Baltimore's DJ K-Swift will be missed

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Music fans in Baltimore are in mourning.

A popular and groundbreaking DJ at a top radio station is dead, and now city police are investigating.

Dennis Edwards reports the body of 29-year-old Khia Edgerton, also known as "K-Swift" was found Monday morning at her northeast Baltimore home in the 4300-block of Arizona Avenue.

Police initially responded to Good Samaritan Hospital for crowd control. They interviewed people there.

Fans are in absolute shock. They organized a vigil at the Woodlawn radio station 92Q where K-Swift was a DJ.

Messages of mourning could be heard on the airwaves between shows on 92Q Monday after K-Swift's death. She was first put on air by Neke Howse. "I have this insight that I can just tell. I just knew she has it, or had it," said Howse.

There are now growing questions surrounding her death.

They say K-Swift was giving a pool party at her home earlier in the day. They're investigating whether or not she consumed alcohol before getting into the pool.

Witnesses told police there were several people in the pool when Edgerton jumped in, but none of the swimmers were alarmed when she didn't immediately resurface.

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Chris Blackwell on Entrepreneurship in Rap Music

Chris Blackwell is the founder of Island Records and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in music-industry history. From relatively humble beginnings in an office in Jamaica, Blackwell grew Island into an international force, finally selling the label to A&M records in 1989. Along the way, Blackwell and Island were responsible for changing the face of pop music repeatedly. Bob Marley was an Island discovery, and the label was the driver of reggae’s rise to a global cultural phenomenon. The label was also home to U2 from 1980-1997, and shepherded them from their Dublin pub beginnings to the apex of their stardom. Under Blackwell’s long tenure, Island became known as a haven for creative and quirky artists, releasing landmark albums from artists as diverse as Traffic, Tom Waits, Fairport Convention, Robert Palmer, The Pogues, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Anthrax. Blackwell now heads a new venture, Palm Pictures, which is a film, music and new-media company that focuses on world and electronic music, independent film, and internet-delivered content.



Courtesy of: ArtistHouse Music

Justo´s Mixtape Awards

The 11th Annual Mixtape Awards took place on April 30 as scheduled. Below you can check out all the winners in the different categories.

Best Mashup: Clinton Sparks
Best Mixtape Team: The Aphiliates
Best DVD Magazine: Cocaine City
Best Hip Hop Mixtape: The Phantom
Best Underground Mixtape DJ: DJ Scarface
Best Female Mixtape DJ: DJ Blazita
Street Album of the Year: Mr. Crisis
Best Club Mixtape DJ: DJ Enuff
Best East Coast Mixtape Artist: Styles P
Best Radio Mixtape DJ: DJ Envy
Best Mixtape Duo: Big Mike and DJ Thoro
Best Personality on a Mixtape: DJ Khaled
Best New Mixtape DJ: DJ Whiteowl
Best East Coast Mixtape DJ: Big Mike
Lifetime Achievement Award/Executives of the Year: Allhiphop.com, Chuck and Greg
Mixtape Pioneer Award: Tony Touch
DJ Red Alert Award: DJ Jazzy Joyce
Mixtape Legends Award: DJ Barry Bee
Best R&B Mixtape DJ: DJ Finesse
Best Blends Mixtape DJ: DJ Skee
Best Reggae Mixtape DJ: DJ Kool Kid
Best Graphics: Miami Kaos
Best Mixtape Producer: Don Cannon
Best Underground Artist: Joell Ortiz
Best West Coast DJ: DJ Skee
Best Midwest DJ: Mick Boogie
Best Label Representative: Duke Da God
Best West Coast Mixtape Artist: Crooked I
Best Dirty South Mixtape Artist: Lil Wayne
Best Dirty South DJ: DJ Drama
Best Mixtape Internet Radio Show: Shade 45/Whookid
Best Promotional Mixtape: Allhiphop.com
Best Reggaeton Mixtape DJ: DJ Flaco
Best Chopped and Screwed: Michael e5000Œ Watts
Best International Mixtape DJ: DJ Hotsauce
Best Canadian Mixtape DJ: DJ A-Trak
Kayslay Award - Best Mixtape DJ: DJ Drama
Rookie of the Year: Dub Floyd
Mixtape of the Year: Gangsta Grillz

Polling #3

THE FANS HAVE DECIDED

& THE WINNING SONG IS...


K-Prime - "City Lights"

WITH 160 VOTES



Check back for an exclusive interview with K-Prime, the artist behind "City Lights".

MySpace Music Won't Give Equity to Indie Bands

By Eliot Van Buskirk

Three of the four major labels have become partners in MySpace Music, which will extend MySpace's current musical offerings to merchandise, song downloads and more. Listening Post cited concern on the part of The Orchard, an aggregator of indie bands and labels, that the indie bands who built MySpace as a music destination would not be made partners in MySpace Music. Money generated from advertising on indie bands' profile pages will flow, in part, to the major labels. Wasn't the internet supposed to be about routing around this sort of damage?

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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SHOW: 14 THINGS TO DO

Dan Goldstein 2004

1. your audience supply. don't blow it too early. that is, if you've got some agents or producers coming, get 'em all there on one night and then pull out all the stops to fill the house. don't just keep extending for the sake of extending-you'll dry up your audience and then when it counts you won't have people left.

2. build a list. put out your own sign-in sheet at your shows to get people's email addresses. the list is the single most important thing in show marketing. build yours any way you can. don't send more than a couple messages a month.

3. celebrities. are one way to get people to come to a show.

4. quotes. ask people to send you their feedback about the show. if it's criticism, see 5. if it's positive, collect it together and use it in your plugs and on your website.

5. improve your show. constantly get negative feedback about your show and fix it. the easiest way to fill the house is through the word of mouth generated by happy theatergoers. if your show is too long or sound system too loud, you as a performer/director will never realize it, you need the crowd to tell you. if you're keeping an email list like in point 2, you can ask those people how the show was.

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