interview with Proseed as seen in TheThrowAwayDays issue #1

TheThrowAwayDays: You told me before when you were starting to working out the kinks in "Depth in Shallows" that you were going to do it right as far as promo went. What all does that entail and how has that worked out?
PROSEED: Well it's more than just putting it on a myspace page and blowing up peoples profiles up, man. I never really understood marketing, I never really understood that there was a distinction between exposure and retainment. I spent $2,900 on city paper ads back when I put out "Quintessential," and that's when I had website. I don't even think I had much of a mailing list, I may have had some sort of a mailing list program that came with my web-host, but I didn't know what the first thing I was doing with it. So right there is a big loss. With all that money I spent on a city paper ad, and number of unique visitors at that time, who are those people? I have no idea at this point. So to answer your question it's just really about understanding. After 10 years of performing in the city of Pittsburgh, I'm finally understanding the things I need to do as far as micro-marketing of getting your music out. I understand it at this point. Which is a shame because I've been doing this for 10 years now. But at the same time I feel like my music is quality now. I always had a confidence about what I was doing but I can look back at every album I've put out including "Broken Body Walkman Shop" and know the flaws, know the mistake I've made, but I don't feel that way about this album. I'm perfectly comfortable about this album, there's not a moment where I cringe, it sounds great. I'm happy with the content, I'm proud of it, it's a mature album. Really it's the first day of my new life so to speak as being a hip hop artist.

TTAD: So what are some of the things you've done, I know you went and made some videos to hype it up, what else?
PROSEED: Well prior to this storm I was in the process of doing the whole cd baby thing, so I'm doing digital distribution that way. As far as other things it's really a word of mouth social networking. Then for the show we have coming up the 27th I'm gonna do small budget for a Reverbnation promoted thing and to try to an ad trying to get the whole promoted blanket. Which is them hitting up Youtbue, they hit up Facebook, and try to promote the show for a week. That's the other thing that I've learned, and this is partly my fault, and it's also party the whole shift in the music industry. When I started out there wasn't a Facebook, there wasn't stuff like that. That's the whole learning process right there. The fact that micro-marketing is where it's at now. You don't spend thousands of dollars to get it in print based media, you spend tens and hundreds of dollars if that to just get word of mouth and spread it like wild fire like that. The other stuff does not work, you need to aggregate what you doing in multiple places.

TTAD: When we filmed "Depth in Shallows", you were like thaw worlds biggest nancy boy, with like walking around the steps and stuff. What did you do your entire childhood? Did you have any hobbies that involved the out doors?
PROSEED: (laughs) That's funny dude, my friend is always making fun of me for that. He's actually tearing down a den for an old lady, and his mother actually asked him who can he get to help, she said, "what about Derek?" He said, "nah mom, nah, he's not really the laborist type." I get made fun of all the time for that. I dunno man, I mean we had a farm, my grandfather had a farm up in the Meadville area. We still have land up there but outside of that, no I guess I was never an outdoorsy person. I was a boy-scout for a little bit.

TTAD: How far did you get?
PROSEED: Oh not far. It probably wasn't past 5th or 6th grade. Definitly wasn't past grade school.

TTAD: Yo your child hood group Solid Ground Entiertainment, you're about to be last of the Mohicans. You hear Kid A is hanging it up?
PROSEED: I know man, but you know what, I don't honestly believe he's hanging it up. He goes through these depressing stages and then he comes back, He's said stuff like this in the past I think. Maybe not as blatant and as explicit, but I don't think he's gonna hang it up. He just needs something to re-inspire him.

TTAD: How much more you think you got in you? You're about to be done with school pretty soon right?
PROSEED: I'm done with school. I got my masters last spring. I'm working with kids in a school district out my way, it's in an after school setting. But hanging it up man, that's not soon. I'm definitely at my point where I'm like, "man, I'm getting tired of this. " But every artist has probably gone through that, especially when you're not receiving the attention you think you deserve. But at the end of the day I'm still doing it because it's fun, and I'm still doing it because it's fulfilling to me, and it's art and I always wanna do something art related. So hanging it up, I'm not ready to do that, man. Especially with this album, I'm so confident with this album. Especially if the right ears hear it, it's gonna spread a heck of a lot more than anything I've ever done in the past in the past. I'm not saying I'm gonna blow up with this. But I think it's finally gonna hit something. It's hopefully gonna spread through blogs and everything. I'm trying to get into podcasts, of course I'm not trying to get it on commercial radio or anything like that but I'm trying to make some impact this time around.

TTAD: What are your goals for this album, it seems like you're pouring a lot into this album, what do you expect out?
PROSEED: to be brutally honest with numbers, I'd like to see can I do 200 cds within a year. Can I do 400 downloads within a year, and a good chuck of that is something with payment. With Bandcamp I'm doing the pay what you want price on it. It's a small goal, but to be honest I've never hit that in the past. I put 1000 cds out with "Quintessential" and I have 7 or 8 boxes with dozens of copies in my parents den.

TTAD: Are you gonna do a lot more shows to try and get it out?
PROSEED: Well to do shows, I wanna do outside of the city. They been talking to me in Fortified PhonetX about a bi-monthly thing, but I don't like the idea. Not to ids their idea, but I wouldn't like the idea of doing a bi-monthly. I think you really soak up quickly the turn out of doing something like that. I think I would be more effective in Pittsburgh if I did a show every 3 or 4 months.
     Yeah, I wanna do shows do shows outside of this city. It doesn't have to be large cities, I'm doing a show in Erie in May. I wanna go back out to Youngstown, I did a show there last May. I'm down to shows I just don't wanna do a show once every month in the city of Pittsburgh and see the same 15 faces. That's really where you have to take it if you're gonna get anywhere. And I know you been doing that a lot, you been grinding on the shows going all over the place. And that's really what it takes man. But the fact that you gotta go on this one month tour, I'm not sure if that for one, is absolutely necessary for everyone, and two it's frankly not feasible for me. I have a full time job. But I'm more than happy to go out on the weekend and drive a couple hours out. There's plenty of people in PA and it's surrounding cities and states.

TTAD: What's up Surface Level Records, that's something you started with FPX right?
PROSEED: Yeah, I'll be the second release out on that label. Honestly it's still not officially a label. I'm gonna do trademark and start out with that for protection purposes and because it's kind of cheap to do it that way. But yeah I'd like to see that as a slow road long term sort of a thing man. If there is ever a time when I hang it up maybe it will be the time when I decide to do something else but still related to the music. When I'm helping some younger act get their music out, publish it or something like that. Yeah, that's a learning process too. Everyone has their logo and their name, but not everyone has the logistics down on what really makes a label. And I think we're all kind of on the same page in working towards that. And trying to create  brand, because once you create a brand you create that label and you create that name. And like everything else, your combing networks, your combining the peoples you've reached, and that's a sure shot way of growing the audience as well.


Proseed

http://www.musicbyproseed.com
https://www.facebook.com/musicbyproseed/
https://soundcloud.com/musicbyproseed
@musicbyproseed

interview by Cody Jones/Stillborn Identity

https://www.facebook.com/stillcody
stillbornidentity.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/stillborn-identity
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stillborn-Identity/154438521280723
https://www.youtube.com/user/stillcodentity
@CodyJonesSTLBRN

New cool rap videos

These all came out this week.
Dinosaur Burps - Hasil Fatkins

Fortified PhonetX feat. Frigid Giant - Your Life

Proseed - Depth of Shallows

Political Animals. May 4th, 2012

     Typically when this much time has passed after a show I consider writing about it a lost cause. However I liked Political Animals a lot and have been wanting to plug them on my blog for a while. Not that this blog has high traffic and it will benefit them at all, but it's the thought that counts, or so I think.

     Less than two weeks before this show Connect( of Fortified PhonetX) hit me up about trying to help out a Connecticut hip hop band.  Being the prematurely jaded 24 year old that I am, I offered little to no help with finding a venue. Booking is stressful, and without proper time to promote getting a decent amount of gas money for the touring act, above a rental fee is near impossible.  Luckily Connect showed more chivalry than I did, and found a venue(The Smiling Moose) that was willing to do a free day show and give the acts a percentage of bar sales. This was good because it was low risk for us "promoters," but it was also going to be low reward for the touring act, unless I got in full lush mode and used my self destructive drinking habits to support Political Animals' tour.
     Finally, I thought to myself, I'm drinking for a cause and not just because. I had the noble plans of drinking only high end beers, not only support the touring act, but also to trick everyone at the show that I was a baller. However when I showed up and there was a game day special I found myself double fisting dollar beers at the bar as quickly as possible to get my buzz going before the special was up and the sun was down. And I did so ef ficiently, buying beers upon beers in advance for myself to stock up for after the special. Completely disregarding my initial plan of using my alcoholism to financially support the touring band as much as possible.

     Luckily I played first before my buzz completely settled in and I said too many embarrassing things on stage. Next was Proseed who always kills it, and subsequently is also always sober for his sets. Political Animals played third and brought to the table their live band and conventional boom bap style. Positive songs about elevating hip hop instead of getting diluted by mass media rappers, and also elevating and being positive about yourself. I dug it. I also dug how humbled they were, and how honored they were that Connect would help them out so last minute. Last was Fortified PhonetX who always kill it. All this before 9pm, it's pretty rad to see what can be done by artists when they respect each others music enough to help them out. Get drunk, play a show, get paid, all before turning into a pumpkin.
Stillborn Identity
Proseed
Political Animals(download their free ep)
Fortified PhonetX
@ The Smiling Moose. May 4th, 2012

Steddy P @ Shadow Lounge 7-2-2012

     Live hip hop shows have always been, in my opinion, for getting boozed up. It's pretty rare that I can go to a live, hear someone for the first time, and be into anything more than their presence and beats. Leaving out the element most important to me, the lyrical content. However last night that outlook of going to shows just to get faded changed considering the fact that I'm broke and virtually unemployed.

      So when I heard about Proseed and Fortified PhonetX throwing a show at Shadow Lounge I could think of every excuse not to go so I could stay home and save money. But when my brothers in arms were frantically sending out texts last minute to avoid a flopped show I couldn't help but go out and support them when I'd rather be sitting in my lonely apartment listening to rats shit in my silverware drawer. Not to mention one of the texts I got said the $5 cover was reduced to $3 for fellow artists, and I assumed I'd be able to get a little buzz up by stealing drinks off of rich girls while they weren't looking.
     I arrived to the show two and a half sets in(missing Frigid Giant, Dos Noun, and part of Proseed), and to my dismay wasn't able to get in at the rumored reduced rate. No worries though, because I went out to try and salvage my friends potentially small show, one $5 cover charge at a time. Also to my dismay half the girls there were in some way related to Moemaw Naedon, making it a little uncomfortable to steal drinks from them in case I got caught.
     Either way, I showed up just in time to catch my first show experience with Steddy P. And although I was crabby and sober, the dude from Kansas City killed it. Steddy P's set was super enthusiastic and you could tell he was more than happy to be in Pittsburgh for the first time. One of my favorite lines of his that really stuck with me was,"work hard, play hard, party hard, fuck hard... until we reach the graveyard." He ended his set by inviting everyone in the audience to go do shots with him. If only I could have...
     He's got free shit online, and seems to be the touring type, check it out, then don't be a scrub like me and buy his shit when he rolls through your town and do some shots with him.


http://www.facebook.com/steddyp
http://steddyp.bandcamp.com/

Proseed - Quintessential

Proseed played a show a few nights ago at The Shadow Lounge and I totally missed it because I'm a scrub and decided to stay home and play with my dog instead. Luckily a there is a footage of the show online so anything I missed in person I get to catch up with online and talk about the show like I was actually there. Right? Or is the internet only used for watching monkey piss on themselves and women masturbate... Either way here is some footage of Proseed killing it with DJ Blacklisted(of Fortified PhonetX)

It's awesome to see Proseed getting such a warm introduction by one of Pittsburgh's most reputable emcees, Real Deal. Proseed has been killing it for years and deserves every bit of respect he gets and much more. He's one of the few emcees I've seen in Pittsburgh whose draw transcends one genre of hip hop. He'll rip every show he's put on weather the audience be backpackers, thugs, punks, deaf dogs, hipster hop heads, drunk yinzers, nerd rappers, crabby pregnant women, or anything and anyone you put in front of his stage. It's inspiring to see great his great lyrical ability will go above and beyond his standard Solid Ground Entertainment(SGE) realm that he's been dominating ever since I saw him open for Louis Logic and Z Man in 2005/2006.

In spite of missing his show the other night I decided to listen to all I have of his discography today while miserably wrenching on withered old Mustangs at my dads auto body shop. And in doing so I came to find out(again) that his even his 2007 first full length, Quintessential, is so much better than what people are doing 5 years later, although he considers it to be "a little premature."

When this came out I use to go to shows on a straight solo mission, dead sober, sitting at the bar by myself, ordering water, nervously looking around and pretending to check my cell phone that didn't have texting... it was awkward. I had tried to work up the courage to ask Derek for a copy of his cd, with $10 in my hand to make the transaction as fast and painless as possible, but that water on the rocks I was sipping didn't give my any extra confidence. So needless to say when I saw the release a few weeks later at The Record Exchange for a mere $10.70 I did not hesitate to pay the extra 70 cents not to have to talk to an artist that I respected. It doesn't make sense I know, but what can I say, I have horrible social skills, which is probably why I blog.

Years later when I watching one of his sets at The Smiling Moose he grabbed a few long lasting copies of Quintessential and set them on the floor in front of the stage and said that anyone who wanted one could have one. After that he looked at me, knowing I had bought it years prior and apologized that I had to pay full price for it. Then he added some dry humored comment like, "no refunds," and went on with his set. I didn't mind paying money to support artists that I respect, talking to them(while sober) is the tough part.

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then when you like it buy a physical copy here or digital here
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HW, Jesse Dangerously, Shane Hall, Fortified Phonetx, Proseed, Stillborn Identity

 3-12-11 at Garfield Artworks. Please note HW was so modest he apologized for such a vain flier(while everyone else just complained about such an unreadable flier), then proceeded to kill it after showing up fashionably late(due to traffic not being a "rock star")to the show. However Jesse Dangerously showed no such modesty seeing as he had no qualms with taking his clothes off during his set, dead give away that he was Canadian. Shane Hall was the last of the touring acts to play leaving the crowd pleasantly pleased with his ability to rap as well as play guitar and sing. It was later revealed that Shane Hall is a long time affiliate of Strange Famous Records, and I was able to dig up a pretty flatter thread about his release, Basic Draining.
HW
Jesse Dangerously
Shane Hall
Proseed
Fortified PhonetX
Stillborn Identity

Here is some lofi proof that this show went down. Proseed killing it.