Keep it Reel tour in Amarillo review

  I was so excited this week to have the opportunity to attend the Mars/Mastamind Keep it Reel Tour in Amarillo, TX.  Since the T.O.N.E-Z and Mars show back in April I have had a good working relationship with Mars.  My one reservation was how well it was being promoted and if there would be any fans that came out for the show.  Well my fears were realized when we arrived at 6 pm (when the show was supposed to be starting) and no one was there yet.  I contacted the promoter who informed me they were on the way.  Once they arrived they told me the start time had been changed to 7:00 pm.  About 6:55 pm they said they were bumping it til 7:30.  Then 8:00.  And finally 8:15 pm we started.  I had been asked to host the show which I thought was cool.  So here is how the actual performances went down!

  First on the mic was Concrete Connection and Doeh4Sho.  They did about a 15-20 min set.  Nothing to spectacular but definitely not a waste of time.  It was very hip hop and well performed.

After they were finished 2 Skare took the stage.  I was pleasantly surprised by his set due to the fact he changed the set list, removed the song I knocked him for in the last show review, and added some new original material.  He is still very raw and needs to work on his stage presence but we are all a work in progress.  Good work making it fresh.

Then we come to Wicked Butterflies Own Draztik the Terrible.  While his set did not have the same energy it did last week I think it was due to his frustration with how these shows have been promoted.  Of all things I felt motivated to hop on the mic and help him out as his hype man (yeah I wasn’t very good but for a first time with no planning or practice I didn’t expect much).  We had fun and with some work we can make a dope show happen.

The next group was a Texas Hip Hop group, can’t remember their name but they did not impress me at all.  They walked all over each other on the mic and really came across badly.  It was 4 guys and all 4 were rapping at one time a lot of the show.  They tried to sing and failed miserably.

An artist named Hollow was next.  He did well and for his last song he brought a ton of people on stage to record a video for that song.  Show was dope.

Klouded Judgement was up next.  They did a good set.  Not much to say about it other than it wasn’t horrible.

Sikmob did their set, but I was not in the building for it so I have no opinion.

Wicked Wayz went next and absolutely tore it up!  I love watching their show.  They use blacklight paint so when they get on stage you can’t see that they are painted.  Then as the show starts they hit a mix of strobe lights and blacklights.  When those are on the paint appears and makes for a very unique experience.

Now we get to some massive bullshit.  Mars was trying to get his set ready with the sound guy at the venue.  Something wasn’t working right and they had a dispute.  The sound guy was really disrespectful and Mars decided not to perform the set.  That is all I know about what happened and I cannot speculate on anything else.  The bummer was Mars didn’t perform.  But on the block next was Mastamind.

Mastamind took the stage about 11:45 pm.  This sucked because it was an all ages show til midnight and I had my 3 sons with me.  So 15 min into his set I had to leave with my family.  His show was looking very legendary as expected.

Now what I do know is that Black Project ended up having to not perform due to childcare issues as well.  This is crap.  Due to the time issues and other things I was unable once again to see Born Wicked, Sik Made Killas, or the end of the Mastamind set.

The promoter had 14 artists they wanted to perform, way too many!  The schedule was poorly planned.  There was absolutely no promotion other than a Facebook event page and a few posts on Facebook.  I hate to say it but this is the last local show I am going to do with this promoter.  They have failed 3 shows in a row to even get people in the door and all of the shows have been horribly planned and executed.  My artists are scheduled to perform at the Mini-Gathering in Sept and we will still do that show, but only because of the co-promoter for the show, Dmize.  I spoke with him yesterday and he guaranteed me it would not happen then.  I am willing to give him a chance but the other promoter, no way.

I sincerely hope anyone reading my blog appreciates my honest take on these shows.  I would love to get your feedback or suggestions for how I might improve these reviews.

MMFWCL,

Juggalotus

Mars and Mastamind in Amarillo!

Ok this Wed July 11, 2012 we have a major show going down.  We have the following artists performing at the show:

2Skare
D-Sin
Draztik the Terrible
Mr 806, T Makk, & Dohe4shoDmize
806 Outlaw and Narkotix
Sik Made Killaz
Born Wicked
SikMob
WazteLand Warriorz
Mars
Mastamind

I have had a chance to see most of these artists on more than one occasion and I can tell you this show is worth the $10 or $15 investment!  Please come out and support not only the local artists but the headliners who are constantly on the grind.  I will be back after the show with my review of the performances!

The show is going down here:

12052 Event Center
4901 S Washington St
Amarillo, TX

Come check it out and hang out with your boy Juggalotus and all of the Wicked Butterfly Entertainment Family!

MMFWCL,

Juggalotus

Miss Kisa in Amarillo

 Last night I had an opportunity to drive to Amarillo and see Miss Kisa live in person at the event center.  Let me start off by saying the 12052 Event Center kinda caught me off guard.  For those who follow my blog you will note that the last show there was disappointing due to them not having a stage and poor lights and music production.  Well the first thing I heard last night was that they had put in a stage and hired a pro DJ for sound.  So I went in to check it out and I can say I was blown away.  The place looks incredible!  The stage is super fresh.  The sound system has been upgraded.  And overall it looks so much more like a place to host a good quality show in Amarillo.  So kudos to the team at the event center!

  Now let's get to the show itself.  First off a lot of the openers failed to show up on time if at all.  This put the Booker/promoter in a bad spot of course.  They did the best they could to fill the gaps but the show started almost 2 hours late.  The worse part as a fellow promoter and Booker was the fact that there was no audience in the show again.  We were all performers and/or families or friends of performers.  I felt really bad for them but what could I do.  And then I started to think about how I would have done things different and well lets just say the audience size is definitely proportional to the amount of effort and footwork the promoter is willing to put in.

Now for the performers themselves.  The night started off with 2 Skare.  This guy puts a lot of heart and effort into what he does but I can't help think listening to his set that he is trying to hard to fit into the Psychopathic Records mold of performance.  He directly rips off Twiztid's W.I.C.K.E.D. in a track, which I find unoriginal and predictable based on his appearance.

Next up was Wicked Butterfly Entertainments very own Draztik the Terrible.  Now in his first two performances he started off lackluster and built into a solid performance by the end.  This show was different.  He started off on fire!  He blew the first song out of the water and didn't stop.  I know a lot of people in the audience took notice due to the comments I was hearing.  He still had some issue running out of breathe but that was due to the set list and having certain tracks back to back that need to be seperated.  All in all his best show to date.

We then came to a group of people that go by the name of Concrete Connection.  It is made up of Doh4Sho, JP tha Rippa, Mr. 806, T Makk, and Sir Johnson.  They did 3 separate sets all with various combinations of people.  They were good on the mic and had decent beats.  One of the major flaws was during the first set one of the beats still had the vocal tag from the free site they downloaded from.  For those who don't know the vocal tag is whatever site you got the beats from way of tagging the beat so you cant use it without purchasing it.  It vocalizes the site name over top of the beat and kinda ruins it if you don't pay them to remove it.  Other than that it seemed a lot like anything you would hear on the Hip Hop station which isn't bad but also lacks originality.  They had the standard format of 4 tracks.  Look how great we are, look at our money and riches, we hold our city down, and look at all the bitches we pull with our fame.  Like I said not bad but lacking originality.

The next performer I have debated since his set as to what I wanted to say.  I have said in a past blog that as friends of certain artists you should say something if they are not making good music.  I have also made it a point not to call out people in my blog.  In this case I feel like the best thing would be honesty, because that is what good promoters, friends, Bookers, etc. should do.  So the next performer was a guy from the former group M.P.D. named Baca.  I saw him perform with his former group M.P.D. at the Boondox show in Lubbock and to be honest thought they sucked.  The next day I thought it may have been due to them being extremely intoxicated.  So I went on the Reverb page to listen to their music.  They have it set up so in order to hear any tracks beyond the first one you have to Facebook like the first track.  I did not do this because it is a cheap way to make it seem like people really like you.  The track I listened to once again failed to impress.  Now last night I give him credit because he got up there solo and made an attempt to do well.  His lyrics were lackluster, his stage presence was horrible, and he just cannot and should not be on stage.  I am not trying to be cruel but he needs to stop trying the music thing.  Baca I am telling you, as a concerned fan or all things music,  This is not for you.  Well enough of that.  If i hurt some feelings I apologize but someone had to say it.

After that, one of Wicked Butterfly Entertainments newest artists, Black Project Productions took the stage.  806 Outlaw and Narkotix performed and absolutely killed it.  They were one of my favorite artists of the night.  They did a solid set and even brought Kano Kiljoy up on stage for a flashback track.  Oh that reminds me Fuck Kano!  They definitely made the last performer forgotten.

As if they people in attendance were not blown back enough the next performers were S.M.K. also known as Sik Made Killaz.  Once again they absolutely killed it.  I have seen them 4 times now and each time have been hype as hell at the end of their set.  Good work on the set guys I was very impressed again!

Then due to the time the headliner Miss Kisa took to the stage.  Now I have to preface my review with this.  It takes a lot for a female rapper to win me over.  Miss Kisa is no exception.  Her set was short and nothing really stood out except the fact her hype man seemed to be doing most of the work on stage.  Her rhymes were somewhat predictable and not very well thought out.  Her delivery was lacking maybe due to fatigue.  I was hoping for a performance to remember but was disappointed to say the least.  I know she had a lot of fans at the show last night so I apologize if I didn't see the magic and allure of Miss Kisa.

Last set of the night belonged to Born Wicked.  I was only able to catch the first part of the show due to having to drive back home.  But they were doing well as they usually do. 

So there you have it.  The good, the bad, and the really horrible.  I know feelings might be hurt and for that I don't apologize because sometimes the truth is more important than anything.  I love each and every member of the Juggalo Family.  Look for another blog this next week welcoming the 2 newest members of the Wicked Butterfly family!

MMFWCL,

Juggalotus

Street Cred and violence

  In rap music there has always been beef.  Weather it was due to a rapper in your city or a rapper from the other side of the country putting out a diss track on you, there has always been beef.  For my generation the most famous beef out there was 2 Pac and Notorious B.I.G. Why is that the one that is most famous?  Because it ended in 2 violent deaths.  The rap world lost 2 great lyricists and rappers because what started as diss tracks escelated into street violence.  Back in the beginning of rap music diss tracks existed too.  The difference being when a rapper put out a diss track it was countered by the other rapper in a diss track.  It was a battle of lyrics not violence.  MC's battled on wax.  That is how arguements and disagreements in rap should be handled.  The idea that jumping someone or even getting more violent to prove you are the better rapper or you hold your city down better is senseless.  Violence stems nothing but more violence.  Going to prison because you commited violent crime trying to "rep" your city does not make you a better lyricist or rapper than anyone else, it makes you a criminal.

  Why am I bringing this up you might be asking?  Well the simple answer is this, here in Amarillo, TX we have 2 groups that have been long time friends and partners for shows and music.  There is a huge 2nd Annual Gathering taking place in the city in Sept.  Last year the same people were involved and it went off great.  Everyone benefited from the show.  This year however things are different.  I have been watching over the past few weeks as these 2 groups devolved from a dispute to a verbal fight to threats of violence.  One side says they got kicked off the show for various reasons the other says they refused to give the group what they wanted and they walked away from the show.  The next thing that happened was the event page was deleted by the side that was no longer involved which caused the verbal battle to happen via Facebook.  Of course a lot of other people on that page started a discussion on the new event page.  Then the side that deleted the first page got on and started throwing verbal blows due to anger.  This led to some people from Albuquerque, NM to start throwing jabs back.  It also led to other folks in Amarillo getting mad and threatening violence.  I don't know how it all ended because I do not live in that city.  But I do know what I was reading and I can tell you  that both sides are wrong.

  The one thing this Juggalo movement was started for was to unite the underground not divide it.  Both of these parties claim to be Juggalo family.  Both of them claim to hold it down for the underground.  Both of them claim to have Much Family Love.  But both of them are missing the point of all of it.  If they truely believe what they say they should be lifting each other up.  Supporting each other.  Even if they disagree on things they shouldn't wish harm against anyone on the other side.  We are all trying to make it in this business.  If someone hurts your feelings make a diss track!  Let them respond.  This gets you both exposure and allows a healthier outlet for your feelings.  Threatening or commiting violence will do nothing to further your career. 

  I try to promote everyone in the underground I feel is good enough to make it.  If I don't think someone has the skills or abilities I wont diss them I just wont promote them.  This family we are in is splintered here in West Texas and we need to do something about it before it is to late.  I have seen talented rappers lost because of egos and hurt feelings.  It is time to leave the hood mentality behind and grow into artists and business people.  Until we do that a lot of talent is going to go to waste.  We want the gang label to get removed we need to stop acting like thugs!

MMFWCL,

Juggalotus

Upcoming events for Wicked Butterfly

  We are almost in July and that means we are coming up on our busiest month of the year so far.  So this is a look at what we have on the agenda this month.

  First I am happy to announce that Wicked Butterfly Entertainment has come to terms with artists in the Lubbock and Amarillo areas.  The full details on these 2 artists will be posted as soon as they become official.  Now this month we have 3 shows within the first 2 weeks.  Next Thursday Draztik the Terrible will be opening up for none other than Miss Kisa.  She comes out of the great state of Florida and the show in Amarillo is going to be hype as hell.  Then a mere 6 days later on July 11 also in Amarillo Draztik will be opening up for none other than that West Coast Killa himself Mars and the legend himself Mastamind on their Keep it Reel Tour.  On July 15 Draztik will perform at a local showcase show in amarillo as well.  So that is how this month will start for us.  Along with that we are still in the studio pushing hard to make sure his album "Between Heaven and Hell" is ready to blow your eardrums on Dec 21, 2012.

  There is a new artist I wanted you guys to be aware of and hit up his facebook page because he is going to be blowing up the scene at those shows as well.  His name is Selfmade and he is one of the hottest new Hip Hop artists in Lubbock, TX.  I am currently working with him to get a compelation CD put together for sale at those shows.  So check out his Facebook and Reverb and check out what he has going on!

  Also appearing on those shows is a group called black project productions.  This is made up by 2 guys named 806 Outlaw and his homie Narkotix.  They will be putting it down representing the 806!  Last but not least my homie Sikone aka Mickey Mangles will be in the house with his group Sik Made Killas.  So come out and check out these shows.  They are all going to be hype and well worth the cost involved.

Get out and support the local music in your communities.  If there are any artists you would like me to listen to and give a review let me know.

MMFWCL,

Juggalotus

Secrets to being a promoter

So I was thinking the other day, why is it so difficult for someone to be a promoter for local shows?  After giving it some thought I decided I would share the secrets I have learned so far to make any promoter trustworthy, honest, and successful.  Here is what I have learned:

1. Communicate!  This should be self explanatory but just in case it isn't let me clarify.  In order to have a successful show you, the venue, the ticket agents, and your openers need to know what is going on.  If something changes with the show everyone needs to know!  Make sure you have a list of people you need to talk with.

2. Organization.  If you have great organization nothing slips through the cracks.  You should have your show lineup out at least a month in advance so the artists know when they are supposed to be there to perform.  Most artists no matter what level of success like to prepare to be on stage.  If they are at the venue and have no clue when they are to perform they become very upset.  Sure there might be set backs like last minute cancellations or delays in starting the show.  If a group or artist drops out everyone gets moved up in the lineup.  And everyone should be made aware of the change as soon as possible!

3. Trust and honesty.  Simple answer to this is not to lie or screw people over to cover your investment.  There is risk in doing shows.  Whatever you invest, you might not get back.  If you do not promote the show right or neglect to take care of people you will not have a successful show and you WILL lose money.  Once you work with people and they know you can be trusted they will want to work with you again.  Also if there is an opener that does not meet your expectations talk to them.  If they fail to bring ticket sales, promote, or perform well then don't keep giving them spots on your show!

4. Do not charge people to perform.  As local bands or artists go it takes a lot of investment on their part to make music and be successful, thus you should not charge them to perform at your show.  The one exception to this would be booking a major tour or show (aka major record labels or artists).  And then the fee should be as minimal as possible.  I have found that by giving slots to those who pay will make sub par artists perform at your show.  And as a music fan if I go to a concert and the openers are absolutely horrible I am less likely to see another show promoted by the same person.  You can have your openers buy a certain number of tickets (10-20) and then it is up to them to sell them and make their money back.  Any tickets sold over that amount the artists should receive a portion of the sales (usually $1-3per ticket).  If you do this the need for you to charge artists will not be there and you will not only get a full show but your openers will hustle harder to make it successful.

5.  Be nice.  Now don't be a pushover but understand that every person involved in the show is there to make you money.  So be nice to them!  It isn't that hard to hang out with your openers or anyone else for that matter.

6.  Live up to your promises.  Make the venue/headliners payments when they need to be paid.  Don't ask for more time.  If you can't afford to do a show, don't!  Sometimes doing 3-4 big shows a year is better than doing 3-4 crappy shows a month.

7. Promote.  Do not rely on anyone else to promote the show.  It is your money.  So relying on your openers or the booker from the tour to do promotion is not what you need to do.  If you are unwilling or unable to give the time needed to hit the ground yourself then do not promote or book shows.  For every minute your openers are out promoting and selling tickets you should be out there at least double but most likely triple that.

  I know it seems easy to be a promoter but I can tell you it isn't.  It is super stressful, very complicated, and in many cases a complete toss up for a profit.  That is why if you do not love doing it you shouldn't.  I know some major labels and they have lists of promoters/bookers they will not work with.  Many of these are for reasons I have stated here.  If a major booker constantly comes to a city and gets screwed they will stop coming to that city.  Now I am not saying I am an expert at all.  I only am telling you what I know from my experience.  So take it for what it's worth. 

Remember when we were little we had the Golden Rule: Treat others how you want to be treated.  That holds true to this day.  If you do these things and follow that rule there is absolutely no reason you can't be successful.

Peace,
  Juggalotus

The Amarillo Variety show

  Last night was the Amarillo variety show in Amarillo, TX.  Draztik the Terrible had to perform so he and I left Clovis, NM and headed out there, it is about an hour and a half or so.  We got in around 5:30 Texas time and headed to our homie 806 Outlaw's house to kick it before the show.  We hung out there until about 7 and headed to the venue for the show.  When we got there we met up with the promoter and got our wristbands.  Then it was a waiting game.  We met a ton of cool homies there.  Dmize came in from New Mexico which was a good time.  It was all good until the chaos started!

  First thing is that the promoter kept switching the lineup around.  Draztik was supposed to go on first.  Then he was moved to forth.  Then he got bumped to fifth.  Then finally he went on 8th.  Everyone else was a part of the artist shuffle as I call it.  No one knew when they were supposed to perform.  Through most of the sets the artists either couldn't hear themselves cause the mic volume was to low or it was to high so when they went in front of a speaker there was massive feedback.  I hope this was a one time fluke and not an accurate interpretation of how the promoter works as we have a few more shows to do for them.

  Draztik did much better this show.  He had more confidence on the mic.  He also performed our newest track Love me/Hate me and it was live that's for sure.  806 Outlaw ripped the mic but his hypeman got a little too drunk and kept forgetting his verses and such.  Dmize killed it and wore himself out in the process.  There was a death metal band which was a definite change of pace.  Some local more mainstream hip hop which sounded as you would expect.  And of course the headliners Born Wicked did their thing and ended the show on a high note.

  Tomorrow we are headed back out to Amarillo to a MC showcase, hosted by Sir Johnson Himself we got invited to.  Draztik will perform again and will tear the roof off it again no doubt.  Sir Johnson is a cool dude and I look forward to working with him in the future.

Not much else to report.  There was a lot of performers but not a lot of fans but what do you expect on a Tuesday night!  If there are any underground, mainstream, or any artist that would like a good honest review of your work let me know and I will check it out and post it here on the blog! 

Thats it fam I am outta here!

Juggalotus