http://www.myspace.com/hamiltonsmusic
http://charleshamilton.blogspot.com
Picture, for a moment, the future of Hip-Hop – embellished with pink hues, an old school Sega Genesis hedgehog, and syncopated sounds from an offbeat musician playing on a pink Hello Kitty guitar. His name is Charles Hamilton, signed to Interscope and slated to be the next superstar.
|GABB: “How does it feel to be an artist on the come up with a major label deal?”
|HAMILTON: “I try not to pay too much attention to it honestly.”
But while he articulates humble words, the 21-year-old confidently reclines on the couch in his Harlem apartment – removing his pink oversized Skullcandy headphones – with a swagger that can only be explained by his newfound rise to fame. It’s the quintessential contradiction. The mere presence of media in his living room suggests the magnitude of his inevitable stardom.
His ascend began early in 2008. It was after signing a solo artist deal with Interscope that the label prompted Hamilton to fortify his Internet existence. Consequently, initiating the launch of the “Hamiltonization Process” – one mix tape integrated into the blogosphere every two weeks for four months. Each submitted to a different blog site. It’s the first time an artist has gone back underground to suffuse the blogworld.
The “Hamiltonization Process” is the marketing stratagem of Charles himself with help from the Hamilton Administration of course. “I’ve had that plan for years,” he said. “And now I got a chance to execute it and show people exactly how much I think into my music.”
For Hamilton, music is more than just the spoken word. He plays the piano, various percussion instruments, bass and lead ‘pink’ guitar. “There are so many different elements to me, it’s just Hip-Hop is my gateway in,” he said. “I’m a musician before anything.”
Even in the womb Hamilton showcased an insatiable palate for music, flipping around to Michael Jackson’s 1987 Bad album, according to his mother Talice. “I knew Charles has always been gifted musically,” she said. “In terms of creativity it was always there.”
But the new deal forces Hamilton to transition to a more mainstream sound. Yet he still has all the underground components that have kept his style motley and distinctive. “I’m loyal to what I do which is the free music but ultimately I’m a mainstream artist,” Hamilton said. “I’m the first underground artist on the mainstream.”
Now a major label artist back underground, it’s noteworthy that Hamilton can personally respond to feedback from blog supporters and antagonists. Although he sometimes becomes consumed by the antagonistic comments, there is no shortage of praise from his followers. Especially after holding his own during a freestyle cipher with heavy-hitters Kanye West and The Game.
It’s his passion for pink and his fixation with the Sega Genesis character Sonic the Hedgehog that have the blogs buzzing. But it’s not a gimmick, Hamilton said. There is a personal philosophy behind his infatuation with the color. "God is a woman and pink is the inside of a woman's womb and that’s where life comes out of, so wearing pink is a way of showing respect to God," Hamilton explained. And as for Sonic the Hedgehog, well sonic means ‘sound’ and hedgehogs bury themselves underground, so “I’m Sonic the Hedgehog because I bury myself into sound,” he said.
His ideology is unorthodox, but what should one expect from a musical-genius type. If the dawning of a new day in Hip-Hop is feasible, Hamilton may be just the man to rally the troops to victory.
::By Gabby R., www.GabGoLightly.blogspot.com
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