HHP: Your results from last year?
HL: 2011 was the marking of the one year anniversary since H-Lite Records has been established and we were able to unravel a year full of active music as well as performances. In terms of finance, I think the biggest factor that contributed to our income was the single “Baby” released by Soul One & Paloalto. It wasn’t promoted as much, but more so the word got around to a lot of people and compared to the other music released by Hi-Lite, the income was higher for this song. For B-Free, he released 2 mixtapes and 2 digital singles after his first album “Freedumb,” resulting in him breaking even faster with his recent releases. I believe that he’s a good example of those that are talented and work diligently into their creations can prove the results with effort alone. Also, as main artists of the company, B-Free and I (Paloalto) were busy but in having added new artists and producers like Okasian, Evo, Pinodyne, Double Deck, etc., I believe that that itself is a big outcome for us as well.
HHP: With many projects released, alongside that you have worked hard in hosting parties for those over their 20s. How were the results for these?
HL: The planned parties by Hi-Lite Records started with the one last April when it was Hi-Lite’s one year anniversary party and led to the TSL & HI-LITE party hosted in December. We never hosted these parties as a means of raising income at first so we didn’t have much to lose which I was very content with. The other artists including myself all thought in agreement in creating a space for hip hop fans in their mid to late 20s to enjoy without any pressure and we haven’t tried much yet, so I don’t think we’re in any position to speak out about how well we did or not. This year, we’re constantly working on bringing good content and working efficiently in planning to create a space in adults can relate and understand to, and I’m foreshadowing that it will be successful.
HHP: Pinodyne has recently joined your label. Is there a reason as to why you released Huckleberry P as a solo rather than Pinodyne together?
HL: It wasn’t intended by the company, but Huckleberry P had insisted that he wanted a solo album released. Hi-Lite Records respects the opinions of their artists and follows through with it, so we supported him in the direction he wanted to take. Because Pinodyne as a team isn’t a team in which they produce things abundantly, in order to create originality and a more solidified product, we believed that they should have a lot of time to invest into their works.
HHP: Aside from Pinodyne, Okasian and Evo released free music and have let their names be known. What kind of thoughts did you have in receiving the feedback from that?
HL: Not only was Hi-Lite releasing free music at the time, but many other hip hop labels and other independent artists were releasing free music alongside our artists. This was already an established method that began amongst American hip hop artists and with this generation revolving around the internet, I believed that it was a good method to let yourself as well as your works be known. And having Evo and Okasian who aren’t really known to the public, through releasing music for free allowed them to let themselves be known but receiving big feedback was difficult. However, we’re satisfied with the fact that amongst the fans of Hi-Lite and fans of the minority know about the existence of these two and that both Evo and Okasian will need to refine their works into being well made products in order to stand before their audience publically.
HHP: What kind of promotion plans do you have for Double Deck? They’re a team comprised of beat boxing and DJ.
HL: Because during the time when Double Deck joined Hi-Lite Records, they had already left the hip hop scene so I believe that they need time to readjust. DJ Jjangka promoted with “Bust This” while TKO with “Trespass” in the underground scene fairly a lot so they had a name to themselves but having done promotions outside of what they did before, they began to succumb and level themselves to the music and preference that the public had preferred, not music they wanted to do. In participating as the host DJ my “The Eve” mixtape was a warm up and Double Deck regaining their sense of direction is first of their many lessons they need to learn as working with other Hi-lite Records artists will help them do so. In the hip hop scene in Korea, Turntablism is nonexistent and even amongst hip hop music fans often don’t know the role of the DJ or even so just block out DJing and in order to overcome this issue, DJ Jjangka and his team Double Deck have a lot to overcome. First off, in this year, Double Deck is planning on releasing their album and from what we’ve discussed so far, we feel that they’re going to bring out the style and sounds of old school hip hop and as a team who is strong performance-wise, we’re planning on creating a lot of opportunities for them to be able to perform their songs live to many people.
HHP: Your plans for the New Year?
HL: We’ll be releasing a Hi-Lite digital single with Soul Fish, Okasian releasing two digital singles, Huckleberry P releasing a digital single, and Evo’s debut EP album which in all of these will be releasing in the first quarter of the year. With those outside of these or other plans will be shown one by one with our actions rather than said with words.
HHP: In greeting the New Year, say a word to the fans of hip hop and fans of American hip hop.
HL: We’ll always mark our words into bringing quality to everyone’s lives with high quality music and fun live performances, so trust and continue to support us.
Source: Hiphopplaya
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