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keys to the city sample post for publishers

via brandon at urb

Ever since Murs started dropping solo LPs back in the late ’90s (beginning with F’Real in ’97), he’s adhered strictly to a “record, release, tour, repeat” lifestyle/work-style regimen, with very few free windows in which to pause, chill and refl ect on all that he’s accomplished. And that’s fine ’cause he’s nothing if not a workaholic, and momentum lost can certainly be a challenging thing to rev back up. But, for anyone with a penchant for pondering, there’s no question that Murs is currently at the single most crucial crossroads in his entire rhyming-and-stealing career. He is halfway complete with that most-dreaded anti-underground achievement: the major-label debut.

And here it is...


“For all the fans that are gonna hate me [for signing to WB], go check the liner notes to Good Music,” says Murs, referring to his 1999 album. “I said that my goal was to sell 13 million records. And I thought for the longest time it was gonna be me releasing 30 albums and selling 500,000 of each. But now I have the chance to be on MTV, and motherfucker, I’m gonna take it. But I’m bringing all of you with me. Everybody who’s supported me for the past 10 years, we are going to MTV. That’s why it’s Murs For President ’cause if I have to play politics with this bullshit industry, I’m going to be the motherfucking president. I’m not gonna be a senator. I’m not gonna be in the House of Representatives.”

keys to the city sample post for publishers

I don't remember the first time I ever heard Murs or the moment I got hip or realized that out of all the Living Legends he was the most likely to blow but I do remember making the argument to my friends as far back as sophmore year of high school (1999-2000). We were undergrounder than thou, anything that had a hook or a chance at radio airplay was for sellouts, suckers and pussies. Murs was like the guilty pleasure, some soda pop to wash down the weight. I remember buying a casette from him outside a show at the now defunct Palookaville nightclub in Santa Cruz, the one with the hand drawn picture of a project block. It completely floored me how rappers would walk around outside their shows slanging cd's and actually talking to fans like people. They seemed bigger than billboards or baseball stadiums to me and Murs was no exception. That's why when I got to meet him so many years later on the Keys to the City shoot, it really meant alot, because I felt like we'd both grown up alot and I'd had his back the whole way.

So here's the first episode from Murs' KTTC jawn, its kind of a teaser but really sets the stage.

-Will 2dopeboyz.com

Keys LA plan

Deadline is NOV 14, thats 1 month from now!

These are the artists and a breakdown of the weekly pairings, feel free to change this as you see fit. But the idea is to feature 2 artists per week, so thats 3 days per artist.

Murs
Pac Div

Game
Glasses Malone

Bishop Lamont
Crooked i

Blu
dublab

The Knux
Uni

J davey
Miguel Jontel

Peanut butter wolf - stones throw - kind of alot there, so maybe the whole week


For now I am going to just be collecting all relevant media (albums, songs, photos, videos and posting it into the keys media post on this blog, you do the same thing.

Expect 2 original keys to the city videos, per artist, alot of times there will be 3 but 2 is safe.

So each Keys to the city video needs a post with it, but we can't really do that until they arrive (shortly) but the other 2 days, should focus on the artists past, and present. so photos, and words and songs and albums etc. Thats the part we can and have to do now.

So in the meantime, lets just post around the keys videos and add them as they come in.

keys media

Keys to the City

Keys to the City

See a scene through the eyes of its artists and architects

Mission
To identify artists who act as catalysts for the creation of community, to promote those who push collective progress over personal gain, to recognize a region's respect for itself, and to document its dynamics with authentically dope multimedia.

Area code isn't a declaration of geography, its a degree of familiarity. Keys to the City turns tourists into natives, boundaries into borders and observers into outposts.

Goals

1. Garner national expsoure for a city's definitive artists
   
2. Empower its journalists, bloggers, photographers, fans, filmmakers to tell their story from a native perspective
   

Moving Parts

1. An essay written by a local magazine or blogger
1. Philly essay by Hezekiah here
   
2. A DJ mix featuring all the participating artists & honorable mentions/out of reach people
   
3. A photo slideshow featuring one of the scene's most active photographers
   
4. A music playlist created by a blogger or artist
   
5. Interviews with artists about their hometown, how it informs the music they make, what it's like to be an artist there, how their city differs from others, what fills them with pride about it, their hopes for it, who they respect and how they contribute to the scene.
   
6. Video shot on location with the artists acting as tour guides, narrators, ambassadors
1. Favorite places to eat, drink, play shows. Where they make music, where they grew up, where they got in trouble, fought, won, were inspired. Showing popular reference points or places they shout out or describe in songs.
   
7. A Keys to the City song. A beat by an influential or definitive producer from the area that every participating MC drops a verse on. Hopefully becoming something of an anthem or ode to the city itself.
   
8. History and context. A playlist of songs or music videos key to that region's development & idenity as dj'd or vj'd by one of its elder statesmen.
   

Highlights so far

Videos

The Roots on Philly


The Roots Picnic webisode series


Diplo on Philly


Wale Presents DC




Playlists

Jazmine Sullivan on Philly


?uestlove's favorite Illadelph Songs