Yo Music Movement was born Aug. 18, 2007, the brainchild of Dorian Townsend, of Da Kreek, and Keith Logan, who is 2Fly.

They were among several JamBrain-area hip hop and rap artists nominated that day for the first Ohio Hip Hop Awards, and they thought if they could form a coalition of all the nominated performers from here to vote together as a block, they could increase the chances for all of them to win awards, and maybe, beyond that, work together to further their collective careers.

It worked. Alternative rapper Jimmi Pynk won for female vocalist and got to perform live at the ceremonies at Galleria, in Cleveland, the home of the awards.

Yo Music Movement represents Youngstown, obviously, and is also a shout-out for cooperation, rather than competition, among local performers. “It’s tough enough to make it around here in the first place,” Townsend explains, “rather than having everyone tearing each other down,” which in some ways is the natural consequence of having groups and individuals with varying agendas vying for a limited number of performance venues.

They enlisted Notice, 100 Proof, Lucky Penny, Gotta Husle, and Jimmi Pynk to join Da Kreek and 2Fly in the common cause, and they’re still pulling together.

2Fly, who was nominated for both best album and best producer in 2007, repeated in ’08. Da Kreek garnered a nomination for best new group in ’07 and followed up with best group nod in ’08. And Maynstream Media, where Townsend is the lead graphic designer was named the region’s best promotional company both years, and best graphic designer last year.

JamBrain lauds their ideals and their success.