In the Inland Empire and much of Southern California, BrickToYaFace.com is the quintessential media center for everything hip hop. From blogs to videos to hosting fundraising events, beat battles, and artist showcases, they have it covered. If the Empire was the human body, Noa James and Lesa J would be the heart—pumping inspiration all the way from the tips of the fingers writing this blog to the feet stomping on the floors of The Common Ground. Today I'm getting inside the head of the feminine side of the team, Lesa J.
SONDRIA: Lesa J, how do you see hip hop in the Inland Empire and how do you bring that vision to the rest of the world?
LESA J: The thing about the Inland Empire music scene as a whole is that we are very acceptant of new music, new sounds & new genres. Out here, for most of us music isn’t just something we listen to but it’s more of a lifestyle. With bricktoyaface.com, anyone from anywhere has access to our site; we like to showcase new talent & artist who don’t get love that they deserve. That’s why we show love to everyone & listen to everyone’s music.
SONDRIA: Why do you think your site is so vital for the hip hop scene, locally and abroad?
LESA J: Locally, I know we are one of the few sites that are predominately Hip Hop based. Noa is an emcee and we both love Hip Hop, so of course our site would be for the Hip Hop community. We live the Hip Hop scene whether it’s in I.E. or L.A., we make sure our readers know what’s going on. We post flyers for different upcoming shows but we also post flyers about local events like job fairs or events local businesses are having. As for abroad, we’re letting our readers learn about the talent we have out here & hopefully they enjoy the talent & artist can gain new fans.
SONDRIA: How do you determine what content to post to bricktoyaface.com?
LESA J: We listen to everything that is sent to us, if we’re familiar with your music will post it up right away, if we’re not we’ll listen to it and if we like it we’ll post it up. Also, if we see you putting in work we’ll show you love. The mainstream stuff we post is just whatever we like and whatever we think our readers should or would like to see.
SONDRIA: What artists inspire you most?
-as far as making sure you show support via the blog and/or in person by whether it's purchasing clothes or coming out to events.
LESA J: The I.E. music scene is what inspires us the most, that’s why we try to be at every show and every event that is going on in the I.E. I love going to shows and seeing an artist that I like perform the songs that I like, I enjoy the whole experience of a Hip Hop show and event.
SONDRIA: We see you at shows putting in work ranging from recording performances to collecting money at the door, but is there anyone else helping out that you'd like to acknowledge? Anyone working behind the scenes we might not know about?
LESA J: Noa & I do just about everything. As for the Common Ground, DJ C’est la Vie is the resident DJ; GLK & Nerd Bandit does our photography, M16, Ramone Jones & Curtiss King host and just recently we found someone to do the door for us. As for the bricktoyaface.com, Noa & I do it all, posting stuff, editing footage, and updating everything. Everything that deals with bricktoyaface.com Noa & I take care of it.
SONDRIA: What upcoming hip hop projects are you excited about? Independent and Mainstream? Why?
LESA J: I’m excited about all projects that is coming out of the I.E. and the Black Cloud Music camp. I’m excited for projects that are dropping that are coming from artist that I know personally. Faimkills is dropping a project soon that I’m excited to hear, Jynxx is dropping a project soon that I’ve heard and can’t wait for everyone else to hear; he’s actually rapping and it’s a dope solid project for his first release. Ab-Soul is about to drop Long Term 2, all his leaks have been dope and on repeat so I can’t wait for that. Jazzie is dropping an R&B mixtape, she leaked Obsession, which I love so I can’t wait for her project. The fact that people are making music and doing projects is exciting.
SONDRIA: Are there any segments or other types of projects you're planning to add to the blog soon? What are your future plans for bricktoyaface.com?
LESA J: We use to do artist interviews & we want to start that up again. We want to just keep building & branding bricktoyaface.com; we do the Common Ground but we want to get involved in bigger shows and festivals. We want to become a legitimate company that handles events, not just hip hop events or music events but we want to do all events.
SONDRIA: Where would you like to see hip hop go this year? What are you hoping changes, stays the same, or goes harder than ever?
LESA J: I definitely want to see more fans of hip hop come out to more shows, we need more support for the local artist. Independent artist need to be more professional and really learn the business. Hip Hop needs to come back to the people, where artist and fans have more control, hip hop really needs to become a community again.
SONDRIA: What are some of your personal goals for the next few years? How prominent is bricktoyaface.com in your life plan?
LESA J: I’m going to be bricktoyaface.com for life. Even if it’s not a blog anymore it will be our promotion company. We want to one-day throw big hip hop festivals like Rock The Bells & Paid Dues. But also, we want to make a difference in the world not just hip hop, that’s why we do charity events. Our goal is to doing everything and anything to keep bricktoyaface growing and relevant in the community.
From designing and printing flyers to filming performances, Lesa J and
BrickToYaFace .com have the positive, independent artist’s back, and it has been a pleasure to display their contribution to the local hip hop scene on the front.
LOVE & WATER,
Sondria
--
aim: BRICKTOYAFACE
No comments:
Post a Comment