Check Out Their Projects Here
Previously: Scion Presents: 45 King Vs. Wale (Mixtape)
Jeri Yoshizu is Scion sales promotions manager and is an essential part in coordinating several well known projects such as the previous Wale/45 King Project. We caught up with Jeri as she discussed future endeavors from Scion, Ghostface Killah, and many more. Enter Scion....... illRoots.com: I don't want to take up too much of your time so first off thank you so much for this opportunity.
Jeri: Perfectly alright.
illRoots.com: With Scion what new projects are you guys working on for the upcoming year?
Jeri: Well, we are going to continue to push our current projects with Ghostface and 45 King and we are currently working on doing an Atlanta based remix project and a London based remix project. We are looking at a couple of Atlanta based producers for our next release. Obviously Atlanta is the center of the Hip-Hop world right now so we are looking to tap into that.
illRoots.com: But its fun though, why would you start with Hip-Hop and no other genre?
Jeri: We initially started with House music because that was the first avenue from which we could get a corporate initiative going. Back in 2003 House was popular and we wanted to position our brand with what was going on at the time. If we would have started out with Hip-Hop I think it would have been a little bit more difficult. Corporate America, still to this day, has a very stereotypical view of what Hip-Hop is. We did eventually get into Hip-Hop and we saw, being a small company coming up, we had to distinguish ourselves because a lot of people were pitching skateboarding and extreme sports. So we went full steam and obviously didn’t trek into the MTV aspect of it and that’s kind of how it worked.
illRoots.com: I noticed that you guys sponsor alot of free events such as huge concerts and so forth are there any new ones we should look out for?Jeri: This month Scion Live Metro is going through the Midwest with Black Sheep and Nice N Smooth. We also have a series featuring Too Short and EPMD which we hope to bring through the south by the end of the summer. (http://www.scion.com/livemetro/)
illRoots.com: Have you looked at any other up and coming acts such as Wale to work with on upcoming projects?
Jeri:We have looked at a few female rappers that we admire, such as Rye Rye. What I want to do is put together an electro dance track by partnering four female rappers and an electro producer like Black Ghost. We are also considering working with Big Gipp at this moment that’s the up and coming angle we are looking at.
illRoots.com: What led you to doing remixes instead of just original music?
Jeri: First of all, the Paris based producers that we selected for the Ghostface release are all electro producers. We work with Ghostface a lot, he’s a great guy, and this was a way to get him in the electro space. It was exciting on both sides, and in the end it turned out to be big success.
illRoots.com: I am really intrigued about the projects you've put together. I was wondering if we could get a little back story on the project with Wale/ 45 King?
Jeri: I know 45 King personally he provided beats for our Hypeman contest and in the end I really liked what he gave us so I said why don’t we do a whole project with him.
illRoots.com: After listening to your projects whats the first thing you want me to do?
Jeri:I want you to think about how corporate marketing can actually benefit people creatively. The team of people that we put together actually has a passion for music. If we can do projects that reflect that than maybe it will make you view corporations as more of a creative entity and not just strictly a commercial entity.
illRoots.com: You guys really are a trendsetting company.
Jeri: I just hope that other corporations will take note and follow the trend of inspiring creativity in people. Every corporation out there is spending money on marketing and advertising so why not take part of that budget and put it back into promoting the creative arts.
illRoots.com: Again thanks to Jeri and Lisa Schwartz for putting this together for me. Look out for much more from Scion as they bring the creative world closer and closer to the corporate world in hopes to blur the lines.
