Atlanta’s reigning radio personality DJ Greg Street has long been a crucial gatekeeper of successful records in one of Hip Hop’s top markets. In addition to his post at V-103, the deejay recently announced his deal with Interscope Records and upcoming album [click to read].
Yesterday, the veteran spoke to HipHopDX about how he’s going to his radio brethren in an unconventional way. Street‘s MySpace [click here] features the Soulja Boy [click to read] song “Poppin’ On MySpace,” a cover of the Sir Mix-A-Lot hit “Posse On Broadway.” Street says, “I’m doing like a viral promotion with this single. We’re not gonna send it to any radio stations, and just let them go find it. Me and one of my artists, Cutty [Cartel], he’s signed to Warner Brothers, we just be sittin’ around, actin’ crazy. We had wanted to [cover] Teddy Pendergrass‘ ‘Come On Over To My Place’ as ‘Come On Over To MySpace.’ Then we came up with the ‘Poppin’ On MySpace,’ so that’s the one we recorded. I got Soulja Boy to jump on it.“
This is not Street‘s first album though. Over six years ago, he released Six O’Clock Volume 1 in conjunction with Slip-N-Slide Records. On learning from past experiences, the deejay stated, “Me and the label have to really understand what the goal is on both sides, how they make their money and bringing them to be fully involved in the project.”
The label sees this though, and amongst a crowded Interscope roster, has locked in Greg Street: Certified Worldwide for an August 26 release.
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With artists ranging from the Soulja Boy to Nappy Roots, Greg Street says he hopes to tackle some of the fickleness fans feel for rappers’ abilities. “T.I. came out before the Nappy Roots did. But in the Hip Hop industry, we are so critical and we are so down on each other. If you’re a concert promoter, there are only 10 artists you can book right now; eight out of those 10, you can’t afford. As big as Hip Hop is, at any given time, you only have five or six artists that’s really relevant. Right now you’ve got Plies [click to read], Rick Ross [click to read], Young Jeezy, T.I., Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, but then it starts to get crazy.”
The deejay has his Certified Worldwide brand to combat this. “Basically, what I’m trying to do is to make my Greg Street Worldwide scenario is to take artists on MySpace or whatever who need that person, that push. We can take the record, give it what it needs, give it that push, and the artist makes a little money, the label makes a little money. The whole thing is to have an outlet for these new artists who have the talents and the skills to be a big artist. That’s what the Worldwide brand is about. I’m taking the Greg Street brand, which has been influential in Rap-A-Lot, Cash Money, Suave House, Collipark, So So Def, Block Entertainment, Pastor Troy, and some of the east coast brands – Cold Chillin’, Jive, Universal, Def Jam, and taking that and making an entity where artists from thre south and all over the world has a place to send their music to, and actually listen to it and research their markets, and guide them.”
