Fairtilizer, Mad Decent, Nike Sportswear, Highsnobiety, and Paper Route Recordz are teaming up to bring you the HOOD CELEBRITY Remix Contest.

Remix PRGz’ track “Hood Celebrity” off Benzi and Diplo present Paper Route Recordz – Fear and Loathing in Huntsvegas and get the chance to win a Nike Sportswear surprise package, exposure on Maddecent.com and Fairtilizer, plus tshirts and goodies.

Contest rules + Bonus interviews with Mad Decent’s label manager Jasper Goggins, and Paper Route CEO Dawgy Baggz right below!

JASPER GOGGINS (MAD DECENT LABEL MANAGER) INTERVIEW

What’s in store for Mad Decent in 2009?

Just trying to keep the label rolling, continually evolving, and putting out music we feel strongly about, regardless of genre.

What was musically exciting in 2008?

It was exciting watching a lot of people that we work with, or have known for a long time, come into their own, get semi-famous, played on the radio, etc. Diplo, Switch & MIA nominated for Record Of The Year at the Grammy’s was the capper. They didn’t win, but that was crazy. Other than that, it was just good to see a lot of interesting music creeping into the national consciousness- it seems that people, in a very general sense, are more open to things that are a bit more complex than the pure pop that has been dominating for the last few years. Lil Wayne for example, biggest selling artist of 2008.

And what will be musically exciting in 2009?

I feel like we’re just at the beginning of a musically adventurous time – economy in the shitter almost always equals great things in the arts, so it will be really cool to see what crops up this year. Not only in terms of all the great music that we as insiders always know about and appreciate, but also the stuff that crosses over into the mainstream. I mean Animal Collective was in the top ten on iTunes for a minute and even super pop stuff like Lady Gaga is kind of interesting when you scratch the surface.

What are the things that make you sign an artist?

Diplo gets really excited about something and decides we should have had it out 2 months ago.

The music industry has been in a transition phase for a while now…is the future bright? How do you think things will evolve?

As far as the the industry goes, people are just throwing things at a wall right now and seeing what sticks. I think the future is bright in an artistic sense, and bright for consumers, but it’s going to remain tough for the music industry to make money. And it’s already changed so much about the way things are done. I was reading the Stevie Wonder “Songs In The Key Of Life” 33 1/3 book the other day and I think they spent about half a million dollars just on the album listening session and the biggest billboard on earth in Times Square. Stuff like that is probably never going to happen again unless an artist with ridiculous money decides to do it themselves.

The internet offers fantastic tools for the business of music but the choice is so wide it sometimes gets pretty complicated. For you, what kind of services would the perfect website offer (in terms of tools useful for a record label, artist etc)?

This is a hard one to answer. I dont think I have the time to think it out! I like all the sites out there for certain things, but at the end of the day I really like controlling my own content and having people come to our website to find out about stuff. I guess the cool thing about sites like Fairtilizer is getting to see how people arrange and interact with your music, completely on their own.

What advice would you give to youngsters trying to make a living with music, a label, or any music-related activity?

Well those are very different categories. I think in general music – or any artistic endeavor for that matter – is a pretty tough place to earn a living. Of course there are plenty of people who do it, and make plenty of money, but the gap is enormous between the haves and the have nots whether you are talking about bands, singers, labels, websites, whatever. There’s a lot of competition out there and the internet has just made it easier to flood the market. It’s easier for people to get noticed but I think harder to make a lasting impact and/or any real money. DJ’ing is kind of the exception because there are tons of people out there who fall into this category of the “working dj” – most of them you’ll never know the name of, they dont even get their names on flyers necessarily, but they are able to make a living by playing the hits to drunk people at the local club or whatever.

What’s up Dawgy Baggz, what are you up to these days?

Stephan whats good my boi. On the grind, getting ready for this years SXSW and the new album.

You just released a project with Benzi and Diplo on Mad Decent, tell us a bit about it, what’s the flavor on there?

Its the best of 3 worlds I guess you can say. Getting really good reviews about the album. It pretty much features the entire label at Paper Route Recordz, I think Diplo remixed about 5 tracks on it. We have Wale on there, Blaqstarr on there and fellow HuntsVegians…it’s a helluva project.

How was it working with Benzi and Diplo?

The pleasure was all ours…

What’s next for Paper Route?

We are getting ready to release a few new singles and start up this promo tour. We are also working on the PRGz album and Mata is working on a solo album as well.

How’s the scene in Huntsville right now? What artsists and releases should we check for?

The scene in HuntsVegas is always cracking. I just seen Jackie Chain the other day he told me that he was about to release a new mixtape, G-Side album is ridiculous…shot out to SloMo, and anything from Paper Route Recordz be on the look out for…

Looking back at 2008, how was the year for you? What were the highlights?

Overall, it was one of the best years I have expierenced since jumping into this music thing. Highlights would include SXSW, the release of Fear and Loathing, being able to email my homie in the feds (shot out to Triple), kicking it with Diplo on his b’day in Atlanta, being able to believe in my country again…preciate ya Obama.

What are your expectations for 2009?

I believe Paper Route is going to shock the world and appeal to alot of different people just by doing us. 2009 is going to be the best year yet, no doubt. 100.

BUY BENZI & DIPLO PRESENT PAPER ROUTE RECORDZ
VISIT THE MAD DECENT WEBSITE
VISIT MAD DECENT’S FAIRTILIZER PROFILE

VISIT THE PAPER ROUTE RECORDZ WEBSITE
VISIT THE NIKE SPORTSWEAR WEBSITE
VISIT HIGHSNOBIETY