Record producer, engineer and composer, Needlz has worked with Hip Hop staples such as 50 Cent (“Piggy Bank”), Jadakiss (“Letter To B.I.G.”) and Lupe Fiasco (“Hurt Me Soul”) and has also won awards for his work for Bruno Mars (“Just The Way You Are”) just to name a few. Needlz would describe his style as “an oxymoron: clean and dirty at the same time”. He uses Akai MPC2000XL and Pro Tools to produce hip hop beats and utilizes Kurzweil K2661 and the Roland MKS-80 for synthesizers, working a lot with live instrumentals. Needlz also endorses Native Instruments’ Maschine.

The masterclass sessions provided by Needlz will focus on not only sharing his success story but will also give room to experiment with participants, give feedback and share music industry/career building advice.

As mentioned before, Needlz will also be judging the auditions for the International Exchange (more info on www.newskoolrules.com). As one of the coaches during the Exchange, which will be hosted in Atlanta (US), Needlz has an ideal position to select the talent he looks forward to working with. A great opportunity for participants to join him on his tour and network given the numerous activities he will be a part of.

Dates & Locations:

Fri June 29th 19:00 – 20:30 Masterclass SAE Institute Rotterdam
Sat June 30th 14:00 – 17:00 Judging Exchange Auditions SAE Institute Rotterdam
Sat June 30th 20:00 – 23:00 Scouting: R’Voices Jamsession LCC Larenkamp R’dam
Sat June 30th – July 1st Workshop weekend R’Voices Invitation only
Mon July 2nd 15.30 – 18:00 Master class SAE Institute Paris
Mon July 2nd 18:00 – 21:00 Judging Exchange Auditions SAE Institute Paris

Registration info:
E-mail your first & last name, phone number, country you reside in and event you would like to attend to info@newskoolrules.com. Register on time! First come – first serve.
The 3rd edition of the widely successful international music conference, New Skool Rules will take place on April 5th – 7th of 2013 in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

For more information on this and more conference activities please visit www.newskoolrules.com

Note to editors – About New Skool Rules:

New Skool Rules is a three day international music conference to be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It is an event, which offers a wide variety of entertainment, panels, workshops, masterclasses, showcases and network opportunities. New Skool Rules aims to fasten the development of New Skool Culture worldwide and will also provide visitors/ delegates with a complete overview and status of what New Skool Culture is. New Skool is a new term, which New Skool Rules Foundation introduced to refer to ‘Street culture’ or ‘Hip Hop culture’. New Skool Rules will take place April 5th until April 7th.

For more information about the schedule and other activities around New Skool Rules 2013, check out the site. You can also purchase the all access conference card as an early bird till Oct.31st 2012 for only 80 euro’s on the website. After this date the all access conference card, that offers access to all 3 conference days, and several competitions will cost:

Regular Registration € 100,- registration before February 1st 2013
Late € 120,- registration before April 4th 2013
Walk Up € 150,- registration on April 5th or April 6th 2013

In preparation for the New Skool Rules Conference In 2011 New Skool Rules and Epitome Entertainment organized an international exchange program for talented singers and rappers from the US and Europe, that was a huge success.Because of the success both companies agreed fully, that there would be a 3rd ediiton of the international exchange program.

For the Exchange program New Skool Rules and Epitome Entertainment are looking for 4 European talented singers /rappers and 4 American singers/rappers in several auditions. The auditions will take place in Rotterdam, Paris, London, Atlanta, L.A. and New York. The talent that gets picked will be flown to Atlanta, to work with 2 grammy award winning producers and eachother to create the New Skool Rules Anthem and at least 3 other songs. The coaches will be superproducers Anthony Dent and Needlz, that will challenge the talents, to go above and beyond they ever did before. The whole process will be filmed for Trace TV.

The Dutch auditions are at
SAE Institute R”dam June 30th
from 2- 5 pm (14.00- 17.00 hrs)
Kratonkade 5, Rotterdam

July 7th
SAE Institute Amsterdam
from 2-5 pm (14.00-17.00 hrs)
Johan van Hasseltweg 31, Amsterdam

Like the second edition of the Exchange program, there will also be auditions in Paris France at the SAE Institute. Superproducer Needlz will also be amongst the judges at these auditions as well as teaching a Masterclass production at SAE Institute.The costs for these auditions are 30 euro’s.

The French auditions are on July 2nd

SAE Institute Paris from 5.30-9.30 pm (17.30-21.30 hrs):
Aubervilliers 45 avenue Victor Hugo
Batiment 229
93534 La Plaine
St Denis Cedex

New Skool Rules will have the auditions for the Exchange in the US in Atlanta, LA and NY, so far the confirmed dates and exact locations are:

The ATL Audition is on
June 13th at SAE Atlanta,USA
from 5.30-9.00 pm (17.30-21.00 hrs):
215 Peachtree Street,
Suite #300
Atlanta, GA 30303,

The LA Audition is on
June 15th at SAE Los Angeles,USA
from 5.30-9.00 pm (17.30-21.00 hrs):
6565 Sunset Blvd
CA 90006, Los Angeles

The NY Audition is on
June 17th at SAE New York
from 2-5 pm (14.00-17.00 hrs):
1293 Broadway (9th floor @34th st.)
NY 10001, New York

Talents that want to guarantee themselves a spot at one of the auditions should email to info@newskoolrules.com, including their name, e-mail, phone number and the place they want to audition at.

The Exchange is made possible by:

Stg. Epitome Entertainment,SAE Institute, Digiwaxx Media, Allhiphop.com, State of Mind Muzik, Dry Rain Entertainment and Trace Urban.

New Skool Rules is a three day international music conference to be held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It is an event, which offers a wide variety of entertainment, panels, workshops, masterclasses, showcases and network opportunities. New Skool Rules aims to fasten the development of New Skool Culture worldwide and will also provide visitors/ delegates with a complete overview and status of what New Skool Culture is. New Skool is a new term, which New Skool Rules Foundation introduced to refer to ‘Street culture’ or ‘Hip Hop culture’. New Skool Rules will take place April 5^th till April 7^th.

For more information about the schedule and other activities around New Skool Rules 2013, check out the site. You can also purchase the all access conference card as an early bird till oct.31st 2012 for only 80 euro’s on the website. After this date the all access conference card, that offers access to all 3 conference days, and several competitions will cost:

Regular Registration                € 100,-  registration before  February 1st 2013
Late                                       € 120,- registration before April  4th 2013
Walk Up                                 € 150,- registration on April 5th or April 6th 2013

You don’t want to miss this great experience..

FRESH ISLAND FESTIVAL PROUDLY PRESENTS:

EVE (USA) I DJ MUGGS OF CYPRESS HILL (USA) I

DJ REVOLUTION (USA) I DJ SPIN DOCTOR (UK) I MISS STYLIE (UK) I NEFEW (SWISS) I PUNCHLINE (USA) I DJ SOUL CLAP (GER)

Pioneers and masters of the Hip-Hop and RnB scene in South East Europe have teamed up to form the A4 Organisation. A4 includes international promoter and Hip-Hop ambassador DJ Phat Phillie, legendary DJ & MC Bizzo Bodega, event manager Stu and RnB promoter Medo.

A4’S first mission together is to launch the ground-breaking FRESH ISLAND festival; the first Hip Hop event of its kind in Croatia

With over 1000 successful events throughout Europe already under their collective belts and with the skills to promote and book kick-ass line ups fusing together local and internationally renowned artists such as Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Redman & Method Man, Montell Jordan, The Brand New Heavies, DJ Premier, Jazzy Jeff, Blackstreet, Pete Rock, Onyx, Ghostface Killah, MOP and many others – A4 decided it was now time to do something MASSIVE.

A4 were Inspired by the success of Frauenfeld Festival in Switzerland (which started way back in 1985, and today gathers over 100 performers on 10 different stages with over 80.000 visitors each year) and by Czech Republic festival Hip-Hop Kemp but wanted to give FRESH ISLAND a more unique vibe because the whole shebang takes place on the gorgeous Adriatic coast.

At FRESH ISLAND this summer the fans will be able to enjoy performances from a sick crew of artists whilst soaking up the rays on a sandy beach by a clear blue sea before watching the sun dip over the mountains. So kick off your summer hip hop adventure between the 5th-8th of July, and head to the Croatian party beach of Zrce (the beach that never sleeps) where the weekend line up will be split between super clubs Papaya and Aquarius and include some of the best regional and international hip hop acts around – on 3 turbo charged stages!

Countdown to this unique Festival will kick off with a FRESH ISLAND European promo tour, which included a ”FRESH ISLAND Stage” within the Exit organised ”BIG SNOW” on Mount Kopaonik (Serbia) last week with performances from Ms. Dynamite, DJ Phat Phillie, DJ Bizzo Bodega and some secret guests!

www.fresh-island.org

After running BBC London, he was asked to set up a new revolutionary digital radio station for the BBC, 1Xtra, in 2002. His role included recruitment of on and off air talent, developing the schedule and being Executive Producer for Live Events. During this period he was successful in winning a number of the prestigious Sony radio Awards, and produced over 1500 live Outside Broadcasts from around the world After leaving 1Xtra he became the head of weekends for BBC Radio 1.In 2010 he left the BBC and set up the playmaker group, a creative solutions company specialising in Programme Production, Event Management, Talent representation and Media Training & Consultancy. His clients include Nike,   BBC, Universal Pictures, British Airways and Capital Radio.The 5th New Skool Rules tour is around the corner. This time New Skool Rules presents Ray Paul, a heavyweight when it comes to the UK music industry and especially the UK media part of the Music industry. He will be sharing his knowledge with several groups of people even though he will only be in the Netherlands for 1 day. Here you can find a quick bio. If you are interested in this Masterclass you can sign-in through:info@newskoolrules.com Just send us your name,e-mail and mobile number.

With over 1,200 enlistments worldwide, the competition brought forth a winner that resided only 15 miles away from Drumma Boy himself. Having taken part in other competitions during the New Skool Rules conference, B.A.M.A. also won a spot in the International Exchange program hosted by the foundation.

Henca Maduro (C.E.O. and founder of New Skool Rules); “On one hand we were in doubt if B.A.M.A. should be chosen as the winner of this international competition because he also took part in our exchange program. But on the other hand, out of the 1,200 enlistments worldwide, he was by far the best”.
Multi-platinum producer Drumma Boy (USA); “I was looking for an artist with crazy drive and passion for music, one that can really go ALL THE WAY and we found him!” After having worked with B.A.M.A., Drumma Boy had this to say about him; “I’ve rarely seen artists in my studio with this much intensity, talent and drive”.

The competition promised the winner 3 tracks from the super producer, and after 3 days in the studio B.A.M.A. left with 5! The quality of the tracks surpassed the expectations of both New Skool Rules and producer Drumma Boy, leading both parties to extend the collaboration within this project. New Skool Rules and Drumma Boy will not only be presenting B.A.M.A.’s upcoming EP (which resulted from this competition) to record labels, but will also lead the international marketing of the EP.
Throughout the entire B.E.T. weekend “Lay Low” will be played at various activities by various well known Dj’s. If you can’t wait to hear “Lay Low” on the radio in your city, it will also be available on www.newskoolrules.com.

About New Skool Rules

New Skool Rules is a three day bi-annual international music conference held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The second edition was held on April 1st – 3rd, 2011. It is an event, which offers a wide variety of entertainment, panels, workshops, masterclasses, showcases and networking opportunities for music industry professionals around the world. New Skool Rules aims to fasten the development of New Skool Culture worldwide and will also provide visitors/delegates with a complete overview and status of what New Skool Culture is.
The next conference date is set for April 5th-7th, 2013. Between now and then New Skool Rules will be hosting various events such as (international) workshops, masterclasses, jamsessions and more. Visit www.newskoolrules.com for more information.

S.S.A. is the opening title from Kevin Lester debut solo
album released 11 months ago to critical acclaim by peers and members of the press. Since, the Kevin and his album have
reached the audiences in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Highlights for the year included a showcase performance in Holland at New Skool Rules 2011 and “Rockstar” was chosen by UK’s Guardian as one of the top songs from around the world in Jan 2011.

Download the full album here: http://thelioncityboy.bandcamp.com
The video was directed by Adam “Tha Artist” Choong.

In the meantime here is a little background to the release…

Nov 15th 2010 – Kevin Lester http://facebook.com/thelioncityboy)’s debut album, “LETS TALK ABOUT KEVIN LESTER” releases today! This highly-anticipated release features 8 original tracks, with features by P.Cess of Thaitanium, SonaOne from Kartel Records, Vanessa Fernandez, Syaheed of Bedsty and members of SIXX http://www.bedsty.com/sixx including Aarika Lee, Tim De Cotta and Kelvin Ang.

Kevin has made the album FREE to download. At the site, click “Buy Now”, and fans will need to type in “0″ USD to download the song or album for free. It will prompt the fan for his email address, and the download link will be sent via email. For fans who would like to contribute to the artist, they may do so by naming their price for the song or album downloads.

Kevin Lester’s profile & pressshots can be downloaded here: http://www.bedsty.com/thelioncityboy