G-VINE : As Rappers Reap, So Do Communities

Music-industry veteran Stan Sheppard expected some resistance when he started recruiting artists for his fledgling record label. The reason: They would be required to donate 10% of their royalties to charitable projects. To his surprise, however, the response from the performers has been overwhelmingly positive.

Sheppard, a former gang member from Chicago, says 17 rappers and R&B; singers have signed with his G-Vine Entertainment, which plans to use a portion of the proceeds from record sales to build and maintain three computer learning centers in Compton, South-Central Los Angeles and Watts.

“Record companies want to grasp the music of these harder-core rap artists because it sells records and reaps millions of dollars,” says the 43-year-old Sheppard, who started his music career as an artist and later worked for the Jackson family’s Jackson Communications and as a writer-producer for Motown Records. “But nothing goes back into the communities from which these artists came. And that’s wrong. . . .

“But instead of fighting these major record companies, I will lead by example and put up our company’s money, and our artists’ money. And maybe when [other companies] see how serious we are, maybe they’ll come to the table.”

Another unusual aspect of G-Vine is that all of the artists signed by Sheppard are current or former Los Angeles gang members--both Crips and Bloods.

“I want this all to come from gang members or ex-gang members, so they can have a hand in building from within,” he explains. “I’m not asking for a handout. That’s not what this is about.”

What it’s about, Sheppard says, is creating employment opportunities. Not everyone can make a living as a rapper.

“The fact is, only a fraction of the people who try to enter the recording industry are successful,” Sheppard says. “So what I want to do is take some money, train some kids and give them computer skills. If you don’t have some type of training, you’re going to be left out. And if these kids are left out, they’re going to do what they normally do to survive--and that’s trying to get money through whatever means is necessary.”

The company’s debut effort, rapper Dazzie Dee’s “Where’s My Receipt?,” will be released March 19 with help from Capitol Records, which paid for the recording costs and will market and promote the album. A single from the album, “Everybody Wants to Be a Gangsta,” was released last month.

“Once we heard about the project and once we knew what [G-Vine] wanted to do, we got excited just based on how they saw the whole thing panning out,” says Gary Gersh, president and CEO of Capitol Records.

“In any way we can, we want to give back everything that’s possible--and they wanted to give back everything they could to people within their own communities. That was a very strong and supportive move to make, and we wanted to do what we could to let them know that we’d back them up.”

Dazzie Dee, who’s been a Crip for 14 years, is happy to be lending a hand.

“I wanted to help start it off,” the rapper says. “A lot of people said they would do it, or they’re going to do it, but it’s all about putting it down--putting your money where your mouth is.

“We’re the only ones that can change ourselves. We can’t look to nobody else to make us change. We’ve got to do it ourselves.”