NC ARTIST FEATURE - Mica Swain

Mainstream status for hip-hop’s highness Mica Swain was indelible and has been in the making for several years. At the tender age on nine, the North Carolina native was spitting rhymes mimicking her idols Big Daddy Kane and M.C. Lyte. Hoping to emulate the power of these two pioneers would be wishful thinking to any novice rapper, but Big Daddy Kane enlisted the young hopeful to grace the stage with him and eventually became her mentor. “Big Daddy Kane groomed me and took me under his wing to witness the business and artist side of being on tour,” she stated when asked about her relationship with the Brooklyn rapper. “Kane pulls me on his set and lets me spit a 16 or we will do a song or two together. We got a song where we go back and forth exchanging verbal jabs at any challengers,” she continues. Emerging during hip-hop’s unfavorable sales and signing of females artist has never been a concern to Mica. Thus far, she has received unprecedented support from her hometown, while helping up coming rappers to gain recognition of their own via the DJ Barry Bee mixtape, The Product of Da M.C.” I went around the Carolinas and featured the best of the best in the region to showcase them to the world in the same likeness of herself,” she states. Mica’s latest offering, Dope Boy Magic, is a self-explanatory heater that finds Mica sprinkling her magic formula over a potent and hypnotizing beat, while utilizing the vocal synthesizer known as autotunes made famous by T.Pain. The heavily melodic hook can be heard on several prominent DJ’s mixtapes. With the sexiness of an A-list actress from Hollywood and on par with the vivacity of Trina, Mica’s uniqueness will undoubtedly set her apart, defying any standard expectations. Several platinum beatmakers and up and coming boardsman already expressed interest in contributing to her forthcoming album on the strength of the incredible buzz she garnered thus far. Whether singing melodic hooks to accompany her unique flow or writing her own lyrics, this multi-talented artist embraces tenacity like no other. She has taken advantage of what destiny has already offered and went from mainstream obscurity to hundreds of thousand of fans on myspace, facebook and youtube.
www.myspace.com/micaswain
www.facebook.com/micaswain
www.twitter.com/micaswain

NC Artist Feature - Derty Den

While the people of the Carolina's appreciate the shirt-swangin' movement Petey Pablo and Timberland introduced the game to, the Hip-hop waters are ready for a new southern splash and GDA head honcho, Derty Den, plans to go in cannonball style.
Towering at an enormous 6' 3'' and 320lbs, Derty Den a.k.a. Big Gates was born and proud to be raised in a small town in North Carolina built on rampant drugs, alcohol, and violence. However, after studying other artists to be a great Master of Ceremonies, and wanting to reflect on the "good" in the hood instead of the constant negatives, Den aims to create a sound that needs to be heard at loud volumes only. "I want to show [that] the South is more than [just] screaming, yelling, and stereotypes."
With today's globally lukewarm music climate, the task does seem like bit of a stretch but if anybody is capable of grabbing the people's attention, it would have to be Derty Den. At times, his swagger, energy, and flow can be reminiscent of the late, great Biggie Smalls, as he too is comfortable with size and confident in his abilities. His true-to-life, story-telling style of rap has earned him Best Southern Artist credentials at the Underground Music Awards and continuous coverage in major music publications such as The Source, Ozone, and the largest Hip-hop magazine in France, Rap U.S. His latest street-single "Poppin," is steadily gaining momentum on the Southern home-front, as that track coupled with the instant smash, "Heatwave," was all Don Cannon (Apphiliates) needed to hear before agreeing to do his mixtape. "To have a DJ as strong as Cannon support me is tremendous to say the least," he happily explains with a hint of gratitude.
Although he vows to "do for the Carolina's and Virginia" what Eminem did for the market in Detroit or what NWA did for the West Coast, he knows the road to success may be a bumpy ride all the way through. Musically he is ready for the journey
www.myspace.com/DirtyDengit

NC Artist Feature - Lil Buna

Lil Buna (NC female rapper) is one of the artist who is featured on the Carolina Blue Vol. 2 compilation album. Her feature track is entitled 'F Wit You'. The track was produced by yours truly, Ski Beatz. This track has been receiving numerous MySpace hits. She resides in Goldsboro, North Carolina and was born in Florence, South Carolina. What is so unique about this artist is her ability to represent both states. The Carolina industry is so underestimated but this track is a representation of what you receive when both states collide. Lil Buna is truthfully a CAROLINA (NC/SC) artist.
www.myspace.com/itsbuna

Carolina Blue Volume 2

Ski Beatz presents Carolina Blue Volume 2. A compilation of all the top artist, producers,DJs and promoters from North Carolina. Ski Beatz gives back to his state. Come join the movement.
www.myspace.com/carolinabluemixtape

Ski Beatz

SKI BEATZ
In 1990, under the direction of celebrated producer Clark Kent, Ski moved to NYC, formed the group Original Flavor and began making his mark as a lyricist and producer on songs such as Here We Go and Can I Get Open, featuring then unknown rapper Jay-Z. After two albums Original Flavor disbanded and Ski moved forward to give hip-hop fans a new raw sound they hadn't heard before. It was then that Ski and then manager Damon Dash found a unique, untapped talent in young lyricist Jay-Z. Ski would go on to be one of the largest contributors to Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, discover Camp-Lo (producing countless songs for them including wildly popular songs Luchini and Coolie High), create his own record label (Roc-a-Blok) and put his trademark sound on such hits as Who You Wit and Streets is Watching (Jay-Z), Johnny Blaze (Big Pun, Fat Joe, Method Man, Nas, The Lox) and Spend a Little Doe (Lil' Kim).
www.skibeatz.com or www.myspace.com/skibeatz

source: Billboard Times