Directed by David Cropper.

Keysha links with the legendary Doug E Fresh (gotta do a UBX on him soon!) and Mims for visuals to her first single “Hollywood Fresh”.

Nice.

SIDEBAR:

This video actually dropped a couple months ago but we never got notification on its release. If I hadn’t seen a clip of it in the Droppin Dymes interview I posted earlier, and then put two and two together, it would’ve been another local video we might have missed (smh). I’m definitely not trying to single out any one artist cuz this happens all the time but this post (along with all those others) inspired the following rant.

This is what I don’t understand: If you’re a local artist and you’re aware that there are local media entities DEVOTED to giving you exposure, wouldn’t it make sense to service your product to them on a consistent basis? Is it really that hard to make sure they ALL get your shit when you’re trying to work it?

I hate to always have to fall back to Famous as an example, but when he puts something out, you best believe everyone gets it first hand from his team. He’s got the Toronto network/market LOCKED! The crazy thing is, it’s not that hard of a feat. There’s maaaybe 10 blogs, 30 deejays and 4 magazines (give or take) that make up Toronto’s CORE urban media entities with localCON support in their mandate. That’s a couple days work compiling an email/facebook/twitter list of contacts crucial to your local buzz. After that it’s just a matter of copying and pasting links & info every time you got a new release and hitting send. And yes, I know a local buzz in Toronto pales in comparison to your focus on a national or international buzz but if you can’t even lock down the small network that feeds your own native market, what makes you think you’re suddenly gna be able to do it in a city like NYC or ATL that’s 10 times the size with 100 times the politics?

And another thing – just to put it out there to all the local artists that seem to think making their product exclusive to us (which we turn down every single time) is somehow in THEIR best interest….

In a city where no one entity dominates the local urban market, the only person that benefits from exclusivity and favoritism is the blog or deejay or radio show you’re empowering with that exclusivity.

‘Exclusivity’ in a local, underdeveloped market like Toronto simply means less exposure. That approach is really only feasible in established markets with a strong local economy (which we don’t in any way have); or when dealing with the Nahright, 2dopeboyz, ThisIs50 platforms of the blogesphere, which is a totally different paradigm. They’re top-down brands with a guaranteed global reach making exclusivity or payment in exchange for them posting your product a worthwhile deal; we’re bottom-up local brands focused specifically on cultivating a local urban market with no stable economy (this also means our relationship to these larger blogs is complementary not competitive). There’ll hopefully come a time when the local urban market is booming enough that media entities in Toronto are competing for relevance, but that time is not now. Point is, if someone in this city tells you they won’t play, blog or support your movement without payment, a dub or exclusivity…. barring the fact that maybe your shit is just garbage (which pretty much changes everything I’m saying)…. you need to keep it movin’.

Don’t turn the artist/media relationship into the artist-getting-pimped-by-the-system relationship of this era.

Know your worth. Now, not later.

Rant done.