Fresh Coast is Major 3 is the 3rd in a yearly series of mixtapes featuring the winners of Juice Radio's weekly Fresh Coast Faceoff and hosted by Juice's music director, D-Money. Every week two new artists from the Northwest compete for an interview on Juice Radio's Thursday night show Fresh Juice, and the tape which will be released on the day of the release show on November 20th at http://www.dmoney.bandcamp.com, will contain some of its winners over this past year. To keep up on the Fresh Coast Faceoff every week go to http://www.gojuiceradio.com/category/fcf/.:: THE BREAKLIGHTS ::The story of the Breaklites begins in early 2008. While on a trip out of town visiting a friend, Cruel (MC) randomly met John McRae (Guitarist/Producer). Their conversation quickly turned to hip hop, and the two discovered they both lived in Tacoma, WA. Numbers were exchanged and they talked about working together on a project in the future. Early that summer Cruel and John finally connected and started work on their first song together. The song, ironically titled “Distracted,” was never released, and the project was put on the back burner as life pushed the two in opposite directions.Fast forward through two years of rollercoaster-like highs and lows, with nothing substantial to show musically from either one, and you have the real beginning. Both of them knew they needed to get back in the studio. They reconnected and decided to push everything else aside to dive head first into a totally fresh music project. Finding a new energy within themselves, the duo began working together like a well oiled machine. As their first project neared completion a name for the pair surfaced, The Breaklites. Before officially releasing the project, they wanted to add a DJ to the crew to bring that classic dynamic to their live performance. Cruel bounced the idea off his friend and DJ, The Mayor, who was immediately on board.The Breaklites released their first project New Dogs, Old Tricks EP in November 2010. With the original burst of momentum they discovered that winter, the group followed up with three more projects in 2011 starting with Pack Your Bags in February, Robots and Dayton’s in May and the latest album Rapface was completed in December. With the release of Robots and Dayton’s, the group decided to add Bannack Stebor (Keyboardist) and Alex Schelhammer (MC) to the crew and launched off on their first tour, gaining a following as they brought their sweat-drenched and rowdy live performance to new audiences. After returning home and recording the latest album Rapface, The Breaklites took their energy on the road for the second time, with the bigger and better Rapface Tour, covering over half of the United States.Four projects deep, with the fifth album In The Trunk coming summer 2012, there is nowhere to go but up for The Breaklites.:: BRAINSTORM :: Brainstorm has slowly presented himself by opportunity over the past few years by releasing several songs, freeverses, and remixes which have helped him solidify his name as a producer/artist. Also you cannot disregard his work as a part of the trio Dyme Def which continues to release music through their payday download series and has five projects to date that are available for purchase. Solo or as part of a group Brainstorms tireless work ethic has created opportunities and continued to gain him new fan support. :: JOHN CROWN ::Major cities were once the go to source for the best talent and artists would relocate in hopes of fulfilling their dreams of making it in the music business. Like acting and Hollywood it got redundant and chances are every other person was pursuing the same thing. So its really no surprise that as of late the talent pool is coming from smaller cities and though the Northwest is no powerhouse in the music scene why not throw Tacoma in as the underdog. While the city is probably more looked upon as being gritty and gangsta musically it has its share of polished all around artists. John Crown kind of snuck up on most people when he released “Before I Wake You Up” last year but what was most impressive is how mended he was as an artist. While most freshman releases are semi-permissible John Crown had you in anticipation for more music and a year later we get it with “Coffee And Beats”. The twelve track release has him working with DJ Phinisey, DJ Semaj, Mike Weed, Jasper T, Element Of Second Family, Justin Pelesasa, Action Bronson, and a few more talented folks people may not be fully aware of. Kind of a curveball John Crown presents self brilliance by being a normal guy with grandeur material that aims direct without overly imposing anything but himself.:: NU ERA ::Nu Era is a collective of MC's from the Northwest who pride themselves on the diversity of their backgrounds, skill sets, and styles. Seattle MC, Turtle T, began rocking with Hush'd Puppies in 2007 and later on became the lead MC of EMP Sound Off 2009 Champs, DynoJamz. Andrew Savoie, Portland grown MC & beat chef, brings to the table a deep knowledge of music that compliments both his written vers... e and production abilities. Chiefs who is also a member of The Theoretics brings an element of theatrics and high voltage energy with every performance. Last but not least, 5 Flat, from Yelm, WA based Hip Hop duo 5 and Brown, adds the final touch to each track with his formal training as an audio engineer as well as his lyricism and stage presence.Nu Era's debut project, Sink or Swim, showcases the variety of sounds that the crew covers as a collective. From the chaotic cohesion of "Nu Tang" to the conscious and personal "Missed It"...one listen to the album and one will notice that with this group anything is possible. The project also features an extended family of talent including Ray Dalton, Kung Foo Grip, and elegant vocals from Camila Recchio.Nu Era has been staying busy and striving to get their name out. Their hard work has been paying off recently performing along side Seattles own Blue Scholars, Brother Ali, K-OS, Blu, And Tiron and Ayomari. The live show that Nu Era brings speaks for itself and their energy is contagious.:: DJ SWERVEWON ::Born in Anchorage, Alaska and grew up in Billings, Montana. I have been DJing for over 15 years and have residing in Seattle for 5 plus years. Starting out in the game doing promotions with Obese Productions which is now known as ReignCity. My very first major opening slot came in June of 2006 when I got to open for Kool Keith, ever since then I've opened for many major artists and a lot of local rappers in the NW playing from Bellingham to Portland.:: Q DOT ::Q Dot, a piano playing, soulful crooning, rapper and producer from Seattle blends the purest form of hip hop with tasteful inflections of R&B, jazz and classical. Every bit an advocate for independent artists as he is a musician, Q Dot, working out of the Pacific Northwest's bubbling but still lesser known Hip Hop scene also runs a music festival and internet radio station dedicated to breaking new acts.In school, Q Dot connected with a group of students experimenting with Hip Hop culture. Of that group would come a Grammy award winning producers, a gold selling producer, and award winning reality TV music producer, an Olympic gold medalist and Q Dot who himself credits a Grammy nomination to his list of accolades. When a proposed record deal with Interscope failed to materialize, Q Dot set out as an independent artist. With drive and a lot of luck he found himself having performed or toured with Hip Hop heavyweights such as: Goodie Bom, Kanye West, Zion-i, Paul Wall, Ying Yang Twins and Sir Mix a Lot amongst others. Q Dot's music much life the names mentioned is an authentic mixture of fun, thought provoking and honest lyrics backed by hard hitting beats which is second only to a live show that features the rapper/producer playing piano and keyboard while rapping lyrics.