TrueHipHop.com sells music of Hip Hop R&B artists on vinyl, cassette and CD
Title
truehiphop/atakworldwide
Description
ATAK Worldwide (which has since morphed into truehiphop.com) was created as a resource for underground hip-hop groups and DJs so that they can focus on their art and ATAK could focus on their business. This was a small, grassroots operation designed to gather, organize, and distribute tapes and vinyl (and eventually CDs) from the artists and hopefully reach new listeners locally, nationally, and eventually, internationally. A mail order catalog was constantly updated as new music and artists joined the ATAK family, and this catalog was available at Bay Area record stores and hip-hop related shops, plus it was sent to contacts across the country.
The inspiration to create ATAK, strangely enough, came from Bay Area punk rock scene in which P-Minus' sister, housemates, and several friends were involved. At almost every show, especially at the Gilman St. Project in the East Bay, people were selling affordable music, and rarely was such a thing seen at local hip-hop shows. ATAK wanted to fill that void and give people a chance to pick up low-priced music from local groups and DJs. Later, the mail order catalog was put together to let others outside of the Bay Area enjoy this fantastic music. ATAK was not designed to carry strictly local music; it is open to anyone, anywhere, who has good music available, but we wanted to start with the people and the groups with whom we were familiar. Eventually, ATAK exposed Bay Area hip-hop to the rest of the world, plus exposed the rest of the world to the Bay. Since the ATAK site was one of the first underground mailorder spots, we hoped we could inspire people to support underground music while inspiring underground artists to continue to make music independently ("by the people, for the people") because there is a newly found demand for it.
Paul Gembus, widely known throughout hip-hop's inner circles as P-Minus (and occasionally Paulie Paychex), lived in the Bay Area for almost 9 years, before recently moving down to the warmer climes of Southern California. He is a transplant from the hip-hop mecca state of Missouri, where he attended high school and college. He has an English degree and a Black Studies minor from the University of Missouri-Columbia, at which he was also the rap director for the college radio station, KCOU. He maintained such a lofty reputation there that he once shook the hand of Shorty No Mass (of De La Soul fame), hugged (twice!) Lauryn of the Fugees before she blew the fuck up, and received an apology from Queen Latifah after her bodyguard treated him like a chump.
Languages
English
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Related Domains
External Links
- Alexa: TrueHipHop.com
