Alum/label chief wants Athens to become hip-hop hub
By Kristin Majcher
March 13, 2008
Situated in Appalachian Ohio, Athens is not necessarily known as a hip-hop center. Grammy-nominated Stu Pflaum hopes to change this by using Ohio University as a tool to promote artists on his Element 9 record label.
Pflaum was nominated for a Grammy for working on the hit song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and is a 2006 OU graduate. After college he moved to New York to develop his production company Element 9.0 LLC, which he recently announced will start distributing recordings by artists on the Element 9 Muzik label.
Element 9 started as just a promotion company, but has recently expanded to also serve as a record label. Unlike major hip-hop labels, Element 9 is using a grassroots approach to promote artists by allowing them to leave a message on a dedicated phone line to show off their skills.
Pflaum started the Dial-A-Deal program to allow unknown artists the chance to make it big, without needing much else but talent.
“I’m very excited about the potential of this new approach to talent scouting because it allows us to focus on the raw talent an artist possesses, as opposed to the common industry practice of researching radio airplay statistics, which basically eliminates the possibility of label consideration for artists without the funding to hire the right people to get them that airplay,” Pflaum said.
Element 9 Muzik will put on a 10 p.m. Saturday show at 19 South to promote its first artist, Devon “QP” Hubbard. The 22-year-old MC grew up in Cleveland, and is excited to represent Ohio by doing his first show this year in Athens.
“This is a big event for me because it’s in Ohio, and I have family in Athens right now,” Hubbard said. “I know I can tear it up down there.”
Hubbard’s influences include older rap artists such as Snoop Dogg, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Biggie Smalls, but he also avidly listens to R&B. He tries to stay original and strays away from sounding like other contemporary artists. “I do what I do and not what they do,” he said.
While QP will perform mostly older songs already available online, fans can participate in a “text mob,” with details available on his Myspace page. This will allow them to listen to tracks from his upcoming album at a secret location only disclosed through text messages on the day of the show. Pflaum hopes to gather opinions from fans in Athens to influence marketing plans for the album.
Also performing will be Atlanta duo Young Snead and Yay-High, as well as DJ Kut Nyce from Cleveland. Pflaum himself will perform under the name “DJ Xplosive.”
While the upcoming show is the first for Element 9 recordings, Pflaum hopes to use Athens as a place to introduce his artists to the world.
“I’ll bring an artist I work with to Athens at every opportunity I get,” Pflaum said.
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