THE FLY CITY GROUP: Recent Episodes
Mike Hill
“ I can do anything, I can go anywhere.... I can be anything that I want, possibilities endless”. These are lyrics written by St. Louis’s own LaToya Wilson. She is in a genre of her own.... LIFE MUSIC. Music that inspires others to live the abundant life that God designed. LaToya Wilson has finally completed her debut album entitled “Becoming”. Being the wife of successful producer, many thought that she would have recorded an album years ago, but LaToya Wilson said it had to be done, “in God’s time”. That time has finally arrived and this album is going to change the way many view Christian/Gospel music. Being inspired by all types of music, LaToya’s album will appeal to all walks of life. LaToya is the wife of platinum recording producer Maurice (ReaceBeatz) Wilson and she is also the mother of 2 sons. Her passion for singing goes back to her childhood days singing in the children’s choir at her local church. Being the daughter of a teenage mother, many thought that her future would be dismal. Overcoming the struggles of losing her father to senseless murder, and a brother to a fight with leukemia LaToya was determined to become somebody in life. When LaToya accepted Christ, all of that misery became her anointing. She sings with such conviction and honesty. With the backing of her label, Sumthin Bout Favor Music, LaToya Wilson is ready to take her music to the masses. She is not only an amazing singer, but she is also a songwriter, vocal arranger, and an Evangelist. She has written songs for other gospel artists such as Interscope/Geffen artist Spensha Baker. Be sure to check out LaToya Wilson’s album “Becoming”. It's currently available on iTunes, Amazon.com, and Napster. “What cain’t we do?” is the motto of her label, and with that mentality, the sky is the limit.............
Willie “P-Dub” Moore, aka Pretty Willie and St. Louis, Missouri native is best known for his Urban/Hip Hop hits “Roll Wit Me,” “Lay Your Body Down,” “Good Thang” and “4 Walls.”
P-Dub, as he is affectionately called, was adopted as a baby and grew up in the church. He got his start as a child singing in the choir at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis, MO. But he was soon drawn to the sounds of Hip-Hop and signed his first record deal at the age of 12 in the 1990s with a small Midwest label and gained regional fame. Later, after graduating from the University of Mississippi-Oxford with a degree in Psychology, the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity member signed his first major record deal with Universal Music as a rapper. He followed that up with a recording contract with Warner Brothers, but this time as an R&B singer.
In 2001, the married father of two made a great change in his life and returned home to St. Louis, MO. Since his return, in addition to co-hosting the Praise Mixdown with D. Stone, and making music to win souls, P-Dub has established several faith based ministries, the largest is the youth driven, Young, Fly and Saved movement which has a following of over 200,000. He is an ordained minister at Shalom Church City of Peace in Florissant, MO.
The Praise Mixdown is a high energy two-hour mixshow. Most stations play it on the weekends but some stations play it daily. This year we received a 2 page spread in the May edition of Ebony magazine.
Dwight Stone, aka D. Stone was born in Toronto, Canada and now residing in St. Louis, MO, is a radio personality with a unique love for the business. His love affair with radio started in high school. His dream of a career in radio became a reality after his first year in Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. From there he landed positions at 3 commercial radio stations. In 2001 he headed to St. Louis for an on air position at Clear Channel radio’s KATZ-FM, “100.3 The Beat.” While at 100.3 the Beat, D.Stone received #1 ratings for his primetime radio show. His on-air antics like “D.Stone Karaoke”, unscripted celebrities interviews, and fearlessness while live on location made listeners unaware on what he may do next.
But D. Stone’s silliness could only be matched by his seriousness and his faith, which was always in the mix. He also received several honors for his “Beat the Streets” community talk-show and town hall meetings. More than a radio personality, Hypeman D.Stone is a community servant. He volunteers with several community groups, the St. Louis Dream Center, and serves as a youth leader at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist church-St. Louis. His passion for ministry shifted his focus from local radio to national syndication. Along with his co-host P Dub, D.Stone produces “The Praise Mixdown” – a premiere syndicated gospel mix show - now reaching 100,000 people a week . Although music will always remain Dwight’s first love, his passion and commitment to make a difference in his community is truly what drives him.
Born with a God given talent for music in general, the Los Angeles raised M.C. Bizzle (born Mark J. Felder) wrote his first rap verse at no older than 8 years old and also started writing R&B around that same time. He, now at 26 years old, has 18 years under his belt as a writer and the experience shows in his sound and versatility.
Between the years 2004-2008 Bizzle released L.A.V. Mixtapes Vol. 1-5 in Southern California. He then released Dirty West Mixtapes 1 and 2 with 360 Records in Houston TX, and went back to CA to release his biggest yet, “Certified Mixtape”. In 2005 he was offered a deal by 360 Records out of Houston and declined. Two years later he was offered a deal by Barry Hankerson to sign with Blackground/Universal, but he also declined that offer. He’s also put on many successful shows as the headliner and opened up for artists like Lil Wayne, Juelz Santana, Lil Boosie, and more. He’s also worked with platinum producer Chink Santana, Darock Ramos, Stack Bundles, Lil Eazy E, Roccett from CTE, Dirty Birdy,Pretty Willie aka P-Dub, Mouthpi3ce, Chino XL, Twank Star from Nappy Boy, and many more including a compilation project feat. Ne-Yo, The Game, Nelly, David Banner, T.I., Akon, and many more.Bizzle spent 3 years preparing his debut album “Grind Pays”. With multiple singles gaining momentum, his myspace plays quickly reached over 500,000.With his street buzz in the Los Angeles and I.E. areas and his success on myspace, the expectations for the album were big, but God had bigger plans for Bizzle. In 2008 Bizzle started attending church more frequently and his realtionship with God grew even stronger. As a result of this he felt he needed to take his music in a new direction. In January 2010 he released the track “You Got Some Explaining to Do”, a song directed towards Jay-Z, calling him out on his negative references towards Jesus in his raps; which caused a lot of contraversy. The buzz was bigger that he could have ever imagined. After continuesly being called the “Christian Rapper” that dissed Jay Z, Bizzle deceided that he wanted to continue his movement to bring Glory to Christ through his music. He realeased his first Christian Mixtape entitiled “The Messenger” in March of 2010. “The Messenger” was a huge success, receiveing over 50,000 downloads and creating an even bigger buzz on the internet, with his views on Worldstarhiphop.com, Allhiphop.com, Mediatakeout.com, Bossip.com, youtube.com, etc…totaling well over 1 million. He currently resides in Houston Texas where he is preparing for the release of “The Messenger 2″ mixtape due out in June, as well as working with producers Beanz N Kornbread (Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Slim Thug, and more) and Cameron Wallace (Beyonce’s “Upgrade You” Feat. Jay-Z) on his untitled debut album. Bizzle has done countless interviews on websites and radio shows such as Kingdomswag.com, Dasouth.com, Holla-Fest radio, itmlive radio, G1 Magazine, NFormD TV just to name a few. He was also invited to perform at one of the largest music festivals in the United States, the South by Southwest 2010 Music Festival and Conference in Austin, TX., but he has bigger plans for 2010.