about

Founded in 2006, Ground Lift Media is an event production and experiential marketing firm which targets & works within many progressive, tastemaker niche demographics of urban culture. Our story begins in 1999 with what started as a passion for discovering and collecting Hip-Hop ‘breaks’, diggers may remember us better as ‘breakz4dayz.com’.  A modest rare vinyl sales operation ensued. As the Internet developed, dealing with DJs, producers, and vinyl enthusiasts from across the world became easier but we soon realized that technology was taking over the music industry.

Mp3s trumped vinyl, and Serato trumped everything.  Not ones to fight progress,  we shifted our attentions to an online magazine which focused on Hip-Hop, Downtempo, Rare Groove, and Beat Digging culture. Pulling in the fans of our vinyl sales while simultaneously expanding our reach to eclectic music listeners en masse, Ground Lift became in it’s hey day what some referred to as “an online Wax Poetics.” As we moved across industry platforms it was evident that sales, music marketing, and journalism were three different, yet related beasts but we were missing a ‘glue’ that could unify all the branches…

Being so heavily founded on technology-based mediums we reminisced on the pre-Internet boom days, and remembered that while technology is the future, nothing ever beats basic face-to-face  interaction. Based on that ideal, we took Ground Lift to the real world and produced events, concerts, and showcases with international/national/local touring artists. Our success in this realm arrived in the form of an expanded PR/promo branch which effectively bridged the gap between virtual and real with Ground Lift Magazine as the hub.

Throw this all into a pot and you get Ground Lift Media, the next logical step in our evolution. Pulling in our 10+ years of expertise across three important sectors of the music business, we excel at working from the ground up as our company’s name implies, but in a technical sense a ‘ground lift’ removes interference between connected devices. Yes we are nerds but this idea rules our world and as the global community is increasingly intertwined, breaking through the chatter becomes job #1. Welcome to our world, get lifted…

Past shows:

Wale, Mos Def, MF Doom, Blu, Exile, Skyzoo, DJ Day, Troublemaker & Tate La Rock (Hollyrock), Colin Munroe, Tanya Morgan, Ohmega Watts, Pacific Division, Budos Band, Guilty Simpson, Little Brother, Slum Village, Ancient Astronauts, Kings Go Forth, Snoop Dogg, Pseudo Slang, Herbaliser, DJ Ayres, Million $ Mano, Slum Village, Bobbito, Redman / Method Man, J-Live, DJ Craze & Klever, DJ Q-Bert,  DJ Spinna, Edan, Devin the Dude, Psalm One, Raashan Ahmad (Crown City Rockers), Hollywood Holt, Shina Rae, Keys N’ Krates, SoulStice, Oakland Faders, Mayer Hawthorne & The County, Buff1, NowOn, DJ Mel, Chicken George, Phil Cohran (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Black Thought (of the Roots), The Beatnuts, J.Period, King Fantastic, Auburn (Eliot Lipp x Vyle), Mexicans With Guns…

As well as a slew of Chicago-based indie artists & live bands including Decay, Visual, The Gent$, The Jordan Years, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Wes Restless, Pugslee Atomz, Ghetto Divison, 80′s Babies, Ill Legit, Adad, 1773, Vertual Vertigo, Kid Static + Yea Big, All Natural, The Opus, Qwel, Maker, Seel Fresh, Loyal Divide, Dave Coresh, BBU, Mic Terror, DJ Zebo, Willy Joy, Hey Champ, Treologic, Sound Conspiracy, Contriband, and many many more!

Recent projects/sponsors:

Scion, Adidas, Nike, Sparks, Miller Brewing, Red Stripe, Frank151, Colt45, St. Alfred’s, Chicago Riders, Shmack Clothing, Jugrnaut Chicago, Soulspazm Records, Fat Beats, River City Music Entertainment, BLNCTY records.