The Wake Up Show Presents 100K Battle

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
By: Mike Ivey Jr.

Sway

Wake Up Show hosts Sway (of MTV) and partner King Tech are offering what seems like the chance of a hip hop lifetime for aspiring artists by providing stellar beats for free. Avant-garde radio program The Wake Up Show merges with Shavo of metal band System Of A Down, entertainment lawyer turned music business executive Narb Avedissian and some of the best producers in hip hop/popular music for the 100K Battle, a ursession.com contest that allows network subscribers to participate by voting on uploaded songs produced by the likes of Pete Rock, Evidence, DJ Babu, DJ Muggs, 9th Wonder, Rick Rock, Alchemist, and DJ Revolution. There are 28 beats in all.

“The industry has been shrinking recently in the conventional fashion,” says Sway. “Major labels are consolidating, radio’s narrowing their playlists - it’s getting harder for the independent artist. For the Wake Up Show, the 100K Battle was an opportunity for us to tap into our resources and allow independent artists who aren’t getting breaks because their music isn’t compatible with what’s out there.”

The 100K Battle was spawned by conversations between King Tech and callers who are eager to have the Wake Up Show, widely syndicated and instrumental in the careers of major emcees, renew the hip hop industry. There are no overriding votes here; in true democratic fashion the song writer with the most votes tallied wins a round trip ticket to Los Angeles to appear on the Wake Up Show, plus $5,000.

According to King Tech, he used relationships, and the hip hop respect accumulated by he and Sway over time, to procure an array of songs.

“I wanted to make sure there was a sound from everybody,” says King Tech. “I would call up Pete and say ‘Yo Pete, give me old school.’ I would call up the Avila Brothers and be like ‘Give me a party single.’ Focus: ‘Give me grimy.’ Khalil: ‘Give me orchestral.’ In other words, I organized it to make sure that all the beats don’t sound the same, so I don’t get that complaint – ‘Man, I can’t rap to this s**t!’

Writers interested in entering the 100K Battle can log on to www.ursession.com, a social networking website, owned by Sway, King Tech, Shavo of metal band System Of A Down, and entertainment lawyer turned music business executive Narb Avedissian.
“urSession is more than just a social networking site,” says Avedissian. “Our objective is to create the first ever fan-driven open market for unsigned and independent music – the Sundance of the music industry. urSession members act as our A&R by voting for acts they want to see get signed. Fans should be the ones deciding for themselves what they like to hear – not a couple of corporate suits.”

In order to be eligible entrants must be over 16 years of age and cannot have earned over 50,000 in aggregate song royalties within a calendar year. The 100K Battle runs from now until 11:59PM PST September 30, 2008.

Says Sway, if aspiring rap stars can’t shine over production by some of the best around, then they should re-assess their aspirations.
“Where will you get the opportunity to download this caliber of music from this caliber of producer – for free?” asks Sway. “So it’s like, show and prove.”

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