EVENT NEWS: Pharoahe Monch to Host CMJs International Hip Hop Event

Global music and media company Nomadic Wax and public relations/music promoter The Bloom Effect have joined forces to co-produce this year’s CMJ International Hip Hop Thrown-Down. The  event will unite the talents of a creative and diverse group of lyricists and DJs from Africa, Korea, Canada, and Europe at club DROM, located at 85 Ave A in New York’s East Village on Thursday October 23 2008. The event will begin at 8pm and will run until 3am and will feature live international Hip Hop music and DJs spinning music.

The College Music Journal Marathon (CMJ) is New York’s largest music, film and media conference and will host hundreds of live performances, films, lectures and networking events. "CMJ is a perfect place for a global hip hop event like this” said The Bloom Effect CEO, Fiona Bloom. "An event that unites MCs from a variety of backgrounds, countries and nationalities is exactly the kind of event that we want to be promoting at a global music conference like CMJ." 

"The CMJ International Hip Hop Thrown-Down has been building up for me since I’ve been very supportive of this genre and have made inroads bringing great talent to the U.S stages and now we bring it one step further to a bigger platform, said Nomadic Wax founder Ben Herson. To have an artist like Pharoahe host this event is such an honor and is testament to the fact that international hip hop is becoming more accepted by the mainstream."

This years event will feature a handful of rising stars including Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), Drunken Tiger (Korea), King Reign (Canada), Empire Isis (Canada), Chachi (Cape Verde) and Too Many Fish (France). DJs Boo and Soulscape from Korea will be on the turntables. V.J Kwon from Korea will set the tone and visuals for the night. Blitz the Ambassador (who will be backed by a 10 piece band, called The Embassy Ensemble) is no stranger to international Hip Hop. Last year, Blitz headlined and hosted the prestigious Trinity International Hip Hop Festival, a three day global Hip Hop event at Trinity College in Hartford CT.

"It’s incredible to see such diversity in an event like this" said Blitz. "To have artists from all over the world performing on the same stage together shows how global and powerful hip hop culture has become".

The showcase will end out with a party DJ line-up of World Music DJs from various radio programs and entities. The party will go till 3am.

This years event will be sponsored by Scion, WNYE (New York Public Radio), Fusicology, World Hip Hop Market, Remix Hotel, End of the Weak, The Flava (Worldspace), Popular Printing,  Lima Chips, The Hip Hop Association and more TBA.  

The International Hip Hop showcase is the only one of its kind during CMJ. There will also be an all French Hip Hop showcase at Hiro Ballroom on Friday, October 24 featuring La Caution, Mangu and Wax Tailor.