15,000 vote for hip-hop awards
IF YOU GO The third annual Central Pennsylvania Hip-Hop Awards, 6 p.m. Sunday, The Forum, 555 Walnut St. Red carpet starts at 5 p.m. Tickets: $20 in advance, $30 day of show, $100 VIP, $900 for VIP table of 10. INFORMATION: 412-401-3919 or
www.cphiphopawards. com
Saturday, March 07, 2009
BY CHRIS MAUTNER
Of The Patriot-News
Hundreds of local rappers, musicians, DJs, record store owners and other area music industry professionals will converge on The Forum this Sunday for the third annual Central Pennsylvania Hip-Hop Awards.
The event celebrates and brings together hip-hop artists living in the midstate, according to organizer Dwayne Muhammad, CEO of Pittsburgh's 360 Entertainment.
"This is one of the biggest music industry events on the East Coast," he said. "This is Central PA's Grammy Awards."
More than 100 musicians, producers and businessmen from Harrisburg, York, Lancaster and Reading are nominated in more than 30 categories, such as mover and shaker of the year, best male artist, best hip-hop clothing line, best club DJ and hair salon of the year.
As of Thursday, Muhammad said more than 15,000 votes had been cast online at the awards' Web site. Voting ends at noon today.
Muhammad said he expects more than 1,000 people to attend.
"It creates a whole industry for the music business here in the area. The studios get more business, the artists are more productive. The producers are making more money because they're selling more beats," Muhammad said. "Prior to the awards, artists were working amongst themselves in each city. Now you can see the diversity that's going on."
Performers at this year's event include rappers Da Ritt and Phene, Sykkline Entertainment, gospel rapper Vision, R&B singers and poets.
In addition to the awards, a number of local "pioneers" will be honored for their early efforts.
One of them is the former Harrisburg-based group Positive Force, an eight-piece R&B/funk/jazz band that recorded in the late 1970s and early '80s with the Sugarhill Gang, one of the first rap groups and the first to score a top 40 hit with the song "Rapper's Delight."
Positive Force provided the party ambience for that song as well as others, according to keyboardist and founder Moncy P. Smith III. The group's other notable songs include "We Got the Funk" and "Especially for You."
"I'm very much excited and look forward to the event," said Smith, who still lives in Harrisburg. "Our music is still going on. They're playing our music all over the world today. That's the beauty of the musical legacy of group. [It] will never die.
"What we eventually did as artists had never been done here before by a black R&B group," he said. "We were the first to create that [style] in the R&B field."
CHRIS MAUTNER: 255-8481 or
cmautner@patriot-news.com