It was the dawn of a new era.

The world was going digital, The Internet was supposed to change the world And revolutionize music.

For the first time, we were in charge, we had control over our music, over our careers, over our distribution.

Up until this point, the most important voices in the industry had been silenced by the very industry they served. Sometimes deliberately other times by happenstance.

The end result was always the same. The message was diluted, by socially disengaged executive assistants. Acting as buffering agents for the record companies.

The music we wanted to do and the way we wanted to do it was consistently scrutinized controlled and ultimately bastardized by commercial interests.

The term "sell out" took on an entirely new meaning.  Applied specifically to rap music and rap artists, who were so fearful of losing their signing bonus or having their project shelved.

That they were willing to make music they didn't even believe in. When corporate interests came into the industry attempting to manipulate artists in rap and hip hop in the same way which had been effective, in rock and roll and rhythm and blues in earlier generations.

We were forced to take a stand against the system.  Some of us decided that we were going to say what we wanted to say the way we wanted to say when we wanted to say it.  

Even if it meant we would lose a record deal.

Thus the phrase was born "Independent label" The, West Coast mafia family was first.  

They literally kicked open the door stormed the room and took over. It was phenomenal, the first time the world had ever seen anything so real. Word spread like lightning.  

Within weeks hundreds of independent labels emerged across the country. Opening the door for other independent business operations which supported the hip hop and rap movement. 

A coming of age story by DJ Stage One.