Chavito cut his musical teeth playing local neighborhood parties in his borough, but it took a trip to his ancestral homeland, Puerto Rico, to ignite his musicality. While in San Juan, his brother introduced him to the potent musical stylings of raperos (rappers) Vico C, Ruben DJ, and Wiso G, influences he synthesized with the hard-hitting sounds of his North American favorites, Notorious B.I.G. and Big Pun, when he returned to New York to stake his musical claim.

From hip-hop to reggaeton to dancehall, Chavito’s songs — party tales, street-life dramas, and daily struggles — are hard hitting and provocative. As an opening act, he has been featured on bills with Daddy Yankee, Nicky Jam, Alexis Y Fido, Tego, Pitbull, Zion Y Lennox, and Akon and has rocked stages at venues like the Hammerstein Ballroom, Club Spirit and Club Exit, attracting the attention of media giants Telemundo and Sprint Radio, and enticing Red Bull to lend sponsorship support.

A series of mixtapes and regular plays by DJ Tony Touch introduced Chavito to radio audiences. Next, Chavito recorded a reggaeton remix of Latin pop sensation Thalia on her single “Un Alma Sentenciada.” Chavito has now teamed up with famed producers Cool & Dre, Young Lord and reggaeton heavyweight Nely to produce his debut album.

In Puerto Rican slang, the term “chavito” means “youngster.” For the New York-based artist, it translates into an someone emerging into major musical manhood.

View Al Otro Lado del Hip-Hop Photo Slideshow Photos by Soul Brother

DJ Spin One is a full-time on-air DJ and personality for La Kalle 103.5 FM, New York City's premier reggaeton radio station. As a musician, his versatile resume spans the realms of hip-hop and Latin hip-hop.

KMW's rise to stardom exemplifies the unsigned artist's dream. After performing at their first BMI showcase in 2005, KMW hit the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart this year with their single "Diamond Girl."

Vane, Arsenal and Seis' background in music led them to form La Sinfonia in 2003. Before this powerful union of sounds, Seis and Arsenal had previously made their mark in the Latin urban underground with a group called Los Mafiosos.

The Lirico Bandido Chavito has teamed up with famed producers Cool & Dre, Young Lord and reggaeton producer Nely to produce his highly anticipated debut album slated to be released in 2007.

Hailing from the Chosen Few camp, artists/songwriters Rey Chesta & Fuego have proven that they are both forces to be reckoned with. Rey Chesta just finished recording with Alejandro Sanz, while Fuego is working on the remix for legendary reggae artist Sean Paul.

The hardcore yet melodic sounds of Los Yo Yais have made them a name in New York City's underground hip-hop scene. The oxymoronic combination of the hard-hitting lyrics of NP Killah and the unique, sultry, melodic voice of Shown Blak allows them to stand out in the underground scene.

With the release of her first single, "Make Your Move" featuring El General, Liza Quin has become an internationally recognized singer gaining fans throughout the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. Liza also hosts American Latino TV (My 9), a national 30-minute weekly program that focuses on Latino culture in the U.S.

The electrifying duo of Jzabehl led by Dominican divas Roxiny Rivas and Keiry Valdez, and accompanied by a six-piece band, breaks all traditional music label barriers. Their music has set them apart as talented wordsmiths and masters on rewriting the rules on courtship, romance, fun and love.

Sponsors of the event, which took place during Latin Grammy week, included nocheLatina.com, El Especial & El Especialito, Gibson, American Latino TV/LatiNation, LaMusica.com, Bridgez magazine and In The House magazine.]]> 2006-11-10T03:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/335020 Artists, Brown, Chris, Busta Rhymes, Cool & Dre, Fat Joe, Game, The, Ja Rule, Juvenile, Milian, Christina, Musical Styles, Urban, Musicworld, Hitmaker The spotlight that has shined on urban centers ranging from New York to Los Angeles to Atlanta, where some of today’s hottest r&b and rap songs have been produced, is now focused on Miami, where two of today’s hottest producers — Marcello Valenzano and Andre Lyon, better known as Cool & Dre — are creating hits.

Cool & Dre met and became friends in high school in the early ’90s, and soon became part of a four-man singing group called Basic Unity. Although the group faded, their friendship and strong interest in music stayed intact. They began writing and producing hooks and beats — with Cool, the technical enforcer producing the beats, and Dre, co-writing and singing the hooks — that caught the attention of rapper Fat Joe, who soon sought out Cool & Dre to write and produce for both himself and the Terror Squad.

By 2004, the duo began gaining attention with such hits as Terror Squad’s “Take Me Home” and Ja Rule’s “New York.” On the list of BMI’s 2005 Top 10 Urban Producers, Cool & Dre have written and produced tracks for Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, Juvenile, Christina Milian and Busta Rhymes, among others. They are also the production team behind one of the hottest tracks of 2005, “Hate It or Love It,” by the Game featuring 50 Cent, earning them a Billboard #1 Award at BMI’s 2005 Urban Awards and their first Grammy nomination.

Cool & Dre have finally arrived. They formed their own record label, Epidemic Music, through Jive Records, and are set to release Dre’s solo album, The Trunk, featuring the hit single “Chevy Ridin’ High,” this fall. They are also working with upcoming artists in Miami through their label and hope to continue to create good music and produce more No. 1 hits in the years to come.]]> 2006-10-15T18:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334966 Babyface, Bee Gees, The, Boyz II Men, Braxton, Toni, Brown, Chris, Bryant, Del, Carey, Mariah, Charles, Ray, Clapton, Eric, Cool & Dre, Foxx, Jamie, Game, The, Garrett, Sean, Jackson, Michael, Jazze Pha, Jerkins, Rodney, Kelly, R., Lil Jon, Mr. Collipark, Pink, Pretty Ricky, Trick Daddy, Usher1, West, Kanye, Williams, Pharrell, Urban, BMI Urban Awards

	BMI Urban Awards Photo Slideshow
	BMI Urban Awards Song List
	Billboard No. 1s

Mariah Carey took home two of the night's top honors, including Song of the Year for her smash "We Belong Together" and Songwriter of the Year, which she shared with Miami-based producers Bigg D and Jim Jonsin. A highlight of the gala event was a special presentation to prolific songwriting and production team Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Antonio "L.A." Reid, who were named BMI Icons for their "enduring influence on generations of music makers."

Mariah Carey	Babyface	L.A. Reid

Other big winners included rapper Kanye West, who earned the Producer of the Year title for the second consecutive year; Warner/Chappell Music Group, named Urban Publisher of the Year; and Jazze Pha's "1, 2 Step," which nabbed the BMI Urban Ringtone Award. Executives from music trade magazine Billboard were also on hand to give out No. 1 Awards to the BMI songs that reached the top spot on its urban music charts.

Bigg D	Jim Jonsin

Song of the Year "We Belong Together," which Carey co-wrote, ruled the top of multiple charts for months after its release in 2005, relaunching the five-octave singer's career back into superstardom. BMI writers Darnell Bristol, Sid "Uncle Jamz" Johnson, Patrick Moten, Sandra Sully, Bobby Womack and BMI Icon Babyface were also recognized with the Urban Awards' top song prize, as were the song's publishers - ABKCO, Ballads by Design, Hip Chic Music, Mister Johnson's Jams Music, Rye Songs, Songs of Universal, Sony/ATV and Warner-Tamerlane.

Kanye West	Jazze Pha

As the best-selling female performer of the 1990s, Carey stood apart by composing all her own material, and was twice before named Songwriter of the Year (1993 and 1999). She takes the top songwriter prize for the third time this year by placing three of her own hits on the most-performed list - "Don't Forget About Us," "Shake It Off" and "We Belong Together" - all from last year's comeback release, The Emancipation of Mimi. Carey, who also wrote 1992's Pop Song of the Year, "Love Takes Time," has a total of 23 BMI Awards and 15 "Million-Air" songs that have had one million or more broadcast performances.

Sharing the Urban Songwriter of the Year spotlight were producers Bigg D and Jim Jonsin, who also had three songs on the most-played list with the co-writes "Let's Go" by Trick Daddy (featuring Lil Jon & Twista), and Pretty Ricky's "Grind With Me" and "Your Body." Formerly known as the Unusual Suspects, this Dirty South production duo has been cranking out the hits, LPs, soundtracks and re-mixes for such heavy-hitters as Trick Daddy, Pretty Ricky, Trina, Jacki-O, Cee-Lo and Pitbull since 2000.

Multiple Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producers Babyface and L.A. Reid then took the stage to accept their BMI Icon honors. As co-founders of LaFace, the record label they started in 1989, the longtime writing partners are responsible for launching the careers of such multi-platinum artists as Toni Braxton, TLC, Usher and Pink. With a vast catalog of hits recorded by such A-listers as Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion, Eric Clapton, Boyz II Men, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Outkast, Dido, Ciara, Jay-Z and Songwriter of the Year Mariah Carey, songs penned by Babyface and L.A. have accumulated more than 40 million airplays on American radio and television.

In addition to his behind-the-scenes talent, Babyface has enjoyed his own success as a recording artist, with 11 albums that have produced more than 15 Top 10 hits. He has been named BMI Songwriter of the Year a record seven times (90, 91, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98), more than any other pop writer in the history of the company. They add to the more than 50 BMI Awards displayed on his trophy shelf, which now features his first Urban Award and his third Song of the Year Crystal received tonight as co-writer of "We Belong Together." His other Song of the Year awards include Toni Braxton's "Breathe Again" (1995) and Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You" (1996). This year's top song win ties him with the Bee Gees as writer of the most Pop Songs of the Year.

With his exceptional ability to spot and develop new talent, L.A. Reid is currently Chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group. He also served as President & CEO of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004, and is president of his own publishing company, Hitco Music, which tonight earned a pair of BMI Urban Awards for the Chris Brown smash "Run It!" and Fantasia's No. 1 hit "Truth Is." The 18-time BMI Award-winning hitmaker, who in 1990 shared the Pop Songwriter of the Year spotlight with fellow BMI Icon Babyface, most recently guided the release of Mariah Carey's Mimi CD, the mega-selling album that spawned this year's Song of the Year.

BMI Producer of the Year honors went to Kanye West for the second year in a row for logging the most producer credits on charting songs. The BMI Top Urban Producers list also included Mr. Collipark, Pharrell Williams, Lil Jon, R. Kelly, Sean Garrett, Jazze Pha, Cool & Dre, Rodney Jerkins, and Songwriters of the Year Bigg D and Jim Jonsin.

Top producers Sean Garrett, Lil Jon and Andre "Dre" Lyon also made the list of double winners, picking up two BMI Urban Awards apiece, as did The Game and Pretty Ricky members Marcus "Pleasure" Cooper, Corey "Slick'Em" Mathis, Diamond "Baby Blue" Smith, Joseph "Blue" Smith and Spectacular Smith.

Warner/Chappell Music Group was named BMI Urban Publisher of the Year by scoring the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs (through its companies Unichappell Music, Inc. and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.). This is the twelfth BMI Publisher Crystal for Warner/Chappell, which boasted eight songs on the most-performed list, including Song of the Year "We Belong Together" and Ringtone Award winner "1, 2 Step."

Other publishers recognized for multiple award-winning songs were Black Boy Hatchet Music, Dade Co. Project Music, Inc., Dimensional Songs of the Knoll, EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Ensign Music LLC, Hitco Music, Jimi Mac Music/OG Music, Rye Songs, Songs of TVT, Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Universal Music Publishing (Irving Music/Songs of Universal, Inc.) and Zomba Songs.

"1, 2 Step," written by BMI Top 10 Urban Producer Jazze Pha and published by Bubba Gee Music, Noontime Tunes and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., received the BMI Urban Ringtone Award for tallying the most downloads during the award period. The Ciara hit was also named BMI's very first Internet Song of the Year at the 2006 Pop Awards.

In addition to the BMI performance awards, Billboard recognized the BMI-affiliated writers whose songs reached No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot 100 charts during the past year. Kanye West's "Gold Digger," featuring Jamie Foxx and writing credits by Renald Richard and the late Ray Charles, topped all four charts.]]> 2006-08-30T05:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334805 Artists, Austin, Dallas, Cool & Dre, Jazze Pha, Jones, Daron, Lil Jon, Songz, Trey, Thunderkatz, Wade, Rico, Musical Styles, Urban Thunderkatz stole the show at BMI Atlanta's annual unsigned urban music showcase held April 27 at Vision. The showcase, hosted by BME and 8th Grade Music Publishing's Lil Jon and Emperor Searcy, featured some of the country's most promising new talent, including Malachi, Leo and Suga Suga.

Members of Thunderkatz celebrate with BMI's Catherine Brewton

The New Jersey-based sextet worked the packed house into a frenzy, winning the favor of the judges with their unique "feel good" rock/hip-hop concoction. Thunderkatz were crowned the top winners out of the four performing finalists who were chosen from over 300 submissions by a group of top BMI songwriters, producers and industry executives. Celebrity judges included multi-platinum producer DJ Toomp (T.I., Lil Jon, Ludacris), 112 member Daron Jones, Grammy Award-winning producer Brian Michael Cox, and influential songwriter and producer Jazze Pha (Ciara, T.I., Outkast).

BMI’s Wardell Malloy, B-Cox, Nokio, BMI’s Catherine Brewton, Karl Kani, BMI’s Malik Levy

Thunderkatz walked away with several cool prizes, including an iPod; airfare, accommodations and two tickets to the 2006 BMI Urban Awards; two days of recording time with an engineer at DARP Studios provided by BMI award-winning songwriter/producer Dallas Austin; and two tracks to be produced by BMI Grammy-nominated production duo Cool & Dre.

Malachi, BMI's Catherine Brewton, BMI's Wardell Malloy and Rico Wade

"This showcase exposes hot BMI urban talent like Thunderkatz to all the right people," said BMI's Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta. "We are proud of our strong presence in Atlanta's urban music community and throughout the entire country as well. Congratulations to Thunderkatz and to all the artists who performed."

Leo

The star-studded event also included a celebrity fashion show set to the spins of DJ Drama, featuring the latest collection from the new Karl Kani line, Live Life Love Denim, and swimwear from Atlanta Beach. Kani, considered the grandfather of hip-hop couture, did not disappoint and offered some sizzling eye-candy.

Suga Suga members flank BMI's Catherine Brewton and Lynn Oliver

Multi-platinum recording artist and actor Big Boi of Outkast was on hand to present the first BMI Legends of ATL Award to Organized Noize members Rico Wade and Ray Murray (Pat "Sleepy" Brown was unable to attend). This new award recognizes their accomplishments and contributions to Atlanta's urban music community.

Lil Jon and Catherine Brewton

Other celebrities taking part in the event included Atlantic recording artist Trey Songz, who moonlighted as model during the fashion show, and Def Jam recording artist Ne-Yo, who topped off the night with a special performance.

(Standing) Oozie, James "Wildcat" Booker, Big Boi, BMI's Byron Wright, Wardell Malloy and Catherine Brewton, T-Mo, Blvd; (kneeling) Rico Wade, Ray Murray and Gipp

BMI's Catherine Brewton with showcase winners Thunderkatz and Lil Jon

Ne-Yo, Catherine Brewton, and Lil Jon

Lil Jon and Emperor Searcy	Suga Suga

Scheduled to perform are Atlanta's own Suga Suga, California-based Leo, Atlanta's Malachi and Philadelphia band Thunderkatz. The finalists were chosen by a group of top BMI songwriters, producers and industry executives from over 300 submissions.

Leo	Malachi	Thunderkatz

The final four will perform for a panel of celebrity judges that includes multi-platinum producer DJ Toomp (T.I., Lil Jon, Ludacris), multi-platinum songwriter and producer Sean Garrett (Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige), Block Enterprises CEO Russell "Block" Spencer, Sho'Nuff/Warner Bros. recording artist Jody Breeze, and influential songwriter and producer Jazze Pha (Ciara, T.I., Outkast). The winner will receive prizes including an iPod; airfare, accommodations and two tickets to the 2006 BMI Urban Awards; and two tracks produced by BMI Grammy-nominated production duo Cool & Dre.

This showcase is an opportunity for unsigned BMI affiliates to perform before a room of industry professionals and some of Atlanta's most influential music-makers, including multi-platinum recording artist and actor Big Boi of Outkast and a special appearance by Def Jam recording artist Young Jeezy.

The night will kick off with a celebrity fashion show set to the spins of DJ Drama, featuring the latest collection from the new Karl Kani line, Live Life & Love Denim, and swimwear from Atlanta Beach. Models will include Def Jam recording artist Ne-Yo, Atlantic recording artist Trey Songz and America's Next Top Model contestant Nik.

Rounding out the evening will be the presentation of the first BMI Legends of ATL Award, recognizing songwriters and producers for their accomplishments in Atlanta's urban music community.

"This annual event is another way that BMI supports the urban music community in Atlanta and on the national scene," said BMI's Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta. "Ne-Yo is one of the hottest artists on the charts today and by merging music and fashion, this night will be filled with excitement. It's an important tribute to the impact urban music has had and continues to have on a national level, and how Atlanta has been ground-zero for much of it."

BMI's Malik Levy and Maani Edwards (Universal Music Publishing)	BMI's Catherine Brewton and actress Tamala Jones

Valerie Patton (Chrysalis Music), world light heavyweight champion boxer Antonio Tarver and BMI's Catherine Brewton	BMI's Catherin Brewton and LT Hutton (Producer for Snoop and the Dogg Pound).

BMI rapper/actor Fredro Starr and guest, BMI's Catherine Brewton.	DJ Tendaji Lathan, Gina Loring (BMI Writer).

Leo Williams (Windswept Pacific), Valerie Patton (Chrysalis Music), BMI's Wardell Malloy and Brandon Duncanson (manager).

Nova Perry (manager for Cool & Dre), BMI's Catherine Brewton, Erik Dawkins (BMI writer from the Underdogs) and Guest, BMI's Wardell Malloy and Cool (from Cool & Dre).

Errol Andam (Nike), BMI's Malik Levy, Jihaad Shaw (EMI), Big Jon Platt (EMI), Valerie Patton (Chrysalis Music) and BMI's Catherine Brewton.

BMI's Catherine Brewton, Wardell Malloy, Aamina Gant, Liane Mori and Malik Levy.

Photos by Adrian Sidney