Home studio allows creative follow-through 1 KNOCK on the door of the house for my interview with North Vancouver rapping wun- derkind Mtano Loewi. HOME BASE By Michael Becker Hip hop bass bombs shake the walls and compete with the babble of the rain-swollen creek beside me. A window pops open and I shout my presence to the dancing man inside, I’m at Mocca Records. Loewi's home-based business. “Mocca is me. {’m the president and the janitor,” explains Loewi, 23. Mocca began as a production company in 1991 while Loewi attended the Berkeley College of Music in Boston. “I originally went down there to play trumpet but 1 got caught up in all the other side of the business — the production and contracts,” he said. * Loewi took in international finance and the economics of the music industry while at college. He embarked on a five-year pro- gram but completed it in two years. He then chose to turn his production company into a: full-service record company and returned to Vancouver to build a studio in his home. The first project is Cipher and the albu: is called 360 Degrees. He goes by the moniker of Clean as a member of the group. Said Loewi, “It’s pretty much under- ground rap.” Cipher’s second video. Haw /t Ga was released last week. The first video and song .release, Peeps, eared steady play on Much Music. _It made it to the number two spot on that station’s Rap City segment. The song made the Top 10 of Chart Magazine's national hip hop chart. Cipher was the only Canadian group to make the Top IO and they held the turf for three months. The song earned heavy rotation at 35 college radio stations across the country, The Cipher disc was released in ‘August 1995 and has sold about 4,000 copies to date. Loewi is dis- MTANG LOEWI, president of Mocca Records in North Vancouver, performs, produces and packages the rap reality of Cipher. tributing it on Mocca Records and he’s moving it independently across the country. “I's definitely working. It’s all a learning experience. It puts you ina different position when you are approached by a major label. If they don't offer you what you want it doesn't matter because it's already happening anyway,” he said. Cipher itself has been together for about five years. There are about six individuals in the Cipher family or collective and some of them have independent pro- jects in the works, For example Big Sleep, a rapper from Edmonton, fronts the first Cipher video Peeps and he'l! have his own disc out soon. Another Cipher spin-off project just about to drop is Precision, a Vancouver rapper. His disc will be released as a joint-venture between Mocca and Black Ice, Precision’s label. Does Loewi find himself having to split his personality down the line between the business Mtano and the artistic Mtano? “No, [ kind of find it all wrapped up in one. Most of the productions are so close to myself. If I staned See Cipher page 24 P LE : UR For every dollar invested 795 RRSP TAX SAVINGS The Working Opportunity Fund is o privately managed investment und owned by individual British Columbians thot brings together business, labour and government. Its mixed portfolio consists of equity investments in small and medium sized B.C. businesses, treasury bills and other investment-grade Secutities. For more laformation call: 661-7 7 34 JAMES E. MACKIE Financial Advisor 11th Floor MIDLAND WALWYN BUUE CHIP THEM RIN G™ Three Bentall Centre 595 Burrard St., Van. B.C. 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