of fans to your favorite music acts. Find out what causes your fans are passionable about and throw your support behind them if you are in agreement. This kind of action inspires; this kind of action builds presence. This is the prototypical work of the personable geek.

As this is a new year, what are you going to do to become a better artist?

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That’s right… got the hip tip via e-mail from the good folks at A-Side Worldwide.

Click the images to go directly to I-Tunes and cop that heat, primarily produced by The Lab Techs.

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I was recently thinking about my hometown and its subzero brand equity. Throughout my entire life, I have had a love/hate relationship with the city of Detroit. I recall my first trip overseas (shout out to Toyota-Shi/Toyota City, JAPAN) and being shocked how different Detroit was from the rest of the world. Mind you, I was 15 at the time and I was not as worldly as I am now.
I saw big city streets that were fairly clean. There was no assortment of ragamuffin types accenting the litter on the street corners. For the first time in my life, I witnessed an environment that I felt completely safe, which was so weird that I eventually became paranoid of it being “too perfect.” LOL I mean, this country had arcades you could hang out in at 11:00pm with no security on the premises [IN A MAJOR CITY]. There had to be something wrong with the place, right?
I remember never wanting to leave Japan; even though, I eventually felt like too much of an oddball there. Homogenized societies are kind of freaky to a person from an area that houses several different ethnic groups in it, regardless of the fact that they self-segregate themselves.
Anyway, initial impressions go a long way though. At that time in 1995, I could not imagine anyone having any bad words to say about Japan that would prevent one from visiting. I still long to go back, but only to visit. I love where I am from now. It took a while to get there though. I can thank four years in East Lansing, Michigan for that (Go State!). I just wish I could be completely proud of my hometown whenever I take trips elswhere.

Now I do not expect Detroit to be like Tokyo, London, NYC or L.A. Heck, Detroit’s not built to be as spectacular as Chicago. Urban planning is not Detroit’s claim to fame. Although, Detroit is making great strides to be a nicer city to live, it still has a long way to go.
This may seem like a personal problem, but The D is not one of the special places that Americans are interested in visiting. When you note that we have a history that folks from the major cities wish they had and we have a local pride like no other, I do not think I should ever hear people saying how they would NEVER come here. I can only attribute that to Detroit’s everlasting bad reputation.

The thing is, people do know the good things about Detroit, but they are far more familiar with the bad parts. It is the weaknesses in the city’s infrastructure, high crime rate and our sport team that the average person likens to Detroit, Michigan.

I give all this backstory to get at the point that we all should become more mindful of our brand(s). I have had the wonderful happenstance to realize my calling in terms of marketing and public relations. In the last couple of months, I have been reading all I can about the latest and greatest in marketing strategies and trying to figure out how I can apply them to layman cases that I am privy to every day. In the midst of my studies, I have been reading a lot about branding. I recently attended Podcamp Michigan and a gentleman by the name of Hajj Flemings did a presention on Personal Branding. It sort of set the stage of my recent transition to utilizing my strengths to pursue career efforts that are actually of interest to me.

When I think of brands now, I think of how it affects an entity’s ability to do business. I think of how Detroit is losing more and more in new industry possibilities every time a related party lands a negative story on the national news channels (ie, former mayor, Big 3).
I cannot help but feel that if Detroiters took a greater interest in making sure they protected their brand that we may not be in the position that we are in today. It is bewildering – at least to me – that I do not feel as confident to say that I am from Detroit anymore. I reluctantly wrote this piece, feeling that I probably lost 50% of my readers by just talking about Motown. At the same time, I know what Detroit is made of and that keeps me upbeat. We are still contributing great things when it comes to arts and culture, but until we can get a grip on the negative things being reported we will continue to be overlooked.

If legendary producer James “Jay Dee/J Dilla” Yancey was from California or New York, there is no doubt in my mind that all of his musical efforts would be lauded as classics on a mainstream level. States like California and New York have tremendous branding power and when they make noise, people listen. That just isn’t the same for states in the Midwest.

It behooves one to think about everything that makes up their own personal brand. From the clothes you wear to the words you speak, you are being judged at every moment. Where you come from is just another element in establishing who/what you are. If there is anything less than stellar about you, people are going to remember that and then probably not want to deal with you or even worse – forget about you. You have to deal with that and figure out how to somehow repair the issue or deal with it face first. In some cases, it may just be as simple as embracing your weakness to show that you are not perfect to help bolster your image. Detroit, for example, could help itself by being humble and taking responsibility for its own existence. For having such great people come out of its ranks, it does no good to try to brag about it. No one likes the boastful guy; no one likes a sore loser either. Besides, there is just too much negative being disseminated worldwide to even try to spin a contrary message.

Detroit’s strength is in its people, who provide a bright light to a dim place. That alone should be motivating enough to understanding that the bright lights are to be supported if we all want to shine. We owe it to the Motown, the J Dillas, the Eminems, The White Stripes and so forth to better our collective situation. These folks help us look good. We need to figure out how to eliminate the weak areas. If this monster of weakness could be conquered, then I know Detroit would be on the fast track to greatness… where it rightfully belongs.

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The latest project from Boondocks’ creator, Aaron McGruder, is a comedy channel out of his Partner Rumble studio. You can check it out on YouTube here. All the videos are really funny, at least to this viewer.

I guess I should be quick to note that this style of comedy may not be for you. With that said, I also want to point out that there is excessive use of the “n-word” in the following videos, so if you’re sensitive to that – STEER CLEAR. You will never see or hear me ever use the word (I stopped back using it back in the late 1990s), but I cannot act like the word doesn’t have its place in the American vernacular. All the same, I’m sure you can see the humor in the following Black Jesus videos. Enjoy!

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Here’s the blog – Recovering Sneaker Addict.

Post comments, especially if you’ve been to Burn Rubber, love sneakers or just live in Metro Detroit!

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