Acedawg: \"ace\" or \"acedawg\", 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, allah justice born(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, any australia. The goal now is to land a major distribution and/or publishing deal so \"ace\" can fully expand his talents 24 hors 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 labels 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 local producer of the year for 2002 on 92. 1(wbhh). In 2006, now working with dj noe dout (va), redgie black (va), gods-man (va), brandi-nicole (va), t. R. U. (va), tu-treal (miss), bloodbrothers (atl), dot-com (va), drumline ent. (va), j-reed (va), naseem green (va), durte slang (va), some poets and models too. When did you start creating music? started singing in 1983 when michael jackson\'s thriller album came out. I often imitated michael\'s voice singing the whole album daily along with prince and new edition. I started beatboxing a year later when i heard fat boys and dougie fresh. By 1986, i was beating on tables and walls while making beats with my mouth. Who are your musical influences? michael jackson, marvin gaye, r. Kelly, aaron hall (guy), barry white, luther vandross, new edition, boyz ii men, shai, dru hill, jodeci do you play any instruments? guitar, keyboard, and myself what was your first beat machine or keyboard to start making beats? roland (boss) dr-5 who are your favorite artists? r. Kelly, jay-z, 2pac, ludacris tell me about a time in your life when you knew that music was going to be your career? when i dropped out of college in 1996 from virginia tech when did you start recording artists? when i was about 11 recording on my porch with a double cassette radio, an instrumental and a blank tape. When did you start making beats? i started makin beats with my mouth and hands in 1986 when did you start writing lyrics? i didn\'t start writing until i was 12 or 13 how many artists have you produced/recorded? over 100 since 1986 how many songs have you made? hundreds how many beats have you made? hundreds how many songs are you on? over 20 what inspires you to make a beat? someone\'s hook, an artist\'s attitude, or the moment what do you think of the state of the current music industry? it\'s moving toward a more independent and less corporate control name all the artists that you are currently working with, recording, or producing. Ali nicole, ms. Williams, lady bliss, redg. Black, dout gotcha, tu-treal, t. R. U. , j-reed, kenni wayne, blakndeckah what are you main music business goals? to become an independent music distributor what professional artists would you like to work with? ludacris, trey songz, chris brown, lil wayne, shawty lo, t. I. , scarface, jay-z, pharrell, timbo, danja, dr dre, snoop, mary j, r. Kelly what professional producers have influenced you? dr dre, teddy riley, nottz what sound and recording equipment are you currently using? pro tools, yamaha motif what would you offer to a record label? an all-in-one package: creative, writer, singer, rapper, producer, arranger, engineer, publisher what would you offer for a production company? the hottest tracks never heard what would you offer to a publishing company? top 40 songs are you willing to become a superstar recording artist? yes would rather be a superstar artist or superstar producer? both? are you up for the job? both do you want the world to remember ace dawg as a great artist or great producer? or both? one of the greats who was great at what he did are any famous artists/musicians using your beats? if so, who? when? doctor ice of the legenday rap group utfo has two tracks from me, one of which is the intro song to his website: www. Doctoricemusic. Com, and the other song is used as the background song for gameovernyc. Com - high school dunks who do you currently know in the music industry? what is your relationship with them? clipse, timbo, sebastian, danjahandz, dj les, quan, nottz raw