Legendary Hip Hop: BACK ONLINE for 2009!

Legendary Hip Hop is finally back online… it’s been one setback after another but I’ve finally managed to get things together again and this time with a lot more vigor. I’ve got some guest writers who will be doing columns and some people I’m still talking to who will hopefully hop on board. The Legendary Hip Hop team is growing, and in a fantastic way, so props to everybody. I’ll name the new staff as soon as everybody’s involved. It’s looking good, but I don’t want to name names when it’s not definite yet.
I've also teamed up with Hex to do album reviews here and there for his new Nerdapalooza E-Zine! So if you're into other types of music, don't worry, we've got you covered.

Since organization is a key part in making everything run nicely, here’s a rundown of the columns I will be managing myself;

• Wine Country Hip Hop -- Focusing on hip hop in Sonoma County, WCHH is a bi-weekly column profiling either a hip hop artist, a group, an artist, or a show in the Sonoma County area. The main focus is on interviews and information to get people more active locally.

• The Underground -- Articles focusing on underground hip hop artists, album releases, and so much more! Really, this one’s kind of pushing just falling into the news articles and other various updates, so we’ll see what happens to it as a column. Bi-weekly, presumably.

• Nerds are Hip Hop Too! -- NaHHT is a weekly column covering the who’s who and what’s what in Nerdcore Hip Hop, pointing out releases, notable artists, interviews, and LOTS of free music!

• Don’t Forget the Music -- Bi-weekly column discussing the instrumentals behind hip hop, something the mainstream has forgotten about in favor of three-note synth beats… DFtM is bringing back the real beats, the real beat smiths, and is planning on showing off some seriously talented instrumentalists in the underground scene.

• Artist of the Month -- Huge interviews and profiles on my choice artist of the month. Think of it as the main course… I’m gonna be posting up free tracks, some free albums, album art, pictures, interviews… the whole Shebang! It’s a doozy.

• Weekly Album Review -- Exactly what you’d expect. Each week I’ll throw up a review of a certain spectacular album that catches my ear. If it’s a freely distributed album, I’m going to put it up there as well.

Also, the other things that are in the works are wicked; I’ll be putting together monthly mixtapes of tracks I like that have been distributed for free in .zip and .rar files with liner notes so you know why I chose everything (starting February), photographs of dope street art in Sonoma County, guest authors putting together columns to share their wisdom, original compilations, a Sonoma County Events Calendar, and more! So get excited, why don’t you!

It’s a new year and time for a new branch of LHH to take form! Welcome to 2009, ladies and gentlemen!

The New Order of West Coast Nerdcore

Upon the success of HexWarrior's brainchild, Nerdapalooza South East 2007 (usually abbreviated as NaPSE), the West Coast has responded with not only a positive attitude in trying to bring more nerd music to California, but a new order of West Coast NCHH show promotion has been born! With a lack of nerdcore shows in California and an abundance of musicians unable to put together their own shows, there has risen a new tier of NCHH promoters for the west coast. The West Coast Wig Out Team, headed by Anthony "Genoboost" Ruybalid (of GM4A) and John James "Legendary Wizard" Dudek (myself, the author), is not only putting together West Coast Wig Out and Nerdapalooza WEST, a partner of NaPSE, but also planning on expanding to connect nerd music artists of all genres into a large California-based network, so that in the near future there will be more shows, collaborations, album releases, and festivals put together by members of all nerd musicians, be they a part of nerdcore hip hop, VG rock, chiptunes, comedy rock, or what have you.

With several shows in planning, and the upcoming West Coast Wig Out showcasing some of California's nerdcore talent, both known and unknown, it is hard to deny the emergence of the west coast as a major player for nerd music in years to come. Genoboost and myself are working to create a friendly music environment spanning all of California in order to make it easier for musicians to readily work together. Cross-genre collaborations are already opening doors to music previously never thought possible. The April 2008 release of Game Music 4 All's Here Comes a New Challenger (available here) provided a groundbreaking multi-genre collaboration experience for many. I know that in my own experiences working on a track for this album, being paired with chiptunes artist AtariMatt exposed me to not only a style I have never stepped into before, but also a network of musicians to work with and share music.

With Anthony working from his home base of Los Angeles and myself working from my location in Rohnert Park (located about 1 hour from San Francisco), we are looking to become forces in California nerd music show planning. But don't get me wrong; The two of us are not looking for a monopoly, but rather trying to form a more solid network between ALL nerd musicians, and not just those of the same genre, as well as hoping to encourage others to start shows of their own, put together compilations, work together, and get more music out there for the world to hear. Though there is constantly a struggle to play more shows, release more music, gain more fans, and be a part of more collaborations, generally the nerdcore hip hop scene is freindly and tends to work together to spread the genre just as much as artists work to promote themselves individually. We want to keep it that way.

The new order of west coast nerdcore is now! The key players of west coast nerdcore hip hop will be quite apparent by the end of Summer 2009, both musically and in the planning department. But don't count out those who are going to rise up to the challenge, either. And this summer, with such a powerful roster of nerd msuic shows and festivals, how can the general public ignore this uprising? Nerdapalooza WEST, NaPSE II, Midwest Nerdfest, as well as PAX and CES showcasing nerd music... it is obvious that we're all in this together. There's no stopping us. But the West Coast is coming forth and shaping up its act. A lack of shows and an abundance of musicians is such a waste of potential talent.

Soon we will be seeing a massive surge in nerd music shows all throughout California, and when we look back on it, we'll see that Genoboost and myself pushed it to the limit. Just wait, then look at the history books.

The message: Start booking shows, start putting out albums, collaborate with each other, release compilation albums. Work together. The west coast is going to be a powerplayer, and the time is now!

-John James "Legendary Wizard" Dudek