Whats up everyone. My name is Ben “Benzilla” Stewart. Artist, musician, producer, entrepreneur, world traveler in pursuit of becoming an ethnomusicologist. I currently live and work in NYC, my home town is STL! And now some back round about me…
BIO
Benjamin "Benzilla" Stewart is the culmination of 2 great decades of musical influence and experience. Growing up as a product of the 1980’s influences, Ben was heavily influenced by music and culture. Excited about the prospect of combining his love of music, production, performance and cultural influences to maintain that essence of a time when urban music shaped the industry into what it is today, his passion steered him towards studying music in college and now moving on to study the cultural influence of music in different cultures especially in the underground and independent music environment. He has been involved with a number of musical promotions, events and projects during his college career at Truman State University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music. During that time he was fortunate enough to meet several other talented musicians and form the funk band known as Hazard to Ya Booty, a group that has grown in popularity throughout the Midwest. Hazard to Ya Booty’s popularity and name spread and soon became one of the most popular live bands in the area due to its unique sound and live stage performances.
Soon after, Ben left to study and perform in Tokyo, Japan. There he found a renewed love for music in the form of underground HIP-HOP!!! Networking with a group known as S.C. Crew and exploring famous clubs like Vuenos in Shibuya and Lexington Queen in Ropongii confirmed a love for his passion of learning about music in different cultures.
In ‘02 he returned to Truman and met a rap artist buy the name of Al_e_Baba who felt the same way about the music. The industry was letting them down. Together they started distribution of an underground publication named 4shigadare. This magazine featured and showcased local underground artist throughout the area as well as articles of discussions about the current music industry and who was representing and who were letting “us” down.
After graduating Truman he struck out to follow his musical passion by performing over seas in Shanghai, China and Tokyo, Japan once again. After that he then began the next chapter in hes career by moving to NYC where he earned his Master in Business Administration in International Business and started his own music studio 4MATA Studios where he works with local talent producing and recording the next generation of great music and musicians.
These numerous opportunities instilled in him the confidence to take on any task with extreme vigor. Along with this he has acquired a valuable international contacts. This combination an excellent opportunity for him to pursue a career in the music industry. In the fall of 2003 Ben and his business partner Alex decided to take matters into their own hands to form an organization to for those artists who want to make their mark by rejuvinating that revolutionary music movement; thus, the birth of 4Shigadare Undertainment, the new path of the independent music industry!
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Is Conscious Rap an Irrelevant Label?
I recently saw the question “Is Conscious Rap an Outdated Concept?” on a blog and had to ask myself. Well is it or is it totally irrelevant? I can remember growing up when there was just rap and hip-hop. No labels characterizing differences between the two and then creating difference’s within the genres. I read a quote from Mos Def who was pretty upset about it:
“They’ve got their little categories, like ‘conscious’ and ‘gangsta’. It used to be a thing where hip-hop was all together. Fresh Prince would be on tour with N.W.A. It wasn’t like, ‘You have got to like me in order for me to like you.’ That’s just some more white folks trying to think that all niggas are alike, and now it’s expanded. It used to be one type of nigga; now it’s two. There is so much more dimension to who we are. A monolith is a monolith, even if there’s two monoliths to choose from. I ain’t mad at Snoop. I’m not mad at Master P. I ain’t mad at the Hot Boys. I’m mad when that’s all I see. I would be mad if I looked up and all I saw on TV was me or Common or The Roots, because I know that ain’t the whole deal. The real joy is when you can kick it with everyone. That’s what hip-hop is all about. … They keep trying to slip the ‘conscious rapper’ thing on me. I come from Roosevelt Projects, man. The ghetto. I drank the same sugar water, ate hard candy. And they try to get me because I’m supposed to be more articulate, I’m supposed to be not like the other Negroes, to get me to say something against my brothers. I’m not going out like that, man.”
(“misnomer:Conscious Hip Hop vs Gangsta Rap?”)
I do agree with him mostly, but at the same time I feel that it because of the artistic differences and styles of music that exist within the genre that this is even a discussion. I actually think the title of conscious rapper is something of a compliment but only because it shows that as an art form it has successfully built a positive reputation among followers who are looking for depth of ideals and sharper poetic prowess. One of the negatives that I can think of is that many pro-black thinkers consider the title a false positive because it may have stemmed from the idea of the acceptable black figure. While that may be true in some respect I think the overall denotation is a good one! I’m glad that it creates a contrast between the other music in hip-hop/rap. No one really complained when Gangsta Rap received its “label” or underground became a “label”.
Bottom line I don’t think Conscious Rap is an irrelevant “label” because it show how much the art form has developed since its inception. I think it present a great example for inspiring artist to master and surpass. Conscious is merely a name given to the content of the poetry spoken, but deeper in the art is where the true craft of rapping and emceeing thrives. If it helps a wack MCee become better than I think it’s a positive for everyone!
