With record sales dropping and labels slashing budgets left and right, it seems like more and more artists are deciding to stay independent rather than chase the fame that signing with a major label could bring. While the work load will be heavier and the pressure higher, the end result will be worth it.

If you want proof that staying independent can work, look no further than to the HipHopFriends. Comprised of brother Chucky Big Bux and Dirty Dread, the HipHopFriends are pioneers of this new generation of Hip-Hop entrepreneurs. The blood brothers are showing the world that you don’t have to have Def Jam or Interscope behind your name for you to become a name in the music business. Already establishing their own label and radio station already under their belt, dropping a group album is the next obvious move.

Backed by the success of their single “Private Party” the dynamic duo look to give hip-hop heads a crash course in how to become successful without the machine behind you. The brothers chatted it up with wordonthestreetsmag.com music editor Mehka about how they got in the game, what they’ve gotten out of the game and what others could learn from their moves.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: First question. How do you guys do it? How are you successful without the help of a major label?

Chucky Big Bux: You gotta be organized and you have to be business orientated. The music business is more than just getting in the studio and recording music. You got to get your work in order and have your contact list in order so you can know who’s who. You will have to self fund yourself through out the whole way and find different revenue streams to bring back the money you spent out. That’s why HipHopFriends we have several things that we do. We have the webcast radio station, we promote, we covered all angles of the business so that we’re not depending on the sale of a CD to make money.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: What are the benefits of being indie as opposed to putting all your eggs into one basket with a major label?

Dirty Dread: Being indie, you reap all the benefits when you are successful. No one else is taking from our pie. Like Chuck said, you have to put up a lot of your own money, but you don’t have to worry about the majors taking from you. We decided that it was better for us to stay independent as long as we can until a good deal came along. And that’s what a lot of artists are doing right now. Their starting of indie and not having to go through the bad contracts and things like that where most major artist have gone through early.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: How did the HipHopFriends come to be?

Chucky Big Bux: I’m an 80’s baby. I was around when Rakim and BDP and LL were just coming out. I had my little turntable set. My brother Dread was a Dj and an artist back in the day. When you been around hip-hop and live hip-hop. In our music we are very conscious of what we say and our wordplay cause we were bred to be lyricists

The name HipHopFriends came about when would be on tour. Originally we were called the E&J Brothers. A lot of people knew of the radio station so when they saw us they would just call us HipHopFriends. We changed from E&J Brothers to HipHopFriends as the company grew more popular.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: Right now you’re making noise with your new single “Private Party”

Dirty Dread: The single is called “Private Party” it’s starting to get played in about 30 markets right now, we’re up to about 1000 spins. We feel good about that. We were just looking for that right song to bring to the radio. So we reached out to producers and we got a couple of beats. We stumbled on one that already had the “Private Party” hook on the beat so we went with that. It was produced by Gifttrap. The track had a West Coast kinda of feel and we gave it that East Coast flavor. The hook was in the middle so we felt like we had something for everybody. We promised ourselves that if we got to 1000 spins, we’d shoot the video. So when that happened, we sat down to come up with the concept of the video and we’re about to shoot that soon.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: Will we see an album coming from HipHopFriends soon?

Chucky Big Bux: Yeah. The album is called “Ground Work” First quarter of next year we should release that. We just want to show people that you can do it totally independent. From all the work we’ve done to SEA awards, AVA, to Communicator awards, our shelves are real dusty from awards.

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: Speaking of the S.E.A’s. What’s it like being a group from New York getting love in the south.

Dirty Dread: It felt pretty good. Coming from the North, it takes other regions a little bit longer to catch on to you sometimes. Everybody is on their own vibe. We decided when we started this movement that we weren’t going to stay in just the North. We were going to go on the road and build different relationships in the south and that’s helped out. It was just gratification for all the hard work that we put in. It feels real good. Its shows that our music isn’t juts NYC.

Chucky Big Bux: We won for “web-cast radio station” We created the radio stations to break our records actually. Were into licensing cause that’s where the music really is at. So we started to breaking our own records and it grew and grew. Dj Coalitions like Core and Hittmen Dj’s came on to our radio stations and started breaking records from other regions and it just took off like a runaway trains. Before we knew it, we were one of the biggest web-cast radio stations out there. We’re nominated again for “Best Industry Service”

Wordonthestreetsmag.com: What advice would you give for artists or labels who are thinking about taking the route that you took?

Dirty Dread: My advice you must have the right team around you. You have to separate your business friends from your regular friends. A lot of guys run around with their friends and your friends aren’t always business minded people. Make sure you have a good business team that’s in your best interest. And of course you have to go to the studio not thinking about just yourself or your region. You have to think about the hook and making a song that can appeal to the masses. At the end of the day your not making a song for yourself or your crew. You’re making a song for the world to hear. The right production team, the right hook and the right rhymes. And stay focused. At the end of the day its your dream and the further you push your dream the more people will understand you. “Never Give Up”

Check out Hip-Hop Friends at Twitter.com/hiphopfriends and their website hiphopfriends.com