4 Years in a COMPLEX industry

In this fickle industry known as the “Recording Industry”, record labels, production companies, and recording studios open up very quickly and can shut down just as quick. The problem with most new “studios”, are that they are run very poorly due to a lack of some kind of structure. Regardless of the location, be it in a 5,000 square foot loft, or a dank basement, if the operators have no sense of business structure, then they are destined to fail.

When Cayex initially launched COMPLEX 2010, in the year 2010, he was just hoping to be able to become a good enough engineer that could bring in a steady clientele.

Fast forward almost four years later, not only has Cayex became a GREAT engineer, he’s become a Grammy Nominated engineer, and has one of the best studios in the city of Chicago. 

4 years in the business of recording is counted in dog years. That means in a figurative sense, that COMPLEX 2010 has been in business for 28 years! 28 years is nothing to take lightly by any means.

So I guess that means that are celebration is on the horizon. INDEED!!

Not only is COMPLEX 2010 going to celebrate 4 successful years in the business, it will also be throwing its end of the year holiday celebration, which unfortunately is only invitation only. 

So what will the individuals that aren’t fortunate enough to get an invite be missing?

Welp, there won’t be any lemon pepper chicken from Sharks. No sir!! There will be catered food from Uncle Joes Jerk Chicken. Some may say that chicken is chicken. If you say that, then clearly you aint been to Uncle Joes and had any of their Jerk wings, the red beans and rice, or the string beans.

This event is more than just food!! 

There will be some sort of industry big wigs in the building. Some you may know on sight, many you may NOT know on sight, OR by name. But know this much, the cats that you DON’T know, are the cats that you SHOULD know!! Those are the quiet individuals that wield the most industry power. The true movers, shakers and the candle stick makers.

This is one of the Chicago music events that if an invite goes out and you were meant to receive it, then that means that you were MEANT to be there. If this pertains to you, then that means that I will see you.

Damn, wait a minute!! I gotta make sure that I can include myself on the invitation list. LOL!

Grammy Nod (Nothing to do with a Grandmother going to sleep.)

Initially Thursday October 30th, 2014, was seeming like any other day down at COMPLEX 2010. Artists coming in and out, endless conversations about how the song that they’re about to make is going to be the next hit, how they’re about to “blow up”, Blah Blah Blah and whatnot. 

The buzzer rings to the doorbell. I get up from my office/workstation/pit/desk/barstool, and I approach the intercom. I hit the button and reply “Complex”. (Thats how I answer the intercom system.) “FedEx” is what the voice says to me. I take the steep hike up the 1 flight of stairs, down the hall, peek thru the peek hole, (because people have tried that FedEx line with me before just to try to get in.) verify the uniform, and I open the door. "Package for Syex EElah?”, the young caucasian courier says. 

"Its pronounced Kay Ex”. 

“Oh I’m sorry.” 

"Not a problem at all. I’m used to it, and so is Syex. LOL!”

"Hey, do you have one of those names too?”, the courier asks.

“Nah just Jonathan!” 

Now I could’ve told him that my alternate name was Joe Blacula, but I can guarantee that I would STILL be at the door explaining how I came up with that one.

I sign for the very wide, but very thin padded envelope and I bring it back down to Cayex, who was in the middle of a mixing session. 

“This is for you bro”.

“Could you open it up for me?”

I tear it open, place the envelope on the mixing console, and I start to return to one of my several posts inside of the COMPLEX. 

“WHOAAAAAAA!! JB come here!!”

Not having a chance to have sat down just yet, I pivot and return back to the “A” room.

“JB I got my paperwork!!”

"Paperwork for what?”

“My Grammy paperwork?”

“WHAAAAT?”

“Yessir!!”

“Congratulations bro!! You most definitely deserve it. So what do you need me to do?”

“Ima need for you to take some money out of the frivolous box (Thats a box that we have, hidden out of sight, for food or chicken runs to Sharks.”) and go to Sharks and get us a tray of wings!” Im also gonna need for you to go to the liquor store on State and bring back some Vodka because we are TOASTING this!!…Awww JB, you don’t drink anymore do you?”

"No sir, but I mos def will toast the event with a chicken wing!!”

We both laugh.

How did Cayex receive a Grammy nomination?

Cayex goes back several years with R&B Diva Syleena Johnson. A few years ago, he produced an mixed a song for Syleena, that would up on the Faith Evans project entitled "R&B Divas”. When Cayex found out that Syleena was going to submit one of his songs to the Faith Evans compilation, he never thought that it would be accepted, or heard, and DEFINITELY aint think that it would be nominated for a Grammy.

Well the song was nominated. It didn’t win…but it was nominated! As Ron Burgundy would say, “Thats kind of a big deal!”

After the 50 wings with lemon pepper were brought back to the COMPLEX, and the drinks were toasted, it was back to business as usual at COMPLEX 2010.

The RETURN of the "Super Emcee" on FSD!!

On Thursday September 26th, 2014, COMPLEX 2010 decided to have an event titled SUPER EMCEE, where we invited numerous local rappers into a studio session, where they could all write together, and see what the end product would be. The event was great, all egos were checked at the door, and a great song...actually SEVERAL great songs were completed and recorded. You can record as many songs as you want, but TRULY great songs come to life during the mixing process. That's when speculation, turns to confirmation.

Fake Shore Drive is a very popular music blog for the city of Chicago's music scene. If I could compare it to anything, I would compare it to what the Source magazine once was for nation rap music. Andrew Barber created the Fake Shore Drive brand, and has gotten it to the heights of being mentioned on MTV and even CNN. So when I was notified that Andrew had heard of the Super Emcee event, and that he wanted to do a review on the finished, needles to say (but I'm gonna say it anyway!) that I was STOKED!!

The mix was jumped on, literally attacked with key precision, and made sure that it was sent off to Drew. 

In this sanitized media world of words that we live in at times, I tend to feel that no one will ever have anything to say about anything because they are rightfully scared of the consequences and repercussions of their actions. Well know this; Drew aint one of these kinda people ya dig? Some people chop down the product, and you can always tell that the person that's reviewing a project, either is a washed up artist who has his own agenda, or if they just feel like being a prick. Drew will cut ya down, but he will give you his specifics on how he feels that the project or song, can become that much better.

I am happy to say that Drew did not cut the song down.

Fake Shore Drive Article

Soundcloud link to "Working"

But now the question is this; NOW WHAT? Drew has written about it and now people want it. They may even want to buy it! Maybe they would and WILL! 

I set up a SoundCloud account to see if the song generates heavy traffic. If so, I will get the artists to sign off on the song. Then I'm gonna set an ITunes account up, set a price and see what happens next. 

Hopefully the "CHING CHING" from a deposit...A  HEAVY DEPOSIT!! LOL

Come one, come all, COME ON DOWN...To COMPLEX 2010

Have you ever noticed how some businesses seem to put up a going out of business sale sign, hang it from the doorway, but NEVER seem to go out of business for about a few years? I'm a fan of the Men In Black trilogy, more so the 3rd and final installment of the films. In Men In Black 3, there is a scene when Will Smith goes to see a store merchant about using a device for time travel. When Will arrives, the shot makes sure that it is clearly shown that the stores name is the "Going Out Of Business" store. Inside the store, there were signs on EVERYTHING saying that everything must go! I thought that was HIL-A-RI-OUS!! And at the same time, I thought that it was PURE GENIUS!

Bare with me for a minute because I'm getting to my point. 

COMPLEX 2010 has heard through the client grapevine, that some people feel that the company caters entirely too much to higher clientele that can afford the (affordable) rates. The comments initially started out as a low murmur, but as of late, its becoming a slight roar. 

How do we fix it? How do we reach out to other potential customers without offending our current clients? How do we remain upscale, without sacrificing our standards. 

I GOT IT!!

A GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE....But not quite...

What I have come up with is to design a hourly rate of $35 for 1 week and 1 WEEK ONLY. 

At the same time knowing in my mind that it will be for longer than only one week. 

How long? As long as it is felt that it is working. 1 month, 6 months, 3 days, I don't know yet. 

Im going to get the word out about the hourly rate and let it be known that the rate comes with terms. 

The key two terms are...

1. This rate is for NEW CLIENTS ONLY!

2. You have to have an established catalog of at least 10 songs. (We have to know that you're serious!)

I passed this info on to Cayex and Merk and they agree. "Whatever you think works JB", is what they usually say. And at the same time, I hear the dreaded words..."Make It Happen!" 

(Scoffs)

That means now that I've come up with the idea, I have to lay it out properly and execute it.

1st and foremost a flyer has to be designed...DONE and APPROVED!!

Now the TRUE fun begins...(I hope that it is obvious that I am being sarcastic!)

COMPLEX 2010 Present The NBA 2K15 Tournament of Champions

​

The big event for the week at COMPLEX 2010 was our newly created NBA 2K15 Tournament. Initially, I wasnt supposed to be at COMPLEX​, or Chicago for that matter. I was supposed to be in Milwaukee celebrating my 7 year olds birthday. But my baby mama shifted the day of the event, which freed me up for Sunday. Cayex and Merk were glad to see me because they needed someone to make sure that the event stayed organized. Who better to make sure that the event stayed organized, than the person who organized it!. (ME!)

The event started at about 6pm. It originally was scheduled to have started at 3pm, but the Bears game was changed to 3pm, and there was no WAY that anyone would be willing to play while the Monsters of the Midway were playing the Georgia Dirty Birds. It was an assumption on my end, but I assumed correctly because no one was willing to come any sooner.

Drinks were served by Elementz Emcee, and for those that didn't want any alcohol, there were a few cases on Monster Energy drinks that we had on deck for our late night shifts.

20 invitees showed up, and were very glad to contribute the $50 dollar entry fee. 3 television monitors were set up in 3 separate parts of the complex. Teams were selected from a pool of the 16. The 1st round eliminated 8 teams, 2nd round eliminated 4, 3rd round eliminated 2...and then there was only 2. 

One shall stand...one shall fall! 

And indeed there was a victor! @Mr_4thQuarter beat Merk in a hard fought game between the Heat and the Bulls, and gladly accepted his $500 prize. A few people stated that I had made them aware that the prize pot was for $1,000. No sir! I stated that the prize was UP TO $1,000. The devil is ALWAYS in the details! But please believe that @Mr_4thQuarter had no reservations with accepting the prize. If this game was an omen to the things that are to come, then the Bulls will scrap and scrape their way to a victory over the Heat. 

Gamers ONLY!!

Complex 2010 is always active with activity. One of the best ways that we have found to relax is to play NBA 2K on Playstation 4. Now you may ask yourself, "why are these grown men playing video games?" Well if that's what you're thinking, then CLEARLY you've never played any of the basketball games in the 2K series. 

Understand that this obsession has a long history, and goes back to 1989. This is when Electronic Arts  (Now known as EA Sports) first released Lakers vs Celtics on the Sega Genesis game platform. Fast forward 6 years to NBA Live 95, which currently brings us to the now.

One day while taking a break at COMPLEX 2010, playing the newly released 2K14, and participating in heavy trash talking, we decided to round up everyone that we know that shares our love for the game, and start a basketball tournament. This way we could get everyone that we know, clientele and non clientele, and actually create something that could possibly grown into a much larger platform.

Initially when we first started discussing it, I thought that this would be an easy enough task to handle. But all tournaments require rules, regulations, fees, and a lot of patience while reaching out to find other players. Adding a cash prize would be an added incentive, as WELL as a special guest. (I'm working on getting one. Not including the fact that yours truly, myself, was in charge of creating the artwork for this newly created venture. Once again, I'm thinking that this would be simple enough to do. Once again, I thought wrong! 

After 8 revisions, and 13 hours later, the artwork was completed! The good thing about it was that I didn't have to give the hopeful participants too much info. I emailed them the finished artwork, asked them to share to all that may be interested, and waited for the replies. Fortunately I didn't have to wait long.

The official launch is Sunday October 12th at 5pm. (after the Bears VS. Atlanta Falcons game...) Unfortunately I wont be able to be in attendance. It's my 6 year old daughter Justice's Birthday!!

Other than that...Let the games begin!!

Padded Booth Experiment

The 1st version of the promo piece.

Merk Murphy was having a conversation last week with a client speaking on the possibilities of what could happen if he got ALL of the talented EMCEES in the studio, gave them a hot track, and let them have a writing session for a few hours. What exactly would happen? Would there be an old school based song about the upliftment of our people, bars and metaphors showcasing skills, or the status quo about the goings on in Chi Raq Dilla Noise? My opinion was to put the invite out there and see what happens...and at that point, I invited myself into my next assignment. (Sighs)

The 1st thing that I had to do was to come up with a list of people that Merk would like to hear on a song. The 2nd thing that I had to do was to come up with another list of WHO from the 1ST list would agree to be a part of the event. 3RD, I had to get in touch with the people. 4TH, I had to create the artwork to attract the artists. And 5th, I had to get all of this done in less than 36 hours! WOW!

Heavy task, but I knocked it out!!

I created a list of 30 people. I got in contact with 26 of them, and 15 participated. I actually only thought that 10 would show up. 

The event was scheduled to start at 11pm. Thus the reason why I told everyone that it started at 9:30pm. Everyone that was scheduled to be in the building were all there by 10:30pm. This gave Merk 30 minutes to explain how we were going to organize everything, and by 11pm, the artists were writing.

I was fading out by 4am, but the writers were STILL writing!! But seeing that Cayex had gone home, and that the other engineer had to leave, the decision was made to stall out the actual song until Saturday the 27th.

Saturday night came. Cayex was on board to engineer. The artists were back and ready. No one was really aware of what the other had written, but Cayex organized everything and it all came out nicely! 

(At this point, Cayex hasn't mixed the song. Thus the reason why there isn't a link to it.)

Next up is this damn NBA 2K15 basketball tournament. Another one of my BRIGHT ideas that I have to put together..Stay tuned for next week.

The 2nd and FINAL version of the promo piece. 

Finished Artwork for "Dope Baby"

My designated assignment for this past week has been to come up with the artwork for the Bennie Franks/Cayex Illah project. For the past 3 weeks, I have created 3 different versions that used photos that were taken at the photo shoot before the video. The 1st version, Cayex liked because he liked the pic of himself. Unfortunately Bennie didn't like the pic of himself. The artwork was denied. The 2nd version, Bennie liked the pic of himself. And of course, Cayex did NOT like the artwork of himself. The artwork was denied.

For the final version, I decided NOT to add a pic of either Cayex OR Bennie, and made the focal point on a stock photo that I had of a straight razor cutting into a Baking Soda form of substance. Why would I have stock photos of baking soda? Because at one point and time, I was a part of a music production team called the "Baking Soda Boys". Just in case you were wondering, It was a drug dealing reference. (At one point and time, having a slick drug dealing name was a very popular trend in rap music.) 

The only direction that I was given after the fact was to make the razor the same color gold that Bennie are wearing in the video. Not a problem! Done!! Keep your eyes open for the video. I am currently in the editing phase of it which has had me very busy. It will be up very soon...God willing...

Fight Night @ COMPLEX 2010

Do you see all of the people in this room? Well one of my jobs for this past week was to get in touch with the "premier clients" of COMPLEX 2010, and to invite them to the Floyd Mayweather fight on Saturday September 13, 2014. Premier Clients refers to the fact that they have spent a nice amount of income towards the services of Complex 2010. During the week I had to call, text, email, return calls, return texts, and return emails concerning the event.

The overall question of concern was "how much" and will there be food. The price was $10 per person and YES there was chicken...supplied by Sharks on Cermak & State and PLENTY OF IT! 

Not that anyone would care, but my day started off by watching two wonderful people get married at the Mosque Maryam; Mr & Mrs Edward & Leslie Muhammad. After the reception, I changed from my suit, and made sure that I got down to Complex 2010 to make sure that everyone that was in attendance, WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN ATTENDANCE!! If I aint call you or speak to you, then you could not get in. It was more of a space issue.

The event was successful. Everyone ate and enjoyed the fight. I didn't get a chance to really see much of it because I was making sure that no chicken graveyards were on the floor, and that everyone had somewhere to sit. Indeed everyone had a chair of some sorts, but most chose to stand. 

I was happy because I got to take home a half of a tray of lemon pepper chicken wings to my family. 

We ate on it for 2 days...

"Dope Baby"

My 1st official day of Internship at COMPLEX 2010 started on Monday September 1st, 2014. The 1st day was a very good day and very action packed! I was part of the video production crew for a video that Cayex Illah (who is also a rapper/producer/engineer) and Bennie Franks did together called "Dope Baby". Several suites were rented out for use for performance scenes at the Hard Rock Hotel on North Michigan Avenue. 

Half way thru the process, I realized that I shouldve been taking pics of the massive event. Cayex doesnt really mind taking pics, but he MOST DEFINITELY makes sure that he approves ANY and ALL photos of himself that go up publicly. 

The pic below is the only pic that he approved! LOL!

I was also put in charge of coming up with an idea for the artwork for the project. I don't really know yet what my concept is going to be, but i've been noticing lately that the more basic image, is the more popular. So i'm going to stick with something very clean, very basic, professional fonts, something white....YEAH!, I think that i've just come up with something. Im gonna work on it! If it's approved, then you'll see it in my next entry. LOL!

(Left to Right) High Beam, Bennie Franks, Cayex Illah on the set of "Dope Baby".