Part 3 of the Industry Takeover all-day seminar & showcase held at Rich Mix brought together some of the industry's finest names as well as a collection of UK talent providing live performances.

The venue itself, Rich Mix is located in the heart of East London and looked more than prepared to host a variety of seminars, master-classes and workshops across the day with posters to promote Industry Takeover and Urban Development staff branded in t-shirts to suit the event.

Excitement levels were high and the buzz was evident. Knowing that there were workshops including street dance, song writing, music production and Djing being delivered from the likes of Bigga Fish, DJ Wonder and MPHO made it clear that this event was going to be one to remember.

As soon as I entered I walked into a live PA from none other than P Money, he performed singles Sweet Shop, Ho Riddim and Slang Like This, which warmed up the crowd and started the party. The first seminar I popped into was Grime Daily presented by Matt (Sketchy Media) who was discussing the power of the Grime Daily website and in addition, how one can profit from advertising. The site itself specialises in UK urban music uploads videos on a daily basis experiencing in the region of 75,000 hits on a weekly basis with 50,000 unique hits also. Key points from the presentation were based around the importance of making a site as unique as possible, giving value to customers and generating income from advertising.

Next stop was the RWD class, which (as a journalist myself) I couldn’t wait to see. The RWD class gave attendees the chance to learn how to create their ideal blog courtesy of Chantelle Fiddy and Sian Anderson. With both having established their own blogs they advised finding your voice, building personality and having a unique I.D as key elements in determining the success of a blog. Their laidback and humorous approach made the seminar not only informative but also fun.

In between the talks were open mic sessions of up and coming singers and emcee’s who had 60 seconds to showcase their talents to the crowd. I watched a bit of this but in all honesty I was dying to get into the Star In The Hood seminar to see the likes of Vash, Twin B and Chantelle Fiddy discuss whether label backing was an essential part of an artist's success. With a qualified panel working with artists such as Wretch 32 (Twin B) and Chipmunk (Vash), the general consensus was having label backing is more beneficial for an artist due to the experience and the expertise provided. However people shouldn't place all their focus on getting signed. Creating a buzz through the likes of YouTube can get the streets talking before the labels come calling. The seminar over-run as those killer words “OG Niki” came into conversation but was quickly shut down by Chantelle Fiddy’s words of wisdom.

The Charlie Sloths Fire Out The Booth was a favourite from the crowd. With Mic Righteous, Black The Ripper, Don Strapzy, Kasha and English Frank all spraying some ridiculous bars for the audience it was literally like all of your birthdays and christmas at once if you were a fan of rap!

My next stop was 'The Backstage Pass' which invited the audience to pose questions to a panel including promoter, Will Blake (N-Dubz) and Naylor Harrington (Skepta Tour manager) and singer Roses Gabor. Naylor spoke on the event saying, “Being out on the road is hard but being able to answer questions for young people at the event is great”. We try Naylor… we do try J

The final seminar, 'How To Steal My Job' gave people the chance to quiz the panel on how to make the initial breakthrough into their chosen industry. Featuring the likes of Austin Daboh (1Xtra) Carly Cussen (AKA) and Kiss 100 DJ, Logan Sama to name a few. Logan stated, “It's good to give people a perspective on how the music industry actually works”, and in my opinion the How To Steal My Job seminar certain succeeded.

Heading back for the headline act I managed to catch Mikill Pane closing up the open mic challenge, which concluded the winner as 15-year-old kwaku mason. The youngster defeated challengers to secure the UD goody bag and recording session.

Performances from Mumzy Stranger, Selah, Scrufizzer, Random Impulse and Roxxxan were ones to watch for me, the energy and talent had everyone bubbling. The headline act Kano absolutely smashed his show and was joined by Ghetts as the duo relived some big records including Hunting We Will Go, back to back on the mic they were proved untouchable and Kano’s grime freestyle was accompanied by “whoops” and “wows” from the audience as his lyrical content proved as strong as ever. The performance from Kano was a winning way to end a night of absolute media industry power and massive performances. The event was an invaluable experience for those aiming to breakthrough into the music business. Massive shout outs to all of the Urban Development team for making this happen.

WORDS: Gully Singh

IMAGES: Mannray Powell