DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711130069

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LAMONT-DEANGEL, FEREBEE COLLEGE CORRESPONDENT 

                                            LENGTH:   46 lines

MUSIC IS FOUNDATION FOR BUDDING COMPANY

IT STARTED AS an informal meeting at Military Circle Mall in Norfolk. Then it blossomed into a small, independent music company that scouts local talent.

Foundation Entertainment was just a notion when Morris ``Strez'' Hall met Carlton ``2 Cool Capitan'' Bernard at the mall about six years ago. Hall was working at a hat shop in the mall. Bernard was a customer. The two began conversing about music and later exchanged numbers.

Hall, 22, already had a music partner. He and Anthony ``Strategy Real'' Sunkins, 23, were selling tapes they had mixed in Hall's basement. When Bernard joined the crew, they established Foundation Entertainment. Today, Bernard, 27, is the president of the company, which is located in the Lansdale area of Norfolk.

Foundation is working on several projects, including a CD compilation of the artists who have signed with the company. The release includes tracks from R&B artist Tam, hip hop groups Agginsy and IRA LOVE. It also features Strez, Strategy Real, Da 4 Horsemen, Bad Newz & Misalanious and Necessary Roughness.

If the names don't sound familiar, that's because many of the groups are just breaking into the business. And unless you're an interstate club hopper, you won't see many of the new performers. They perform at clubs outside Virginia.

As with the chance meeting, music continues to be the fiber woven through the lives of Foundation Entertainment's leaders.

Strez said it seems like he was always doing something in music, from being a disc jockey to being a producer. When asked when he started with music, he replied, ``When I came out of my mother's stomach.''

Sunkins' father was a disc jockey, so he's been living with music all his life. His mom, Paula, said, ``My Poony (her pet name for Sunkins) couldn't sleep without a radio on.''

One look at Sunkins and you might think ``gangsta rapper.'' At 6-foot-4, he kind of looks and dresses the part. But ``that's far from the truth,'' he said. ``I just finished college. I mind my busi-ness.''

Together the three twenty-somethings who make up Foundation Entertainment have been doing just that, minding their growing business. MEMO: Lamont-DeAngelo Ferebee is a junior at Norfolk State University. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Richard Dunston/VP

Morris "Strez" Hall...

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