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Founder, Texas Summer Music Conference

The Texas hip-hop scene is somewhat of a conundrum. While artists such as ScarFace, UGK, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Mike Jones, and the Screwed Up Click have all received national recognition, Texas has yet to fully be recognized as an epicenter for hip-hop talent like Atlanta and New Orleans. To increase Texas’s visibility in hip-hop, Dallas native Mic Moodswing decided to create the Texas Summer Music Conference in 2003.

“Although we’re in a top 10 music market, a lot of our artists remain local,” Moodswing says. “There are artists down here who can’t get to New York or Los Angeles to meet with big executives. So, I wanted to create a venue where the artists could rub shoulders with some of the major check writers in the industry.

” Many aspiring artists who have participated in the Texas Summer Music Conference have gone on to have tremendous success.

“Mike Jones came to the conference when nobody wanted to pay attention to him,” Moodswing says. “But he presented himself as a businessman and began to network with people. Before I knew it, Mike Jones was on the radio with a platinum record under his belt.

” With the conference growing each year, Moodswing believes that many Texas artists will finally get the respect they deserve.

“I continue to do this conference to make a difference,” he says. “The biggest form of failure is to stop trying. The opportunity is always there to improve.” - amir shaw

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