Island Café 829 Upshur St. N.W. Washington D.C. October 13, 2011
This is one of the many places, here in the Nation’s Capital, where you can surely manage to bump into any number of the DMV’s both newest and well-known local talent. It’s a small corner café located in the heart of the city that doubles as an Island cuisine restaurant by day and a spot that showcases raw talent by night. Welcome to the Island Café where I, Insight Seeker, arrived to catch up with just a few of these artist to get the inside scoop on their beginnings, their journey and their hopes upon reaching their final destination to stardom. First I caught up with three young performers by the name Writerz Block who I’m sure will surprise you. Here is why…
Insight: Whassup everybody, Yep its Insight Seeker for wowuradio. Real quick fellas tell everybody your names and “who ya wit”.
BillyBillz: Whassup yall, it’s ya boy BillyBillz, follow me on Twitter @25BillyBillz. Well basically I’m here for Writerz Block Ent, here to kill it [the show].
Jimm: Whassup whassup this is Jimm, CEO of Writerz Block, here wit’ King Damo, my protégé and BillyBillz, we’re out here yall, this is what we got for the DMV.
King Damo: Whatup its ya boy King Damo up at the Island Café about to do what we do, ‘bout to open up for my man Del Dada and the I.M.O.B. Follow me on Twitter @KingDamo25
_____________________________________________________________
Insight: Aight so fellas, for those who don’t know, tell us exactly how long yall have been out reppin’ Writers Block since its beginning?
Jimm: I guess it’s been about what 14 years strong we’ve been doing this. Yeh “we out here”!!
BillyBillz: Yeh and first yall gotta realize, we been in the game for 14 years and I, myself, am only 18. Oh and I’m the self-proclaimed free-style king, so if anybody would like to challenge that hit me on twitter @25BillyBillz I will be waiting for any talent to step up.
__________________________________________________________________
Insight: Ha ha that’s whassup, not too many people free-style anymore. But ok so let me ask yall this, what is your main goal when making your music? Like, what is it you try to get people to focus on mainly when they hear your songs?
King Damo: Well really, it’s about the lyrics and how we are as people. Most people don’t really know how or who you are really, so we just try to tell’em who we are and how we think. Stuff like that, yanno?
_________________________________________________________________
Insight: Right I see, so it’s basically Real-REAL talk in your songs, I see. Ok so in building your company, what are some of the pitfalls you’ve faced (the up’s & downs) in 14 years?!
Jimm: Basically it’s a thing about Unity, forreal.
BillyBillz: Yeh no disrespect to anybody but we’ve been through shit. We lost a bunch of people; we still got love for everybody. The past is the past but we try to keep it in the family, stay humble and stay focused yanno.
Insight: Cool, so along the way, who are some of the artists and producers you’ve worked with?
GROUP RESPONSE: We worked with Sherlock, Landover Doppa, P.R., JB, a new artist I’m trying to bring out named “Shaun” and Johnny BadAss.
((Suddenly, BillyBillz remembers almost as if he was silently reminded to plug his upcoming 12 track mix tape titled “Sheets and Funnel” just after King Damo plugs his upcoming mix tape titled “Most Hated, Most Underrated”. Both upcoming mix tapes will feature a lot of DMV artist as well as in-house artist from the Writerz Block label.))
Insight: Ok well, a lot of features, this goes back to the whole unity thing you mentioned earlier. Aight so let me ask you guys another question. The groupies, everybody has them at some point. So how do you all react when people see you performing and hear that you’re being active in music? How does it affect you?
King Damo: Well sometimes people talk to us different when we go back home around the way, but in the end we’re all the same people you went to school with and grew up with.
BillyBillz: Yeh yeh like, you don’t have to treat me like a celebrity forreal. I’m still ya mans ya went to school wit’, grew up wit’. Some people [girls] act like b’cuz “oh you rap” they get all hype, they find out “oh you do shows” they get even more hype, then they find out you’re indie and they switch up a bit, depending on how much you tell them.
Jimm: Yeh ain’t shit changed, we just work different. We stay motivated and focused so it’s not really important.
__________________________________________________________________
Insight: So what are some spots people can find yall? What are some other shows or projects we can all look forward to catching you guys?
Jimm: Raz Lounge, Howard Homecoming Jamfest, here at the Island Café, really everywhere in the city we have an audience.
Insight: Ok ok well everybody will be on the lookout and wowuradio will definitely promote you and put you on by spreading the word. You all have a good night and “kill it” like I say last week here at The Island [Café] and, yeh, have a great show.
GROUP RESPONSE: Oh yeh no doubt. Shoutout to wowuradio and everybody in the DMV, thanks for the support and keep listening ‘cause we got heat for everybody!!
Now, surely this doesn’t close out the night that is just getting underway. As more and more patrons enter the building, more artists also begin to arrive. Soon, as I mingle through the growing crowd, I myself couldn’t help but to join in on a few freestyle cyphers and chit chats with a few of the talented individuals and groups. All of them were awaiting their moment to take the stage while they and everyone else anticipated the arrival of the final act whose being showcased tonight, the I.M.O.B. However, as I said, the night is only beginning, there’s a lot more to come but to find out just what, you’ll have to be sure to check out our Indie Blog by logging onto www.wowuradio.net ; or going onto www.live365.com and clicking WOW Radio in the search engine.
--
by Insight Seeker, Creative Director, W.O.W Radio
Follow on Twitter: @AgentL7
This is one of the many places, here in the Nation’s Capital, where you can surely manage to bump into any number of the DMV’s both newest and well-known local talent. It’s a small corner café located in the heart of the city that doubles as an Island cuisine restaurant by day and a spot that showcases raw talent by night. Welcome to the Island Café where I, Insight Seeker, arrived to catch up with just a few of these artist to get the inside scoop on their beginnings, their journey and their hopes upon reaching their final destination to stardom. First I caught up with three young performers by the name Writerz Block who I’m sure will surprise you. Here is why…
Insight: Whassup everybody, Yep its Insight Seeker for wowuradio. Real quick fellas tell everybody your names and “who ya wit”.
BillyBillz: Whassup yall, it’s ya boy BillyBillz, follow me on Twitter @25BillyBillz. Well basically I’m here for Writerz Block Ent, here to kill it [the show].
Jimm: Whassup whassup this is Jimm, CEO of Writerz Block, here wit’ King Damo, my protégé and BillyBillz, we’re out here yall, this is what we got for the DMV.
King Damo: Whatup its ya boy King Damo up at the Island Café about to do what we do, ‘bout to open up for my man Del Dada and the I.M.O.B. Follow me on Twitter @KingDamo25
_____________________________________________________________
Insight: Aight so fellas, for those who don’t know, tell us exactly how long yall have been out reppin’ Writers Block since its beginning?
Jimm: I guess it’s been about what 14 years strong we’ve been doing this. Yeh “we out here”!!
BillyBillz: Yeh and first yall gotta realize, we been in the game for 14 years and I, myself, am only 18. Oh and I’m the self-proclaimed free-style king, so if anybody would like to challenge that hit me on twitter @25BillyBillz I will be waiting for any talent to step up.
__________________________________________________________________
Insight: Ha ha that’s whassup, not too many people free-style anymore. But ok so let me ask yall this, what is your main goal when making your music? Like, what is it you try to get people to focus on mainly when they hear your songs?
King Damo: Well really, it’s about the lyrics and how we are as people. Most people don’t really know how or who you are really, so we just try to tell’em who we are and how we think. Stuff like that, yanno?
_________________________________________________________________
Insight: Right I see, so it’s basically Real-REAL talk in your songs, I see. Ok so in building your company, what are some of the pitfalls you’ve faced (the up’s & downs) in 14 years?!
Jimm: Basically it’s a thing about Unity, forreal.
BillyBillz: Yeh no disrespect to anybody but we’ve been through shit. We lost a bunch of people; we still got love for everybody. The past is the past but we try to keep it in the family, stay humble and stay focused yanno.
Insight: Cool, so along the way, who are some of the artists and producers you’ve worked with?
GROUP RESPONSE: We worked with Sherlock, Landover Doppa, P.R., JB, a new artist I’m trying to bring out named “Shaun” and Johnny BadAss.
((Suddenly, BillyBillz remembers almost as if he was silently reminded to plug his upcoming 12 track mix tape titled “Sheets and Funnel” just after King Damo plugs his upcoming mix tape titled “Most Hated, Most Underrated”. Both upcoming mix tapes will feature a lot of DMV artist as well as in-house artist from the Writerz Block label.))
Insight: Ok well, a lot of features, this goes back to the whole unity thing you mentioned earlier. Aight so let me ask you guys another question. The groupies, everybody has them at some point. So how do you all react when people see you performing and hear that you’re being active in music? How does it affect you?
King Damo: Well sometimes people talk to us different when we go back home around the way, but in the end we’re all the same people you went to school with and grew up with.
BillyBillz: Yeh yeh like, you don’t have to treat me like a celebrity forreal. I’m still ya mans ya went to school wit’, grew up wit’. Some people [girls] act like b’cuz “oh you rap” they get all hype, they find out “oh you do shows” they get even more hype, then they find out you’re indie and they switch up a bit, depending on how much you tell them.
Jimm: Yeh ain’t shit changed, we just work different. We stay motivated and focused so it’s not really important.
__________________________________________________________________
Insight: So what are some spots people can find yall? What are some other shows or projects we can all look forward to catching you guys?
Jimm: Raz Lounge, Howard Homecoming Jamfest, here at the Island Café, really everywhere in the city we have an audience.
Insight: Ok ok well everybody will be on the lookout and wowuradio will definitely promote you and put you on by spreading the word. You all have a good night and “kill it” like I say last week here at The Island [Café] and, yeh, have a great show.
GROUP RESPONSE: Oh yeh no doubt. Shoutout to wowuradio and everybody in the DMV, thanks for the support and keep listening ‘cause we got heat for everybody!!
Now, surely this doesn’t close out the night that is just getting underway. As more and more patrons enter the building, more artists also begin to arrive. Soon, as I mingle through the growing crowd, I myself couldn’t help but to join in on a few freestyle cyphers and chit chats with a few of the talented individuals and groups. All of them were awaiting their moment to take the stage while they and everyone else anticipated the arrival of the final act whose being showcased tonight, the I.M.O.B. However, as I said, the night is only beginning, there’s a lot more to come but to find out just what, you’ll have to be sure to check out our Indie Blog by logging onto www.wowuradio.net ; or going onto www.live365.com and clicking WOW Radio in the search engine.
--
by Insight Seeker, Creative Director, W.O.W Radio
Follow on Twitter: @AgentL7
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