Camera & Editing by DRO (www.davidrosario.com)

Phresh James is a Miami based rapper. Born and raised in Carol City. He brings a different approach to the music that comes out of the “305”. His smooth sounds and laid back tunes definitely set him apart from his peers. Watch as we dicuss a little bit about his background, his fashion sense and upcoming projects.

More info: twitter.com/phresh_james

Jovi Rockwell went to Los Angeles recently and partnered up with Puma to shoot a series of promo campaigns, along with a music video for her next single “Keep It Real”. Behind the scenes photos below….

Brand new music from Miami-based artist Miraj.

Miraj – Don’t Hate Me (Miami Jook Mix)

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Via Y2kDaily

Photo by Tara Inc Photography

We recently caught up with Adrian “Drop” Santalla (left) and Phenom (right), of Miami-based production team Drop Dead Beats. They have had production placements through a span of genres and have engineering credits in a diverse list of projects as well. Having worked with artists like Pitbull, Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Gloria Estefan and Trina to name a few – and in 2010, they will surely take the industry by storm. Most recently they produced “Triumph” for Pitbull’s newest album Rebelution – a song that got picked up and licensed by ESPN, as well as NBC’s The Office. Read on as we dive into their humble beginnings, their musical direction and even end it off with a little bit of music industry talk. Click below to read more….

We recently caught up with Charles Reed for a quick interview. Charles Reed is the man behind “Jook With Me” (listen here). We discussed a couple things. 10 things to be specific. Read below…

Story & Photo by Miami Live

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

This quote not only justifies but sets the overall tone of entrepreneur and tastemaker behind the music Karen “KD” Douglas’ lifestyle. Since her inception into the world, this young business woman has displayed nothing less than a tireless work ethic and dedication to every endeavor that she has ever placed hands on. Born in London, England in a single parent home, KD and her mother moved to the United States in the mid 80’s. Although she excelled in all areas academically “Most of my interests throughout school revolved around the fine arts including, all avenues and genres of music and entertainment.” The young “renaissance” woman was also a member of the National Honors Society and humbly states that she graduated at the top 15% of her senior class.

Photos by Ian Witlen

Protoman on Unity, Business, Motivation and Time Travel
South Florida emcee, Protoman was recently featured on AudibleHype to talk a little bit about the business side of what he does. He really goes in and has multiple great quotables and brings up tons of great points that upcoming artists should pay attention to.

“…People get bored listening to a song on the computer without a visual to accommodate. Peoples senses are burnt out. Everyone has ADD. Make sure your websites are colorful and full of dope shit. Pictures of you, banners, show flyers…”

“…The biggest mistakes I see made are artists getting played. Artists trusting a promoter and getting hustled. I was recently in LA looking for gigs and was disgusted at a thing called “Pay to Play”. This is where a up and coming artist pays a promoter to open up for a bigger name. This is crazy to me. Its bad enough when you have your fanbase come see you, paying at the door, and you don’t make a dime. But you paying?!?…”

“…I’d rather get out 10 CDs for 5 dollars apiece, versus 5 CDs for 10 dollars apiece. It balances out and fans see your giving them a break. Its only going to help me in the long run once the economy bounces back. That one kid who spent his last 10 bucks at the door will get a free CD from me. In the future I’ll see him again, he’ll be on better terms financially and he’ll express his gratitude by buying a few CDs and a shirt perhaps. Its all about balance…”

Read the entire interview of Protoman with AudibleHype by clicking here

Cool & Dre’s Epidemic Music is gearing up for the release of the debut album of Carol City artist, C-Ride. His album will be called Automatic Vibe and will be released via Epidemic/Pologrounds/J Records. C-Ride is currently featured on Cash Money’s 2 Pistols single entitled “Lights Low” produced by Cool & Dre. In the meanwhile, C-Ride’ has a buzz single that was recently released called “Money Round Here” which features T-Pain. Listen to it below…

C-Ride featuring T-Pain – Money Round Here

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P.S. Check out this photo we found with C-Ride rocking the Mack 10 Dolphins shirt by Last Rights Clothing…

Even though this mixtape came out Memorial Day Weekend, I was only able to get it in my hands like two days ago while doing a photoshoot with Destiny of yes, the THC Crew. The mixtape is definitely dope and definitely worth a listen. If you have $2.99 to spare, to support your fellow 305′ers…cop the mixtape by clicking here..

A break from the norm, Miami-based group, DMG, fuses hip-hop with a mix of all genres to become one of the brightest up-and-comers that are coming out of the city. Members, Q and Kalli just shot their first music video and are preparing the final touches for their debut album Left Field. Their mixtape, entitled Revenge Of The Nerds Volume 1, should be out for the public to hear, later this summer. In the meantime, read on as we discuss a couple things as well as what a live DMG show really brings…

Teraj is a Miami-based artist. He has graced stages in Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, Dublin, Paris, and Rome to name a few. Teraj is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor working hard towards the completion of his first LP, and the song featured below, “Give It Up”, is one of the first tracks stemming from it. Its staggering percussion and melody add on to the complimenting lyrics. Producer, Cory Bold handled the production, while the songwriting, vocal arrangement, co-production, and engineering was handled by Teraj himself. Teraj is aiming to become R&B and Pop’s next sensation…

Teraj – Give It Up
Produced By Cory Bold

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Photo courtesy of Ozone Magazine

Ft. Lauderdale based D-League has definitely been on the grind for a while now. And you’ll definitely be hearing more about them on The305.com in the near future. Here’s the current song that they’re pushing called “Take A Look”. Listen below…

D-League – Take A Look

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South Miami’s own Ghostwridah, comes through with a freestyle over Kanye’s “Say You Will”. Its dopfrom the upcoming 305 & Heartbreaks mixtape. Ends nicely with the guitar solo at the end. Threohfive!

Ghostwridah – Say You Will (Freestyle)

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I’m telling you. I’ve been co-signing Shonie for like 5 years now. She is an incredible artist. Well, this week she released a remix to Jeremih’s hit single “Birthday Sex”. Its really gotten a good response – much so, that even Jeremih twittered that it was pretty much the best version he’s heard thus far.

Definitely a good look. Listen/Download below…

Shonie - Birthday Sex (Female Version)

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Miami, FL (PRWEB) April 26, 2009 — Sean Combs “Diddy” released his new record in dramatic fashion last week on HOT 97 in New York City, during the DJ Envy mix. “Diddy Bop”, a record he’s says is” for the DJs and the street “. for the DJs and the street.

The record was co-written and features local Miami artist Xplicit (www.xplicithiphop.com) on the hook of the song, the record was produced by Isaac Opus, also from Miami.

The P Twitty TV video is a montage of Diddy and Bad Boy videos. The “Unofficial Video” got over 7,500 plays in a matter of hours, numerous versions of the video are appearing all over You Tube (www.youtube.com), including a track also featuring Yung Joc. Comments like “Diddys back”, “dope, love it” and “I’m diddy boppin” are all over the web. Diddy has also announced the “Official Video”and dance coming soon.

Listen to the song below…

Diddy featuring Yung Joc & Xplicit – Diddy Bop
Produced By Isaac Opus

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Miami’s own Bizzle was spotted in the latest issue of Ozone Magazine that has T.I. on the cover. Its the sex issue so expect appropriately themed questions. Hopefully you can find a few issues left on the stands, if not, read it online at OzoneMag.com

Photo Credit: Altered Images (TM)

Check out new music by Miami’s own THC Crew now on Myspace. Listen by clicking here…

Send them feedback and let them know what you think…

This is Kesha. She’s is the girl on the hook for Flo Rida’s “Right Round” and her performance on there strikes an awefully close resemblance to Katy Perry to the point that initially everyone thought it was Katy Perry (including us). She’s based out of L.A. and apparently she is a Supra fan. She has a quite a couple dope songs on her site, and good lord, she still sounds like Katy, but she does have her own style in my opinion.

Go to her myspace by clicking here

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, hometown heroes, Mayday!, finally release what will hopefully be the first of many releases to come in ‘09. According to group member Plex, this release is full of music that you could make love and war to. The Thinnest Line EP is available for download in both free and retail versions.

The free version (which you could download below) is available for download. And the Digital Retail version is also available will include an extra song by the name of “Tunnel Vision” (click here to purchase).

And the cover is definitely dope. Shout out to Jessy Nite for the dope design/photo.

Support that Miami music!!!

1. Everything
2. A Good Night (Interlewd)
3. Evil
4. Habitual Line Stepper (Feat. Snave Nayr)
5. Everything (Instrumental)
6. Evil (Instrumental)

Remember him from 50 Cent Mondays at Oxygen in the Grove? Well, he’s still doing it up and is apart of DJ Irie’s Artist Related group of DJ’s. So, Via the Miami New Times, here’s DJ Vertigo’s top five songs of the moment.

1. “I’m in Miami Bitch,” LMFAO
2. “Shooting Star (Party Rock Remix),” David Rush a.k.a. Young Boss feat. Pitbull and LMFAO
3. “Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix),” the Ting Tings
4. “Pop Champagne,” Ron Browz
5. “Arab Money,” Busta Rhymes

Check him out at: www.myspace.com/djvertigomiami

I can really relate to this song right now, I have it on straight repeat on this mix I have. Check it and download it below, its off of his Ghostwridah’s most recent release The Ruler’s Back, which released a few months back. Read our review of The Ruler’s Back by clicking here.

Ghostwridah - All I Know

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P.S. Photo above taken by me, Dro (www.davidrosario.com)

Serum has garnered a legendary status around his name in independant hip-hop circuits and pretty much ran the battle scene in Miami for a good amount of time a few years back. Well, here’s a teaser release of his archived material between the years of 2001 and 2007. Download it below…

I saw Mauikai perform the other night at PS14 during “Heart & Sole 2″. She really has a great presence as a singer and as an emcee. She even had a little crowd interaction going on during her song “Negative Space” (***I think that was the title***). But yeah, as soon as she was done performing, I had to buy one of her CD’s to check out some of her recorded material. Below is one of the songs called “Love Of You” from her Beyond The Road EP. Check more of Mauikai over at www.myspace.com/mauikai

Mauikai - Love Of You

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I posted a quick blurb about this song a couple weeks ago after briefly hearing it on 99 Jamz on a late Sunday night. Well, here it is again, except full quality and available for download. Phatz is the truth…play it below…

Phatz – Celebration
Produced by Synthesis

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City Of God is a hip-hop/pop group based out of Miami. Out of the tons of songs that get sent to me on a daily basis, this was something fresh and new that I had to make sure to showcase for you all to hear. The song is called “Fly Away”, and honestly, its just a small sampling of their talent. They remind me of so many things all at once, yet they stand strongly as a unique collective. Its a mixture of hip-hop, pop, soft-rock and R&B. According to their bio, City Of God holds a “wide variety of musical influences ranging from Jamiroquai, N.E.R.D, Earth Wind & Fire and John Legend.” It definitely shows. Check the song below.

City Of God – Fly Away

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Sidenote: They have an EP that was released last year called Rebirth Of Swag and it can be purchased by clicking here

Yo Kanye, take some fuckin’ notes! Here’s a good use of autotune…courtesy of Miami’s own Deadshot (aka Shottie). Photo above taken by me, DRO (www.davidrosario.com)

Deadshot (Shottie) – Hey Doctor

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Round here at The305.Com, we’re BIG fans of DJ Craze and have been for years. Well, its good to see that Kanye is still keeping him real busy with all that touring and all those shows they’re doing. I think he’s on his way back from the Phillipines as I type this. Well, recently on Craze’s blog, Craze let loose his expectations and outlook for 2009…and it goes a little something like this word-for-word:

“…What my peoples?!!…. 2008 is now over and what a year it has been. My year started off the way it ended, with a lot of touring. I must say that I really hate airports and immigration, there’s nothing more in this world that I dread than dealing with hangovers and security lines. Anyways, halfway through the year I started touring with Kanye and honestly that was the most relaxing time I’ve had in years. It was more like a world vacation than a world tour. I met a lot of great people and it helped me focus on what I want to be doing in the next couple of years. For those that have been following your boy, you know I’ve made a lot of genre changes through out my career……I think more than any other dj I know. I don’t do this to piss my fans off, I do this because I love new music and music keeps changing every year. For 2009 it’s not gonna be any different. I’m really feeling this bassline driven music coming out recently. I’ll be putting out a couple mixes throughout the year to give you an example of what I’m talking about. This year I promise to finally deliver my first real production album and hopefully I’ll have a couple guests on it. Also this year I’m gonna try to finish a project I started last year called “LUSHUS”, for those that heard my Fabric mix I had a song on there called “Ho Fo Sho”, this was an example of the kinda vibe it will be on, basically some new skool miami gangster girlie shit with a lot of bass in it. Another project I’m starting this year is a new label with my boys Kill The Noise and Klever called “Slow Roast”. It was supposed to have kicked off by now but because of my heavy touring we couldn’t really make it happen in time. I’ve set my goals list very high for this year and I plan to make all of these goals come true. 2009 …..IM READY!!!!…”

Check his blog by clicking here…

Kane, coming straight out of North Miami, teams up with Ray-J for “That Girl”. This is a BIG record. It has so much potential to blow nationwide. It follows a familiar rap/R&B format, but its catchy and it just…well, works. And auto-tune is nowhere to be found on this record (thank God). Nothing wrong with auto-tune, but glad we can still make radio-ready songs without it. Definitely look for this to hopefully be on the traffic jam mixes soon (hint, hint, Entice!!!). And I’ll be posting the official Kane mixtape in the next day or so, but wanted to give you a sample first…check it below…

Kane featuring Ray-J – That Girl
Produced By Beat Storm

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