Shyan Selah
Los Angeles, California, United States | MAJOR
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Federal Way Mirror
Shyan Selah, Brave New World and the Brave Foundat...
Shyan Selah, Brave New World and the Brave Foundation will present Shyan LIVE! at 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 19 at The Commons mall in Federal Way. This all-ages event will feature new music by Selah and performances by Team Avengers, M.A.S. Coalition and dance teams from Federal Way high schools.
Former Seattle Supersonics player Dean Tolson will speak about the importance of education. Isa Nichols, executive director of the Maxine Mimms Academies for Suspended and Expelled Youth and author of “Genesis: The Bullet Was Meant for Me, The D.C. Sniper Story Untold,” will speak on issues of domestic abuse and violence.
Attendees are encouraged to bring toys, food and clothing to benefit Goodwill and the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
The event is intended to send a positive message about education and healthy living. On Dec. 5 at The Commons mall, Selah and Tolson spoke with local youth about such virtues.
“One thing that worked for me is mentorship,” said Selah, a product of Federal Way. Tolson, who learned to read and write as an adult, urged students to stay in school: “The most serious thing we can do in this society is get an education.”
Selah and Brave New World are holding a talent search for local rappers, singers and dancers Dec. 12-13 at The Commons. Registration required. Learn more: www.the
bravefoundation.com and www.myspace.com/shyanselah
To view video footage from Shyan LIVE visit www.youtube.com/thebravefoundation
- Federal Way Mirror
Today’s generation of youth is more apt to know lyrics written by Lil Wayne than poems by Maya Angelou. They can sing along to a Chris Brown hook but are not able to pick key themes out of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. They recognize the name Tommy the Clown, creator of the Krump dancing movement, but have never heard of Debbie Allen. Older generations call them lost souls, ignorant of their history and identity, left to the trappings of corporate greed and unreachable to those who don’t own a MySpace or Facebook page. All too often it is parents, educators, ministers and care providers that are the makeup of these older generations — the very same people charged with leading these young people into adulthood. However, it would seem that they do not know how to reach this new generation through the maze of internet networking sites, text messages and web podcasts that make up basic communication for today’s youth.
These young people are often left to feel as though no one but their peers understand them and quite often they’re right. This is an age where a student can find any piece of information on the Internet very quickly, but their teacher doesn’t know what the Soulja Boy dance is. It is an age where half the brain stays in cyberspace and the real world moves at a snail’s pace. It is also an age where, according to US Today, 51% of 18-25 year olds’ number one goal is to become famous.
Shyan Selah, Founder and CEO of the Seattle entertainment company Brave New World, Inc., is aware of this. He also knows that there are way too many parents and educators who may not be.
“There is a generational gap between educators and the kids,” says Selah. “Traditional ways are failing, especially in inner-city areas. We want to bridge that gap.”
For full article, visit: http://www.seattlemedium.com/News/search/ArchiveContent.asp?NewsID=92947&sID= - Seattle Medium
Brave New World, the Album is "a passionate album that still holds some mainstream-like hip-hop production."
- URB Magazine
What happens when you have an individual who’s a community leader and a rapper? You get an independent song writer and producer who embraces the extreme, freedom and truth. Living by his theme “be brave,” Shyan Selah is breaking in the industry with a brand of music that he can collectively call his own unique style. The Federal Way Washington native Shyan Selah is a young entrepreneur who hustled his way to become an entrepreneur and CEO of Brave New World LLC. The west coast rapper grew up with a taste of all aspects of life from religion to alcohol and drugs.
The 31-year-old left home at the age of fifteen only to become his own self and to find his own unique niche of a music style. Inspired by Prince, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, Jay-Z, Shyan is a fiend for true stories. The passion of being real and deep led him start The Brave Foundation, his charitable organization. As most artists don’t experience the life of popularity and fame before they come up, Shyan has always stood out and been the popular guy. Concrete City proves that as being one of the theme songs of “True Ballers” One Love 2 DVD. On Concrete City, Shyan shines his light on what’s real.
For full article visit: http://www.fevermagazine.com/interview/2008/04/30/shyan-selahs-brave-new-world
- Fever Magazine
hen my day job at the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Youth Services and music intersect, the results are often magical. Earlier this summer, the Seattle Youth Opportunity! movement hosted the first Seattle YO! Summit, and rapper Shyan Selah kept it real at South Seattle Community College's Brockey Center.
Seattle is one of 36 communities nationwide funded by a 1999 grant from the US Department of Labor. YO! grantees work to help youth, particularly those most in need, to acquire the necessary skills and work experience to grow into successful adults and explore careers, further education and training. This summit honored the achievements of Seattle's first year of a five- year grant and attracted nearly 200 young people, in addition to teachers, counselors and administrators from a variety of local youth programs.
Selah began with a brief history lesson in hip-hop.
"The art of hip-hop speaks to generations directly before us," said Shyan. "Hip-hop has taken over the fields of business, the styles and images of athletics and entertainment. Just look at some of the more popular fashions out there: it's 100% hip-hop across the board."
I glanced at the young people in the auditorium - many wore the urban uniform of the new millennium, stylin' with Fubu straight from the www.y2g.com website, large necklaces or sagging a la Dr. Dre. I knew I was square when young ladies were talking about ice and I thought about the stuff you put in a glass and not the jewelry they wore around their necks.
"A lot of young people love Jay-Z and Nas," Selah continued. "It's important to know about the guys that started this music. It stemmed from a lack of knowledge and a lot of young people started to ask questions. Questions like: 'why do we have to live like this?,' 'why don't I know my dad?' and 'is this the way I want to be treated?'"
"Hip-hop helped me come face-to-face with reality," he said to rousing applause. "Some of you may be bearded, some of you may be braided, but I don't care. You've got something to say and your voice is important."
Selah focused on the teachers and challenged them to think of hip-hop in terms that they would understand.
"Many teachers out there don't realize the educational potential of hip-hop," shouted Shyan. "There are many things that set hip-hop apart. First of all, the format of hip-hop is accessible. Communication is the key here: it's the link between the gaps of generations."
"In the sixties and seventies," continued Professor Selah. "Bob Dylan, The Eagles and country and western were all talking the same trash. Same stuff, different era. That's the same stuff that hip-hop talks about. But, with hip-hop, you have another dimension. Athletes entered and it became powerful. You had Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon and Magic Johnson, the first dream team from basketball. Just think about sampling, one way that people exchange beats or music. Speaking of sampling, sampling is one way to make money - you do not have to reinvent the wheel. One mark of success is to mimic what successful people do. Find out what made Michael Jordan get up at 5:00 AM to shoot baskets every day. This type of work ethic, these types of habits, can be extremely powerful." ...
For full article visit http://www.cosmik.com/aa-july01/shyan_selah.html
- Cosmik Debris Magazine
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Bio
His freshman album, Brave New World, (www.bravenewworldalbum.com) was released through KOCH Entertainment throughout North America – (now E-1). Highlights of the album included songs like the club-bangin’ single “Concrete City,” which was featured on the One Love: Tru Ballin’ 2 DVD along exclusive footage of major NBA and NFL sports stars; and his first single, “Hollywood Blvd,” which went #1 on nationwide college radio and was featured on the CBS/Paramount drama, NUMB3RS. Other songs from Brave New World were licensed by television networks such as MTV and VH1.
A mix of hip hop, rock, R&B and soul, Brave New World was a new combination of sound for a new type of artist: one who can both rap and sing, one who’s both an entrepreneur and an activist - a musician raised in the tradition of Hollywood with a progressive edge. In both business and music Selah is a perfectionist and it is exemplified in the quality sound of Brave New World, which was recorded at the prestigious House of Blues Studios and touched by the most experienced hands of Master Mix Engineer Booker T. Jones III (Boyz II Men, Mary J. Bilge, Destiny’s Child) and Eddy Schreyer of Oasis Mastering (Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Akon).
A self described “Rebel with a Cause” Selah merged the prestige of the tried and true with the rawness of production talent that is brand new to the scene. He handpicked DJ Rocdusa and Joe Dancsak of Tha Trailz, Fred “Freddie Fingerz” Darden and Q. Dot who all brought their own blend of hard hitting beats, old school funk and soul, classic hip hop and edgy rock to Brave New World and immediately elevated the album to classic status by its originality alone.
Recently Selah has signed a label to label deal with Bungalo Records/Universal Music Group to release his sophomore album to the entire global market including 60 plus foreign markets.
Since the beginning Selah has pledged his work will go beyond his recording career. Being a firm believer in education, he has shown his dedication by creating alliances in the inner cities and in the community with the Pacific Northwest Black Chamber of Commerce and the Dr. Maxine Mimms Academy for Suspended and Expelled Youth in Tacoma, Washington. As an artist who strives to reach the youth, Selah has developed a cross-appeal that gives a refreshing point of view of the often-misunderstood art form of hip-hop. He has been on the speaking circuit for years, working with various high schools and colleges around the nation; and he has combined his business savvy with his artistic talents to create a performance workshop that students can relate to and professors can understand. Selah’s ability to communicate to educators and students alike reached a high point when his curriculum on the “Theory of Hip-Hop” was accepted as a course study at Evergreen State College in Washington State.
In September 2008 Selah initiated a partnership between BNW and the Southwest Boys & Girls Club of King County, where he regularly performs and mentors club members. That same year he created the “Stay in sChOOL” tour which was started in Western Washington and has since branched out to include all of the West Coast. He is currently making plans to expand the tour, which is a mixture of motivational speech, music and dance for at-risk youth, across the country. His efforts to fuse entertainment with higher learning in creating a positive message for today's youth caught the eye of Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run DMC who's praised Shyan for incorporating hip hop with education.
Selah was able to mix his love of music and community advocacy further in March 2007 when he joined the board of The Jimi Hendrix Foundation in Renton, WA.
As a representative for the Hendrix Foundation, Selah and Brave New World, Inc were given the mandate to rebrand Jimi Hendrix to the world and introduce the man behind the rock and roll legend. In doing so Selah has negotiated deals with companies such as Friend or Foe and Barneys New York that introduced a newer and bolder image of Hendrix into the marketplace. In addition he is the driving force behind The Foundation, a series of tribute records currently in production featuring original music produced with the essence of Hendrix’s unique creativity and performed by today’s top artists.
In late 2008 Selah left the Jimi Hendrix Foundation but continues his work with the Hendrix name by partnering with Liquid Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix where he has pledged to foster community outreach through music /art workshops and other meaningful social programs.
The programs are further supported by Selah’s foundation, The Brave Foundation – which acts as a full philanthropic arm to Brave New World, Inc. The foundation’s purpose is to inspire health, wealth, and success to at-risk youth by using a fusion of arts, music, and business to re-energize students about the importance of education, thereby allowing them to build confidence and further solidi
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