MyCypher.com has launched the online Cypher! The site allows users from all over the world to battle in real time online. Kick your freestyle or favorite bars into the interface and your rhyme is posted instantly to the Cypher where the whole world can listen, rate and respond. It's an easy way to get your music out there and find, battle or collaborate with MCs around the world.
You can even spit your verse from your phone after you register it with the application. Check out the tutorial below, along with Jin doing his thing in Cantonese. Register for and use the application here.
What happens when you take a positive message for young girls and place it inside of a novel filled with a crack addicted mother, an unlikely role model, and a juvenile detention center?
Brooklyn, NY, July 2, 2009 - Author-Educator, Tachelle "Shamash" Wilkes tackles these questions and more in her debut novel Amanda's Ray. This unique novel fills a void in hip-hop where uplifting messages for young girls are far and few in between. Wilkes hopes to close this gap by using the backdrop of hip-hop while tackling issues of self esteem and identity in this Brooklyn coming-of-age story.
Narrator, Amanda Raye, is a sixteen year old aspiring rapper who is obsessed with her idol, Kendra Star-a female rap star who eventually catches a serious charge and is sent to prison. The turning point takes place when the budding young rapper gets in an altercation which lands her in the Albany Detention Center. While on lock down Amanda reaches out to her idol and Kendra Star shares how her tragic upbringing and poor choices landed her in prison. Ultimately the rapper tells Amanda that she isn't one to follow and urges her to look within herself for positivity and strength.
As an accomplished publisher and hip-hop journalist, Wilkes combined the glitz and glamour that she has seen as a media insider, with the gritty truth that she has faced as a public school educator.
"I have seen so much in city schools-homelessness, abuse, serious self esteem issues- so I know first-hand that young people need something positive and tangible to hold on to," Wilkes says.
Understanding the power of the pen, Wilkes wrote Amanda's Ray to not merely entertain, but as an eye-opener intended to affect change, even if it's one young mind at a time. Amanda's Ray will be released on Enaz Publications July 20, 2009 and is currently available for pre-sale at Femmixx
Purchase Amanda's Ray
Amanda's Ray (Enaz Publications) is currently available for pre-sale at: Femmixx.com
About the Author
Tachelle Shamash Wilkes, founder of femmixx.com, is a platform for women music producers, DJ's & Emcees. She has shared the stage with KRS-One, and Doug E. Fresh and has been featured in Scratch Magazine, The Source.com, BBC Radio, NBC, and ABC News. Wilkes received her Master's in Education from Brooklyn College is not only a voice for women in hip-hop, but an advocate and educator of youth. Wilkes teaches at an art-centered high-school in Brooklyn, NY. Amanda's Ray (Enaz Publishing) is her first novel.
Contact:
To schedule author interview, readings, signings, or to request a copy for review place contact Candace Simmons:
I'm sure most of us have heard that the lion is the king of jungle because it is a ferocious predator and rarely falls prey to any other species. In the urban jungle that many of us like to call Hollywood, the male DJ has dominated the nightlife scene by ferociously preying on the ears of club-goers with Top-40 hits with a slight underground mix. For years the Kid Capri's and DJ AM's of the world have dominated the ones and twos while driving mass crowds into rhythmic stampedes. While the lions have been unleashing a musical massacre on the dance floor for decades, the lionesses have been lurking in the shadows waiting for their moment to pounce. That moment is now here. With Spinderella leading the way, many other female DJ's have made their way into volatile urban jungle competing for space on the turntables. Wikiipedia reads, "The lionesses are the hunters for their pride and capture their prey with precise and complex teamwork." Mirroring the image of the "Queens of the Jungle," DJ Lady Sha and Aneesah Williams have teamed up to form a female conglomerate known as LionessLA. In her own words, Lady Sha says, "LionessLA is a marketing and production firm with an emphasis on exclusive nightlife experiences and special events."
While Aneesah handles most of the business, DJ Lady Sha not only commands the turntables but she also commands the crowd to groove to her eclectic blend of hip-hop, reggae, soul, and anything else that keeps the masses intrigued. When asked to describe her style, Lady Sha simply stated, "My style is creative, nostalgic but so fresh."
But please don't misconstrue the word, fresh, to mean new or novice; Ms. Sha is no rookie to the game. While she was in college trying to learn the curriculum she was simultaneously learning the art of turntablism. Since her days at UC Berkeley, she has rocked crowds from South Africa to South Central. "While studying abroad in South Africa she honed her skills a DJ and returned to Cali to prey on any and all who dared to enter her lioness den. As she explains, "... I came back to California after 6 months in South Africa a polished DJ. I knew my path was musical for sure after that experience... I was hooked on the high of creating incredible blends live, beat-matching genres, making people remember a time in their lives through a song, getting dance floors excited enough to dance, jump, and scream."
While she may have left crowds screaming, the real world was screaming at her, trying to convince her to follow a path that led toward med school. Although she did get her undergrad degree at UC Berkeley, the only prescription she would be filling is one that would satisfy the appetites of music addicts across the globe. Throughout those travels she would come to realize that being a lioness in a lion dominated industry could be quite challenging. The challenge of trying to eat and avoid being eaten alive can create an awful amount of pressure on even the strongest of the pride. When asked about that pressure, Sha candidly stated, "Every time I get on the decks I feel like people are assuming I'm not the headlining DJ and I'm opening for someone else, or I'm just up there because I'm a female. I rarely think of the pressure... but I notice that people are surprised once I start rocking the crowd and I get a lot more props than a male DJ would.... I feel like women may get more compliments on a good job spinning than male DJs because perhaps it's expected that female DJ's won't be able to move a room like a male DJ would skill-wise/selection-wise."
For those of you that choose to pass off the female DJ as nothing but a sex object that lacks skill, musical knowledge, or crowd-rocking ability understand that the woman known as Shaden Tavakoli is an avid pianist, guitarist, and songwriter as well. Her sex appeal is only the perfect accent to her musical prowess and relentless preparation. As she put it, "I'm preparing everyday, researching new and good music. I read up on the histories of soul, hip-hop, reggae, world music, and all music. I look up the original samples to new songs always trying to make the connections in an effort to connect with my audience."
Connecting with audiences with a diverse blend of musical tastes has been DJ Lady Sha's strength. From the jazz purists that frequent The Mint, the audacious velvet rope regulars at club Area, to the underground urbanites that mellow out at Little Temple, she covers the full spectrum of the urban jungle. She has become a premiere predator amongst her male and female counterparts as she masters the art of the harmonious hunt. Some may say DJ Lady Sha is a ferocious feline with an uncanny ability to prepare, seduce, then pounce on her unsuspecting prey with cuts, scratches, and intricate blends; she would simply say she is a Lady Lioness.
DJ Chela is not only one of my favorite female DJ's, but a great DJ that I just love to hear spin. She loves music, she knows music and if she's inspired---you better put your dancin' shoes on. The coolest, wall-hugger has to head nod, two-step or something!
Chela is also friend and fellow hip hop organizer. She has been involved with everything from voter registration to the Jena 6 rallies. She made so much noise that Chuck D told her to bring it to AirAmerica and cover for him on his radio show while on the road. Nominated for mixtape awards and top female DJ awards, DJ Chela is also building a strong buzz for herself artistically.
Check for her on MySpace.com/DjChela for the schedule and to download a mix. Also check the visual audios below! I used the flip cam to catch a chunk of her mixing at the Ladies Love event in Brooklyn the first week of June.
Ladies Love, founded by Mary Pryor (We Fancy Agency), is a collective of NY women making moves while making a difference. Ladies Love Dilla is the event that helped put this talented team on the map with a successful fundraiser on J. Dilla's birthday to help fight against Lupus. Last week, the group gathered a stellar line-up of musicians to put it down at Southpaw on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn for Autism Speaks.
Bilal, whose son was diagnosed with autism, rocked the house as a special guest with the highly respected trumpeter Igmar Thomas directing the band, Daru Jones (drums), Louis Cato (bass), Yukie Hirano (keys), and James Casey (sax). Of course, the ladies rocked the house! The talented DJ Chela and the legendary DJ Sparkles did a phenomenal exhibition soul set with Daru on drums. Yikes! Amazing! Then Invincible blessed the mic a few times, but called up Pri the Honey Dark, from her crew Anomolies, to share the stage with her. Pri has been in the lab producing and making beats and it was lovely to hear her represent! Some of the hip hop heads will remember her winning the historic Blaze MC Battle back in the day. Oh, and the lady Likwuid rocked along with Don Will and Von P (Tanya Morgan) to introduce the event with a nice banger of a song and a tight freestyle. They definitely warmed the mic for the others.
Yours truly held it down as the hostess for the night. It was good music and good hip hop for a great cause. Make sure you keep your eye on Ladies Love. There will be lots to see in the year to come.
The first thing I saw when I woke up this morning was a flood of links in my inbox. Several people on Planet Toni wanted me to witness this female phenom. Her name? Julia Dales. She's Canadian, 17 and from reading about her seems to be a serious athlete. I guess, she's gifted all around when it comes to physical expression. She had enough skills to beat out loads of dudes in this YouTube competition. In the words of Oprah---You go girl!
It's troublesome that the author of the article from the Ottawa Citizen (here) says the beatbox can be traced to medieval French minstrels and later jazz. She fails to mention the African roots of Hip Hop music and culture, the significance of the drum and misses an opportunity to make a statement about the rich tradition of vocal percussion. Hip Hop heads and Hip Hop scholars please get your journalism on. This is a wonderful chance to promote and preserve Hip Hop culture.
This girl is a natural. Right now she is saying she may pass on the slot she won to attend the international competition in Berlin. I hope she talks to her teachers about her finals and gets her naturally gifted beatboxing self on a plane. It's so rare to find females in beatboxing it would be a shame if she missed it.
Sheikia, lyrically known as Purple Haze, has dedicated the next month of her energy toward fund raising to fight against breast cancer. On May 16, 2009 at the Coffee Cave & Lounge in Newark, NJ, a hosts of artists including some of the tri-state's tightest female mc's will gather for an important cause. P. Haze invites everyone to come out for the 2nd Annual victory celebration in honor of Ebony Dickinson. In 2005, 186,467 women and 1,764 men were diagnosed with breast cancer. Many women are opting for ways to blend holistic health care treatments with traditional western medicine. Ebony Dickinson, a survivor who is raising money for her own care has also launched "Live Out Loud Victory Over Adversity", an organization to help other women diagnosed with breast cancer.
The event will feature a creative talk-show style dialogue, singers and some of the hottest hip-hop performances! Rhyme Like A Girl affiliates will be in the house---AtLas, Mala Reignz, Bless Roxwell, Tash Spadee and many, many others
.
A $25 donation is requested with all proceeds from this event going towards helping support Ebony's 5 year Health Plan and Treatment protocol.
The event begins National Women's Health Week begins with Mother's Day and ends with an opportunity for us all to live out loud for Ebony!
WHERE:
The Coffee Cave & Lounge
45 Halsey St
Newark, NJ 07102 US
WHEN:
Saturday, May 16, 2:00PM to 6:00PM
Peep the lyrically gifted Purple Haze at: For event info: 973-941-8959
If you are unable to attend and would still like to offer a donation, please mail and make checks payable to Ebony Dickinson:
The Tribeca Grand Hotel was packed with who's who movers and shakers from the entertainment and hip hop world. With two of New York's hottest DJ's, Hard Hittin' Harry and DJ Beverly Bond, the Manhattan-chic-poker-face melted off into the sunset. Head-noddin', lyrical sing-a-longs, and sudden bursts into 'the wop' and other classic moves made for quite the party. It was the launch of Thembisa Mshaka's highly anticipated insider's view of the entertainment industry. The book, "Put Your Dreams First" features a bevy of influential, powerful, hard-working women, some you know and some you may have never heard of before now. It's filled with information, insights, tips, and advice from women all over the entertainment map.
Many may know author Thembisa Mshaka, who worked for BET and SONY, as one of the key players who helped launch the careers of entertainers like Destiny Child (and of course Beyonce) and 50 Cent, but there are heads who flashback to her early writings in hip hop mags like Rap Sheet, Rap Pages and the classic BET publication YSB. A supporter of all things Hip Hop, we give props to Thembisa for her accomplishment and suggest you all cop the book, "Put Your Dreams First".
So every other Saturday or so I find myself in the Brooklyn studio space of DJ Beverly Bond. The walls are lined with more records than one could imagine, there are turn tables, a couple of work desks and a big ass pool table smack dab in the middle of the main room. Her husband Bazaar, the lyricist/musician behind the Ghetto Metal movement, might peek in, but it's usually estrogen-city. That is what makes my time there so special. Beverly called and said, "I want you to do Rhyme Like A Girl" workshops for "Black Girls Rock" and that was that. I had no idea that it would become such a fulfilling experience for me.
First, the girls in the Black Girls Rock program are young, precocious and a pleasurable challenge. Second, the energy behind why BGR was started is so sincere and so pure that it's hard to resist the pull to be down. Each workshop I've done feeds me as much as it feeds the girls and Beverly Bond's support of my work with RLAG has been quite gangsta. One day these girls are going to look back at their time in this program and feel an extreme amount of gratitude. Could you imagine being a 13 or 14 year old girl ----being trained in DJing by a master DJ who just happens to be a woman who cares about your well-being, your future and will do any and everything in her power to take a stand for your success in life?
Mos def. Black Girls Rock, but Bev Bond rocks even harder.
Homegirl you see above is not Kelis' sister. It is Brittany Bosco, "a nice girl out of Savannah just trying to make it in the big city," as her publicist writes in an email.
I heard literally about three seconds of her music while at the library with my daughter the other day - and we both wanted to hear more.
I'll delve into her EP, called The Spectrum, in a bit, when the laptop has more battery juice. For the time being, listen to her music at her MySpace profile.
