Hiphop! For Sale! Getcha Hiphop!

H the Great is leaning on the wall of the Union Square Virgin Megastore with a stack of homemade pressed CDs. In his hiphop costume of oversized urban street apparel, the Great is chatting up a doughy Puerto Rican kid with an extra-large red and white pinwheel ball cap and black electrician jacket.

"Yo, I make beats. I go to the school down there," the Puerto Rican kid says, pointing down the block to the Institute of Audio Research.

"Yeah," says H. "You should listen to my CD."

The Puerto Rican kid takes a look at the Great's merchandise while telling him about the production equipment he has.

"We should get in contact wit each otha. Gimme ya email." The Puerto Rican kid scribbles down an address and hands H a fiver for the CD.

H the Great has been out here almost every day this week, hustling The All Out LP, a self-produced hiphop album. Like other artists trying to break into the music biz-or, more specifically, the overcrowded New York City hiphop scene-H is better off selling his music on the street than trying to score a recording contract.

A Bed-Stuy native, H, whose real name is Hamza, has been traveling the country, performing at small hiphop shows to promote his product. "I sold my CDs hand to hand in DC, Tampa, Boston, Chicago...all over. You might find me on your corner tomorrow." While it hasn't brought him mainstream success or a distributor yet, he says, it has allowed him to eat and continue working on music.

There are many kids like H out here today. Jerms Black has a Walkman with him. He asks everyone passing the entrance to Virgin, "Hey, you like good hiphop?" Most keep walking, ignoring his sales pitch, but a few smile and put one headphone on to hear Jerms Black do his thing.

The Great has spotted a few college-age kids walking out of Virgin with shopping bags. He pushes himself off the wall and tries a fan favorite pitch: "Stop! In the name of hiphop!" The kids turn and listen to H tell his story. Both look at the CD, but pass, claiming they have no cash on them.

The Great says he has better luck outside of New York City selling The All Out LP. That's why he's traveling the country and using the contacts he makes on the internet to perform in other places.

"This is a real funny market. There are a lotta politics goin' on here that make it extremely difficult for the average up-and-coming artist to break through. Luckily, I ain't average."