YO Phenom, LEady, ApeXX, and others
 

yo you guys have done shows and yuour are all saying its best to do shows then after try and sell your Cd

and i was just wondering how do you do a show
like you guys make it seem so easy to get a show
so i was wondering if you all can give some steps about that shit
since you gave us advice about selling our product


thanks

first you start off by dissing mexican herbs like yourself....

as demonstrated here..... http://community.rapverse.com/showthread.php?t=213331

yo........i thought i was blocked, LOL i guess you cant get enough of me.....LOL

Well...I haven't done many shows, but I'm pretty sure I know how it's done...

Step 1:

Find a place that will draw a big enough crowd to get some real results. Make sure that the general area will have an interest in your music.

Step 2:

Advertise. Like a mother fuck. Post them posters up in stores, schools, everything. That will get your show known.

Step 3:

Finding equipment can be a bitch...you gotta have everything you need...I'm not sure what it is cause I always use my friends' shit haha...

Step 4:

Practice your music. Make sure you got it down and memorized.

Step 5:

Get all the necessary people you will need to help...bouncers, DJ's, etc. You need somebody who's gonna press a button on a CD player to play the instrumental, or a DJ who will spin you beats.

Step 6:

Get the crowd bumpin. Use a couple opening songs to get the crowd started and then switch it up.

All I know really.

damn skippy compadre...i just had some kid IM me saying he felt bad for you...cause of my song....

but yo i wanna take this time out to thank you......for the Cheesy Gordita Crunch.....i get 2 of them bitches every time i go to Taco Bell man

im not talking about renting out a place and doing shit like that.....

i talking about clubs and other shit like that.............

go to the nearest Casa Bravo restaurant......and im sure theyll give you a show playing the banjo

yo kid this aint a beef thread so stop beefing and yo if you wanna talk shit heres my aim

Stativitie

hit me up with all your bull shit....

Nah, that's for doing your own show which is something you don't want to do for quite a long long time.

In refference to the question, getting gigs is pretty easy, but it all comes down to how much a person likes you and your music. Essentially, you have to speak to the manager or anyone with chest hairs in there and ask them if it's cool that you perform a track or three FREE and live. Offer them a CD in the same sentence so you're in/out fast and you didn't say anythin to put your foot in your ass. They MUST listen to your CD and their own curiosity will burn them till they do, if you pull it off. Make sure you got your info on your CD it self and it's done. I put my email and phone number, but you can put either or, but understand you'll get way more hits on a phone number than you EVER will by email. I don't think one person's ever emailed me and I can't tell you how many calls I've gotten. The proces after you hand em the CD is to lay up and see what they have to say. If they don't call, you go hit em again like "yo what's up? what'd you think?" and sort it out, they'll respect you for that at the very least. Club owners know club owners, so ask em if he knowns anywhere you can hit and there's a good chance he'll mention another club he owns, or if it's a DJ, it'll be another club he performs at. THAT'S HOW YOU MULTIPLY GIGS!! If you're nice, they'll whore you out for a little by asking you to come back more and more but never pay you and really think they're getting you, but in actuallity you're whoring them because you're getting 3 things that a new artists needs IMMEDIATELY: Exposure, Money, especially as a result of that exposure (selling CD's during performances, boys on stage help) and Groupies. Not to mention you get a "home club" which people are gonna love hearing you tell em, like "yo, if you want ot hear me and cant hit my site or something ,come to so and so club on these days" and it's a rap. My Home Club was Escape and Hummers for about a month. For the timing on the "can I sell my CD's here at the shows?" part, wait till the second time before you ask em to hand out CD's for sale. It looks a little tacky up front sometimes, so you read the situation. There's no reason you can't get it at least 8 out of 10 clubs. Either using the round about and longer pay-off way, or the short but immediate way.


The CD's you give em: MAKE SURE TO HAVE A HOT TRACK THAT'S CLUB MATERIAL!! You have to be EXTRA hot at this point since they'd be playing you along side some high calibur club songs. Don't put your bitch ass cry baby song on the CD first, give em that high energy popper, and follow it up with 2-3 more and END THE CD!! Don't fuck your self by doing or saying too much, just end it with what's direct and be content with knowing that ending it there is the best possible thing. And from there you can pimp those gigs till they get tired of seeing you, or you flat out saturate that area. Use those smaller home clubs as momentum to get you bigger ones that pay and do the same thing there, and so on. You could literally repeat this process forever and directly into a deal easily, just by the sheer odds of it.

And that's about that. I'm tired typing and I'm sure you're tired reading, but there's a little end peice to this I'll get in later. This is enough to get going. 1

sounds like what I've been hearing the past 2 days I've been investigating

yep

and my goal is to perform my first show before february 06


1


good/interesting info

Wow. Thanks for all the info. Right now I'm getting shows lined up for the summer.

yeah apexx pretty much nailed it all on the head perfectly.... u just need to approach people in the correct manner so they like u as a person and ALLWAYS have demo's handy ready to pass on to them.... you wont succeed everytime no matter how good u are, u just got to be willing to take no for an answer, but put in the work n it allways pays off eventually.... theres really i can say apexx hasnt allready said so ill leave it at that

-Wishes he was of legal age to even go into clubs.-

:(

My advice -

Go up and be like "AYO, CAN I GET A SHOW?!" and then they'll say yes.

Word.

Or he'll say no, either way.. you get an answer.

Yeah, same difference. If he says no, slap his face with swiss cheese.

I've done about 10 shows in the last year...how i did was go hang at the local hip hop shop, or hang out...club etc...meet the people, meet the promoters...all my shows have been with two of the five promoters in the city. you need to make contacts first, get recognized in cyphers, make poeple know you are a serious emcee.
ussually underground is pretty clickish, like everyhting else, friends support friends.
thats whats real.

network, network, network.

Dooms was right on though. The last thing owners want to hear is some cocky ass kid pushin shit. Sounds gay, but be polite/professional, and let them know you ain't a punk, but that you're serious about making that specific night, a money maker for them and you. If you bring a live show, you will bring more people to their club, and they will sell more liquor. To a manager - thats the bottomline.

And its the same in Edmonton - club owners usually have their hands in 2 or 3 (or 5) clubs in the same town. And if they like your attitute/music/professionalism, maybe it won't work at Club A, but it's just what the manager thinks Club C needs on a Friday night.

word to Jpoll too. Thats networking. Meet people who know people. Promotors always want to hear whats new, and whats an opportunity for them to make money. And if it happens to be some new hip hop group with a live set, then damn rights they gon contact you about tryin it out one night. Where I used to live at (Before I moved here and hooked up with Reddnation) me and some friends knew a dj who ran one of the clubs in Regina. (777's) We asked him about doin a show, and did HUGE advertising for it. We put like 400 EXTRA people in the club, (that usually only has 300-400 people there... smaller club, and we doubled attendance) and after our set, the manager approached US about doing that on a regular basis. Hence 'Live Hip Hop @ 777's' every Saturday night... It's still running there, 2+ years straight. word.

1

http://community.rapverse.com/showt...ewpost&t=213226

yeah, ALLWAYS be professional dont go up all like "yo dawg, i wanna perform nah mean" try show a buisiness side and sum intelligence, it shows ur serious in your music and are attempting to get a buisiness head on in order to help u make moves, manners play a big part in it aswell, if ur sat in a bar or w/e with a promoter or w/e offer to get the first round in, shake hands but try avoid them stupid little "ghetto" handshakes u do.... what you need to remember is, this is an industry.... a buisiness world, so like any other buisiness you need advertising.... you are your buisiness, ur music ur product, and when companies approach people about advertising the are extremely professional, same goes for any kind of music.

i remember one promoter i met, n when we was talking about the show, dude sounded like he owned a multi-million dollar buisiness, but once that finished n we jus chilled out n enjoyed the bar for the night, he was like sum stoner rasta lol... but it shows, when ppl take the music serious, they take themself serious, and act like they buisiness is serious.

actually I would like to know this too, and yo man he didn't say after the show sell ya tapes he said before cause after people will have spent all they're money.

Phenom what if we're to young to to a show at a club? I'm just turnin 16 in June I have like 3 years left till I'm allowed to go in a real club, how the fuck would I be able to do a show?

i dunno about over there, but here sum clubs allow ppl in to perform n then they have to leave(or atleast thats what a couple done round my area)... erm but ur best bet is jus hit up cyphers in the street like CRAZY, erm and hit up any events and promoters that do shit out of clubs n more likely to be open to all ages

Good advice Phenom and everyone else


I def. realize alotta times it's not WHAT you know but WHO you know...

daz why I do plan to approach people in the clubs...the owners/DJs/promoters, specifically about possibly doing shows and appearing at certain events...

man...this is gettin me all psyched...it's DEF. like a hustle

haaaaa


word

PS...wut yall mean by CYPHERS in the street?

a cypher in the street is like, a group of people gather in a circle, n basically u jus spit freestyles or writtens(whichever u prefer) n u jus go round everybody takin it in turns to spit.... i got a video of a street cypher filmed down in london if u want me to upload for u to peep

no one is saskatoon raps, like the chance of findin someone is slim to none compared to other places man.

AHHHH...gotcha


LOL./.but I'd def. spit writtens that sound like freestyles cuz I am not a freestyle emcee...I can do it, but it's DEF. not my strong suit

best thing to do Q is practice freestyling, sum of my sickest lines have come from spittin freestyles.... and i quite often use lines from freestyles for example

"i got the reaper giving head whilst u flirtin with death" was originally spit in a freestyle... just practice spittin to urself for a while untill u feel comfortable spittin for people

Well...i think alotta cats who "freestyle" often use lines they have already formulated in their heads or written down before to be honest...


but I am def. more of a song writer than freestyler...I don't see why freestyling is such a rite of passage...and for me, it won't be...


I'll do what I have to...but I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses

freestyling isnt a nececity... and yes when freestyling ppl do spit written lines at times, freestyling is spittin summin off the top of your head.

ill usually make 4 lines in my head to get me goin, then continue from there.. every now n then spit a written line or couplet if my mind goes abit jus to help me get on track, n theres times its not intended.... but its expected when u freestyle.

but freestyling has its advantages, cos freestyle takes raw skill to do effectively, n it comes in handy for battles(which is another good way to get ur name heard), cyphers, feedin off what sum1 said previously or what sum1 is wearing or whatever, or where u are havin the cypher... if ppl see u bringin maaad skills with freestyles n they know it is cos of what ur sayin bein appropriate to there and then so it bein impossible to pre-write, people will be like "damn, if u can do that freestylin, i need to see what ur like when u write"

^^Eehhh...I repect freestyler cuz it is a skill...but I value writing songs...that's my strength


but I feel where you're coming from

Whats good playaz,

Here are some tips I found worked along the way to my mediocre stardom (jk).

There are two tools you MUST have nowadays.
1. Fax machine. This is your new best friend. Because it allows you to travel to another place which is 20km or 1000km away and drop off a flyer advertising your services. In other words, you can fax organizations/companies, etc a poster of yourself promoting your tour/show. Make sure you include the basics. WHO WHAT WHEN (anytime) and HOW (to get in touch with you or where you can find more info which leads to #2.)

2. INTERNET. Build a website or homepage (as long as it looks good and NOT cheesy). One thing I learned in college was anyone can have a million-dollar looking company on the internet if its made properly. If its not million-dollar quality, then make sure it looks decent.
- Get a domain name.
- Get a mailing list.
- With the internet (which you all obviously have) you can search clubs in your surrounding area, out of state/province, and other venues. Obtain phone numbers, fax numbers, emails, etc.

Another good tip is "No one else is gonna do it for you." (unless your're lucky enough to sign a deal)>>> I got cats signed and all that, but if they don't put in work, then shits not gonna get done. I do my part, but you have to do yours as well if you want it bad enough. Determination is key.

BUT I can't kick you outta bed and tell you to go hustle...You need the drive and gutso to go out there and talk to people. I HATE networking, it ain't my thing but I recently went out to an evetn and sucked up my pride and approcahed some people. Gave out a few free CDs (remember not all your CDs are for profit) to promo, and lo and behold I had a few moer people interested in what I was doing. At the beginning of this event I had nonbody interested cuz nobody really knew me. UNTIL I stepped up and did a bit of networknig, handed out business cards, CDs, shook hands, etc.

Our popularity as a group stems from the first nation communities in Canada. Mostly by word of mouth and referrals. We don't do the club thing, not our style. But props to Dooms for droppin that info regarding that.

peace
ILL
REDDNATION
REDD ROCC RECORDS