MTV2 Sucker Free - Soul Khan

The momentum continues... 

Since we released his free album, Soul Like Khan the response from fans and industry has been amazing. Over 10,000 downloads and 200+ blog mentions within two weeks and that's only the numbers we're able to track!  All Soul Khan's social profile numbers, posts, and fan lists have been spiking for days.  We're currently looking for the right partners to help grow his fan base and develop his brand.  Soul Khan recently taped an interview and performed a freestyle verse for MTV2 Sucker Free.  Not bad for his first time on national TV!  Click the videos below and let me know what you think:

 

Freestyle:

 

Exclusive interview:

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Vote to Help Baby Joie Win $25,000 For College!

So I'm one of those parents...  How can you not vote for this cute little face to be part of the Gerber Generation?  She's in the running to win, just needs that extra help from you!

All you have to do is click on the link below the picture and it will lead you to the contest.  There's an extra step to help make the voting authentic (I know it's a pain in the ass but it's for a great cause).  If you're inclined you can vote once a day until the contest ends (October 31st).

 

 

 

 

Vote for my child's photo!

www.gerber.com

Cast your vote and help my child become a Gerber Generation winner! Plus enter your child's photo and your child could star in a Gerber ad and win a $25,000 scholarship!

 

 

Thank you!!

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Eric Thomas is Good. I Have To Step Up My Hustle!

Eric Thomas is an inspirational speaker who specializes talking to today's youth.  In fact, they call him the "Hip Hop Preacher".  Every time I watch this clip (going on 4 times now) I get invigorated to continue working on my projects.  If you ever feel unmotivated, watch Eric talk to some students from Michigan State University.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Why Artists Should Take Notes From Chamillionaire

Watching Chamillionaire on this year's Techcrunch Disrupt was very inspiring.  He is one of the sharpest artists I've had the pleasure of working with.  I rank Chamillionaire with Kid Rock and Ryan Leslie as artists who truly understand and have a clear vision of their business.

I love seeing artists and other creative types take an interest in their business.  It's one thing to be creative and have people do the marketing, publicity, & production but it's impressive to understand how everything works.  Please watch this clip especially if you're an artist.  You need to KNOW the business your in and how things can affect you.

Click here to watch the clip:

 

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Triple D Tour

My friends know I'm a foodie and I watch certain shows religiously.  One of my favs is "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."  On one recent episode they interviewed a couple who toured the country visiting all the spots this series has showcased.  Of course I thought this was genius and I'm on a mission to copy them.  Not as extreme as the couple but if I'm in a city that has one of these restaurants bet your ass I'm there.  My first stop was in celebration of my birthday, my fiance surprised me and brought me to Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory.  Highly recommend you visit this place if you're ever in Jersey City!

 

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

RISING ICONS: KID CUDI (Part 4 of 4)

He's the biggest of the four I booked on the show.  The hardest of all episodes to put together.  We were scrambling up to the last minute to get things cleared, multiple cancelled shoot dates, last minute ideas, too much to list.  Enjoy...

 

Dope album, get it here.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

RISING ICONS: RYAN LESLIE (Part 3 of 4)

Ryan is a baaaad dude....  One of the most talented, smartest guys I've ever met.  I have no clue why this guy isn't a bigger star than he is.  Amazing performer, producer, songwriter words I say can't do him justice.  All I needed to do on this shoot was coordinate the dates with BET and his camp.  He came back with loads of ideas and a full schedule on what he wanted to do for his 'day in the life' shoot.  He rehearsed 2-3 days non-stop with his band (which isn't cheap) and delivered a great performance.  Check the clips below and judge for yourself:

 

For you digital marketing, social media freaks, peep his game online.  Very savvy website and strong presence on You Tube, Twitter, etc.

Get BOTH of his albums!  His debut, Ryan Leslie and the follow up Transition.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

RISING ICONS: HAL LINTON (Part 2 of 4)

As you’ve probably noticed I had a lot of artists featured on this show **patting myself on the back**.  Out of 8 artists featured in the series, I had half of them (Melanie Fiona, Kid Cudi, Ryan Leslie, & Hal).

Hal is the newest of the bunch.  No album, no single, no video just pure talent and presence.  After watching this episode you can see that this kid’s a star.  This was a fun one to work, unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to do one of the shoots with him.  I was away on vacation and of all the business trips I would’ve loved was this one.  The Tourism Board of Barbados (Hal’s hometown) actually paid for the crew to fly to Barbados to shoot Hal’s ‘day in the life’ segment.  DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!  I LOVE Barbados, flying fish sandwiches, Bank’s beer, and the best (& only) barracuda I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating.

Back to Hal, this dude is amazing.  He's one of those guys you love hangin with and throwing back a couple beers and shots of dark rum.  I really hope his label does him justice and gets the world to notice his talent.  I had the pleasure of listening to some early work which I KNOW will blow your socks off.  Follow him on twitter.

His full episode on Facebook here (glad he ripped it ;-)

Full episode here (in case you can't access his video).

Pics from the Barbados shoot here.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Mixtape Comedy Show, Sept 19th

Every month I co-produce a comedy show in NYC.  It features Anthony Anderson & Royale Watkins as co-hosts.  Every show has a great (if I do say so myself) combination of comedians and musicians.  We even stream live on Ustream for those who can't attend in person.  We feature four comedians, a live music performance, and a platform for aspiring MCs to show off their rhyming skills in our "Freestyle Challenge."

At last month's show we added a mobile element.  We're running an iPad giveaway contest where the winner gets announced on our live show Sunday, Sept 19th.  All you have to do is text 'comedy' to 88202 to enter!  If you happen to be in NY, get your tickets here otherwise watch us online.

Join us on facebook!

 

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

RISING ICONS: MELANIE FIONA

This was a fun and aggravating episode to work on.  We moved the shoot dates about 4-5 times.  Management, the channel, and I couldn’t agree on what we wanted to shoot.  Each artist’s television shoots are broken down in two parts.  One day of shooting had to be a ‘day in the life’ type of shooting where people could get a better sense of Melanie’s personality and her busy schedule.  The other day of shooting consists of the performance in front of a live audience.

The aggravating part was that we couldn’t all come to an agreement over what the ‘day in the life’ segment was going to be.  The channel and I wanted to shoot in her hometown in Toronto but mgmt wanted it either LA or NY.  After A LOT of back and forth, we ended up shooting in NY.  The two days of shooting turned out to be great and I give kudos to mgmt to sticking their ground.  

If you haven’t already heard of Melanie you depriving yourself of experiencing a true rising star.  She is one of the best artists I’ve had the pleasure of working with.  Incredible personality, presence, voice, looks, the complete package.  When she performed the performance portion of the show, I got chills like a proud papa.  All that work culminated into a great mini concert & an episode that aired on BET.  Enjoy!

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Craig David

Recently, I came across a clip of Craig David performing on a UK TV show.  I worked with Craig back in early 2000s to bring his music to the US.  His debut album was good from beginning to end, I couldn't stop playing the damn thing!

He was one of the most disciplined eaters I've ever come across.  All he ate was a plain chicken breast, baked potato, and broccoli FOR EVERY MEAL!!!  Besides being disciplined, he was an all around good guy.  Definitely enjoyed working with him and his guitarist, Frasier.  Here are two of his videos that I had the pleasure of working (I never get sick of these songs), let me know what you think:

Here's his current website to see what he's up to now.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Corneille - An artist you should know about

I had the pleasure of working with this guy last year.  Even though we didn't do a lot of things together we got a chance to hang out and become friends.  He's an extremely talented songwriter/singer of Rwandan descent with an incredibly powerful story.  He's extremely popular in the French language countries and we tried to break him in the States.  Obviously the record label got a big #FAIL on this project...  We recently reconnected via his manager (Hey LF!) and talked about social media and why he needs to be involved.  He just signed up to twitter recently and has been starting be active on facebook.  Follow him and tell 'em @b1ward sent ya!

Here are some more links to enjoy his music and other videos:

Too Much of Anything (Video)

iTunes

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Oh the Irony

I couldn't resist taking this picture. Guess people can't read or don't
care for the law.

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Headliner.fm: New music promotion tool

I love how Web 2.0 enables content creators to gain more power over their success. Even though I spent my career at record labels, I find that the bigger they are the tougher it is for young, progressive artistry to get a decent break. Labels only want the easy, obvious hit. They don't have the time and/or luxury to invest in artist development anymore. I've seen it time and again when labels chase the artist with the hottest buzz and throw tons of $$$ to sign a contract. Once they sign they're rushed to capitalize off the buzz the artist already established on their own. The artist loses control and label pushes it's own agenda down their throat. Headliner.fm seems to be a great tool to use if you're an artist. Haven't tried it out yet but plan to real soon. Would love to hear from you if you have.

via headliner.fm

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny

Kevin Hart is one of the hottest comedians out there these days.  Good enough to make you forgive him for, Soul Plane.  Enjoy...

Follow him on twitter: @kevinhart4real

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Our next show is Sunday, July 18th. You should watch...

Every month, we feature new stand up comedians and musicians.  Past performers include Tracy Morgan, Amy Schumer, Tony Rock, Patton Oswalt, Kyle Grooms, Kwame, Chubb Rock, Full Force, & Dana Dane.  So far, the show has been a hit with the key tastemakers and early adopters.  We do the show every 3rd Sunday of the month.  Mark your calendars and watch online.  Would love to know what you think.

You can view past clips here.  Also, please join the fan page here!

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Mixtape Comedy Show, June 20th

I look forward to this show every month.  You always leave with a smile on your face...  Tons of different comedians each month so you never know what surprise you'll get.

 

Posted via web from Byron's Lifestream

Another great statistical video by Eric Qualman

via youtube.com

Let me know what you think!

Posted via web from Byron's Lifestream

P.O.D. / MTV Cribs

This was the second time I got to work with the guys from Southtown. Out of all my years working in the biz, these dudes rate at/near the top. Good people, good families, great times. The funniest thing I've ever heard was when Marcos said that he hated "John Wayne" toilet paper. It wouldn't take sh*t from anybody! LMAO

Posted via email from Byron's Lifestream

Trick Daddy / MTV Cribs

One of the first few shoots I did when I moved to NY in 2000 was MTV Cribs with Trick Daddy.  This was the first time I've ever had conch fritters!

 

Posted via web from Byron's Lifestream

Watch it...

Posted via email from Byron's Musings

Sue Sylvester/Madonna "Vogue" tribute is genius...

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

This is one of the funniest clips I've seen in a LONG time.

via youtube.com

I've watched it 5X already and still LMAO!

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

Entrepreneur State of Mind (Now You're the New Dork), LOL

This is a good idea, I'm sure this will spread like wildfire. Think I want this kid to perform on the Mixtape Comedy Show!

via techcrunch.com

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

Measure Your FourSquare Mojo

FourSquare Grader

FourSquare Grader is a simple tool to analyze your FourSquare usage, and give you a grade and rank based on your comparison to other FourSquare users.

The tool is for amusement purposes only. If you have ideas on how to make it better or more useful, please leave comments using the feedback tab.

View Sample Report -->

via square.grader.com

Have to say I'm addicted to @Foursquare. I check in EVERYWHERE I go. My 11 year old laughs at me but I don't care. I have a crazy urge to be a mayor of as many places possible!

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

SADE behind the scenes...

I can count on one hand the number of artists that I would pay to see live.  SADE is at the top of that list.  I got the chance to see her at Madison Square Garden in 2001 and it's a show I'll never forget.  Love that she doesn't change her sound and love that she comes out every 8-10 years with a new album.  Really makes you appreciate her craft.  Here's a behind the scenes clip of her making, Soldier of Love album.

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

Melanie Fiona is the truth...

Hands down one of the top 3 artist I've ever worked with.  Melanie Fiona is extremely talented and completely down to earth.  I wish her much success on her burgeoning career.  We did this shoot at Benihana in NY over lunch with MTV News.  This was actually her first time eating at the restaurant!  She's about to start her tour with Alicia Keys next week...

<div style="margin:0;text-align:center;width:500px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;">MTV Shows</div>

Pick up her debut album, The Bridge.  You won't be disappointed!

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

The magic of Cudi...

I had the experience of working with Scott.  Talented dude, temperamental but very talented...

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

Gary Coleman Tells The Host Of The Insider What He Really Thinks!

via thelifefiles.com

What you talkin about Gary?

Posted via web from Byron's Musings

A Super Bowl Recipe for Both Sexes! - BV on Love

via bvonlove.com

A good friend wrote this article. I was very surprised and appreciate the story! Definitely one of the best Super Bowl parties ever...

Posted via web from Byron's posts

One of my favorite moments from The Cosby Show

via youtube.com

Posted via web from Byron's posts

Made a little highlight reel for my Video class at NYU

Let me know what you think...

Mixtape Comedy Show streams live for 1/17 Anniversary show

Live TV by Ustream

If you're in NYC you can see the show in person every 3rd Sunday @ Gotham Comedy Cub.