Archive for September, 2006

Biography

As waves of music ebb and flow, we tend to occupy ourselves with the idea that our favorite DJ’s, the gatekeepers of dear old music, hail from our bordering neighborhoods and cities. To this we attribute our unyielding embrace. We are not all too familiar with the small city of Surat, located in Gujarat, India. Nestled only a few miles from the Arabian Sea, on the Tapi River, Bijal was born here. No sooner than he’d reached the age of 1 his parents, middle-class tobacco wholesalers, took a valiant trip to America. Throughout his adolescence he moved from town to town along the Northeast Coast, living, at some instances, in Motel’s. “We had no camera, TV, video or games or anything nice, all money went to my clothes, [and] food,” Bijal recalls. It was then that he was swept by the power of music.

At age 15, “[my cousin] caught me and showed me how to [play] a record…” Within a few months he paraded to Canal Hi-Fi (a sizeable electronics boutique located on Canal St. in Manhattan) and bought his first pair of turntables. Playing 24 hours a day at first, he soon wanted to record some of his handy work. The now self-proclaimed “DJ Bijal” made his first mixtape, entitled “No Doubt Dancing,” when he connected his DJ equipment to his tape deck. He began recording himself DJing and his personality on tape transformed. It was his calling. In 2001, while attending Long Island University in New York City he landed his first weekly gig at Club Exit in NYC. In May 2002 during a Network 40 magazine interview Bijal comments, “I don’t just scratch into every song. I blend vocals and beats and toy with repeating words and playing with the instrumentals…” With trendy mixtapes under his belt he harnessed his cult following. “What I like to do is slowly work some Indian artists in on my own mixtapes and put them alongside hip-hop and R&B heavyweights.” New York’s hip-hop/reggae crowd flocked to his room each and every Friday and Saturday night. With career highlights including honorable mention on MTV as “the next big thing” and numerous features in MTV’s Mixtape Monday, he capitalized on his notoriety. In Fall 2005, The Ave Magazine dubs him “DJ Clue of the Indian urban music market.” Bijal adds, “I feel Indian artists fusing their sound into hip-hop or R&B has the potential to create the next wave of music…”

As his popularity increased he became the first Indian DJ to have his own syndicated urban radio show on AOL Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio simultaneously. In February 2004 Bijal joined forces with well-known mixtape master DJ Kurupt, “The Master Jedi,” to create Team Jedi. Within a few short months Team Jedi was branded by MTV as 2004′s “DJs On the Rise” and the partnership gave birth to Bijal’s first commercial release on vinyl, Sumeet and Jay-Z’s “Agony – DJ Bijal Remix,” which was featured on Jedi Blends Volume 3. From spinning vinyl to being featured on vinyl, he went on to produce the Sumeet featuring Nivla “Ghost – Remix” and Deesha featuring Saj Supreme “Do You Remember – Remix.”

What began as fascination and hobby blossomed into his life’s work. He currently provides wireless content such as voice tones, ring tones, and wallpapers to wireless providers Jamster & Candy Mobile. Consciously bending and shifting to his ever-changing, ever-growing career, he has solidified himself as outstanding DJ Royalty.

- Joi Rogers

With more than 5 years of entrepreneurial leadership experience building brands and guiding national firms, major and independent record labels, as well as signed and unsigned acts, Sickamore, the founder of I Can Make You Famous, is pioneering a new age of influentials.

Established in Spring 2004, this Artist Development Firm has significantly impacted the music industry with a refreshing movement that has been featured in, but not exclusive to The Source Magazine, Vibe, XXL, Mixtape Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, BET, VH1, allhiphop.com and hiphopgame.com. The press has feasted on Sickamore’s vision and expertise in brand revitalization, concept creation and performance excellence.

Sickamore began in 2001 with the development of custom mixtapes, which, in turn grew to international commercial releases with collaborations of multi-platinum artists and super-stars such as Steve Francis, Snoop Dogg, Dylan from Making the Band, Jay-Z, and Jacob the Jeweler. He soon mastered his craft and monopolized this rapidly growing niche until his brand was overwhelmingly dominating. As a result, he was crowned “Best [Mixtape] Personality” at the 2004 Mixtape awards, which propelled him in the top ten mixtape DJ’s of 2004 according to MTV.

Sickamore’s significant impact in the music industry coupled with his smart, charismatic, and resourceful personality assisted in his outstanding relationships with the industry elite. His uncanny ear and almost psychic foresight of excellent off-the-radar talent caught the eye of production guru Just Blaze. Blaze consequently brought him aboard as the executive A&R of what was at that time a budding label, “Fort Knocks.” Sickamore went on to introduce and influence Just to sign, then unknown rapper Saigon who has now gone on to become, as Rolling Stone Magazine states, “one of the most highly anticipated acts in recent times”.

“[Sickamore] hands me [a CD] and he hands me a press kit,” remembers Just. “Dude had about two inches worth of press and I’m like ‘Who is this dude? I never even heard of him before.’ It wasn’t even just US, it was France and Germany, he had press from all over the place. I started doing my research and getting into his music and I just basically put the call in and hold him to come down.”
-Just Blaze, Elemental Magazine May 2005

Concurrently, Sickamore caught sight of Manhattan’s Lower East Side rapper Tru Life. They began working closely together in Spring 2005.

Sickamore formulated a campaign for Tru, intended to span 6 months. “I actually met Sickamore through Saigon and that was one of the greatest things. To be honest, I was just playing the background for a minute. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an artist anymore,” Tru explained. Sickamore sparked this promotion with the formulation of a Mixtape, entitled “The New New Yorker” starring Tru Life. Six weeks later a bidding war began. In August 2005, through Sickamore’s consulting and direction, Tru went on to sign a 7-figure deal to Def Jam directly through Jay-Z.

“… I was just stuck in bad paperwork at Dreamworks and I couldn’t move… so we did “I Can Make You Famous Part 2” and the rest is history.”
-Tru Life, HipHopGame.com Interview July 2005

Sickamore then went on to negotiate deals with hordes of record labels and unsigned artists, which led to the formation of The Famous Firm. Specializing in the lost art of Artist Development through Brand Identity Campaigning, he has strategically developed exceptional plans for his clients, creating maximum visibility for their respective movements, whilst staying true to what they and their brand represent. The results of this organic grass-root approach are based on quality and talent, not exposure relying on publicity stunts, gimmicks or any other ploys that take away from the authenticity of a brand.

With Sickamore’s direct connection with the trendsetters, influentials, and power players in today’s urban culture, he has created an extensive array of opportunities for his clients. Utilizing the ear of captive audiences and his team of key decision makers, he presents artists’ in a manner ensuring brand identity and attracting valuable exposure. Sickamore has masterminded a maximum impact company that can, in a cost effective way, directly access a powerful audience.

Most notably, Sickamore is a thinker and problem-solver. He provides innovative ideas, techniques, processes and solutions to improve outcomes in all areas of business operations. He has an effective and systematic approach to his work, and has created a free-spirited and productive work environment, which has attributed to his success. With a revolving roster of clients, the Famous Firm is continually tackling new heights, and making ordinary people “famous” along the way.

-Joi Rogers

As the scale of success in the music industry shifts slightly from domineering majors to risk-taking, forward-thinking independents, revolutionaries emerge. Tenderly founded by music enthusiast and Wall Street connoisseur Jason Rockland, Empire City Records was born in April of 2005. As its chief financial sponsor, brainchild and President, Jason Rockland has divulged all of his time, capital, and energies, into producing an outstanding musical organization.

Immediately summoning the services of a most entrepreneurial and accomplished staff, he initiated a strong foundation of taste-making musical elite. The Empire City partnership is fueled by: Sickamore, VP of Operations; an influential personality, trendsetter, and music industry pioneer, accredited to jump starting the careers of Def Jam signee Tru-Life, Atlantic Records signee Saigon and countless others. Kori King, General Manager; a self-starter and Columbia University grad who’s career highlights include both opening a record label with the release of three albums and founding a successful tech company of which he single-handedly financed his computer science major. Animal Steele, Executive Dir. of A&R; a middle management guru/forecaster in both music and fashion, whose ten-year position as a buyer and indie label confidante spawned long standing relationships with Hip Hop’s superpowers and led him to A&R the legendary Grammy nominated Last Poets album. Together they infuse a fierce love for music with a history of bold dedication to accomplish their goal.1

They, like many budding labels, started with a vision and many prospective candidates for signage. Stretching their arm 3000 miles away from their home city of New York, they unanimously courted Bay Area native, Sky Balla. With accolades stemming from self-made fame and success on an underground level, he has solidified himself as a resilient force in Rap. With an up and coming album release they are on the verge of making their premier imprint in music history.

Empire’s mission is to shape music through developing artists. They, unlike the industry norm of conformity, refuse to surrender to the ease of mimicking fads. With a goal opposite of the all too familiar one-hit-wonders of our time, they set out fearlessly at an endeavor to motivate the masses.

- Joi Rogers