Austin, TX - Two driving forces in Hip Hop, those of OGPR and AllHipHop.com, have joined together for this years SXSW festival to bring you the “Best in Texas” showcase at La Zona Rosa on Wednesday, March 17th. Headliners for the showcase are Paul Wall and Chamillionaire as they kick off their national “In Love With My Money” tour. The tour currently runs through mid-April, with more dates being added. Tour information can be found at Chamillionaire.com. Both artists have albums dropping this Summer.

The rest of the line-up for “Best In Texas” is comprised of acts representing various regions of the Lone Star State with performances by Houston’s Trae Tha Truth, who is currently pushing his single, “Inkredible ft. Lil Wayne & Rick Ross”, Chalie Boy, who hails from the Calvert/Hearne region and came to national attention via the hit single, “I Look Good” and Dallas artists Dorrough, who made a big splash with his single, “Ice Cream Paint Job” and Fat Pimp. Austin’s League of Extraordinary Gz, Kyle Lee and Question? for San Antonio and Big Sid repping San Angelo round out the night’s event. Swisha House’s Michael “5000” Watts will provide the hosting duties with DJ’s Grip and Hella Yella spinning between sets.

A staple in the industry, OGPR has provided public relations services to a host of Hip Hop artists over the past 10 years, representing names both regional and national including Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, DJ Whoo Kid, Pimp C, Slim Thug, Yo Gotti, Bobby Valentino, Trae Tha Truth and 3-6 Mafia. AllHipHop has pioneered the way that Hip Hop music and culture was represented online for the past 11 plus years and remains the go-to web destination for Hip Hop news and entertainment content. Having worked together closely over the years, it just made sense for the two companies to collaborate for one of music’s biggest annual showcase events - SXSW, and help Paul and Chamillionaire kick off their tour with a bang.

When I heard that Chamillionaire and Paul Wall were reuniting again on stage at SXSW I knew this was a marquee event that AllHipHop.com had to be a part of, this is history. AllHipHop’s Steve Raze had to say of the upcoming show.

I remember performing at my first SXSW and not really even speaking to Paul, and now in 2010 we will be touring together and sharing the same SXSW stage. Remembers Platinum, Grammy-winning artist, Chamillionaire. I’m sure our collective fans would be proud to see how far we have come and excited to see us together again live.

It feels great to have the opportunity to be back on stage with Cham. Adds Paul Wall. To start our tour together in Austin, at SXSW means a lot because that’s one of the 1st places we used to do shows coming up trying to be discovered. We started out as an opening act, now we're the headliner. Hopefully this will inspire the up and coming artists to follow in our footsteps.
Get to know all of the artists from the “Best In Texas” showcase on AllHipHop.com’s dedicated page - http://allhiphop.com/promo/sxsw/ - featuring pictures, music, videos and more.
Media is encouraged to attend this event. For information on media coverage or for interview opportunities with Chamillionaire, Paul Wall, Trae Tha Truth or Chalie Boy, kindly contact Nancy Byron, OGPR (832) 220.6071 or nancyb@ogpr.net 

No More CDs, Says Sony

BY AUSTIN CARRThu Mar 4, 2010

What the hell are CDs again?

Remember those shiny circular things that could barely hold twenty songs?

Well apparently record labels are still using the prehistoric technology, but not for much longer. Sony Music delivered what some consider a knockout blow to CDs, announcingrecently that on May 1, it will cease sending promo CDs to critics and journalists, and instead only provide them with digital previews. Sony is the second-largest music company in the world, and the first major label to do digital-only promotions--hopefully it's not the last.

This is only a toe-in-the-water attempt at ending all CD production for good, but it's still a good indicator of where the industry is eventually heading.

Over the last decade, overall CD sales have plummeted 48% in the U.S., declining steadily almost every year. Meanwhile, digital sales continue to rise, growing 27% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009. Digital downloads now represent 40% of all music purchases. What's wrong with major labels, right? The business model seems obvious: Go digital.

Unfortunately, CDs are far from finished. Why? Because digital revenue has failed to compensate for declining CD sales, and more importantly, compact-discs still account for 80% of all album purchases--the labels' bread and butter.

So it'll likely be a while before we're 100% digital, but Sony's move will definitely encourage other labels to follow suit with promos.

My question is: Who is still buying CDs for music? Does anyone still carry around a Discman?

CONFIRMED DATES

3/17 AUSTIN, TX-SXSW

3/17 AUSTIN, TX-SXSW

Houston, TX - This Thursday, the city of Dallas will begin welcoming the throngs of sports fans and celebrities rushing to partake of the many NBA All Star celebrations going on throughout the weekend. Amongst them will be Grammy-winning, Houston artist Chamillionaire, who has put together a Texas All Star line-up of his own; namely Paul Wall, Slim Thug and Dorrough, for a music video shoot to Chamillionaire’s brand new song, Main Event. The plan is to shoot each of the guys guerilla-style, as they walk red carpets and mix and mingle at the many A-list events they plan on attending; a style of shooting that award-winning video director, Dr. Teeth, is very comfortable with. The final video will also feature a grand finale performance scene featuring all of the artists to be shot at an undisclosed location.

“I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind the rest of the world that Texas is still doing it big when it comes to music.” Chamillionaire says of his ambitious endeavor. “Every artist on the song with me has independent hustle and strength in the streets. It’s an All Star song so what better place to shoot the video than All Star Weekend, right here in our own backyard.”

DOWNLOAD LINK: 

Chamillionaire “Main Event ft. Paul Wall, Slim Thug & Dorrough” (produced by Chops)

http://audio.fanbuild.com/fanbuild/chamillionaire/main-event.zip

The highly anticipated Venom album has been pushed back till March 16th and I already know what you're thinking. Instead of me pointing any fingers or making any excuses I would rather just offer an alternative. A Major Pain cd will release on FEB 2nd regardless of the push back. Music is music and I don't feel like any amount of politics should keep a brand that is highly in demand trapped in a cage. In a perfect world all of the people that support the movement will pre-order this upcoming release directly from this website chamillonaire.com. See the goal is to become so self contained that we can supply our own need for Merch, Music, and Chamillionaire madness without ever having to be subject to a release date. In simple english, we can drop anything we want to drop anytime that we want to drop it from right here. The world is ours for the taking. I hope you're ready. The bullet is in the chamber....   

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CHALIE BOY'S NEW STREET ALBUM "I'M HERE"