Photo: Julie on maconartsalliance.org, Steve Rifkind on VladTV
MACON - By now, the story of the industry-shaking deal that Wu-Tang Clan signed with Loud Records is legendary. It solidified the legacy of the company's founder, Steve Rifkind, as he borrowed a page from the book of New Edition allowing each member of the signed 9-man Wu-Tang Clan to shop solo deals at other labels if his own couldn't match the offers. All other major labels refused the group's request to make this kind of deal putting Loud in a position to land the whole group for only $50,000. As history has shown, it was a worthwhile tradeoff for the freedom it allowed.
In early 2019, the Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men documentary was released and dove deeper into this and other behind-the-scenes Wu tales. Meanwhile, an hour South of Atlanta in Otis Redding and Little Richard's hometown, Julie Wilkerson, director of the Macon Arts Alliance, was unknowingly about to make history of her own.
"He just wandered on in," says Julie of her fated first meeting with Chris Wind the EMA, founding member of Macon's hip-hop supergroup, The Madvocates, a meeting which is referenced symbolically in the sci-fi short story, Tour of Maconga. Nearly two years earlier, Julie and Macon Arts launched the Macon365.com website which allows artists, musicians, and creatives of all kinds to, among other things, create profiles complete with links to their work and the ability to submit events to the local paper and official event calendar for free. Despite the large number of creatives in the city dubbed "Where Soul Lives", Macon365.com encountered some difficulty in attracting signups, especially from the urban music community.
Then, almost on cue, Chris Wind (student of yet another industry-defying legend, George Clinton, who signed deals under multiple labels using the same bands under different names) finds his way to the Macon Arts Alliance downtown location seeking to create a database that allows people both in- and outside the city to find and learn about all of Macon's artists, not just the Southern Rock musicians the area has come to be known for since the Allman Brothers.
Inspired by Wu-Tang's transformation of Staten Island, New York, by bringing together emcees from rival housing projects, Wind saw an opportunity in his similarly divided Southern town. Though hip-hop acts from the city have gone on to carve a path for themselves or work with big industry names, Macon has yet to establish an identity for itself in the hip-hop industry as a whole, especially with its close proximity to current industry dominator, Atlanta.
With advice from long-time RZA collaborator, Stone Mecca, Wind and Julie began formulating what would ultimately become The Madvocates (short for "Macon Arts Advocates"), a group of some of Macon's most diverse and well-traveled rappers intended to represent Macon's local music scene abroad and combat the cutting of government funding to arts and music programs in local schools. Their first performance as a group took place alongside Wind's younger brother, Lord D'andre, and Stone at Sparta, GA's first ever music, food, and film festival, Fall Line Jam.
Taking cues from RZA's infamous 5-year plan, Wind sought to forego a traditional record label deal, instead seeking to create a business relationship that secured funding for The Madvocates while building infrastructures that maintain the integrity of their mission to create equitable opportunity for all local urban artists.
In an unprecedented move, Julie and Macon Arts entered an agreement with Wind and The Madvocates which allows the Macon Arts Alliance to play a role similar to a label in funding Madvocates activities, but using its non-profit status to secure grants on the group's behalf, eliminating the practice of advances that require repayment. In return, a portion of all receipts by The Madvocates goes back to the Macon Arts Alliance to help fund activities by the general arts and music community in Middle Georgia. The agreement remains in effect so long as The Madvocates remain aligned with Macon Arts Alliance's stated mission of serving the community.
This business model is quickly shaping up to become a new industry standard encouraging cities to partner with their local creatives to create sweeping and lasting changes in the community by providing economic opportunities to otherwise underserved populations. In fact, the implementation of this idea has led to Wind and Madvocates Productions being involved in branding activities for Protect Ya Neck Records, an imprint founded by Wu-Tang Management CEO, John "Mook" Gibbons.
Much like Steve Rifkind, who had the foresight to go along with RZA's vision to sign the group to Loud Records while giving them the freedom to shop solo deals to the other majors, Julie Wilkerson has made history by using her experience and access to help bring the vision of The Madvocates to life and shift the paradigm of independent music companies.
Visit www.maconartsalliance.org and www.macon365.com to learn more about Julie Wilkerson and the growing creative community in Macon, GA.
Watch Loud Records founder, Steve Rifkin, discuss the signing of Wu-Tang Clan on VladTV below.
2020. Madvocates Blog. All Rights Reserved.