NEW YORK (July 25, 2007) - Loud.com, in association with Steve Rifkind and SRC Records, announced today the first round of winners in the battle for $100,000 and a record deal with SRC. As hip-hop’s new digital home and only true on-line source for underground talent, Loud.com’s inaugural and groundbreaking competition has produced some serious emcees all looking to be the next big thing.

The competition is essentially broken into three brackets, with each bracket consisting of ten rounds. Each week (or round), a winner is selected, and from that pool of ten winners, three are chosen as semi-finalists for the Finals. When all three brackets have been completed, the Top 9 semi-finalists (3 from each bracket) will compete against each other in a Finals Bracket for the $100,000 and record deal.

The Bracket A winners:

1st Place ($25,000) - Tha Crow
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.loud.com/THA_CROW

2nd Place ($15,000) - Walt Gully
Cahokia, IL
http://www.loud.com/WaltGully

3rd Place ($10,000) - Most Official
Minneapolis, MN
http://www.loud.com/mostofficial

"We’re very happy about the talent popping up on the site, and these three cats are proof," Rifkind said. "For anybody that doubted this was for real, I don’t know why. You’re missing out on the biggest opportunity of your life."

And don’t miss the extras Loud.com is hooking emcees up with, either. Nice with it? Punchlines for days? Flow miraculous? The good folks here at Loud.com dig all that. As proof, prize money is being awarded for a Top 3 finish. So - read between the lines: even if you don’t win the entire competition, the incentive is to finish first in your round because the higher you place, there’s money to win. Loud.com’s A&R staff is looking for ALL KINDS of talent. So, if Tha Crow and his Cali mental ultimately proves to be the winner, he would earn his $25,000 PLUS another $100,000 and the record deal because of his first-place finish. And to prove to ya’ll these cats really won the dough, Loud.com will be posting pictures of the winners with their checks next week.

GET ON YOUR GRIND. Bracket B is already taking submissions for the second round. Any emcees complaining that there is no way to get into the industry, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. You have the platform. You have the beats. All you need is a mic. So, don’t talk about it, be about it!!

LOUD.COM is an online competition, open to all registered users. Loud.com offers users the ability to download professional beats from Hip Hop’s hottest producers for just 99 cents, use a unique on-line recording tool to overlay raps over the tracks, have the songs judged by celebrity producers and compete for $100,000 and a record deal with SRC Records, home of multi Platinum, Grammy Awarding winning artist such as Akon and David Banner. LOUD producers have made hits for The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, The Game, Jim Jones, Lil Jon, Rick Ross, Talib Kweli, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and many more. Log on now!