MTV’s hot reality show “Jersey Shore” featured a song by up-and-coming rap music artist Skiddalz when it kicked off its second season this week. If you haven’t heard of Skiddalz yet, you’re not alone, but the rapper is making a big impression on the music world. Skiddalz, who hails from St. Louis, isn’t your typical rapper.
In an interview with St. Louis Today, she says she’s “bringing a new voice, a fat white girl.”

Rap Music Is For Everyone

If Skiddalz offers one thing to the rap music industry (besides some outstanding raps) is the idea that rap music is big enough to break through the stereotypes that have grown up in rap music about who rap musicians are. The art form isn’t exclusive to one gender or one race; anyone with a story to tell, a good rhythm and a good rhyme can become the next rap star – even a self-described “fat white girl” like Skiddalz.

So, after you listen to Skiddalz, and know that she got her start on Unsigned.com, what are you waiting for? What is your story? How are your rhymes?

If you really want to tell your story and make it happen (did I mention that Skiddalz has licensed several of her songs to MTV for use in their programming?), you need a few tools in your toolkit. One of the tools you don’t want to pass up is Sonic Producer. Sonic Producer allows you to make the beats that mean something to you quickly and professionally.

With Sonic Producer, you get crisp, clean sound and professional playback that sounds like it came out of a high-dollar recording studio. The program, which is available for both the Mac and PC computer platforms, contains thousands of royalty-free samples that you can mix into your music in any way you want. At the end of the day, the music you make is yours.

If you’ve got a good rhythm and rhyme, why are you keeping it to yourself? Get your music down by making your own beats. Export your music to MP3, get it up on iTunes, Unsigned.com or wherever else you want to go to get yourself noticed and let the world know how good your music really is.

Download Sonic Producer today and start making your very own professionally mixed and recorded music for a fraction of the cost of renting studio time.

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Rap music artist Ke$ha says she won’t rule out a crossover to country music someday. Ke$ha is a Nashville native and grew up listening to country music. The singer’s sound includes a mixture of rap and pop music, but says she’s still inspired by the tunes she grew up listening to, which include old standbys Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. In an interview with Paper Magazine., she says she won’t commit to anything other than her current sound just yet, but she’s less sure about what the future holds.

Make Your Own Rap Music Beats

Ke$ha’s sound is just one of the many expressions of rap music you can find today and the interpretation of the musical form by such a wide variety of artists has brought rap music more into the mainstream than it’s ever been before. The door is open right now for music makers who are ready to get creative and make their own beats.

Sonic Producer is one of the best tools on the market to do just that. With Sonic Producer, you can make your own beats using thousands of royalty-free samples that come included with the software. Mix your own beats and share them with friends, keep them to yourself or put them out for the rest of the world to hear.

Sonic Producer is available for both the Mac and PC platforms, so you can get started right after you download this exceptional software. There’s no extra hardware or software you need to make your own beats. Do what you want, where you want and when you want. The result is a unique creation that belongs entirely to you.

Sonic Producer does more than just provide you with a professional-sounding mix. It includes amazing tutorials that show you how to use the software and make the beats that the rest of the world wants to hear. Don’t think you can’t break into the music business because you don’t know the right people or have the right equipment. If you have the right sound, you have all you need to throw your rap music career into fifth gear.

When you see how much you get from Sonic Producer and how easy it is to make this software work, you’ll spend hours just making and mixing your own sounds! Export your music to MP3 and use the Internet to put your name on the street, or just make the music you want to hear. With Sonic Producer, the choice is up to you.

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Until just a few years ago, the answer to this question was “No… unless you have your own music equipment and can get into a professional recording studio. With the advent of competent music sequencing programs and beatmaking software, all that is changing, and fast!
You can create your own musical experience, record your own beats and make a sound that’s uniquely yours with a music-sequencing program like Sonic Producer.

What Does It Take To Break Into The Music Business?

With Sonic Producer, you have everything you need to make the beats the world is waiting to hear! Sonic Producer comes loaded with thousands of royalty-free samples that you can combine, loop and mix to create your own fabulous sound. Sonic Producer gives you 16-track capabilities so your music can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it.

In addition to providing you with thousands of royalty-free samples (no copyright issues to haunt you!), Sonic Producer provides excellent video tutorials to help you learn how to get the most out of your Sonic Producer setup.

Sonic Producer is platform independent, so it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you use. You’ll get the same high-quality sound recordings from Sonic Producer wherever and whenever you use it!

Worried that the software will be too complicated to use? Don’t! The Sonic Producer interface is especially user-friendly and couldn’t be easier to use! You can make your music right from your desk! Export your beats straight to MP3 and take your music with you wherever you go. If you’re still worried about not being able to get the most out of your investment in Sonic Producer, you’ll also get 24/7 support, so you can always get the help you want.

Listen to your music privately or share it with friends. You can even self-produce your own music and sell it on iTunes, or upload it to music sharing sites. There’s no limit to what you can do with Sonic Producer, and the sample catalog is so large that you’re sure to find the beats that appeal to your taste.

When you listen to other music artists, don’t wonder how they created their sound or how they got into the business. Get yourself into the music business by creating your own unique sound and self-producing the kind of music you want to hear. Download your copy of Sonic Producer today and get your music career in gear!

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The medical director for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), Dr. John Clarke, has recorded a rap music video designed to help riders get on and off the trains safely. The nearly four-minute public service announcement (PSA) instructs riders on safety measures they can take to help avoid personal injury while riding on the organization’s trains. Dr. Clarke stars in the rap music video and delivers several key messages about the potential dangers of entering and exiting train cars.

Rap May Help Reduce Rider Injuries

Since 2007, the LIRR has reduced the number of riders who were injured by falling into “the gap” the space between the rider platform and the train car. The railroad attached additional fittings to help reduce the size of the gap, but with the rap video, the LIRR is hoping to reduce the number even farther.

This is not the first PSA rap music video that Dr. Clarke has made. He also made public service videos about psoriasis and the H1N1 flu virus. Clarke’s H1N1 video won the Department of Health and Human Service’s Flu Prevention Video PSA Contest in 2009 and has been viewed nearly one-quarter of a million times on YouTube.

Rap music is an excellent medium when you’ve got a message to get out. If you’re new to the rap music scene, or have a desire to put together professional-sounding recordings but don’t have the equipment, consider downloading a copy of Sonic Producer.

Sonic Producer is the best beatmaking music available today and is written for both the PC and Macintosh platforms. No matter what kind of computer you have, you can make your own beats. Better still, Sonic Producer comes with hundreds of royalty-free beats that you can use to create your own sound. When you’re done, you can do whatever you want with your music. Export your beats to MP3 format and share them with friends, keep them to yourself or take your show on the road!

Sonic Producer not only lets you make beats your way, it also helps you learn how to get the most out of the software and how to put together beats that the crowd will love! Sonic Producer is loaded with tutorial videos that can help you self-produce your music, define your sound and lift you up above the competition.

Without a doubt, Sonic Producer is the best music producing software on the market today. Download your copy of Sonic Producer now!

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L’il Wayne’s latest beat making music will be released on September 27, nearly two months before the artist himself is released from Riker’s Island prison in New York. L’il Wayne’s manager, Cortez Bryant, says a new EP entitled I Am Not A Human Being, will hit the rap music scene on L’il Wayne’s birthday. I Am Not A Human Being is part of L’il Wayne’s next album, Tha Carter IV. Tha Carter IV was originally planned for release in 2009, however its release was put on hold following the rapper’s arrest on a weapon’s charge. Weezy began serving his one-year sentence following two delays. He is expected to serve eight months of the 12-month sentence and should be released in November.

Weezy Vows To Work On His Music While In Prison

Tha Carter IV is a much-anticipated followup to Tha Carter III, a rap music album for which the rapper earned four Grammy awards, including Best Rap Album. Tha Carter III was also the best-selling rap music album in 2008. In February, L’il Wayne released another rap album, entitled Rebirth, and joined Eminem on No Love, a track from Eminem’s newly released Recovery album.

Before entering Riker’s Island, L’il Wayne told his fans that he would continue to work on his music while he was incarcerated, and intended to return with several new rap songs. Recording any new rap music will have to wait until he’s released, however. L’il Wayne is largely segregated from the other prisoners in the facility and has limited access to visitor.

If you’re working on your own music, check out Sonic Producer, a software program designed to help budding rap artists put together the freshest music. Sonic Producer creates a professional sound using hundreds of royalty-free samples. Create your own beats and share them with friends or self-publish your music. You can even sell your beats on iTunes!

Sonic Producer will not only let you make your kind of music, it will also help you learn how to put together the beats that people want to hear. Sonic Producer is more than a recording program; it’s filled with helpful video tutorials that show you how to use the software and how to create crowd-pleasing sounds!

Sonic Producer is the most complete music-making software on the market today, and is designed for rap music artists looking for their opportunity to break through! Download Sonic Producer today and start making your own music your way!

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There’s no big surprise here, but CD sales are down in a big way. According to Digital Music News, CD sales dropped by 11% in the first half of 2010, while digital album sales increased by 14% over the same period in 2009. One bright spot in album sales is Eminem’s rap music collection, Recovery. Recovery’s first week sales topped 740,000 and became the first album to chart that many sales since 2008′s Black Ice by AC/DC.

Recovery, along with Drake’s Thank Me Later and L’il Wayne’s Rebirth albums have all reached gold status in 2010.

The Future of Music Is Digital

The same survey showed that vinyl sales are increasing slightly, but still accounted for less than 10% of new music sales in the first half of the year. Vinyl albums are largely considered to have only niche appeal and will not make up a major portion of new music sales.

What is the appeal of digital music? Distribution of digital music is easy, and the sound quality is better. Digital music doesn’t suffer from the same age-related problems that vinyl- and CD-based music does, and can be replaced easily if the digital music file gets damaged. Digital music also gives the listener the choice of purchasing just the songs they want to hear, without having to pay for tracks they don’t want. Aside from all of that, music lovers prefer digital music because they can take their music with them wherever they go on portable, high-capacity MP3 players.

With an MP3 player, you can create playlists of the songs you want to hear from the artists you love, and you can change up your list any time you want to. Portability, flexibility and customization are the reasons more music buyers are switching to digital music.

This switch in consumer preferences opens the door for other possibilities, like self-publication of music. Music producers of any experience level can self-produce their own music, especially if they have access to a professional music production software package like Sonic Producer. Sonic Producer comes complete with hundreds of royalty-free samples, and can easily export music to MP3 format. Self-produced music and beats can be uploaded to music-sharing sites, or can even be sold as mixtapes, singles or albums. With Sonic Producer, you can make your own music and share it with the world! It’s a great way to break into today’s rap music business.

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Michael Henderson, bassist for Miles Davis, has sued Snoop Dogg, claiming the rap beats artist illegally sampled Henderson’s work entitled Riding. Henderson claims that Snoop Dogg used the sample on Flashbacks, part of a mixtape released in 2008. Henderson also claims that Snoop Dogg sampled more of Henderson’s work, and included it on “Hands On The Wheel” for promotional material related to the 2008 West Fest tour. Universal Music, Goldi Loc, Kam and MC Eiht have also been named in the lawsuit.

Sampling Can Be Tricky

Sampling a song recorded originally by another artist is a mainstay component of rap music. Most samples used in rap music are “cleared” by the second artist. In other words, the second artist gets permission to re-use the work. Often, a songwriting credit is added to the music, and the second artist often (but not always) pays royalties, a fee or a percentage of the song’s earnings to use the sample.

Contrary to popular belief, there is no defined sample length that can be used without permission under the “Fair Use Doctrine.” According to one federal court, sampling as few as three notes can constitute copyright infringement. Among the criteria a court uses to determine the legality of a sample is how the sample is used, whether or not it is sufficiently different from the original work, whether the works appeal to the same or different audiences, whether the work that uses the sample is considered a parody, how quickly the original artist moves to defend his copyright, and whether or not the second work diminishes the value of the first work.

If you’re into making your own beats and mixtapes, you probably sample. How can you break into the business using someone else’s samples? You can’t, unless the samples are licensed to you, or the original artist made the music available for sampling. With Sonic Producer, you can be assured that all of the beats provided in this outstanding program are royalty-free. That means all of the music you make is yours and yours alone. You pay for the beat samples when you buy the software, so whatever you make is yours to do with what you want: use it, share it or sell it. It’s all good!

Use Sonic Producer for guaranteed royalty-free samples for your all of your beats, mixtapes and music!
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Nicki Minaj has hit the Billboard Rap Music chart’s number one slot with her new single, “Your Love.” The single is expected on Minaj’s debut studio album, which will hit the stores in November 2010. Your Love features a sample from Annie Lenox’s 1995 “No More I Love You’s.” Her first single, “Massive Attack” was released in late April.

Make Your Own Beats!

Minaj is currently recording on the Young Money Entertainment label. She has worked on musical collaborations with rap music star L’il Wayne, Mariah Carey, Ludacris and Usher. She has released three mixtapes, including “Playtime is Over,” “Sucka Free,” and “Beam Me Up Scotty.”

The rap music world is opening up to a variety of new acts and performers with a different take on traditional rap music. Minaj says she’s made a conscientious decision to downplay her sexuality in her music in order to let fans concentrate on what she has to say.

In rap music, being heard is half the battle. For new artists, getting the right sound is the biggest challenge. If you’re interested in making your own beats and creating rap music that appeals to you, you need to get ahold of your own copy of Sonic Producer.

Sonic Producer is a rap music making software that you need to hear to believe. Sonic Producer is filled with hundreds of royalty-free samples that you can use and combine to make your own rap music creations.

With Sonic Producer, you can make your own mixtapes, experiment with sound and get your groove together. Sonic Producer offers more than just royalty free music, however. This software comes loaded with tutorials that show you how to make your own creative sounds.

Use your computer at home or load Sonic Producer on a laptop and take your music anywhere. Make music when the mood strikes, capture your own samples and get started on your rap music career. When you’ve got a sound you love, export it to MP3 and share it with your friends. Sonic Producer is the easiest way to make professional rap music. It requires no additional hardware or software and you get professionally recorded music right out of your computer. With Sonic Producer, you’ll sound like you’ve spent hours in a professional recording studio, when in reality, you’ve made your own beats in your own space! Get Sonic Producer today!

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In a wide ranging editorial entitled “In Search Of The New Sound (Goose Bump Music)” published on AllHipHop earlier this week, hip-hop beat maker executive Cedric Muhammad says that the “masses are fiending for goose bump music,” the term Muhammad uses to describe music that compels the listener to “do something.” In the essay, Muhammad talks about the early musical influences in his life and how it inspired him in his career choices and in life in general.

Music’s Influence Is Undeniable

Muhammad freely admits that he’s never had any formal musical training, but from a young age, he was taught to listen to music and later to manipulate sound using different pieces of sound equipment. The result, he says, was a unique combination of “jazz, disco, house, gospel and R&B.”

His musical efforts were rewarded ultimately by introductions to other musicians, and eventually a front-office job as the general manager of Wu Tang Management, the company behind the Wu Tang Clan. Muhammad’s job was to make the arrangements, scheduling musicians and studio time, along with recording personnel. He rarely spent time with the musicians themselves, but instead found kindred spirits among the sound engineers who brought the whole musical picture together.

Muhammad relates the largely unrecognized undercurrents in hip hop music and the effect they have on everything from Hewlett Packard’s sales figures to stock prices. In case you’re wondering why Muhammad is seemingly uniquely qualified to editorialize on the subject, he is a trained economist, business and political consultant, and is the publisher of BlackElectorate.com and The Black Coffee channel. He was also named a member of The First Congress of African Economists in 2008.

What Muhammad clearly states about music is that audiences are ready for a new sound. What speaks to an audience, according to Muhammad, is the way the music makes them feel when they hear it. Muhammad believes that the right combination of samples, synthesis and live music have an appeal that audiences are now “fiending” for because it has a unique ability to make audiences “feel” the music.

Though the editorial is long, it is rich with inspiration for aspiring hip-hop musicians and lays out a blueprint for artists and artistic groups who have what it takes to generate the next new thing in hip-hop music. Muhammad offers a goldmine of advice for any musician who’s willing to take it to heart.

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