Major props are in order for Erika Fuller and Candice Hoyes of Harvard University. These two sistas were the co-chairs of the Next Level Hip Hop Conference which went down this past weekend. Let me just get right to the point when I say they did an excellent job. The event was well attended, the panels were informative, organized and ran on time. There were no ridiculous discussions about 'Why Puffy, Hammer or some other commercially viable rappers were ruining Hip Hop. There were no jealous kids in the audience screaming about how wack everybody is for overlooking his tapes. There were no egotistical wanna be shot callers walking around with their name tags backwards trying to impress people. There were no up and coming knuckleheadz running around acting a fool or holding cyphers with about 50 headz in the middle of the event. There were no scantily clad groupie types trying to get a glimpse of Ice Cube, Treach or some other super star rapper so they get butt naked for their next video. There were no overzealous record label street teams running around with bullhorns, hawking the latest releases. There was no blowhard wack rapper showing up with 50 of his boyz demanding to get into the place. There was no record labels showing up playing favorites by giving out free party passes and other gratuities to commercial radio djs while bypassing their college and community radio brethren who actually broke their records. In addition, there were no label headz running around holding parties with strippers.. There was no drama. Erika, Candice and their Harvard student staff made sure the event lived up to it's name-The Next Level Hip Hop Conference.

The fact that this convention was held on a college campus gave this a whole different feel. All the panels were held in lecture halls which made for a more conducive learning environment. Almost all the panelist were well informed and spent a lot of time presenting information so that people would come away with some serious understanding. There wasn't a whole lot hype and egos that had to be checked. Everyone kept it real. Props to people like Wendy Day of the Rap Coalition, The 'Legendary' Chris Washington of Atlantic Records, Kevin Shand of Rawkus Records, Farai Chideya of ABC News and Dimitry Leger and Tracii McGregor of The Source Magazine. Also on hand were The Black Eyed Peas, DJ Red Alert, ED OG, Soul Flower and KRS-One. Oh yeah, yours truly, Davey D also participated on one of the panels. Keith O'Derek showed his film Straight From The Streets, which is one of the best Hip Hop documentaries around. Keith was even running around filming this conference, so who knows, maybe he'll include it in an upcoming documentary.

I got a chance to peep out the workshops held by Wendy Day which dealt with Publishing and Song Writing and Artists and Management. It was refreshing to finally hear someone speak the truth about the industry. She didn't sugar coat anything or play politics by painting false pictures. She gave people practical solutions and reasonable steps to take in order to resolve problems. During her first workshop, Wendy pointed out just how lucrative the publishing side of the music business is. 'It may be boring, but that's where all the money is' Wendy pointed out.. She also told the attendees NEVER TO GIVE UP ALL THEIR PUBLISHING and NEVER DO WORK FOR HIRE. You saw everyone taking down notes..

We also had a pretty in depth discussion about the Pros and Cons of sampling. The bottom line is sampling is big business and it would be in your best interest to try and avoid it. One scratch can cost you a few thousand dollars. There is no such thing as a snippet or a 4 bar rule or anything like that. If you sample and put it out, you could and will be liable.. And trust me, there are some record execs who are making big bucks tracking kids down. Even in the remote areas of the country. One of things I pointed out during the discussion, was how many of these publishing companies now have beat bounty hunters. These are kids who go around listening to everything and then they report back to labels or publishing companies songs that have samples from their catelogue of music. These kids get hit off for a couple hundred dollars and the next thing you know you're being sued. My suggestion, is get with a band.

Wendy's organization, The Rap Coalition is off the hook. It's a non profit company that acts like a union for hip hop artists. They step in and help artist who are signed to labels to keep from being exploited. She has a long list of folks ranging from Onyx to Juvenille who she's helped out behind the scenes. Every month she holds panel discussions in New York to help artist better understand the business. Reach her at mailto:wdayrapco@aol.com

Another cool panel I attended, was run by Kevin Shand of Rawkus Records. He too, lent a tremendous amount of insight into the inner workings of the business. He explained the day to day operations of a record companies. He broke down the different departments and their responsibilities. He also spoke about the type of marketing approaches various labels will take to get their product out to the public. He also told how Rawkus had just signed Pharoah Monch of Organized Konfusion. I can't wait for his new product to drop. He also spoke on the project put together by Black Star to bring attention to the Diallo police shooting in NY. I definitely appreciated Kevin's frankness. However, he kinda dodged my question about whether or not record companies pay for radio play. In a recent speech Chuck D of Public Enemy pointed out that many labels on average will come out the pocket by at least 60 grand to make sure their records get ample air time. Now, of course we all know that's illegal. It's called payola and most people when asked emphatically say 'No it never happened to them', So I'll ask you guys, Do radio stations make you pay to play your material? If so which ones? Are there any djs who you've come across that are demanding that you slip them a few dollars on the side and they in turn will make sure your material hits the airwaves? Hit me back at mailto:kingdave@sirius.com

All in all, I just wanna give major props to the folks over at The Next Level Hip Hop Conference. It was good to see all the Boston and regionally based headz like ED OG, Mighty Casey, The Kraken Family, Soul Flower, Black Ice street promotions, The Steelo.com kids [http://www.steelo.com], Musik G and numerous others. I think in the future folks should consider holding Hip Hop Conferences on college campuses. At this point in time Hip Hop requires us to be a lot more serious about its various aspects ranging from business to it being a culture. It's cool to party and hang out, but there is so much about this business we have to catch up on, I just think going to a college campus and breaking down the dynamics may be a bit more suitable then running around at all these high priced hotels. I know there will be on campus conference in a couple of weeks on The UCLA campus. I'll see you guys there.