Thursday, December 22, 2005 2:00AM
Good Morning from the West Coast. It's 2:00AM and I'm super-tired. But the excitement that I have for Overdue Exposure magazine is keeping me motivated and working until crazy hours every morning without complaint.
What is Overdue Exposure? Just that: Exposure that is Overdue. (For our mission statement, go to the Home Page). As a writer (author of the L.A. street story, Kismet--available at www.Amazon.com--LOL, a very shameless plug!) , an avid fan of rap, and a bonafide citizen of the Hip-Hop society, I'm thrilled to be here. Welcome to my first Editorial.
Resumed on December 22nd @ 6:00PM:
As you may have noticed we are huge fans of Glasses Malone. He is the cover story of our premiere issue and for good reason: G. Malone is the Truth. As an artist, he represents everything that we feel mainstream Hip-Hop industry is lacking: Good Music!
In July 2005, the idea for Overdue Exposure was newly conceived. We immediately hit the ground running and soon had tons of messages flooding our inbox. We had spent weeks sifting through submissions from artists for a feature story (thanks to a futile ad we placed on Craigslist) when G. Malone came into our lives. Well, the truth is, I heard one of his songs on 100.3 The Beat and then hunted him down like the paparazzi I fear I'm becoming (lol). A call to the radio station ("who was the artist he song that just went off the air?") led me to The Blackwallstreet website (Yea, The Game's Blackwallstreet) where Glasses was profiled as one of their artists (I would later find out that this was not a fact). I quickly registered, then hopped on the boards typing messages for G. Malone to holla back ("A new Urban Magazine is checkin' for G. Malone"). Next I left him a pm, a personal message, on the site and then finally sent an email to Big Fase, Game's big brother and business partner. I received a response from Big Fase shortly thereafter which read: "G. Malone on the cover?" When I read it I laughed out loud. I mean I dug dude's music but damn, the cover? After a politically correct response back, ("As a businessman, I'm sure you understand") G. Malone soon showed up in our inbox ("Watts Up!").
The email exchange was short and sweet. He was happy for the recognition and we were relieved that he embraced us, the unknown start-up that we are. We scheduled an interview and in the meantime I ordered his mixtape, "White Lightening (Sticks)" from the internet. Listening to his CD in its entirety not only confirmed our initial thoughts of G. Malone, but blew us the fuck out the water. It's an amazing compilation of songs with lyrics that cleverly and intellectually tell us visual stories about G. Malone's real life, accompanied by top-quality production. In our book, it's a classic and if you don't already have, cop it quick!
On September 09, 2005 my photographer, Steven Barston (www.stevenbarston.com), and I traveled a short fifteen minutes from Marina Del Rey to Watts to meet with Glasses. When we arrived there he was with his crew (now his official entourage, I'm sure) and it was hugs and pounds--straight love--from the start. As nervous as I was (it was my first interview for the mag!) it turned out to be the most comfortable conversation I think I've ever had with a complete stranger--even with nearly thirty people watching.
During that first interview (and each conversation thereafter) Glasses was articulate, insightful, direct, humble and very endearing. Probably not the description you'd expect to hear from a hardcore underground rapper, but it's the honest truth. I knew then that he was a star and that it would only be a matter of time before the whole world would know it. Over the next few months we kept a close eye on him as he shopped deals in New York (taking meetings with Jay-Z!) as well as supporting him as he performed local shows. For this reason I was not surprised to hear (an email from The Blackwallstreet Forum, no less) that Glasses Malone was recently (mid-November) signed to a lucrative 1.7 million dollar deal with Sony Urban/Columbia/Big Ego Entertainment (Mike Lynn, holla at ya girl!). And, in saying that we couldn't be more thrilled for him--he deserves everything good coming to him and then some. And, I can't lie. I somehow feel like we had a hand in his newfound success--if only to say that we interviewed him before he blew up (check back soon for the transcripts), which means, we already knew what was up.
If you follow West Coast rap at all (and if you're on this site, you must), especially, the happenings of the New West Movement, you know that Glasses Malone, along with Bishop Lamont who recently signed to Aftermath Records (he was our second interview!) and a host of others (just peep the site and you'll meet them), are the leaders of a new day in Hip-Hop for the West. It's a brand new day, People! It's a brand new day!
I'm going to end this here 'cause I have to get ready for Glasses' "Signing Party" (free drinks all night!). Please don't hate though, I'm coming back to you with all the details--video and pics included. We didn't have our TV show when we first interviewed Glasses, but we'll have our cameras rollin' tonight, so stay tuned!
Peace, Love,
and Many Many Blessings,
P.S. Heather, our genius webmistress, is leaving town for vacation tomorrow, so no updates will be posted until the first week in January (right, Heather?) Just letting you know so you don't think we've abandoned you. With that said, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! Make sure you bring it in right, whatever that means to you. 2006 is already a winner and we can't wait to jump into it!
Contact Us
Email
310-285-3148
256 S. Robertson Blvd. Suite 504, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Visit us on My Space Click here
© 2006 Overdue Exposure. All rights reserved.
Web site design by hezodesign.com