Blaxtar

Music:

Member Since: 4/27/2006
Band Website: blaxtar.com
Band Members:
BLAXTAR CHRONOZBAAL from CONCEPTENCREATIE on Vimeo .

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Blaxtar's Philosophy on Raen Music

Encyclopedia rap. University hiphop. Mythological poems. Roman numerals. Just a few of the phrases uttered by national press to describe the album Ozmoses. That strange title is a derivation of three words; Oz, the magician Dorothy and her friends were looking to, to obtain properties they themselves thought they lacked. Moses, the biblical leader who freed his people of the Egyptian suppression, and osmoses, the gradual process that restores the balance of fluid between two cells. The author, Blaxtar, has been a name in Dutch hiphop for about ten years, but not because of his smash hits or television airplay. The now 30 year old entrepreneur made a name for himself through a couple of guest appearances on well-known Dutch hiphop albums, such as those of the trio ‘Opgezwolle’, giving rap workshops at schools throughout the country and of course, performances. Many performances. With the release of his afore mentioned debut album Blaxtar also launched his own label, Raen Music [rain-music]. One and a half years later Raen Music is on the verge of releasing its second epos, CHRONOZBAÄL [kro-nos-ba-all], another solo album by Blaxtar. In addition, the 23 year old hiphop-prophet Manu is said to be enforcing the label shortly with his debut ‘ De Vloek Op De Overvloed’ (fr.trnsl.: The Curse Of The Abundance). It’s obvious at this point to many people that Raen Music is not just another hiphop label. With the growing popularity of Dutch hiphop in the Netherlands many new initiatives and artists have been launched, each single one of them scrabbling their piece of a very small pie. However the media like to present themselves as ‘ of the people’ , very little effort is taken to promote the new national product, unless it’s highly commercialized and devoid of any social consciousness. Of course, with the growing polarization between Christian and Muslim culture, the only hiphop that does get attention is that which is made to shock people, containing harsh words, anti-western mentality and death-threats to politicians. Just outside all this racket Raen Music holds her ground, with thought-through concepts that depict an honesty unknown to many. It’s this honesty that creates the strong atmosphere that seems to appear out of nowhere whenever her artists step on a stage. We like to represent a subculture within a subculture, strong enough to win the appreciation of all who enjoy good lyrics, strong concepts and creativity that stretches beyond rhyming. But what’s the use of creating music that’s ‘ too difficult’ to be understood by general audience? Well, call us naïve, but we still believe there is method to the madness. Conventional pop music is made popular by marketing and branding. A record’s success is, in our understanding, largely decided by the effort put in getting it in high rotation. Americans have mastered this art since long. But what if we were to use the same methods to promote ‘ unconventional music’. Would the mere fact that a song actually has content that does not require music to be interesting result in a boycott by general audience when they would hear it over and over, as is usual for new hits of big names? Improbable, wouldn’t you say? So why do most artists ‘ dumb down’ their music? Probably because the people deciding on what gets pushed and what does not get pushed have lost the view and creativity to find new ways to market this. Let’s face it, a business is run by routine. We would like to start a new routine, fresh music in the midst of production line compositions, true content to serve as a counter weight to… the rest!
Influences: .. width="425" height="350" .. Influences
- Outkast
- Canibus
- Slum Village
- Jay Z
- BoyzIIMen
- Dizzee Raskal
- Otis Redding
Record Label: Raen Music
Type of Label: Indie