Sophisticated Sunday

By Natasha T. Brown

“At House Studio, you can just feel this thing that you can’t really put into words, and you feel like wherever music is headed, these cats will be a part of that.”
–Omar Kashif, Alleyhouse Entertainment

Hose Studio logaBefore an independent artist hits the stage, secures a team, builds a fan base and records a track, one has to figure out how to accomplish this all with a relatively small budget and limited resources. With the emergence of independent studios around the nation, very few offer the quality, reputation, resources, and opportunities for independent artists as those at House Studio DC, located in Northeast, Washington.

Its latest opportunity for artists is the House Studio Artist Grant, a program that will offer six talented musicians (from anywhere in the US) an opportunity to take their careers to the next level, with full recording, video, marketing and a production package from House at no charge. This investment from House Studio is a $30,000 value for each artist selected.

“We’re looking for the complete package, someone who is ready to go to the next level with their career, someone who needs a break. Maybe they have talent, strong drive, but maybe they don’t have a serious creative team or the funds to get the project made,” said House Studio CEO Yudu Gray, Jr.

The House Studio Artist Grant Application can be downloaded from www.houseartistgrant.com. The grant process is quite simple, and one that any independent artist who is serious about his/her artistry should take advantage of. The deadline to apply is January 8, 2013, and recipients will be notified in February, with three to six months of production commencing that same month.

Next year will be the first official class of House Artist Grantees, however Gray said that, “This has always been in the DNA of our company. Before now, we kinda looked out for artists, but we were actually doing more damage than good by hooking artists up with free studio time, because that isn’t how the industry is designed.”

For those who receive the grant, there is very little room to take it for granted, because there is an actual program with classes in financial management, time management, publishing and trademarking, in addition to studio time and video shoots.

“The goal,” according to Gray, “is to create a well-packaged artist and not just someone who has good music.”

Artists that House Studio has supported in the past include Soul Singer Reesa Renee, popular band Black Alley, Source-featured hip-hop artist Javier Starks; Spoken Word Artist Drew Law and recent X-Factor Contestant RaTheMC.

“Besides providing a platform for everything that I have going on, the fact that House Studio works with so many musicians and the guidance that they gave me made it easy for me to get into the swing of recording,” said Javier Starks. “The artist program helped me reach further extremes and get better as an artist.”
Omar Kashif, Manager of Black Alley, mirrored those sentiments about the collaboration with House on Black Alley’s Soul Swagger Rock Sneakers album released in March of 2012.

“One of the main things House Studio provided us was a very competent and capable engineer by the name of Jake, and what I like most about the place is the young energy…. The way they mix and their ideas are really wonderful for DC’s music scene,” Kashif said.

Gray would like all artists to apply for the grant, especially those who may want support from House Studio and access to its resources, which include 2 large studios, space for recording live instrumentation, lounge/event space, producers, engineers, a video team, and a comfortable environment with cozy amenities including a kitchen, shower and much more.

“Even if an artist doesn’t get the Artist Grant, but if they at least show that they applied, it lets me know that they are serious. If they don’t try to get it, it makes me question their dedication as an artist,” said Gray. “If you are an artist and you feel like you would like help with your career, I beg you – please apply.”


Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of
Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @TBINatasha or @ThinkBrownINK

photo of School Without Walls posterBy Natasha T. Brown

Slow motions-quick dramatics-occasional trauma-a dose of darkness and always interesting.


The work of Filmmaker Tanecia Britt, known by most as “T. Britt” can be accurately described as all of these things – but this 27-year-old creative is starring in her own unscripted, not-yet-completed feature film, and it’s an interesting one.


“I’m lively, zealous, and very brief,” she chuckled. And oftentimes, so is her work.


Britt is the founder of the DMV International Film Festival (DMVIFF), created in 2009. She made her first feature film in 2003, has worked as an independent artist for years and is now a visionary bringing to life many stories that could otherwise go untold. The foundation of Britt’s talent sits in the neo-artsy Washington suburb of Hyattsville, Maryland, spanned across the globe to London, England, was cultivated at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now reaches audiences globally through her work as the curator of the DMVIFF, and director of movies, music videos, and a new web series’, the Life Diet, that account for her most cherished loves.


The unscripted life
of this filmmaker has various characters, plots and lots of creativity. She might wake up in the DMV, and end up in Delaware or New York City by the end of the night for a last-minute production gig.


“My passion for wanting to be a filmmaker came out in the ‘80s, because my mother use to watch The Color Purple, repetitively, and so I always wanted to create what I saw on television and my own stories,” Britt explained. In 2011, “The first time I ever got a script option, (by Casting Director Winsome Sinclair), who casted Belly, (Waiting to Exhale, Malcolm X, etc.) and most of Spike Lee’s films was one of my best moments, and the first time that someone had actually sent over contracts, and paid for my work.”


“When that happened, being at the top of my class wasn’t good enough (anymore)…. Because I still had to do a lot of rewrites (to the script) and I realized that I was not so hot. I had enough talent to get in the door, but I’d still have to do a lot of more work. It was kinda like adjusting to my expectations, which were being raised. I had to hit my head a lot of times for my ego to be humbled, and chill out… to be honest.”


Britt studied communications at Johnson C. Smith and created her first film, A Hustler’s Diary, in 2003. It was shot on campus and the plot told the story of a young urbanite who had to sell drugs to pay his college tuition. From Hustler’s Diary, to the London-based film School Without WaLLs, one can tell that Britt has a knack for bringing stories to the big screen, and the proven ambition to make her dreams happen.


“London was the best experience of my life. It solidified that I was going to do this for the rest of my life, because I sacrificed a lot to make that film,” she said.


“I went out there with a goal to make a feature film, and I realized that going to school was the best way to do it. I met some of the best people, who made me who I am today. If I didn’t go to school in London, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do what I’m doing – period,” she said. Her master’s degree is in Film, Video and New Screen Media from the University of East London.

School Without Walls is set in an urban London neighborhood. The opening scene shadows a teenage male down a street and into an alley, being followed by two police officers. Less than two minutes into the film, the character is demanded to, “Turn around, put your hands on your head! Put your hands on your head! Put your hands on your head!” The screen suddenly goes black, gunshots fire, blood splatters on concrete, women scream, a crowd of onlookers and the police officer stand in shock. One of the officers checks the guy’s pulse, but he’s dead. The plot thickens from there with character conflicts and an unfortunate turn of events, as six students find themselves locked inside of the School Without Walls, with various issues, far less complex than the turmoil outside of the school.

The 50 some odd-minute film was certainly a winning effort by the young filmmaker.


She explained, “I want to be that American filmmaker, in foreign countries shooting films.”


Since her first few films, Britt said that her work has become more disciplined, and the eagerness of wanting to tell compelling stories has gone away. She takes her time and has fell in deep love with the theory of film.

“I realize it’s a marathon and not a race. I pace myself more now,” she said. “Now I know the theory around filmmaking, and I know I can be a professor of film and be happy forever in life [if I wanted to].”

On being in her creative zone…

She said, “I feel serene, ‘yo’. I feel like I’m lying in a field on a hot summer’s day, with warm raindrops falling on my forehead. I feel untouchable, like I’m creating the inevitable. I’m creating something that will be archived way beyond my years. I feel like when I shoot, I will never die – immortality.”

Tanecia Britt plans to widen her portfolio in the advertising realm and to open a major film and production studio later in life. Get in touch with her on Twitter @TaneciaBritt, Youtube, and watch School Without Walls, here.

Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @TBINatasha or @ThinkBrownINK.

Think Brown INK's Natasha Brown pictureThe Reading Lists of Mina Leon, White Folkz, Jay Mills, Justin Trawick, Alison Carney and more

By Natasha T. Brown

Freakonomics (2005) is a groundbreaking collaboration between the economist Steven D. Levitt and the author Stephen J. Dubner. It explores the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and more. It became a worldwide sensation and won several awards.

-Freakonomics.com

…Allowing the reader to look beyond societal assumptions, thinking deeper and realizing that “there are things in life that deserve a fresh new perspective,” are exactly the reasons why Mina Leon, the Japan-based songbird (who is no stranger to DMV music) is enjoying the literary exploration of Freakonomics.

I asked various artists one question, “What are you reading?” and like Leon, most are currently, or have been consumed by books that dig deep beyond the superficial surface that much of today’s entertainment scene offers.


The influence of literature

What we read influences our lives, and since for many singers, rappers and songwriters, art is life, it was only natural to think that the pages they’ve turned, the stories they’ve digested and the character journeys that artists have traveled, have influenced the types of music they make.


However, rap/hip-hop artist White Folkz, told me just the opposite about his music and reading. The books he reads are deep. Right now, the self-proclaimed “dope-boy rapper” is reading
The Grand Chessboard
by Zbigniew Brzezinski and The Long Way Home by George Pelecanos. The first book is about geopolitical takeover strategies and the last, written by Pelecanos, is the author’s account of time spent in the juvenile detention facility Oak Hill, a story that took Folkz back to his youth days in that same detainment. However, after further conversation, Folkz explained that he’s not quite ready to allow the deeper subjects that he engages to seep through to his music.

Right now the landscape of society is not ready for [these] subject matters, and the ones who can absorb the information and understand it, don't want to. Hip Hop used to be a medium for the artist to speak in code, through music, to spread information that would help people, or at least change their way of thinking. This is not the case anymore,” he said. Folkz plans on making feel-good, party music until he’s a household name with more reign to explore the thought-provoking subjects that influence his personal library.

Reading for life and music’s sake

The popular “(Alison) Wonderland” singer, Alison Carney likes to read words that paint pictures through figurative language. She takes many of her reading suggestions from her loved ones and feels that she gets a little glimpse of her friends in a way that may not have before been possible.

Multi-talented Singer/Lyricist Jay Mills reads books that empower her life as an artist and inspire her to believe in her dreams.

I think books can change your entire way of life, by changing how you think, as well as how you view yourself and others,” she said, adding that her favorites The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Alchemist and The Autobiography of a Yogi, have changed her thought-process enough that she rereads these books to maintain balance and creativity.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley, “Awakened the revolutionary mindset in my African-American soul. It reminds me how much one person can change the world through knowledge of self and the desire to help others attain this same knowledge,” Mills added.

Many agree with Jay Mills in that the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda is one of the most powerful books one could read and The Alchemist is packed with eternal wisdom.

Artists, read for various reasons. The DMV-based pop/R&B singer, turned Rapper, Harmony Muzik has seen her career plateau in recent years, probably due in part to her commitment to marketing and business strategy, and reading publications such as News Weekly and Billboard.

Justin Trawick, an “Urban Folk Rock” Songwriter connects his life to music in comical and creative ways via the influences of folk, bluegrass, funk and even some hip-hop. Trawick has never consciously written songs based on books, but he is influenced.

For me, I think participating in art helps me be a better artist. No matter whether it's reading, going to a gallery, seeing a movie, or watching a piano recital, watching other people create something inspires me to create something for myself,” Trawick said.

Check out the artists’ reading lists below, and pull a novel or two from the shelves that inspire these talented artists from and around the Nation’s Capital and beyond.

What are they reading?

Allison Carney, R&B/Soul Singer

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Still Life with Woodpecker, Tom Robbins

Harmony Muzik, Singer/Lyricist

Time Magazine

News Weekly

Fortune Magazine

Source Magazine

Rolling Stone Magazine

Billboard Magazine

Jay Mills, Hip/Hop, Spoken Word Artist

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, by Alex Haley

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Justin Trawick, Songwriter

Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Author Brad Thor’s books

L.A., Female Hip-Hop Artist

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

Ask, and It is Given by Jerry and Esther Hicks

Mina Leon, Singer

Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner

Muggsy Malone, Rap Artist

The Bible

Works on psychological science

White Folkz, Rap/Hip-Hop Artist

The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Long Way Home by George Pelecanos


Natasha Brown is a writer and founding communications strategist of Think Brown INK, a creative think tank and strategic communications agency in the Washington area. Follow her on Twitter @NatashaTBI or @ThinkBrownINK.

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