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Joe Stern-McGovern: Hail to the King April 28, 2010

Posted by universalartists in Black Flock Gang, Joe Stern McGovern, Shaka Productions.
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www.universalartists.net

Joe Stern-McGovern: Hail to the King

“The King is dead, long live the King,” announces the imperial court crier from yesteryear? No, strangely these words come from the harshest of Joe Stern-McGovern’s critics over the years. Often known as a “Media hound”, the icon, Joe Stern-McGovern, has frequently been cast as the creator of media darlings and would be stars whether warranted or not, making the unknown known overnight and bringing charisma to even the lowliest of knaves. Within the ranks of colleagues and subordinates, his knack for the superlative has often brought criticism from the ranks. This said, within the space of several months, the former rogue agent has been cast in the most revered and benevolent of status with the creation of the charity driven site, http://www.endhivaids.com.

With the tragic death of his oldest child, Kenneth McGovern, who lost his battle with AIDS at the close of 2007, Joe Stern-McGovern became a man with a mission. He chose to pick life over greed and excess, using his talent for verbage with a sprinkle of magic dust to make the world a better place for all of mankind. Uniting with his partner, Shaka of Shaka Productions, the duo set out to create an entity which would collect funds for various charities, some of which include AMFAR, the Children’s Hospital, but primarily the cause of pediatric AIDS through the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, http://www.pedaids.org in honor of Joe Stern-McGovern’s late son.

www.endhivaids.com

Kenneth McGovern, c. 1989

On the site, http://www.endhivaids.com, the charitable consumer can find a wide variety of today’s freshest urban hip hop ala the sounds of dirty south act and ingenues, Black Flock Gang, soon to be found at their chic and unique site, http://www.blackflockgang.com. On the Black Flock Gang site, the consumer will find varied selections from the hottest act to hit the market in years, with numerous links to the http://www.endhivaids.com site. Indeed, fans will be able to purchase not only their singles, but their latest CD compilation, BFG: Anthology, a bold name to say the least for an act only established within the last several years, a title such as one would expect from the master of the grandiose, Joe Stern-McGovern.

BFG

Hood Shuttlesworth of the BFG

The BFG: Anthology site is a project which has roots coast to coast, as the album is produced by renowned genius and master on the wheels of steel, DJ Funk Daddy, http://www.funkdaddy.com. With Seattle producer Funk Daddy’s super touch, the act is rocketed to new heights, and figures to be Joe Stern-McGovern’s one-two thrust into the future of hip hop.

Generally speaking, Black Flock Gang is a group of artists hailing throughout the Deep South, from Houston to Florida and then up to N. Carolina, with its core to be found within the major cities of Birmingham, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, the oft claimed, “Capital of Crunk”. Its founding members are the FAM Boyz (For all Money), and Dem Hardheadz, blood brothers and masters on the microphone. Together, Hood Shuttlesworth, Facts, Lo, DO, and Pain blaze the path of tomorrow through deft lyrics and accomplished delivery coupled with the element of raw and vibrant intelligence. Yes, the Black Flock Gang might just be Universal Artists, International, Joe Stern-McGovern, and Shaka Production’s crown jewel.

www.universalartists.net

Shaka of Shaka Productions

For further information on Black Flock Gang, please visit the site http://www.blackflockgang.com which is expected to be erected from construction in early June 2010, as well as at the parent site, http://www.universalartists.net, and of course, http://www.endhivaids.com.

Show your own measure of benevolence and charity today by visiting Joe Stern-McGovern’s monument to the human spirit, http://www.endhivaids.com, and its refusal to cave into the tragic and seeminly insurmountable  and purchase a single for mankind and for your own entertainment by the Black Flock Gang, http://www.blackflockgang.com.

For booking the BFG, please contact Universal Artists, International directly on the contact page of http://www.universalartists.net, as well as for press queries, wholesale and retail queries, as well as fan requests.

Joe Stern-McGovern, hail to the King, and good show!

Blake Contreau, Freelance

www.wordpress.com/universalartists

H-Town’s Yung Breeze: Smooth as He Wants to Be November 16, 2009

Posted by universalartists in BFG, Birmingham Alabama, Black Flock Gang, Dem Hardheadz, Dirty South, Disney Channel, DO, DTA, FAM Boy$, Gay and Lesbian, Heroin, HIV, Hood Shuttlesworth, Hood Zone, Hood Zone Productions, Joe Stern McGovern, Johnny Get Your Gun, Light Brigade Records, Los Angeles, MADD, Management, McDonalds, Miley Ray Cyrus, Ms Fame, Ms. Kesha Lee, Uncategorized, United Nations, Wealth, World Health Organization, www.endhivaids.com, Yung Breeze.
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Yung Breeze

The Sinister Yung Breeze

On behalf of our worldwide audience, Joe Stern-McGovern, global agent and President of Universal Artists, International, is pleased to announce the return of Yung Breeze, former partner of DTA of Houston’s hardcore street duo, The Brigade. Known for such hits as Degradation, Block Bleed, Krunch Time, Real Where I’m At, Mob Style, and Hands if You Feel Me, our listeners can come to expect the return of these classics to the shelves and in downloads on the coming site and charitable brainchild of Joe Stern-McGovern, www.endhivaids.com, dedicated to eradicating HIV/AIDS in our lifetime.

Produced by Joe Stern-McGovern in the earliest days of Universal Artists, International, Yung Breeze was a budding prodigy discovered through H-Town’s young producer, Mastamind, along with his cohort, B-Fly, on the hard streets of Houston’s notorious 3rd Ward. With many a scuffle and near miss with the local Texan thugs and corrupted, as well as close encounters with Harris County’s finest, Yung Breeze was molded by the environment in which he was raised.

Joe Stern-McGovern and The Brigade

Joe Stern-McGovern Posing with The Brigade

While Yung Breeze’s lyrics and the vehemence of his delivery are part in parcel of who he has become, his aura and essence are more of a product and statement of that which he has personally witnessed within his community and the back alleys of Sharpstown, as well as the peril he’s bourne on his shoulders rather than a radical call for violence, rebellion, and disobedience. When he cries out for justice and equality, his words ring with crystal clarity as those of an individual whose lived the life against which he protests with endurance, contempt, and integrity, and simultaneously maintains the roots of who he’s developed into as a man of pride and consequence.

If you wish to know how the other side of the tracks has lived and survived without personally endangering yourself and your future, take a quick listen to the furious tales of the dark side as portrayed on the microphone and in the studio by the genuine article, Houston’s Yung Breeze.

In spite of the anger and resentment one might expect from such an individual, Yung Breeze has developed into a rather charitable individual, donating his time and talent to Joe Stern-McGovern and Universal Artists, International’s struggle against the spread of HIV and the devastating consequences of AIDS.

Look for future production of Yung Breeze through the likes of Shaka Productions, as well at  H-Town’s legendary recording hot spot, In the Jar Studios, run by the studios owner and operator, Al Loya, techincal afficianado and savvy engineer to some of hip hop’s fastest rising legends.

“When I first met Yung Breeze, he was a struggling youth who had a great sense of pride, an enormous gift of expression, and a knack for conveying his particular genius through the local street venacular of the areas hoods and ruffians. Originally recording at one of the illest and most infamous studios in the shadier side of town, Psyche Ward, Yung Breeze was picked up and developed by the genius of the wonder twins, Boss and Ripp.” Collectively, these forces of the city’s darker and far more dangerous neighborhood known as Southwest Houston, Soufwest to the locals, have come to the forefront in recent days.”

Joe Stern-McGovern can personally vouch for the validity of the young anti-hero as through his entrancing telling of the first photo shoot the act was to experience as the entity which would come to be known as the Soufwest Brigade, or simply, The Brigade, led by street veteran and surprising genius given his circumstances, DTA, “Don’t Trust Anyone”, a meeting in which the photographer was so terrified, he insisted the photo shoot take place in broad daylight in a local downtown Houston city park.

The Southwest Brigade

The Southwest Brigade

True to his name, DTA came to generally distrust those who held the strings to his future as well as his cohorts, and the split was made as DTA went MIA and Yung Breeze continued the journey on the road to stardom solo. For those dedicated and loyal fans of DTA, fear not, he is yet in his prime and will surely rise back to the surface given the timing, motive, and opportunity, as his tales are of equal importance to those of any and must be expressed through the venue known widely as hip hop.

Currently holed up in Al’s “In the Jar Studios”, Yung Breeze is deliberating the path of his next turn towards truth and the betterment of society and the world around him through analysis of the streets and the general feeling of the times.

“Youths such as Yung Breeze sadden me in a way,” states Joe Stern-McGovern. “He’s just about the age my son would’ve been had he lived, and upon reflection it fills me with a sense that somehow I, as a part of society,  have failed our younger generations, leaving them to inherit a world abandoned to greed and the mismanagement of our leaders and botched policies of the government, an entity whose best intentions are questionable.” Those who have chosen such selfish ends will now come to face the fury and ambitions towards societal justice and self-correction from the likes of DTA, Yung Breeze, two halves of the Brigade.

For more information about Yung Breeze or DTA, please visit us at www.myspace.com/universalartists or www.universalartists.net. For information about booking either of the duo domestically or internationally, please write to Joe Stern-McGovern’s assistant at either joesternmcgovern@myspace.com or www.myspace.com/joesternmcgovern. For inquiries of the artistic nature or to explore your own future as an artist at Universal Artists, International, please write to Shaka of Shaka Productions at shaka@universalartists.net.

Light Brigade Records

Light Brigade Records

For donations to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, please visit our writer’s page at www.universalartists.net. If you are interested in either sponsoring or investing our endeavours at fighting the battle  against HIV/AIDS, please write to joe@universalartists.net, or universalartists@myspace.com attention, Joe Stern-McGovern.

For information regarding the sales of Universal Artists, International’s products or charitable goals, or to download singles towards charity from your favorite Universal Artists, International artist please visit our latest site, www.endhiveaids.com, currently under construction and built by www.lubashadesign.com.

For information about our colleagues abroad, please visit www.pure-records.com or write to info@pure-records.com in Tokyo, Japan attention, Eric. Please look for our international release throughout greater Japan, Eastern Asia, and Australia in early 2010.

Pure-Records

Now on Sale, Casey Rankin's, "Speaking in Tongues"

Smack Talking of the Day: $ Cash Battle $ October 11, 2009

Posted by universalartists in 731, A-Dub, BFG, Birmingham Alabama, Black Flock Gang, Cash Battle, Christian Levi, Crunk, Dem Hardheadz, Dirty South, FAM Boy$, Freestyle, Hood Shuttlesworth, Joe Stern McGovern, Lake County, Lil J, MADD, McDonalds, Ms. Kesha Lee, Rodney Smalls, Shaka Productions, The Bionic Rapper, The Los Angeles Times, Tiptonville, Trap House Coalition, Universal Artists International.
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Facts of the BFG: Let's Do This

Facts of the BFG: Let's Do This

In 1985 or there close within, a young rapper named LL Cool J burst onto the scene with his fresh, innovative, and ultimately brash single, “Rock the Bells” under the label Def Jam. Who could possibly forget such classic lines as, “You bring the woodpecker, I will bring the wood”? Our favorite line from the single, however, would be that of, “I will battle anybody, I don’t care you tell…” And with such a boast, LL reigned supreme for years with Earl, the DJ whose hand was like a shark’s fin on the wheels of steel.

There has been enough smack talking from the likes of many platinum heavyweights to last a lifetime, and frankly, Universal Artists, International and Joe Stern-McGovern, global agent and President of the company, have decided it’s time to call all bluffs, to stop those who would deal from the bottom of the deck, to prove their own worth, and to reign supreme, just as their ancestor, LL Cool J, did in the mid-80s. With an eye towards cornering the rap market by somewhere around 2014, Universal Artists, International has announced to the world, “You think you can touch this, you talkin’ to me, well then let’s cash battle, sucker DJs”*.

Joe Stern-McGovern: A Challenge for Charity

Joe Stern-McGovern: A Challenge for Charity

Beginning January 2010, Universal Artists, International’s heavyweights, Black Flock Gang aka BFG from the self-titled smash CD, BFG, and their oft featured artists, Christian Levi and Ms. Kesha Lee, will set out on the road to battle all comers to prove their dominance in the highly competitive world market. Sucker DJs globally, be prepared to be shut down, to have your mama thoroughly disrespected, to bow your heads in shame, and to wipe those saline tears of miserable failure away as you have your proverbial asses handed to you Dirty South Style courtesy of the BFG.

DO: Ain't No Other

DO: Ain't No Other

Is this a claim on behalf of the notorious, infamous, and supreme BFG that the South trumps east, west, and midwest? Certainly not. Why might one ask? Simply said, with the versatility of the BFG, they consider themselves masters of every variation, bringing due respect and paying homage to each in their own way. Not only will the Black Flock Gang break out in verse to make the hardest of the Eastern seaboard suffer whiplash, they will rock the richter scale until California falls off and into the ocean as the next largest island of the world. If they fail to show restraint, California might entirely become the next Atlantis.

Fans Awaiting the BFG Concert

Fans Awaiting the BFG Concert

Sucker DJs of every realm, bow down in reverence as the kings who came to save the game pass before your mortal eyes. You name the place, you name the date, you name the style, and watch yourselves stepped on like a petulant red ants on a picnic blanket. The BFG will demand nothing short of your full measure of respect. Show them a line and they will cross it in a minute. If you can see them, it’s too late to run.

The Honorable Hood Shuttlesworth

The Honorable Hood Shuttlesworth

“Disciples of soul, godfathers of rap, our rhythm is down as your mama is whack,” claims Japan’s lead envoy for Universal Artists, International. Yes, the BFG have already made their way overseas and leveled the best the Japanese market has to offer in exhibition shows against some of the greatest styles in the manner of Ludacris, Lil’ Jon, Slim Thug, Ice Cube, and even the tattoed poet himself, Lil’ Wayne.

No one can bring the energy of the BFG, no one can match their verbal skills and delivery. The BFG will make a grown man cry to any of the numerous beats by Tiptonville, Tennessee’s own A-Dub, conqueror of crunk and his cohort, 731 joker of Lake County and pop’s answer to the age old question of the chicken and the egg, Lil’ J.

A-Dub & Lil' J: I Been On

A-Dub & Lil' J: I Been On

Is this challenge by Joe Stern-McGovern of Universal Artists, International belligerent? Not at all, it simply underscores the supremacy and dominance of the BFG for any of the unenlightened, ill spoken, disrespectful, or simply “act a fool” MC. Like Hammer said in his time, “Can’t touch this,” and from the likes of Public Enemy, “Don’t believe the hype,” and Vanilla Ice…well, let’s not even go there…

In words of caution from those under the Shaka Productions camp in Birmingham, Alabama, “Man up, fool, check your D, because you’re ’bout to feel the fury of the BFG, B!”

In a quote from Joe Stern-McGovern, he summarizes his own take on the legends come to be publicly, collectively, and individually as the BFG,

“You cannot hold down the human spirit any easier than you can surpress the intellect. Give it some time, and it’s certain to rise to the surface and beyond your wildest dreamsn and expectations”.

When asked about the BFG and their lyrics, methods, and take on life, the company’s President, Joe Stern-McGovern, gave the following response,

“When I was a youth myself, we realized we were doing many sectors and slices of society a disservice, socially and politically speaking. These children were fed on the lies, corruption, and propaganda of forces supposedly larger than themselves, but they’ve risen, risen from the plumes with a message which won’t be swept beneath the carpet.” 

Joe Stern-McGovern: President of Universal Artists, International

Joe Stern-McGovern: President of Universal Artists, International

Joe Stern-McGovern continued to state,

“Their lyrics are a social commentary, a take on their lives in a society which has tried to mold them into what they wanted them to be, pawns and worker ants to the queen, but they have a message to send with their own take on the turn fate has handed them.

If the world, let alone any invidual has taken up issue with the BFG? In a quote from Joe Stern-McGovern,

“Society has made their bed, now they can lie in it. If the powers that be cannot deal with the indignance of the disenfranchised who refuse to be categorized or smothered by sweeping generalizations, let them do better next time, and try harder with future generations”.

Lo of the BFG: The Usual Suspect

Lo of the BFG: The Usual Suspect

In a quote from Joe Stern-McGovern,

“The dye is cast with this lot, and now society will face their full fury, as well as their sometimes poetically beautiful take on the human condition.”

In one word from one journalist, “Wow!”

The black flock gang has arrived, and will continue to reign supreme as long as they care to carry their message, and once having done so in a manner of haughty arrogance coupled with humility, the saviors of the hustle many call rap will pass on the torch to their own sons and daughters for millions to thrill to in future battles. 

Mouf Piece of Da City: In the Penthouse

Mouf Piece of Da City: In the Penthouse

For more information about the Black Flock Gang, please visit them at www.myspace.com/blackflockgang or www.universalartists.net.

To book the BFG, either nationally or internationally, contact Joe Stern-McGovern’s assistant at joe@universalartists.net.

For more information on the BFG’s favorite charitable organization, please write to universalartists@myspace.com or blackflockgang@myspace.com.

For information regarding retail distribution or wholesale of BFG CDs and merchandise, please write to payments@universalartists.net.

*All cash battles are for purposes of charity.

Lil’ J: Lake County Joker or Pop Idol? October 4, 2009

Posted by universalartists in Lake County, Lil J, Lil Joseph, McDonalds, Tennessee, Tiptonville.
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I enter the Jemison Flats on 1st Ave. N., a $40 million renovation consisting of 3 buildings combined, one of them being the old Chamber of Commerce Building. Although quite a sum has been invested in the project, it is still surrounded by a notoriously perilous neighborhood just 3 blocks shy of the local downtown Birmingham Police Station. While the building is claimed to be the newest level for the nouveau riche, I’m not impressed. It smacks of a ghostly element, filled with snobs and low intellects attempting to escape their plot in life as largely disenfranchised struggling to break out of the pathetic caste they’ve inherited through genetics and personal ignorance.

I await Lake County’s Lil’ J aka Lil’ Joseph aka AK-47 aka J Glock of the 731, not realizing he’s seated in an ashtray he calls his, “Point A to B ride”, a low profile, souped up Impala. He revs the beast’s engine and I turn to escape the rigid, infamous halls of the Jemison Flats with a gasp of relief. Lil’ J honks the horn jokingly, shouting through the open glass, “Get a step on it”. Clearly, Lil’ J is either Lake County’s joker or the bone thug many portray him to be.

“Look at these hoes outside the Jemison Flats,” Lil’ J kids, “You’d better eat your carrots, silly rabbit, if you want to see these hoes. They’re elusive”.

I can barely decipher his Tennesse venacular, yet I shake my head politely as if to concur with the legend known as Lil’ J. A police squad car pulls alongside the white Impala, and Lil’ J just grins and revs the V6, as if to challenge authority. The officer chuckles, then speeds away. Was it casual disrespect on the part of the police, or fear of the dangers involved in messing with the likes of Lil’ J?

Lil' J: Pop Idol or Pimp?

Lil' J: Pop Idol or Pimp?

We make a turn down 14th and roll towards McDonalds, where there’s a back up of middle class suburbanites frequenting the facilities of this hospital city. The line is a mile long, and it affords this journalist the perfect opportunity to hone in on the real issues facing society today as captured through the eyes of Lil’ J.

“Look at this back up”, Lil’ J mumbles.

“Is this normal?” I ask.

“Yeah, shit, what else is new,”…

I laugh inside at the bravado of this Casper the Ghost like legend, pale as a white sheet, yet filled with the soul worthy of the reverence of any hip hop fan. He spits out a lug of Kodiak chewing tobacco as he ponders the future.

Lil' J: Private Moments

Lil' J: Private Moments

“Yo, you eating your chocolate chip cookie, dawg? I’m only gonna ask you once…”

“Are you threatening me, Lil’ J?”

“I’m warning you. Just real talk…”

“Yes, Lil’ J, I’ll take a large Hi-C, fries, chicken McNuggets off the dollar menu, and 6 chocolate cookies which I promise to share with you.”

“That’s right!” Lil’ J mumbles.

“Lil’ J, please,” I reply.

“Naw dawg, just jerkin’ your chains, so chill.”

How is it this middle class youth of reasonable existence and higher than usual intelligence has come to live a life so tawdry and filled with the drama of a dirty homicide squadron? One can only wonder, but upon reflection, they’re left with the conclusion, Lil’ J is who he is, and there’s nothing that can dislodge or rattle his aura or mentality. We approach the drive-thru speaker.

“Would you like to try our new Angus burger?”

“How do you know I’m not a Vegan?”

“Is that a no?” the worker asks.

“Hell na!!!”

“What would you like today?”

“My man say he take da large Hi-C, four piece McNugget off the dolla menu, fries, 6 chocolate chip…”

“Cookies?”

“That’s right, bitch? Damn, she’s testing my nerves!”

“I can hear you, sir.”

“Good, then get me a double cheese burger with no cheese, no ketchup, no mustard, no beef, ya’ feel me?”

“So you’d like a burger bun?”

“Don’t give me lip, hoe.”

“Is that everything, sir?”

“Damn right, that’s everything, shiiit!”

Lil' J on the mic!

Lil' J on the mic!

I can tell Lil’ J is upset with the cashier’s approach, and Lil’ J complains vehemently about the alleged brow beating. He pulls up to the window, guns the engine over and over again until the cashier gets the point he’s pissed off, he grabs the white bag with the golden arches, then spits some Kodiak onto the ground in full view of the shocked cashier.

“Clean that shit up…”

We drive back to the so called flea bag someone has called the Jemison Flats where I promptly exit the Impala. I thank Lil’ J for his time and the insight as he revs the engine. With my keys in hand, I make a brisk break for it. From behind me, I can hear Lil’ J barking with full bravado.

“That’s right, you better run!”

 

Freethrow Masterson, freelance

Birmingham, Alabama

Freethrow Masterson, Journalist

Freethrow Masterson, Journalist