Los Angeles - Rapper, Songwriter & CEO of Blaque Kat Inc. Records an up and coming independent label; Shawn “Blakkat” Smith is busy putting the finishing touches on his first major release titled “On My Way” (Blaque Kat Inc.) will be distributed by Island Def Jam Music Group late spring/early summer of 2010.
I got the chance to chop it up with Blakkat CEO and lead artist on Blaque Kat Inc Records. Originally from Dayton, Ohio he has been doing his thing promoting heavy throughout the LA and San Diego areas while still finding time to travel back and forth to the Midwest where he has been building a steady fan base.
He has recently begun to stretch his reach to the ATL and is currently looking to connect with promoters, marketing professionals and DJ’s His lead single “Independent Black Owned” from the album “Kata$trophe Platinum Certified” available NOW on iTunes & Napster. For more info please contact info@blaquekatinc.com By K. Cannick Makin’ It Magazine
DAYTON — Clarence "Chaos" Winn is sitting atop a Dayton rap scene he said is built on the same bad-boy reputation the street gave him. "I think (having a criminal record) helps in this industry," he said. "Not to say go out and commit a crime. The streets empowered me. I didn't choose this. They made me Number One." Winn, with a self-described street-level promotions team of family and friends self-dubbed "Diamond Cut," shot to the top of Billboard's independent music charts.
Young adults at his shows and area parties throw up Diamond Cut hand signs — two peace signs held together sideways to resemble a diamond-shaped formation. "It's like a movement," Winn said of Diamond Cut. "A lot of people call themselves a movement, but nobody has done what we done." Dayton police and local authorities have a different label for Diamond Cut. They call it an organized criminal gang. Gangs often pose as rap record labels, according to law enforcement authorities, making it more difficult to identify them and track the activities of their members. Several groups Dayton police identify as gangs have MySpace music pages registered as record labels with rap artists, among them Baller Boy Mafia, Money Go Gettas and Chaos. Winn, on his page, emphatically denies Diamond Cut is a gang. "Diamond Cut is not in any way shape or form a gang. ... It's a lot of people out there that scream Diamond Cut for the wrong reasons. Some people give it a bad name."
Diamond Cut has been the target of federal investigations in Dayton. Last year, a federal grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against suspected members of Diamond Cut. In one incident detailed in the indictment, Dayton police were dispatched to an apartment in the 2700 block of North Main Street with "supermarket traffic" outside where drugs were allegedly being sold. Inside, police found heroin, crack, powder cocaine and several men shooting dice. They had "D-Cut" tattooed in script letters on their left hands. "Whoever throws up 'D-Cut' has it wrong," Winn said of the hand sign. "I can't be responsible for fans of my music or my friends." Winn said he came up with the concept for his record company, Fam First Entertainment, and Diamond Cut in 1998.
He said he and a few friends and family members got D-Cut tattoos in a spontaneous show of unity. Before Chaos gained popularity, Winn was arrested twice on gun charges, according to Montgomery County court records. In one incident in March 2005, Dayton police found a loaded 9mm Ruger handgun on the floorboard of the black Chevrolet Impala that Winn was driving. Police were led to the car, parked in an alley in the 2100 block of Malvern Avenue, by witnesses who saw it leave the scene where a man had been shot in the neck on McCleary Street.
Winn was sentenced to five years' probation both times. Fam First was registered as a record company with the Ohio Secretary of State's Office in 2005. Winn, whose stage name is "Chaos Tha Community Serva," has performed at clubs throughout Ohio, the Midwest, the South, and in area schools. FamFirst sold more than 200,000 units (compact discs) of Chaos' lead single "I Get It In" — mostly out of the trunks of cars, Winn said. However, it was enough to earn him the top spot on Billboard's Hot Singles chart for independent artists. "Young Bread Gettas," a movie for which he wrote the script, debuted at The Neon downtown last October. Last summer, at a city-sponsored dance at Bomberger Teen Center in East Dayton, half a dozen teens threw up Diamond Cut's hand sign as they danced. Dayton Daily News By Ryan Justin Fox, Kelli Wynn and Steve Bennish Staff Writers
Mid West rapper Chaos Tha Community Serva is proving what a little hard work can do for an independent artist with his underground hood classic I Get It In. This track has rocketed to as high as #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart and has been in the Top 10 on the same chart for over 15 weeks as of (10/20/2007). Chaos is the 1st cousin of BKi CEO Blakkat and has joined Blaque Kat Inc. in the IBO push which kicked off with the Bad Habbits da compilation vol. 2 IBO CD. Chaos is also the CEO of Fam First Entertainment an up and coming Independent record label out of Dayton, OH. 
www.famfirstent.com
Bad Habbits da compilation Vol. 2 -IBO- features some of the best Independent Artists in the game today. The follow up to the 1st Bad Habbits does not disappoint with hood classics such as I GET IT IN by Chaos feat: Phaze 3 this track is doing numbers rite now throughout the Mid-West and East Coast and is sure to catch fire on the Westside and has also been on Billboard’s top singles sales charts for Hip Hop and R&B for over 15 weeks peaking at #1 (as of 10/20/2007)
Blaque Kat Inc. is also using the compilation to introduce their newest artist Chris Flake. Chris is not the one looking to crossover he Keeps It Gutter and you will definitely want to check him out when he drop his solo LP. Bad Habbits da compilation Vol. 2 Independent Blaque Owned is 20 tracks over 60 minuets of top notch production and lyrical skills that run circles around most of the Kats you see and hear every day. Blakkat himself drops the title track “Independent Blaque Owned” he says it’s a message to any and everyone in this independent music business.
Other performers on the compilation includes Thrill Nova, Consequences & Repercussions, DCut, Whyt T, Mastirius, MEI Click, Pretty Penny, Mr. News, Nonsense, and some return offenders such as Mak-Dope, Kodak, Black M.A.J. & Illatary. The production on the compilation will definitely have you nodding you’re head or running to the dance floor.
XLRG does most of the production but has some help from an all star or all hood cast such as Thayhod Ausar of G-Unit fame “My Buddy” also Moe Styles, Meech, C. Winn, Drego, Manuel Swartz, and C.N.S.P. This CD is sure to please GET YOUR COPY TODAY!! “Bad Habbits” How Many U Got?
Now Available on iTunes