Author: Jordan Kellogg
Published: December 31, 1969
Tool: [ email ]
From the last region in the United States to blow
up,comes Access One Network Northwest from the
Washington State/Pacific Northwest area. With over
fifteen artists and groups associated with them and a
new compilation CD out, AONN is looking to expand its influence.
In this interview with joe538.com, Robert L. Taylor
III, CEO/Executive Producer/IT Manager and
Infopreneur at AONN, talks about what makes a great
Hip-Hop CD, the current state of the music and AONN's place in it all.
Who is on the AONN roster?
D.I.E./Deep In Everett/495 = Members: One Sir Grove of
EVT, Spank-T, Double C (A.K.A. Fresh C), Mr. Brocklie
and Sen the Soul Steela, Siarra, Macknflo Dynasty =
Members: Jahlani & Chachi (Macknflo Entertainment),
Young Chile and Lil' Noopie, Double R, Darryl Lee
P.O.W., IllCircle = Members: Esquire, ITT, TK1-
(Affiliate label), Weedz (Kardbordbox Records/Unique
Thought), Dragonfly, Hi-No-Tori, Robin Eye-
(Affiliate), Dolemite-Affiliate, KansasCali = Members:
Novelist & Pittboss (Affiliate), Mista Oktober
(Unorthodox) and Lysergik (FBi Entertainment).
What do you feel sets you apart from other artists and labels?
We're fully independent and doing things that noone
has ever tried. We're also part of a large,
fast-growing, Northwest Federated Organization called
NWI/Northwest Influence http://www.nwinfluence.com. We
use custom recording software and are revolutionizing
the whole production process. There's a definite
direction and system in place. Our company has secrets
and we know that we'll already go down in history for
things that we've pulled off as soon as the public
becomes aware of them. We're not just a recording
label, but we're first and foremost, an information
technologies conglomerate. We work with a lot of the
high-tech companies that you often hear about. We live
in the high-technology capitol of the world,
Washington State. There are a lot of things going on
here that the world is just now finding out about.
Have you seen the new UPN television show "Level 9?"
We're working closely with the majors, being that our
attorney represented Nirvana, we have hot material
(first and foremost), and the Northwest to the Midwest
is the last region in the United States to explode.
Moreover, we work with Music Inner City video
television producer Gordon Curvey who's been on the
air in Washington State for 10 years this January. MIC
just moved to full on AT&T digital broadcast cable and
will soon be shown nationally. MIC has weekly
celebrities, some of who have been the likes of Too
$hort, LL Cool J, Michael Jordan, The Isley Brothers,
TQ, Scarface, and so on. MIC is sponsored by major
record labels, KUBE 93.3 FM Radio, in addition to
other major companies. This is 1989 all over again
...'89 was a very key year for our generation (X).
It's unusual to find a CD with both Hip-Hop and Adult
Contemporary songs on it. Why did you decide to
combine the two (on the November 12 Projekt)?
AONN Records is like one of those Sci-Fi stories where
everything was falling apart, but a few pulled
together, and at night, in the cold dark, by torch and
firelight, erected a network. Well, this is a super
network. We've created a new kind of network with the
help of some of the most brilliant computer scientists
and engineers on the West Coast. AONN has recruited
some of the top college, university, and military
talent. AONN was established in Everett, Washington in
1995 with the city, state, and feds, and as the world
is finding out, Everett is home to Earth's most
highly-advanced naval air station. We live in the most
culturally diverse area of the planet, even more so
than New York, now. California has 30 million people
versus NY, which has 17 million. Up here in Washington
State, integration-wise, we've been experiencing an
interracial system unlike anywhere else-anywhere.
We've been more integrated in certain parts of
Washington, more so than any other part of the globe
since at least the 1970's. Some people won't
experience this kind of integration for at least the
next 10 years, and that's if the world is still here.
We dropped the November 12 Projekt as a
multi-cultural/multi-genre affair because we're sick
of racism. We're sick of ignorance, prejudice, and the
age-old evil that certain entities have been carrying
on. We dropped the album with multi-genres to show the
world that we could. We dropped the album with
multi-genres BECAUSE we can. This is our state, our
region of the world, and we're setting new trends. The
world needs a lot more-massive more-new stuff, new
systems, and concepts. Washington is home to
Microsoft, so we have to represent and be on that level.
How do you feel about the current state of Hip-Hop?
It's our turn. Hip-Hop is art, furthermore, we have
the new style-Evergreen State Raps/Green Ice Nine
(Codename for the Northwest style that's so cold it
might freeze up all the oceans on the planet). You're
going to hear the hardest raps ever, in the world,
come out of this region. We're doing it all; all the
new fusion, all the hybrid, we're doing it. We're
working with rocket scientists-literally. We're
unleashing a super campaign. The November 12 Projekt
is central to the launch. We did it and it's out
there. Hip-Hop is supposed to be culture that's used
as a vehicle to uplift. Hip-Hop is supposed to be used
to exchange information and to make money so as to
overcome socio-economic barriers. Hip-Hop was created
by the poor and disadvantaged to be used as a weapon,
and is supposed to be used in the fight against evil.
Hip-Hop was intended to be a tool used in war. Hip Hop
is supposed to be Universal. Hip-Hop is supposed to be
everything-spacetime. Hip Hop is an entity that was
sent here to ultimately destroy the enemy. Hip-Hop is
international communications exchange mixed in with
beats and melodies. Hip-Hop is a product and is
supposed to be used as an integral part of the
want-satisfying exchange process. Hip-Hop is supposed
to be an outlet of expression, an art, a science, and
used for the good of the world. But, Hip-Hop is being
used for evil. Millions of kids are being mislead and
folks who would otherwise be homeless, get a 1 in a
million or less chance to make a worldwide change to
liberate tens of thousands of people, but instead, use
the medium to continue to further divide and destroy
our society. Hip Hop needs to advance and become 21st
Century high-tech. Hip Hop needs to become what it was
originally intended to be-space age. The message needs
to change so that we can save these kids and our
planet. Artists and scientists/engineers need to lock
the industry down. We need to change the message
overnight. Artists need to begin to question the
morality of the message that they're disseminating to
the masses of youth. Hip-Hop needs to once and for
all, rise up out of the flames and bring justice to
those who have been suppressed by wack material raps.
What do you feel makes a good Hip-Hop album?
Descriptive, cinematic, lyrics filled with new
concepts. Story raps have always been a universal
favorite. Slick Rick the Ruler (children's stories),
Bone (near apocalyptic urban warfare), Twista,
(stories of Chicago's Underworld), N.W.A. (California
crime syndicates and police shootouts), Paris
(political intrigue/conspiracy)...Using new sounds and
sequencing techniques that have never been used
before. Ice T "Midnight" "6 In the Morning"
"Drama"...these raps paint a picture. There should be
something new introduced with every track and every
album. There are so many millions of concepts that
have never been touched upon, but why aren't artists
utilizing those unused topics? We all know why. A good
Hip-Hop album in my opinion, is one that is positive
and presents new theories of sound, music, and art.
What do you have planned for the future?
We're going to tell the world our story from a
Northwest perspective while enlisting the greatest
hidden talent most everyone has never seen. We'll
reveal artists from among virtually hundreds of cities
in the North: Everett, Tacoma, Seattle, Lynnwood,
Marysville, Mt. Vernon, Kent, Renton, Federal Way, Sea
Tac, Spokane, Richland, Bellingham, Bremerton-all area
codes including those in Northwest Canada. We get down
with our Canadian counterparts who have madd skills
from the 604 and elsewhere on Canada's West Coast.
B.C. is part of the Northwest, and AONN Records
appreciates and recognizes that. We have joint
projects and common concerns. Little by little, we're
unleashing our Cold War secrets. We've been in stealth
mode up here in the Cold-ass Puget Sound watching the
world do as it has, but now we intervene. Our campaign
is off-the-skeezope, so be ready because now is the
time. 3 New MP3 tracks to be unveiled at
http://www.mp3.com/November12 "Ho's Stay Broke &
Suckas Transform" "Dandruff On My Shoulder" and
"Highly Calculated" ..."AONN Records Presents: The
November 12 Projekt" featuring 39 Washington State
Original Artists is out there in brick and mortar
retail record stores creepin'. Also, "Operation:
Northern Exposure" is one of the next releases off the
label, which features Young Chile, Lil' Noopie, and a legion of others.
