Also note: Legion Music & Media (legionmnm.com), house to producer's, Legion Of Beats. A full fledged digital media and consulting company, including International: *Distribution *Marketing, *Promotions *Consulting *Placement and *Songwriting services
Also: *A&R and Production sourcing
*Deliverance
contact: services@legionmnm.com
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Set2’s sound is big. Over the top but still fighting for his spot, he’s warring for your ear. Unapologetically blunt, he got a lot to say and even more ways to say it. Somewhere between a charismatic color commentator, an insightful poet and crowd moving master of ceremonies – there’s Set2 and his microphone. He chomps on beats and rides his own rhythm. He conveys intelligent wittiness powered by his ‘nothing to lose’ attitude. Headstrong yet reflective, he raps like it’s his last – his last minute on the mic, his last second on the stage, his last record on the radio. And it’s been on the back of this fearless authenticity that Set2’s garnered startling acclaim in just a short time. Set2’s big.
The Toronto native shook up the scene in 2006, immediately securing medium rotation on Canada’s #1 radio station with his debut single “Oh Yea” featuring Rochester. It was a swift move into regional recognition, but one Set wanted since he’d seen Busta Rhymes perform as a teenager.
“I realized the energy that music could create with people,” says Set2 thinking back. “I was watching guys in the neighbourhood try their music thing too, but when I saw my first live show the depth that was possible in music really hit me. I could move people, I could make them laugh, I could make them want the feeling I was having watching Busta. So I started rapping.”
Set gained considerable recognition over the next few years. He quickly released a mixtape called Ignorant Education, and set the college radio circuit ablaze making constant appearances on Toronto staples Project Bounce, Crack House Radio & Off Da Tracks. He even enlisted Canadian music veterans Jelleestone and Snow for the remix to his debut single “Oh Yea.”
Once again, his ‘now or never’ energy resonated with fans and fellow artists alike. Set started getting requests for features from other local artists and continued his buzz releasing his second mixtape Full Time Hustler Vol 1. Death of Wack Rap.The tape was hosted by heavyweights DJ Power & DJ Rock Da House giving him another set of credible co-signs.
Set2’s participated in live radio ciphers with some of Toronto’s best up and coming artists, appeared on several street DVDs and graced the stage at HipHopCanada’s Importfest, Drift Mania, Battle of the Beatmakers and OTA Live’s Megacity Countdown Launch party.
He also anchored a landmark mixtape in partnership with Hiphopcanada.com and proved he was a pioneer in soliciting fan participation in his creative process. Each week, users lobbed potential instrumentals at him. Each week, he produced a freestyle in response. And after a few months, the first ever HipHopCanada Presents: Artist Exclusive Set2 was released.
“Set2 took a big risk by letting our users choose which beats he’d rap on,” says Jesse Plunkett, HipHopCanada co-owner. “He came through though. I think he really feeds off his audience’s energy. This was a perfect example.”
With such an innovative viral marketing campaign in full swing, Set2 released “Boro Branded,” an ode to his area in the east end of Toronto called Scarborough. The song was immediately picked up by Flow 93.5 along with the college radio shows he’d built strong relationships with. Fellow Toronto artists began recording their own versions of the song which only served to heighten its popularity.
Set2 then took a self imposed hiatus, while also building his own home studio. His passion had grown too time-consuming for professional studio use, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. After the short hiatus, Set2 returned in 2009 releasing “Bom Bom,” returning to his ‘big sound.’ He secured digital distribution for the single through HipHopCanada Digital.
“What do I have to lose?” says Set2 defiantly. “Shoot, nobody expected me to make things happen like I did out the gate anyway. Now nobody should expect anything less to happen. This is the time to pay attention.”
Set2’s latest single is “Back On Da Scene.” Back like he never left.
origionally posted by hip hop canada
Twitter: @Set2
Set2’s sound is big. Over the top but still fighting for his spot, he’s warring for your ear. Unapologetically blunt, he’s a young man with a lot to say and even more ways to say it. Somewhere between a charismatic color commentator, an insightful poet and crowd moving master of ceremonies – there’s Set2 and his microphone. He chomps on beats and rides his own rhythm. He conveys intelligent wittiness powered by his ‘nothing to lose’ attitude. Headstrong yet reflective, he raps like it’s his last - his last minute on the mic, his last second on the stage, his last record on the radio. And it’s been on the back of this fearless authenticity that Set2’s garnered startling acclaim in just a short time. Set2’sbig. Back On Da Scene (radio).
People often ask me the craziest part about becoming “famous” and I’ve never had an answer until yesterday.
“You’ll spend half of your time defending yourself and the other half trying to stay sane resulting in you being forced to find time to be creative”
I often wonder in a time where new artists exist in a impersonal cyber world of instantaneous information, if we will ever have another rap legend that can manage to maintain the image that our idols had prior to this method of promotion. I am not suggesting that this person should be me, I am just urging a generation to understand that in order to have anyone of any significance in our lives that we can look up to there will be things that we must look past. There are people that buy sell and trade evil on a daily basis…when u believe in their brand is when they win.
“Even photoshop couldn’t change me” - Me
I also want fans to know that I am only releasing this EP so that everyone involved in the project can hold a physical copy of the CD in their hands and see it in the store. And for anybody else who feels that So Far Gone marked a moment in time I just wanted to give you the option to have the disc. If you got it for free and want to keep it that way than by all means I urge you too. That was a gift from me to you…Thank Me Later.
We all are very familiar with Drake. Well just like Outkast did for Atlanta, Drake's introducing the world to Canada. I know what you thinking Canada and hip hop, WOW! but its true! they have the attention of the dj's labels and majors all at the same time... don't miss this years caribana in august where all the stars go to play and enjoy that Canadian flavor, EH.
"Octobersveryown," Drake's remix of last summers canadian hit, "I'm so fly" starts out this edition with the club BANGERRR! Streeeeet BANGERRR, "say whateva you like" by Richie Sosa and Mayhem Morearty. I know, I know, "bb bb wait it gets worse (greater!)." Mass & Big Blax collab on this exclusive; on some real street shit with, "Fuck Whatta hata thinks!" And then, Set2 comes in with Tona on the Head BANGERRR, "Everybody Know Me." Cali Snipes, giving it to dem, on this Dj and club favorite...BANGERRR! You gettin' a theme here? Up Next, Jus Nice lets you know, "you don't want none." Any questions? I didn't think so ;+). the track that had everybody buzzin' this spring, the track and video that lead George Reefah on to a distribution deal, "Paparazi." And to finish the Canadian invasion heres Kardinal Offshall's -set it off (lets just say Kardinal's working with both dr. dre and akon) so you know the album would blow the world away!
DAMN, and this is just the T-Dot edition!
BONUS: WORLD PREMIER VIDEO'S DRAKE - BEST I EVER HAD * EMINEM - BEUTIFUL (HOME PAGE OF STOPBEEFINRADIO.COM) BONUS SONG JAIME FOXX ft KANYE WEST & DRAKE - DIGITAL GIRL REMIX (CLEAN) http://sti.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-07-04T11_56_24-07_00
Shouts outs to the Canadian producer's that put down on these tracks. For more information, holla back.
Angerville, I listen to sum of ya tunes, and I get angry, what the fuck yu all been thru to be so angry?
Conscious - man it's all about the struggle, for me it's an inner anger where everything comes into play. the anger really generates from seeing how fucked life is. the shit it has put me through from the loss of friends to problems with the po.
Fortunato - Anger is the one emotion I have in abundance, I use it in my music cause I am surrounded by it constantly. It bleeds through in to my music from my every day life, so rather than fight it, or let it consume me, I focus it and try to use the raw energy to create powerful music.
In 60 seconds or less, take us on a musical/lyrical journey thru your album, Rebellion! What you all tryna put across to the listeners...? GO!
Fortunato - we are trying to bring a wide range of Vibes on this LP, everything from Horror Movie Anime type shit to Heartfelt soulful vibes. we bring the complete package, too many cats come one dimensional and then afterwards wonder why their careers had no longevity. we want to be the opposite of that, we want to be multi dimensional and capable of rocking all types of beats, with different flows and content.
We were talking earlier about MC's and the ones ya'll listen to, We got a few in common, but I gotta say Imma big Talib fan, whats your favourite line(s) from the man himself?
Conscious - "I heard them say I was a conscious rapper, But I'm a monster when I hafta smack the shit out of a nonsense actor" -Kweli - Good to you
(conscious listens to hip hop exclusively, fortunato has been known to listen to tom waits and 80's retro on the side)
What the fuck is going on with hip hop today? and what the fuck can we do about it? What other crews/artist are doing it like you guys for the sake of hip hop (in your eyes)
Conscious - in my opinion hiphop has gone the money route … the game used ta be full of NCAA type cats that were hungry but now its full of so called lazy pros … in canada we need to support each other more instead of the opposite …. I feel a lot of cats think they are gonna blow up in the states when they don’t even get love in their hometown …. We need to get off that and build a platform for Canadian artists so that the Americans are forced to recognize canadas talent regarding hiphop …… if we build it they will come.
Fortunato - There are alot of crews out there doing it for the love of the music like poor man militia, but then you have a whole whack of dudes who are just trying to get paid by any means. Sometimes they will follow trends to maximize their appeal, or flip their whole image to make money, the integrity of the art is really a non issue in the cold hard world of business and ecomomics. Hip Hop is not immune to these issues and it has always been a battle between the suits and the streets when it comes to this music. in the end hip hop will always be loved by the streets long after the industry moves on to fry other fish.
What's your plan for getting this album heard? What steps have you taken to do so?
Conscious - putting it in the stores physically and online, radio promotion, hand to hand and what not, we ain't afraid to work hard. Nothing comes easy, and if it did we wouldn't feel right... welcome to Angerville! The Rebellion album is at da corner, play de record, rockwell and mixtape maniac. It's out there, we also do alot of online promoting.
Favourite song of '07, locally and internationally.
Conscious - locally my favorite tune was DIAL TONE ….. sick track, tona doin it right …. Internationally I like that track WHAT A LIFE by Saigon …. Track is deep with a mean flow …. Those two would be my favorite for '07
Fortunato - Locally my fav track was "try it for free" by my man Kdot produced by Arks, Internationally would have to say Saigon - Cmon Baby.
Fortunato - 2 words to describe Gam huh,? Mad Real!
How'd you all meet?
Conscious - Shit me and Fortunato met way back in the day. Use to record on a ghetto blaster and a mic, 90 minute tapes, spitting freestyles since 97. I met Gam thru Fortunato just last year and that's when we the ball started rolling. Only known Gam for abit, but dude is a dope ass producer.
Your first single, tell us about the song, why you chose it as the first single, and everyone involved with it and the video.
Conscious - the first single is BREAK THE LAW feat. KDOT …. This song is really just about not givin' a fuck ….. how many people out there can honestly say they never break the law even if it’s a minor thing …… the system is built to be broken on every level whether business, criminal, civil, etc ….. this was chosen for the first single because of the lyrics energy, the bangin beat by gam, and last but not least fan response ….. the people involved in this video are me, Fortunate and Kdot, and Jomama and Tim Miller basically did all shotting playback etc..big ups … everything was done in house.
Fortunato - Nobody cares is the b side to break the law and we chose it cause it sounded really sick, and we got great feedback from other people about it. The song is basically a diss to anyone who is killing hip hop by not respecting the history and culture of the music. The video has Kdot from PMM, Westnyle who is a producer who works with us, and Pistol Pete who is our DOP.
What has been the response so far with the single, album?
Fortunato - everything has been dope so far with regards to the album and single, we got a nice review in Exclaim! Nobody cares has garnered some interest from some movie people so we will have to wait and see what happens.
Conscious - response has been great, even the haters lovin' it (you know who you are) ….. the album is getting great respose and I think that’s due to the diversity of it, theres something for everyone on this. We older cats so we took it back to the old days and gave cats there money’s worth, with 22 tracks.
Take us thru a typical Angerville tune, like how you guys put a song together, from concept to writing to recording.
Fortunato - First we decide on a general concept usually based on a hook either Conscious Thought or I have created. Then we choose the beat, It has to be something were really feeling, but it could be anything from a dirty south beat to a rusty 8 bit loop. Once we have selected the beat we start writing our verses, we run them by each other and if they pass the grade, we jump in the booth and bang it out.
Conscious - a typical Angerville tune usually starts with a Heineken … lol …smoke a blunt, then we start to listen to the beat and come up with something …. We really don’t think all to much bout shit, ideas and lyrics just fall into place for us, then we drink a couple more Heinekens, write and record, etc …. Then Gam does his magic on the track (mixing an all that) and after that it goes to Dorc for mastering, and that’s as simple and hard as it is for us … time for another Heineken …lol.
Whats the next single, whats it about?
Fortunato - DEAR DAD is the next single, and It's about our pops. very hearfelt real life song just describing how our fathers have helped us become the men we are today. We have gotten alot of people telling us they were touched by that joint cause of loved ones they had lost.
Conscious - Fortunato is a great friend, a great dad, great lyricist and loves to work, that’s my homeboy 4 life!
I hear rumours about you guys embarrassing people on the mic...
Fortunato - I remember way back when we were at tequila lounge upstairs at the corner of bathurst and bloor, and they were having a big mc battle hosted by thrust. Well our whole crew was in the battle, like 6 of us, and some of us ended up eliminating each other. well anyways conscious makes it through to the finals and he was battling some Portuguese guy who had a mob of dudes cheering for him in the front row. so Portuguese guy goes first and hes yelling all that rah rah ill bust your face shit, then conscious gets his turn and notices that the dude had his rhymes all wriiten on papers stuffed in his back pocket. So conscious reaches in homies pocket and tosses all his written rhymes on the stage and said something like " you aint a rapper you just babble, your so wack you brought your written rhymes to a battle" then proceeds to stomp on dudes rhymes. Thrust and the judges were falling all over the stage laughing sayin' "Its done, it's done!"
You have a collab with Set2 on the album, I would have never thought of that, being a likely collab. How'd that come about?
Fortunato - Well we had been talking to Set2's manager, Smerk and he said that Set2 was interested. We were pretty surprised as well, but we had listened to his death of a wack rapper cd and we felt like he had alot of the angry raw tones that we have in our music, so it seemed to be a good fit. judging by the end result I think it was a dope and we hope to do more work with Set' in the future.
Where and when can we expect to see you throwing down and doing your thing live for the people? Any tour dates?
Fortunato - we have alot of small shows around the GTA lined up, but the tour has not been announced yet. We are hoping to tag along with a bigger group during the summer and hit up alot of small gigs across Canada. Keep checking www.angervillemusic.com for show info.
You ever get the screwface from being white and doing hip hop, from either races? And how do you deal with that bullshit?
Fortunato - Not at all, if it aint the colour of your skin, it's the shoes your wearing, or the way you cut your hair, whatever. I Don't listen to ignorant cats, if they knew anything about how me and Conscious came up they would know we don't believe in no superficial bullshit. It's what's inside that counts.
Conscious - This is the problem sometimes …. Mahfuckas cant get past color even tho they lovin' the music …… basically aiiithing is cool but there is always gonna be haters for whatever reasons …… I used to win all the slam dunk contests back in the day at Raptorfest, Gus Macker, etc., so im used to the way people look at you at first, but after they see you do your thing there tune changes, its real fake but it is what it is, I've learned to accept it ….. truthfully I ignore all bullshit and only fuck with the real!
Mothafuckin' shout outs?
Fortunato - DJ Shamann, Gamshooter, Kdot, Royce Birth, Marc Dorc, Westnyle, Pistol Pete, CMP studios, Know It, Jomama, Killa Milla, Slow Jam J, White Dawg, Rob Kelly, Relz, Devuis D, Castor Grozny, 9th Uno, Bishop Brigante, DJ Andre 905, Drega Casino, D.O. , Ukatonen
Conscious - I'd like to shout out: my dad, fortunato, jomama, fotunato’s dad, gamshooter, kdot, dj shamann, set2, 9thuno, westnyle, know it, dirtyman, daetona, dorc, trackkillas, all of parkdale, upcart productions, hustlegirl, hiphopcanada, everyone who purchased the album or a t shirt, to many to name whoever I missed don’t be ANGRY leave that to us…..and the biggest shout out goes to ill da shystee R.I.P LUKE MARSON.
Legion Music & Media (legionmnm.com), house to producer's, Legion Of Beats. A full fledged digital media and consulting company, including International: *Distribution *Marketing, *Promotions *Consulting *Placement and *Songwriting services
Also: *A&R and Production sourcing
*Deliverance
contact: services@legionmnm.com
Legion M N M ~What We Listening To Weekly, surveyed 14-28 m/f
Legion Music & Media
Legion Music & Media (legionmnm.com), house to producer's, Legion Of Beats. A full fledged digital media company, including *International Distribution
*Marketing & Promotion
*Placement and Songwriting services
*A&R and Production sourcing
*Deliverance
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