Hiphopnavericks

in London's
WhilemajorrecordIabelswrestlewiththeinternet,
estatesthegrass-roots
hiphopindustry isdoingbetterthan
anarmyofkidsrunningmusic
Andits allthanksto
ever.
way:bysellingCDs
theold-school
distribution onthestreets.
DanielleAumodjoinsthem. Photography Grei$
Rob

Backinlate-'70sUSA" if rapperswantedto gettheir vinylandsellingitonthesteet.Itevenstated

musicsol{theywouldloadupacarwithtapesand onthecoverof oneof hissingles:"Onlyfor saleon RuthlessMix
recordstore
taketheir musicto the massesin the mostdirect steetcomersandinGroove[recordshop]".' tapes'frontmanhas evenset up a
possible.And the old ways, it seems,aregood Mike GLC is oneof the current crop of sellers. from the profits of his team's sales.'There'sa big
way
ways, becausedespitethe internet'spower in Heclaimsthathissteetteam,pickedfrominhab- demandfor mix CDsby UK artists,whichmain-
'So,
disseminatingnew music,hip hop artists this itantsof his southLondonestate,shifted210,000 sbeamstoresdon't stock,'saysRuthlessP.
sideof theAtlantic arealso pounding thestreets mix CDs in the UK and Europe over 2006 and via our East Ham shop, Ruthless Records and the
with theirwares,andit seemsto beworking. 2007.And his successes have temptedfellow streetteams,wedistributemusicfor artistssuch
Top CD sellers artists into following asBashy,GhettoandYoungSpray.It's helpedme
recruit kids from their suit. Public Demand to build my business,and keepsthe under-1Ss I
estates into mini sales mole
'You'llmake Cartel (a record label employoutof trouble-andeamsthema wage.'
And it offersa healthiersurrogatefamily than
forces.Since the kids which was formedy a
would otherwise have mOneythan if yOU Wele gang),RuthlessP (of a gang.'I joinedbecause it getsmeoutof Kentish
Ruthless Mixtapes) Town, where there'stoo much violence,'says
[Tl,'#,':'lS-'t.T: anda little
sellingweed, and MC Raw (of City Leroy,18.We're like family. We tavel around
teams'work as a kind | - Slick Recordings)also I-ondon,the tIK and evenEuropetogether.I've
;f$.r;;ffi#; lessthanif youwere use steet teams to discovered newwaysof li{e.'Seaker, a 20-year-old
increasetheirsalesand eastl,ondonrapper,doesit for hisart. 'It's a good
sellingcrack'
il.ff"""mu:,"t#: grassrootscredibility. way to seehow you're progressing,'he says.
ignoresHMV andmis- 'This hasbuilt my rep- 'Manyartistsdon'twanttoselltheirCDslikethis,
trustsadvertising. utation on a ground but if you snoozeyou lose.Don't talk abouthus-
'Effectively, level,'saysMC Raw. tling if youcan'thustleyourownshit.'
street teams are You need to prove And thesteet-teamsystemisn'tjustmusicians
HMVs in their own yourself on the flogging theirown wares.Midas,a producerand
right,' says Reggte steets before try- rapper in his late20s,lefta steadyjob tojoin Mike
ingto cross over to GLC's team.'I usedto workfor Bloomberg, which
Stylesof SonyBMG,
the the mainsteam.' was well paid. But music is my passion,and
who co-directs
Ifs alsoexteme throughthisl'vebeenabletopursueitfulltime, he
steetteamthis compa-
ny usesto play the kids ly usefirlfor big- says.lMegettowhereHMVcan't, andusethisasa
attheirowngame.'They ger labels,who way to sourcenew artists for our productions.
bring an alternativesales have always While I'm out with the team,if I heara rapper's
strategy to the market- had touble namebeingmentioned enough,Itrytofindthem.'
place.Like steet pastors, marketing Perhapsthedreamof aglitteringhiphopcareer
theyspread the word, build British hip is as much a motivational forceastheneedtoeam
a congregationand convert hop,tohave a living something has to spurthemon,because
a steet- steet sellingisn t exactlyeasy.I accompanied the
levelfanbase teamtoOdordSteetdespiteimitatingLeroyan
alreadyinplace-which Seaker- targeting likely customers,mmtly
maybewhySonyBMGhasrunits teenagersinbaggydenim-Imanaged tosellapiti-
-
mendations, theseguysreallyare ownstreetteamsince1998. fultwoCDs,foratumoverofJ3.90.Granted,Idid-
Wehavetobehdependentbecausemostmajor n't havetheadvantageof our colleagues' o<peri-
sellingtotheirpeers-face tofuce.
'This isn't new to hip hoP,' labelsbelievetheres nomarketfor ourmusic,'says enceor sawy (someof the targets evidently
pointsoutPaulH,photographer forHb Hof Cnn JaJaSoze, oftheBrixton-basedfublicDemandGr- recognisedthe teammembers,and approached
wctionmagazine. 'ln thelate'80s,southIondon tel. In doing thiswdvelearntmoreabouttheindus them),but it wasa meagrehaulnonetheless.Sell-
rap artist Blade was independentlypressing tryandprovedthere isaspaceforourmaterial.' ingmusic,likemakingit, clearlyrequirestalent.

2Owww.timeont.cornllondon May22 - 28 2OO8

 ifr I

f/
Love and Valour in hdia's GreatEpic

16 May - 14 September2008
FREEEXHIBITION

EVENT S
Thursday29 - Saturday31 May, 19.30
a n dS u n d a y1 J u n e . 1 4 . 0 0

An ensemble of world classperformers

bringsthe Ramayana to dramaticlife
throughshadowpuppettheatre
accompanied by the chimingrhythms
of the gamelan
PriceFree(advancedbookingrequired)
Keeryit-real estate aElentsMiheGLCand ltisstreetteantgetreadyto do busirtess
Monday2 June,18.30- 20.00

VidyaDehejiaexploresthe differentways
Londonhiphopartist the manufacturing: fromthetimeI could in whichartistspresented
lhe Ramayana
; Mike GLCexplainsthe m a k ea CD .puta coveron i t andsel li t for narratives
and the variedwaysthat the
lUnawaysuccessof his onlyL2, I knewthegamewasfucked.lf you, viewerresponds
street-teammodel as an aftistcanaffordto dothis,thenyou
Pricef6 (f4 concessions)
d o n ' tre a l l yneedyourrecordl abeldoyou?
,
. ' l' v eb e e nc a l l e dth e 'We'veidentlfied a gapinthemarketand
bes ts el li n gi n d e p e n d e n t workedouta waytogettothem.I nowhave 5 June,19.00- 23.00
Thursday
UKrapperbut , I ' mjus ta na rti s ttry i n g to 15 peoplewhoworkforme,offices,a music
ma kea liv ing. C D so nth e
I s t af t eds e l l i n g studio,a regularincomeformyselfandmy A special openhousewith livemusic
roadthreeyearsago;just lessthana year team.Westartedoff rnLondon. Nowthe from the bestof British/South Asian
laterI puta streetteamtogether. The teamgoesallovertheUK,to Amsterdam and artistsplusscreenings, barsand late
difference betweensellingviastreetteams Sweden. We'regoingtoScotland this access to four BritishLibrary
exhibitions
andthe internetis thatthestreetteamis weekend andFrance is next.Lastyear,we in assocration
Presented
morepowerful, withbettercustomer handledtheguerrilla marketing for 'Dubplate withBBCAsianNetwork
fe e d bac-k it ' sf ac et o f a c e .l t' sc h e a p e r, D ra m a 'a, C hannel show 4 I' mi n.I' m
w hi ch
Presentedas a part of the Lates festival
too,as there'sno postageandpackaging. planning to offerthisservice to corporations.
'Weuseallmethodsto getourproduct Wecanpromoteanything, eventoothpaste.
out.butdesoitesalesviarecordstoresand 'Myteamaremostlykidscomingoutof
internetforums, westillmakemoremoney situations thattheydon'twantto go back
throughthe streetteam.In2006wesold into:crime,drug-dealing, prison.Theysee
60,000copiesof mymixCDsand150,000 th i sa s a s ubsti tute W hatl tel l themi s
fami l y. Pricef5 (advanced
booking
i n 2 O O.7T hat ' snotinc l u d i nm g a te ri a l w e th a ty o u' lmake
l moremoneythan i f you recommended)
distributed forotherUKartists,including weresellingweed anda littlelessthanif you
Styl a,andc om pilat ioCnD ss u c ha s ' H y p eo n weresellingcrack.Newrecruitsshadow FOR MORE INFORMATION
th eM ic ' .S elling m us i cth i sw a yi n c re a s e s moreexperienced members,so theylearn AND TO BOOK
yo u rc r edibilitas y a r ap p e r. l t a l s ol e a d sto thebesttechniques. Theydevelopbusiness r +44 (0)1937546 545
mo res alesins hopsan do n l i n ea sy o u ' v e skills,it keepsthemoutof troubleandgives O n l i n ew w w . b l . u k / r a m a y a n a
builtyourreputation throughthe streets. thema newmindset. Whenpeoplelookat me,
'l 'v ealway been
s a b u s i n e s s m a Bu n. t theyseea hustler. ButI havea hearttohelp
THEBRITISH LIBRARY
fo l l owing a pr is ons pel li n2 OO2l,g a i n e d kidswhoaregoingthrough whatI did.I'vebeen 96 EustonRoadLondonNWI 2DB
morefocus.I beganto analyse the UShip ableto advisedeveloping aftistsandhelpkids {) + King'sCro555t Pancrasand Euston
h o ps c eneindept h.T h i si s w h e reth e i d e ao f whoneeda legitimate waytoearnmoney.
streetteamscamef rom,byseeingwhat ldon'twanta nine-tofive officejob.' Discoverthe world'sknowledge
arlistslikeDipset,G UnitandMasterPwere Interview: DanieIle Aumord.myspace.com/
d o i ng.I als os awt hat th emo n e y ' a s c tu a l liyn mikeglc glcentertainment.com

May22 - 28 2008 www.timeout.comllondon 21