Kalistani Major History

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LCR makes major play to capture Indie Hip Hop Scenes
Signals change by signing Spliff to a three record deal
Sulari, Suldanor
April 12, 5346


Spliff, from Igloo, Kaliburg leads recruitment effort at LCR

As Radio 2 becomes more popular in Kalistan, one fact remains prominent. Though Hip hop tends to remain among the most popular music forms in the Republic, and has long enjoyed great popularity at Kalistan's music festivals, it has long been primarily a live art form. Recorded hip hop music is usually released either as independent singles on streaming services, or passed around on mixed tapes and dj bootlegs. This practice has led to hip hop artists, whose music often borrows heavily from the vast catalog of Kalistani music to retain nearly all proceeds from their music, without having some record label taking large parts of the sales to recuperate costs.

But an increasing demand for recorded hip hop in Kalistan has led to the signing of the first hip hop group to a major label. Last Chance Records, known more for punk and hard core has signed Kaliburg duo Spliff to a three record guarantee, as it makes a move to enter the hip hop market. "Signing to LCR gives us national and international distribution," said Spliff leader Greenleaf. "Normally, we distribute through word of mouth or through streaming--People hear our sh-- on Radio 2, and they like it, they download it. But now Spliff if about to blow up."

Spliff is one of the most successful hip hop bands in Kalistan at the moment, with major tour support from sponsors like ODEN and promoters in Suldanor, Nevaras and Ananto. "Our move was to artistic," said other half of the duo Cottonmouth. "Rock musicians use studios to make art. We've stayed in our home studios for too long: Even the best hip hop can't compete on production doing it independently. So we wanted to make as awesome a record as any of the rock bands make." LCR's A&R rep, Mark Claire added, "Getting Spliff to come to record records at LCR allows them to take the creativity they have honed to a fine edge both in their home studios and the experience they have from their years on the road, and apply that technical expertise with formal professional studio tools to make an exceptional quality record. It allows them to take their art to the next level."

Greenleaf said its kind of funny to think of any record a hip hop artist makes as some sort of high art. "We are top of our game as lyricists, and as independent artists we have had to figure out how to imitate the big studio sounds. But most of our songs are about smoking weed, or buying weed, or growing weed. It's fun, it's what we do. Its why we and ODEN get along so well on the road. It's not art, unless you count making the best produced songs about smoking weed art."

Spliff signing to LCR not only opens the Industry's gates to hip hop, but also takes aim at bringing hip hop to the World. "The Music Industry provides the world a window on Kalistani Culture," said LCR's Claire. "Hip hop has been a part of our music scene since the very beginning, for more than 1500 years. But the rest of the world doesn't hear our hip hop because so far, hip hop artists have chosen to remain independent, for the most part. We want to change that and begin exporting this part of our culture right along with the music that the World knows us for. Because Hip Hop deserves to be right up there."

Greenleaf was a bit more cautious about the band's prospects for international fame. "It's not that we don't think that we will do well in other countries," he said. "Of course we will. But one of the biggest reasons hip hop musicians have kept our music independent was that we don't want some corny ass wannabes trying to do this when they don't have any connections to the community. We're worried about getting too popular, you know? Because then every fool is going to start rapping, and its gonna just suck. You're gonna get like lowest common denominator stuff, which would be like selling out. So we gotta tread a fine line. We can keep the music good if we can keep it small. It gets too big, and a bunch of whack a--holes start making rap without any connection to hip hop, and me and Cottonmouth will regret doing this. Its why we didn't sign with KMI. They are WAY too big."

Whether Spliff want to keep their art form small and true to its roots or not is fairly irrelevant. The first pressing of Spliff's debut album "The Joint" which was released last week, sold out of its 5000 copy run in a week, and the album has now sold more than 40,000 copies across the Republic. Another 50,000 are being printed for international distribution, and the album, which features guest appearances by Kaliburg crews Zappateros and Binary Rebellion, as well as MCs Bozozuko, Cannibanoid, and the Smokey Z. "I mean yeah, we're making money and we're bringing our friends up with us," said Greenleaf. "We just hope it ain't too big too fast."

You can listen to Spliff's first single, "5 Sack" from their debut record The Joint here.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSC9cgvtkRs]