Indy In-Tune #098: Sleeper Cell

This week marks another foray into the largely-uncharted (by Indy In-Tune at least) waters of Indianapolis' Hip Hop scene, this time with the kindly assistance of former guest, and friend of the show, Brad Real as our guide. I must admit, I'm having a lot of fun with these types of musical excursions, particularly in the Hip Hop realm, which is populated by some colorful, yet very accessible personalities who give great interviews -- although their standard practice of giving credit to large numbers of people with oddly-spelled nicknames makes Googling links for the show notes a harrowing experience. This week we meet Sleeper Cell, an innovative group that, for the past three years, has continually pushed at the boundaries of the local music scene with their diverse backgrounds in soul, funk, traditional rap, and music production. We feature four tracks that highlight these different aspects of their group and solo work -- old, new and as yet unreleased -- and talk a bit about how each track came about through a process that is more done by feel than by any methodology or set practice. As has been my experience with Hip Hop artists, Sleeper Cell is very generous in their work not only as a group, but as a part of a larger, tightly knit community of artists. In addition to their work as songwriters, performers, and producers, the Sleeper Cell Crew also work behind the scenes as a marketing and promotion engine called Four See Entertainment, where they combine their creative talents with savvy business sense and industry experience (on both sides of the microphone) into one of the better-organized and certainly most comprehensive companies of its kind in the area. We talk a bit about those services, as well as some of the challenges they face trying to walk that fine line between artist and entrepreneur. Links referenced in the show: Sleeper Cell can be found here: Web Site | Facebook | Reverb Nation | MySpace Co-host, Brad Real, can be found here: Web Site | Blog/Tumblr | Twitter | Facebook | MySpace | YouTube. He was the featured guest on Show #096. All of Sleeper Cell's work, including most side projects, can be found on the Four See Entertainment web site. Our second track, Walkin' This Road, is from Shay's (nee: Shay Richard Daily) debut solo project, Fight or Flight: Searching for Beautiful. (Also available at the above link.) The track features Verse on vocals and production by Travis "Kold Kut" Moore. The guys also run an artist marketing and promotions company called Four See Entertainment, which can be found here: Web Site | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube Most recently the brought the legendary AZ to Indianapolis for a show. Our Third Track, Might Not Be, is a currently unreleased track primarily from Jason "Keen" Keenan. Ryan "Soul Sizzle" Marganti also runs a successful graphic design company in his "spare time." The fourth track, "Outcome" features A.C.E. O.N.E., Kaijowaan and C-Rayz Walz. The video for Ms. Fate that we discussed can be found here. Thanks to the fine folks at Studio C (aka: Claude and Annie's Fishers) for their fine hospitality, as always.