J. Dash is a piano prodigy who performed for the Jacksonville Symphony at age 5. By the
time he was 8 years old, this classically trained pianist loved to play Mozart for his family
and friends. Throughout his teens, however, he cut his teeth playing in various blues and
jazz bands. A rapper, songwriter, producer, mixer & multi-instrumentalist, this
Renaissance man also holds a degree in computer science from the University of Florida.
"When I come across something I like, I want to learn everything about it and really
understand it," Jay says of his diverse musical tastes.
The world of hip-hop holds a special place in his heart. "When I was growing up in the
South, hip-hop was kind of dangerous. It was music that I wasn't supposed to be listening
to. I would sneak out of the house to go see some underground show...and it just became
part of my soul."
Although having already amassed an impressive collection of material over the years, J.
Dash's pulse-pounding dance hit, "WOP," is creating quite a buzz. The single, the ringtone and the music
video have been charting every week on the iTunes Top 100 Hip-Hop Charts. In fact, the
official music video featuring J. Dash's friend and major label rapper Flo Rida, along with
several other Official "WOP" videos have over 5 million views on YouTube and have driven
almost 100,000 sales on iTunes alone this year. "The WOP was a dance that me and my
friends grew up doing, but we never had a name for it. I thought it looked like we were
wopping and the name stuck (meaning With Out Prejudice)." Ken Underwood, the founder
of StereoFame, the record label that signed J. Dash, believes that WOP breaks social,
economic and cultural barriers. "If music is a universal language, then WOP is the
universal dance."
To put a new spin on an old-school marketing concept of a guerilla-style street teams
formed to post flyers and stickers, J. Dash is hitting the cyber streets by creating the first
ever YouTube Street Team, and the strategy is proving to be a surprising success. The
secret is a unique marketing plan aimed at encouraging fans to become part of a virtual
street team. The street team members are taught how to post their own YouTube WOP
videos utilizing annotations (banners embedded in the video) to drive sales of the music at
iTunes and to use Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word. Of course, he also encourages his street
team to call radio stations and everyone who plays music, from band directors to dance
teams, to play the WOP. "The more you say it, the more they'll play it," J. exclaims in his
Youtube Street Team video.
The WOP single and ringtone are available for download on iTunes at
http://stereofa.me/ituneswop & the new WOP (Club Mix) just dropped August 9th, 2011. It
is available for download on iTunes at http://stereofa.me/iwopclub.
Stay tuned; Details on J. Dash's next single, Transformer featuring Laudie J., and his
upcoming album release,Tabloid Truth, are coming soon.
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