Mr.Tac a.k.a. "Chocolate"

Drop-Zone was established in 1995 by Mr.Tac a.k.a. "Chocolate" as a music outlet for unsigned indie artists of all genres to create, promote and manage their music products worldwide. Once Drop-Zone was created as the foundation, Mr.Tac a.k.a. "Chocolate" created the Zone Platinum Entertainment Label as a company to release and distribute the music.

Mr.Tac a.k.a. "Chocolate" is also a great artist in his own right with a number of songs that have charted in the Hip-Hop/Rap genre, and two of my favorites are "Pumping It" and "Where I Come From".

My other favorite artist of the Drop-Zone team is called 'Passion'...and his song "In Love With You" went directly into my iPod after hearing it the first time. It's short and sweet (under two minutes in length), and features a nice rich texture of piano, bass, a mellow groove, and amazing vocals. Listen up guys, the next time you want to get your lady in the mood, swap out that old Brian McKnight tune you've already played 1000 times...it's time to try out a little 'Passion'.

"In Love With You" has been at or around #1 in the R&B/Soul charts for the past few months - Mr. Rose (Dave Werba) www.musicforte.com

One of New York’s finest independent hip-hop collectives is on Jamendo, spearheaded by the tireless Mr.Tac a.k.a. “Chocolate”, who leads the group and founded a label around it.

In 1999, when he started Drop-Zone, a collective comprising a dozen hip-hop artists from New York City, and the label Zone Platinum Entertainment to go with it, Mr.Tac wanted “to create a music platform and a label home for all artists of all styles to release their music across the world”, himself being “a hip-hop artist with a huge following” (50,000 copies were sold of his first single with Drop-Zone). No room for small-time ambitions here: these guys are in for the big picture, with fans already calling them “the X-Men of music”.

Zone Platinum has a team of five producers creating tracks for its roster’s artists, Mr.Tac being the main one (producer as well as artist, that is). You can listen to their work on Drop-Zone’s two mixtapes published on Jamendo, or on the new album Mr.Tac published recently. But Zone Platinum does not limit its activities to hip-hop only: “It’s a place of our own where we create original style hip-hop, but also alternative, rock, r&b and pop tracks, with a fresh new sound, explains Mr.Tac. Most of the hip-hop artists on Zone Platinum are from New York (Nova, Cleva, Thomaz J. Edizon, Brianna, The TriBoro Order, etc.), other style artists are from elsewhere in the US.”

Regarding the American rap scene in general, Mr.Tac’s judgment is quite severe, and coupled with a strong bias towards his hometown. “Hip-hop right now in the US is going downhill. Too many artists, too many producers but not enough talent. As hip-hop started to expand from New York City to other parts of the US, it became spoiled and rotten.”

So it’s up to grass-roots activists like Drop-Zone and Zone Platinum Ent. to keep things real then? Quite possibly so. And of course, “Jamendo is the perfect place and idea for artists and labels to release new music to fans. It creates an opening slot for them to promote themselves on an international level.” - Jamendo.com

A RAWRIP favourite, Mr. Tac, is flexing his collaboratory muscles with Drop-Zone to make a much more varied and developed version of his already breakneck sound. It’s a very comic book sound; lots of colour and energy splashed across the page, loads of imagination and even the odd plot twist. You can image the “kerpow!” as ‘Pipe Strike’ steals a few beats while the racing “whammey” of ‘She’s Blazin’ caps off the kitsch. Drop-Zone don’t make novelty music though, this is serious stuff; the lyrics and music on offer by Mr. Tac and co are nothing to be snuffed at; it’s bedazzling. It’s the kind of music you’d put on in the middle of a party when you know everybody’s open to new wonders. It’s that kind of staid, yet entertaining, music. - www.rawrip.com

Zone Platinum is a New York based label with its feet firmly rooted in all things rap and hip hop, with the occasional and very rewarding dabble in the world of R&B. Established by Mr. Tac, aka ‘Chocolate’ in 1999, who releases his own wares via the label also, Zone platinum currently provides a cosy home to the likes of Drop Zone, Thomaz J. Edizon and Bloody Stealz, they’re slowly but surely collecting a roster to rival that of any imprint in the big apple. All built on hard work, a strong code of ethics and a love for the best in undiscovered music – like all good labels should be, in essence. - www.rawrip.com

Mr Tac is an exciting prospect for music fans; he’s something singular and authentic. There’s a lot of face to hip-hop music, but not many artists who have the ability or integrity to back up extravagant claims. Mr Tac however, does. His songs are huge stomping anthems of rebellious rap. - www.rawrip.com (Greg Harper)