European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 25, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Hip hop hit men struggling rappers Start their own Label by Anita Gosch staff writer the Story of Leonard Crawford and Robert Haynes two americans who live in Frankfurt Germany begins rather typically like a lot of kids who grew up on rap and hip hop music both dreamed of making it big in music they struggled Lor years on the local music scene getting a few Breaks Here and there but the two Young artists just never seemed to get anywhere. Finally they took matters in their own hands they formed their own record Label they attracted the interest of a major league record company which agreed to finance their recordings and distribute their releases and they recently Pul three Maxi singles on the Market. Crawford and Haynes Are still struggling but at least now they re doing it on their own terms. More important they re learning the ins and outs of the business. Quot a lol of artists think that music is Only just to grab a microphone and to Start rapping and to scratch on the turntable Quot says Crawford 21. Quot and it s not True. You gotta know things that people Don t think music is involved Crawford stale began about our years ago when he came to Frankfurt to join his Mother an army sergeant who worked at the 97th general Hospital. While working at the local sight and sound Center the Florida native bought himself two turntables and a mixer Learned How to become a disc jockey and got jobs Al clubs around a amps Michael Abrams rap artist Leonard Crawford aka lit Dee Center in action with will left and daddy Mack. Town using the nickname lil Dee things started to look Good when through word of Mouth he was approached by a Small record Label and asked to rap on an upcoming song. Crawford had no Ociea about the business Side of the music business. He did t know about contracts he did t know about managers to did t even know How much he was supposed to gel paid. In the end he got nothing. When the Label asked him again to rap on a song. Crawford talked Money. They gave him a piddling amount. Quot you never get treated fairly in the says Crawford. A and this is the rough part about it you won t know until you learn. They take advantage of a lot of kids out there who have a lot of on the other Side of town Haynes a former army specialist who was stationed in Gellhausen Germany had a Little bit More Luck than Crawford. Through his work As a do and through his contacts in the local music scene a at one time he was a Driver for Frankfurt based rap stars snap and Moses p. A Haynes was Able to land jobs As a rap artist for just about every major record company in Germany. Also he knew enough to get himself a manager who set him on the right path. Haynes who goes by the name Rafeal could have gone on making a living rapping for european groups but it just was t the Type of music he was interested in he wanted to make american oriented music the kind he grew up listening to in Oakland Calif. Amp Michael Abrams Calogero Randazzo left Leonard Crawford Larry Grosskop Fand Robert Haynes of Sya record Label. Quot what i would like to make and what i think a lot of people out there like is Funk and soul and rap Quot says Haynes now 25. Quot Here in Europe the rap is Short it s not so Many words because the germans done to understand everything. You Only give them enough to where they re not confused. I want to give them More a Chance meeting in front of a movie theater brought Haynes and Crawford together. The two started talking music a about the cutthroat nature of the business about How hard it was to get anywhere about the Type of music they wanted to make. When Haynes mentioned the idea of starting a record Label with a German Friend Calogero Randazzo a do who goes by the name Roey Marquis ii Crawford jumped right in. The three recruited Larry Grosskopf an american Friend and businessman who has owned a local nightclub for 10 years and together they formed the Label Sya or struggling Young artists. The quartet s first release which they financed on their own flopped so they took their wares to be Laphon records in Frankfurt. Quot it was easier than we thought Quot recalls Crawford. Quot we went to be Laphon and asked in they wanted a dance Label and they said yeah sure Why not a this was one of the biggest Luckiest Breaks we Ever be Laphon gave Sya a one year contract and about 30,000 Marks to finance the recording of seven projects says Grosskopf. Three of those projects were released to the German Market Early this week the 12-Inch singles bang the Bass by lil Dee pump it up by excitement club featuring lil Dee Rafeal and Roey Marquis and Don t Stop by the All girl dance Hall group boy. Next on Syas Agenda is a compilation hip hop album featuring songs by Frankfurt rap artists Haynes and his cohorts Don t yet have their own studio right now they Don t even have an office. And with Only four people they each share in All the responsibilities. Says Crawford Quot we re not just rappers and we re not just artists we manage the company we re Road managers if we have to be we re producers if we have to be we clean up the studio a whatever it takes to make Sya they have an open ear for any struggling Young artist who wants to Send in a demo tape Quot ill listen to anything Quot says Crawford. They can t Promise miracles they can t Promise that the tapes will be sent Back but they Promise to be fair Quot we re not out to Jerk anyone to take anything from anybody. We re out to give what you work for Quot says Haynes Quot we believe in the people because we Are people we came from nowhere and built something out of nothing it takes time but i mean ail things Are possible Quot lil Dee he excitement club Ana boy will perform at the Sya bang the Bass 1 Label presentation at the music Hall on Vot Latrasse m Frankfurt Jan. 29 beginning at 9 there will also be special guests a do and a men s underwear show tickets Are 10 Marks available at the door artists interested m sending dem tapes to Sya can mail them to Haynes Randazzo Damiun Strasse 58a, 6000 Frankfurt Mam 50 the shapes of sounds to come by Jon Pareles new York times now that 1991 is All Over except for the hangover of last year s releases on fhe chartist s time to look ahead. In popular music that Means seeking out the undercurrents and subcultures that will sooner or later shake up the top 10. Behind the blockbusters and upstarts of 1991 were hints of now pop paradigms where the 1980s uttered the Ascendancy of the image and last ditch Bailies Over authenticity and misappropriation the 1990s a Well maybe Well figure it out before the Century ends for the moment let s note some Subtle stirrings Bye Bye Boomers Well into the 1980s, pop and Rock were framed by the expectations of the baby Boorn generation. Guitar slinging songwriters became the icons of Rock authenticity and Boomers with careers in radio the recording business and for that matter Rock criticism continued As gatekeepers and taste makers. But As 30-somethings become 40-somethings, and shift their disposable incomes from digital cd to Bank cd their clout is diminishing. In 1991, All of a sudden Plain old guitar slinging Rock a minus the noise ambiguity and sarcastic irony of collegiate Rock a began to sound dated. Although Bonnie Raitt and Tom Petty Hung in there albums by 40-ish mates like Bob Seger the members of dire Straits and the More feisty John Mellencamp seemed Creaky when compared to the efforts of whippersnappers like nirvana. When Bruce Springsteen releases his next album rumoured for March he May have an Uphill Battle to stay on the charts. Meanwhile the 1970s Are the decade of Golden Oldie memory. Where bands in the 80s played cover versions of 60s nuggets bands in the 90s Are reviving 70s songs like guns n roses remake of live and let die. For some bands choosing a 70s cover is a matter of perverse Pride a the More a song Alfonts Boomer taste the better hip hop International the Patchwork music anti melodic vocals and aggressive posturing of hip hop have transformed Rock creating As Complete a musical revolution As Rock n Roll did in the 1950s. Pop songs no longer need european tonal Harmony a not when hip hop disk jockeys crunch together two or three songs in different keys behind a chanted rhyme or when dancers can propel Crystal Waters s Gypsy woman she s homeless into the top 10 out of tune vocals and All. The hip hop coalition keeps spreading a now into the Caribbean and to Caribbean listeners in the United states the improvised rhymes or toasting of jamaican disk jockeys lie at the roots of rap. Early new York rappers often had jamaican connections with the Ragamuffin hip hop of jamaican stars like Shabba ranks which shills Between dance Hall a High Speed toasting in a heavy jamaican patois a arid hip hop style raps and jamaican accented raps by porn orders like Queen Latifah. Krs one heavy d and a amps Anila Gojich Bruce Springsteen May find the going rough when he releases his next album. Naughty by nature Blacks born in the United states and Caribbean immigrants Are emphasizing their links so called Urban radio stations Are now playing dance Hall songs. That coalition May presage a change in Urban politics if Black communities unite another division Over language is also being budged by hip hop in los Angeles mexican americans like the members of Cypress Hill or the latin Alliance Are turning to rap largely in English and a t991 album called dance Hall Rigg Espanol documents Spanish language raps from the Caribbean and Central America these combinations represent 1he sound of now immigrants claiming a role in the United states while United states style blankets the world ecstatic portents stamping out or demo my recreational drug use was a favorite 80s pastime along with Earnest anti drug messages in lyrics popular music got its head out of the Clouds with Crisp computer driven backing tracks and High de fiction digital mixes. But now the Blurry time warping Aura of psychedelic Rock is reappearing a in the hip hop pop of . Dawn and one of its models. De la Soulin the extended dance tunes of massive attack in the Neo hippie jams of blues traveler in the dreamy pop soul of Seal and in the swirling guitar textured Rock of my bloody Valentine and Lush. For British performers and some american dance club Habi tues one influence is the popularity of the drug Queen Latifah emphasizes the musical links Between Blacks and Caribbean immigrants. Ecstasy the English Cutie Simon Reynolds has suggested a parallel Between pm rent music and the psychedelic and progressive Rock of the 1960s when three minute songs stretched into phantasmal Shapos i d suggest two Moie factors a reaction against cold digital sound As Many produces continue to use some analog recording and More important the use Al Musie alone to shill perception in a sober Era the live ones after mtg brought continuous inked Zietlo Manees in television in 1981, younger audit genres Learned to beat conceits like to shows to he watched passively i Lien some bands added dancing head banging audiences to then video clips and Many watchers realized that the difference Between a canned show and a live event was that they could Oziri the Aelion Rook bands playing tubs Ean count on stage divers and slam Manecis now part of in tally any loud and uptempo scene and Arena audiences Are eager to stand up. Wave and shout meanwhile alter the embarrassment Over Milli Vanilli Laking their songs performers who had relied on prerecorded sound oven commercial creatine like Paula Abdul and Hammer a Are proclaiming they be switched to live music is this the fast gasp of the authenticity brigade or a Long term pendulum swing9 no one can say Bui after the photo Opportunity posing of the 80s, renewed spontaneity is a healthy Omen. Young alternative Rock bands like nirvana appear ready to steal the musical spotlight. Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday january 25, 1992 the stars and stripes Page 15
