Monday - September 4, 2006 by Janeé Bolden
Player watch - 8/14

Stepping into the music industry under the guidance of MC Serch, CC Smooth has risen the ranks of Serchlite Music to become co-owner and president. This princess of promotions has organized national marketing tours for over 400 records and can count top brands like ESPN The Magazine, Mitchell & Ness and Ecko Clothing among her clients. With Serchlite's growth into special events and television, CC Smooth is a definite Player to Watch in 2006.

Boston girl CC Smooth (real name Carrie Carnie) earned her moniker while attending New Hampshire's PlymouthStateUniversity, working her first music gig as a DJ for college radio.

"They had a college radio station and the hip-hop DJ they had was graduating so they were going to stop the show. I asked if I could do it. They threw me on with no training and I had to come up with a name on the spot. I literally looked at a Pete Rock and CL Smooth album and said, 'Alright CC Smooth.' Now that hip-hop has gone mainstream and our clients are more corporate it does raise some eyebrows - we had a big meeting with GM and they were like - "So CC Smooth?" CC told SOHH.com.

During her stint as a college DJ, CC met former 3rd Bass rapper MC Serch when they both attended the Gavin Music Convention. Serch mentored CC for several years before she moved to New York and began working for a booking agency. She lost the job after three months and joined Serchlite as an assistant while the company was still very young.

"He had the vision for it to be a kind of hip-hop conglomerate working with anything that is up and coming and cutting edge. Our whole history is with up and coming names. He was involved with Def Jam early on, Ecko early on, Nas early on. We're proud to have been a part of so many projects from inception," CC Smooth explained.

In 2001, Serch moved to Detroit to host WJLB's morning show and entrusted CC with partnership at Serchlife.

"Becoming partner was my most memorable experience. I've been able to travel the country and world in a position that I'd never been able to otherwise. It's hard sometimes balancing time, trying to get to the gym and have a social life. My favorite thing to do besides work is sleep because I get so little of it. The stressors are also being responsible for payroll and other people's livelihood," CC told SOHH.

CC's responsibilities at Serchlite encompass working records for radio, overseeing promotional tours, managing producers, shopping new talent and throwing events.

"My work involves a lot of travel, putting together proposals and marketing plans, building our corporate clients and balancing that with calls to DJs. You have to stay on top of securing new clients while holding down your bread and butter. Also stay relevant so that when you are pitching to corporate clients you are bringing them the newest-latest-hottest," CC explained.

Among Smooth's latest accomplishments are an annual official NFL pre-draft party, and a mix CD for ESPN The Magazine.

"I started the pre-draft party 4 years ago as a small thing and it's been licensed the last two years in a row by ESPN The Magazine and Hummer has also come in. On the music side I came up with a quarterly CD for ESPN The Magazine called The Mix. There's new music on one CD and the second CD is music from different athletes. It's co-branded with ESPN and we send it to all the radio stations and tastemakers. It's been very well received," CC said.

CC Smooth's Play-O-Graphy

Projects:

-"Breaking new artists on television, radio, in the clubs and on mixtapes, always".

-"Filming a new show on VH1, 'The White Rapper Show' starring MC Serch. It will be airing on VH1 in January 2007 (Developed by Ego Trip)."

-"Continuing to put out our annual Double CD Compilation: The Mix (Volume 4 comes out in September)."

-"Co-Producing and Developing Content and Shows for ESPN360. As well as music placement on ESPN.com and 360."

- "Expanding Serchlite's Events Division, right now they create and executive produce the hottest Sports Events around, including the annual Pre-Draft party thrown for all the invited rookies to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN The Magazine has licensed this from Serchlite for the past 2 years. Serchlite is looking forward to expanding this event, getting involved in doing other official player parties and venturing into other sports arenas including the NBA and the PGA."

-"Managing the hottest new producers out of Detroit, The Sicknotes (currently have Obie Trice's latest single, "Cry Now")."

-"Retail Product: Top Secret but very excited about it and we already have pre-orders in from some major retailers nationwide."

Watchlist:

Damani: new artist from Inglewood signed to Sony Urban.

Roxanne Jones: ESPN.Com: (VP of New Media)

Lylette Pizarro: RPM Inc.(Partner)

KP ( Kawan Prather): Head of AR for Sony Urban

CL- Diggi-Waxx (Founder)

Chris Atlas- Amp'ed Mobile (Director of Entertainment Marketing)

DJ Cassidy

DJ Clinton Sparks

Jonathan Mannion- the most talented photographer around! www.jonathanmannion.com

Jonathan Vilma- NY Jets player

Quotes of The Year:

"Try not to become a person of success, but a person of value."

"Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get."

"Refuse Limitation."

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