Synergy the first all original all-woman produced, performed, and engineered Hip-Hop album, supported by WeWork Creator Awards.
It is a Chicago based album that features nine up and coming artists, and four producers.
03/15/2021
💜 Synergy: 2nd Year Anniversary!!!💜
Wow, it's been two years? In 2017, I received a grant from WeWork Creator Awards to create what I call the first woman/femme produced, performed, and engineered hip-hop album. It encompasses over 50 artists from around Chicago except for one artist who contributed to its production. Spearheading a project like this showed me that I could be a leader, be an executive producer, and most of all, I can bring people together to provide opportunity. To showcase that women and hip-hop can collaborate. We're more than just the product; but we are the creators, too. The synergy collective has garnered several opportunities around Chicago and worldwide: Being on local television. I had the chance to speak about it in Berlin, Germany, and the Women in Hip Hop conference in St. Louis. Even donated CDs to the archives at the universal Hip Hop Museum. To perform to teach other young women/femmes what it means to be an artist. Though this project didn't go "viral" as I would have liked, it is still a quality album. It was for the culture. We finished something, touched lives, inspired others. And most of all, we gained a family!. In honor of this anniversary: BUY THE ALBUM! http://jovanlandry.com/synergychi ~ Jovan Landry
02/25/2020
"The track combines old school feels with new-age low-fi tones to create a laid back, sensuous mood to vibe to. With hints of R&B tied in, you can’t go wrong with this. “Give U My Luv” precedes the full-length Synergy album where Jovan received a WeWork Creator Award to produce the first all-women produced & performed hip hop album Synergy (Synergy Chi). With this, she invited over 50 Chicago-based artists to collaborate with one another in the male-dominated industries in music and media." ~ Marilyn Reles, Thehypemagazine
Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist Jovan Landry just dropped her first public instrumental relea...
02/14/2020
The Synergy Collective at | (Photo Credit: Frances Glenn Studio)
"Pedigree" Written by Jade The Ivy Produced by Danya Thompson Video Directed by Jacob Dalbey Download/Stream Jade The Ivy's "Pedigree" here: https://jadethei...
11/18/2019
The Synergy Collective at CCBF's Fifth Annual End-of-Year Celebration! Thank you so much for having us and all the love that was shown at the event!
10/23/2019
We may have been a little absent, but here to send you a reminder of who we are and how far we’ve come. @ Chicago, Illinois
09/16/2019
Congratulations to Synergy’s own Jovan Landry for the opportunity to lead a Hip-Hop Producing workshop for Women at A3C Festival & Conference this year in Atlanta! This is huge! A great way to network and collaborate with each other. Grab your tickets to the conference at http://a3cconference.com!
09/13/2019
this past weekend at ’s FEAST 2019. Thank you again for the opportunity! (📸: ) @ Homan Square
09/10/2019
Synergy's Jovan Landry & SUNDÉ teamed up Experimental Station to host its first Synergy Workshop Series this past August. The 6-day Hip-Hop Technique workshop covered fundamentals essential to the artist: Music production, songwriting, recording, performance, music video production, collaboration & marketing. Song created by Lelowe, Miaa, NaniG, and Assata X.
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“The record not only hits hard, it grooves on every level. From the rapid-fire flows to the killer beats, to the affirming interludes proclaiming female involvement in hip hop from the very beginning, the entire album works with masterful intent." - Chicago Crowd Surfer, Issue #52
synergy |ˈsinərjē| (also synergism |-ˌjizəm| ) | noun: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects: the synergy between artist and record company.
Synergy is the first all-woman produced, performed and engineered Hip-Hop album created by Jovan Landry. The development of the album began in 2016 when Jovan Landry had a conversation former emcee TeQuila "Unmuvabo" Shabazz. Shabazz generally said: "I want to see a female rap album." The rest was history. Landry gathered some of her favorite women emcees from Chicago and sought after grants. In 2017, she discovered the WeWork Creator Awards application with a short deadline through a Black Women's Entrepreneur group on GroupMe and immediately she applied. In May 2017, Jovan was awarded the Incubate grant from WeWork Creator Awards in Detroit. Synergy was no longer than an idea and it was time to follow through. WeWork Creator Awards was a huge support to this project as it helped to compensate all of the artists, funded studio time, equipment, film shoots, photoshoots, meals during shoots, graphic design, marketing, merchandise, film submission fees, legal advice, and transportation.
Why Chicago? Why only women? Chicago gave birth to many great Hip-Hop acts: Common, Da Brat, Twista, Kanye West, Shawnna, Chance The Rapper and more. Chicago has adopted its own Hollywood, home to many TV shows: The Chi, Empire, Chicago Fire, Shameless and more. Like its landscape and the people in it, Chicago has versatility, flavor, energy, and most of all, a vibrant music scene. Working face to face with the talent that's already here in Chicago. Within the last 5 years, women have been taking over in the creative industry all around the world. In Hip-Hop's time of existence, we have never seen a project from top to bottom crafted entirely by women & femme identified artists before Synergy. This what makes Synergy the standout from any other woman Hip-Hop project ever created.
This album features 50 women & femme identified collaborators: 9 emcees, 4 producers, 1 B-Girl, 19 filmmakers, 2 makeup artists, 9 interlude interviewees, 2 photographers, 1 engineer, 1 DJ, 1 graphic designer, 1 event curator, and 1 entertainment lawyer. The power of social media, previous working relationships and word of mouth were how we sourced and hired our creatives. Through 2 years of hard work, commitment, dedication, constant communication, embracing the experience and creative freedom of each artist, and accountability: The album was completed and released on March 15, 2019, during Women's History Month.
The format of the album consists of 11 original tracks: The emcees (Jovan Landry, Sundé, Tweak'G, Tee Spirit, Jade The Ivy, Sauda Muse, JuJu Min### and Glitter Moneyyy), were divided in half to contribute to one of the 2 lead singles: "Synergy Cypher Pt. 1" and "Synergy Cypher Pt. 2". Following the singles, the two artists were randomly paired with each other based on the instrumental they chose (Production by Jovan Landry, _Qisum, K Flow, and Schenay Mosley). As the artists worked with each together for the first time, writing and recording sessions were scheduled to create their concept for their song. 5 songs resulted from these collaborations. The remaining 4 tracks are interludes of interviews Jovan Landry conducted with Hip-Hop artists, educators, organizers, mentors, and curators involved in the Chicago Hip-Hop scene for decades: TeQuila "Unmuvabo" Shabazz, Lady Flipside, Lady Gemstar, Jaquanda Villegas, Jacinda Bullie, Tasleem Jamila, Ang13, Anyi Ahlation, and Amina Ayo. Their responses in regards to women in hip-hop gave narration and a story to the album that is filled with insight, education, and retrospect. This was a way to include and connect all of the generations of women in hip-hop.
Since its release, Synergy was featured in the Chicago Tribune, Windy City Live, Vocalo Radio, and NPR; nominated for 3 awards at LA Music Video Awards and screened both music videos at Women of The Now Anniversary Screening; performed at Columbia College Chicago, Wicker Park Fest and The Fly Honey Show. Prior to its release, hosted a music video premiere screening & discussion at Experimental Station, spoke about Synergy at WeWork Creator Awards in Berlin and at the Women in Hip-Hop Conference at St. Louis University. In July 2019, Jovan Landry donated 2 physical CD copies to the archives at Universal Hip-Hop Museum, and in August 2019, Synergy hosted its first free Hip-Hop workshop series for young women and girls at Experimental Station, where they produced, wrote and engineered their own song, and presented what they learned in a live performance and screen their music video.
"Synergy,” is the result of the cumulative effort of a myriad of female creators, from graphic designers to producers to audio engineers. A love letter to female creatives and acknowledging of the unique obstacles women in hip-hop face, the project is a moving testament to female solidarity, and ultimately shows the industry how it’s done." - Erin "Rin" Davis, VOX ATL
