GrindXDesign will launch its digital conferencing platform this week. The New York City-based consortium of Hip Hop artists, producers and executives is led by famed journalist, radio host, activist and “Media Assassin” Harry Allen, as a way to educate and empower hopeful artists and industry movers and shakers.
The first of GrindXDesign’s digital conferences will include legendary Gang Starr deejay/producer DJ Premier as well as longtime Roc-A-Fella/Roc Nation Records engineer Young Guru. The hour-long live conference on August 29th at 8pm will be moderated by Harry Allen, featuring an interview, followed by live Q&A from attendees.
Future guests in the eight-week series will include The Roots’ ?uestlove, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, DJ Drama, XXL’s Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Satten, The Source’s Editor-In-Chief Kim Osorio, DatPiff.com’s founder Marcus Frasier, Rap Coaltion founder Wendy Day, attorney Dan Booth, Tunecore’s Jamie Purpora, social media strategist Lena West, and film exec Arthur Wylie.
The conferences are built to take up to 1,000 simultaneous participants, and may run as long as 90 minutes based on guest availability and engagement.
“What’s incredibly exciting about GrindXDesign,” began Allen in a statement, “is that, if you’re a beat-maker in Argonne, Wisconsin, through digital conference call technology, you’ll have as much access to DJ Premier or Young Guru as someone from New York or L.A. If you want the mixtape success of a Lil Wayne, but need to understand what makes this format
hot, you’ll be able to listen to, and maybe get a question in to, DJ Drama, or the founder of DatPiff.com; the dominant mixtape website.”
“Like Twitter,” Allen continued, “the technology eliminates geographic or other boundaries, connecting fans and students directly to knowledgeable authorities. Unlike Twitter, you’re not limited to merely sending or receiving extremely short pieces of text.”
“Our objective is equipping people who want careers in Hip Hop with the right information, at an incredibly low cost; certainly cheaper than what even small mistakes in any of these areas could cost them.”
To attend these conferences, tickets may be purchased by credit card or Paypal at GrindXDesign.com. If purchased before August 23, tickets are $77, and $97 following.
(Harry Elam Jr., Harry Elam Sr., and Keith (“Guru”) Elam on Cape Cod in the 1970s.)
