By: Fredwill Hernandez
There was a buzz of excitement as many, including myself, eagerly awaited the launch of the fourth HITMKR House, a collaborative effort between HITMKR Ecosystem and Green Tea Studios aimed at assisting the recent fire victims through the LA Food Bank. This event took place on Saturday, February 22, at Grandmaster Records in Hollywood, California, where attendees were treated to electrifying performances by the likes of Mistress of Rap, Keithian, Maxwell Payne Stark, Majur Deveaux, Freydoe, and Farinas.
The showcase style event hosted by Green Tea’s Barry Rosenblum served as an opportunity for music industry insiders to network while giving upcoming talent a platform to be seen and heard.
Among those eager to hit the stage was Eli Flores. “I’m from Los Angeles, California. I go by Freydoe, and I performed my song ‘Free My Mind.’ I also perform my song ‘Gin and Juice’ and my unreleased song called ‘Lost.’ The reason I know Green Tea and HITMKR is that Barry, the head of Green Tea Studios, found my music when I was about 17 years old on Instagram, and we have connected ever since. I performed at his shows, which is Sunday Sounds. Ever since then, our relationship has been flourishing. He told me about this opportunity, and I jumped at it, and I’m here,” eloquently explained Flores, who was very pleased with how HITMKR highly promoted him leading up to the event.
During one of the three intermissions, Vu Ho, Founder/CEO of HITMKR who originally launched HITMKR as an older version of the present HITMKR ecosystem back in 2022, took the opportunity to thank attendees for coming through and bringing much-need items to benefit those impacted by the LA Wildfires, and to also highlight and thank his HITMKR team, among them Paul Montes, Ayana Douglas, and Josh Hill, who served as the evening’s Dj.
As the night went on, the energy of the performances grew stronger, with many attending to cheer for Ryan Ferias, who originally comes from Passaic, New Jersey but now calls Los Angeles home.
“My name is Farinas. I was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and raised there. I moved around a lot growing up, all over the Northeast. I’ve lived in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. I moved around but am originally from Jersey. I’ve been in Los Angeles for about a year and a half, where I met the HITMKR people and ended up signing up for their service. I’ve been doing that now for about six months or so. They’re all great people, and I deal with them heavily. When they reached out about a performance opportunity at The HITMKR house, I said, “Sure, I’m 100% there!” I’m super pumped to be able to perform. The last four days have been crazy; I had a song go viral on Instagram, and I gained almost 8,000 new followers from that this past weekend. My stuff is a mix of hip-hop and R&B. I can do a little bit of everything, but I’m primarily a hip-hop artist and a writer who takes pride in the lyrics. I’ve been trying to get more into my singing, but I have no formal training when it comes to singing and performing. I’m entirely self-taught,” eloquently explained Farinas who performed three tracks: the first song called “Ascension,” the second called “Godsmack,” and then finished off his performance with an unreleased track called “Shark Babe,” which he plans on releasing in the next couple of months.
A number of individuals like myself expect the HITMKR ecosystem to be quite successful, particularly in light of increasing dissatisfaction regarding DSP’s low payment rates per stream, alongside music artists exploring fresh ways to connect directly with their audience. As to what prompted Ho to launch the HITMKR ecosystem, “I wanted to shorten the time it takes for upcoming musicians to gain traction and exposure. I wanted to build something that can provide the right knowledge and resources for upcoming talent. Something that can help musicians connect and provide them with the opportunity to shine. With my experience in both tech and music, I knew that I had to go out and build this platform for the creative community.”
