homegrown vol.1 this double cd features some of the finest v.a. has to offer. twenty-two tracks of pure bangers that you will listen to again and again. "da reg1ment", "r.n.s", "dot-com", "delphonicz", and "reggie black" are some of the artists featured on this album. future volumes will have more artists, more banging beats, and more flavor than a summertime bar-b-que. homegrown is produced by the one and only "acedawg", the local producer of the year for 92.1fm the beat "the production room show" hosted by m$blenz which aired on sunday nights from 10p-11p until it went off the air this past winter (feb. 2004). m$blenz awarded "ace" at the virginia house of comedy in 2002. -- GET BEATS AT: --HTTP://WWW.SOUNDCLICK.COM/ACEDAWGPRODUCTIONS ace dawg: anthony "aj" boyd, also known as "ace" or "ace dawg", walked around east oakland, ca streets making beats with his mouth and hands on tables imitating biz markie, dougie fresh, and the fat boys. it wasn't until michael jackson's "thriller" album that aj realized he had an ear for music and he was multi-talented. in addition to being an entrepreneur, anthony set his goal to put out his own music and lyrics at the age of ten. influenced by michael jackson, marvin gaye, keith sweat, al b. sure, babyface (the deal), guy, and others seem to give him the guidance he needed. then in 1991, aj moved to virginia beach, va, a move that would change his life forever. moving from a city of well known acts like too short, digital underground, and hammer, to va beach where only teddy riley was known at that time did not bother aj at that time. it would only make it harder to be heard by the masses because of the limited exposure. so aj decided to combine east and west coast music with his down south roots to create his own sound. turning poetry into songs and performing cover songs by r. kelly, a successful producer/songwriter/singer, he became his new model to follow. in 1993 aj hooked up with four other guys to create the singing group called "harmony" at the campus of virginia tech in blacksburg, va. through 1996 they made a name for themselves before they went their separate ways, but aj was determined to be successful. so he returned home to va beach in 1996 to pursue his dream. after purchasing a yamaha digital 4-track and boss dr-5 drum machine, aj expanded his talents to engineering and production. other early influences like dre, timbaland, j. dupri, and rza began to show themselves in his music. that allowed aj to concentrate on independently distributing his work through local talent by writing and producing r&b and hip hop songs. y.y., black & decker (o f d.m.p.), mo, s.o.b. (slum lord king), v-a-nom, and others gave aj needed exposure. local shows and open mic events like jam locker, white house cafe (word of mouth), night moves, and picasso's created an atmosphere of artists wanting to work with "ace". singing backup for s.o.b., who opened for redman, krs-1, akanelle, in 1997 at the hampton convocation ctr. added 1st major accomplishment to his resume. starting his own company in 1998, "ace dawg productions" has created a name for itself in a short period of time. a recent commercial for the "norfolk nighthawks" 18-week season aired on fox in april 2001 during the pre game show on saturdays. tracks are also being used for local radio host to talk over and plenty of songs have been heard on 103 jamz (wowi), 91.1fm (wnsb) norfolk state radio, and 92.1fm (the beat). through the world wide web, "ace dawg" has published many local artists on mp3.com for his publishing company, a.j.b. publishing (ascap). many artists, dj's, and independent labels have shown interest in ace dawg's work in the u.s. and overseas in england, italy, germany, and australia. the goal now is to land a major distribution and/or publishing deal so "ace" can fully expand his talents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. there is more than enough talent in virginia for ace dawg productions to be one of the first independent label's in va to push out va artists and songs like the neptune's did this past year with national artists. its time for va to get on and "ace" is "the one" to accomplish that. the hunger is there, now its time to eat...recently awarded producer of the year by dj m$blenz of 92.1fm the beat, for her local show called "the production room". -- GET BEATS AT: --HTTP://WWW.SOUNDCLICK.COM/ACEDAWGPRODUCTIONS