I mean I've only moved here pretty recently so I've been tryin to figure out where the hiphop of this area is at. It got me thinking when I commented on top 5 tacoma hiphopers thread. Do we even have more then 5 people seriously doing hiphop or are most people just myspace hoppin. I've been looking at these lineup for a few days now on these shows in the area same people, i been to a few of ya shows and its getting old. How does the new talent get up? Seems like a few of you are just crushin em.

Dunno, maybe hiphop is dead here.

as far as quality hip-hop music from the tac, there is a substantial amount, and a shit load on the way. can-u and jay-bars both have multiple solid projects available. 10th & Commerce just released a free ep. evergreenone just released a free ep. josh just released an album. and the list goes on... my first album let it play is available online at itunes but i will have hard copies all over in the fall. And a grib of people are working on albums, including fise (my most anticipated), John Crown, EvergreenOne, Erik & I (shit is going to be classic).

I just mentioned a lot of the artists i work with, and there is a lot more, and bigger things on the way. so yea bro the scene isnt major, but its solid and progressing.

-note to the forum- i realize as im writing this i haven't met and listened to a lot of the artists on here and in the town (e.i horizon, Bruce Leroy, Clem Rashad, the list goes on) and i know there is ton of ill shit out, so dont take my posts like im naming whose who in the scene, i just mentioned things i know that are going on)

new ones get up by booking shows. it's really simple to do so. send flash an email.
we've only been playing for about 9 months now and have more shows than we want to book.
a few real quality ones too, for the area anyways..

so no, i don't think the "mediocre" talent is crushing out any budding talents in the area. it's just a matter of motivation for anybody interested in starting up. and a willingness to rock a show.

Ummm, Fresh Blends is trying to do just that.

We have been working pretty hard to throw out a diverse line up of cats with talent.

253 hip hop is the truth

Fresh Blends is doing just that right now. Each time the even comes up it excites me to see the line up. New people each time. It's real dope. That's dope One Be Lo said that...THat was probably at Northwest Noise with Humpty Hump! that was a real fresh night. We saw some crazy talent across the NW that night.

www.myspace.com/elementofsf

www.myspace.com/secondfamily

im here too.

www.myspace.com/evergreenonenw

ha.

Don't forget me...

www.myspace.com/mcgigahertz

define "serious about hiphop.."

If I wear head to toe oversized nascar gear with boots and an iced out chain am I serious about hip hop?
Is the dude at the carwash on sprague selling cds out of his trunk where he raps about gangster shit on hilltop and it sounds like it was recorded in his bathroom serious about hiphop?
Is a white kid on stage spitting over a dj hiphop?
If I carry a skateboard around the mall with a backpack full of paint am i serious about hiphop?
BrickCity has shows every Friday night and it's billed as "hiphop" but I would never go- So are they serious about hiphop or am I the one who's serious about it?
Is the popper on "so you think you can dance" serious about hiphop?
Is the kid with the clown makeup who goes to ICP shows serious about hiphop?
Is the whitekid in U.P. that never goes to shows but bumps Atmosphere every day serious about hiphop?

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that "hiphop" means a whole lot of different things to a lot of different people. Go to cans on thursday night and it's packed wall to wall for "hiphop", but all you're gonna here are the latest tracks from Kube 93. Go to Indochine on a saturday night and you can hear Reign cut up james Brown breaks and maybe even some "Jam on it"- but there will be less people at Indochine then there are at cans.

It goes back to the "lowest common denominator" thing that was discussed in a previous thread. Everyone in Tacoma has a friend who is "the best rapper that they have ever heard". If only they could get a show. If only they weren't a bedroom MC and a basement DJ.

a few people in this area have organized something solid out of all of this shit and it has steadily been gaining steam. So go support. Go to the Urban Arts Festival. Go to Freshblends at the Kitchen. Go hit the Shows at the Viaduct. Tell Fice to release that cd. Bring some cardboard down to Ruston this summer and rock a puma suit and just stand there in a b-boy stance all day...get out and meet the local folks and help out if you can. rock a show with them. just be a part of it because it has already come a long way and it's got nowhere to go but BETTER.

DEUCE NICKLE TRES.

wasnt always like that

used to be easy as pie to be a local emcee, in the late 90s and the turn of the milim' it was like we were the only ones running around the town puttin it down with consistancy

or just cause they enjoy the music... artists like erik and fice who have been at almost every 10th & Commerce/Can-U show at plu are there because they enjoy the music and are the homies. and thats the reason i go to shows, sometimes it hard not to compare or wish you were on the bill and shit, but i love live hop, period

best/worst hobby/habit ever.

no money could bring back that collection if you have a housefire, that shit is scary!

JAY BARZ:

Applebottom_Getta253:

Why is there such a lack of fans?

everybody raps.

"I said it's too many rappers, not enough fans" - Jay Barz

everybody plays guitar too.
so?

i don't get your point.
music isn't popular only to people who have no musical abilities.
that would be ludicrous.
in fact, one could argue that it's more popular to those who understand the effort it takes. i feel i respect a good guitar player or a good rapper more because i have done these things and know it more intimately.

so i guess what i'm saying is i disagree whole-heartedly with your argument.
OR i just don't understand what you're saying.

hip hop is so gay....the carter III is the shit!

elementofsf:

Nasty Left:

JAY BARZ:

Applebottom_Getta253:

Why is there such a lack of fans?

everybody raps.

"I said it's too many rappers, not enough fans" - Jay Barz

everybody plays guitar too.
so?

i don't get your point.
music isn't popular only to people who have no musical abilities.
that would be ludicrous.
in fact, one could argue that it's more popular to those who understand the effort it takes. i feel i respect a good guitar player or a good rapper more because i have done these things and know it more intimately.

so i guess what i'm saying is i disagree whole-heartedly with your argument.
OR i just don't understand what you're saying.

put it like this .. i started rapping summer of '99 and during that time i could count on my hands how many niggas that did it SERIOUSLY .. let alone how many niggas even did it period. with the evolution of home recording, combined with hoop dreams that were shot to shit, scholarships that went south, the d-boy movement and the abc 123 rhymers gettin deals EVERYBODY RAPS. add that to the back against the wall me against the world mentality of tacoma and it doesnt make for a very lucrative market. have you ever tried grinding your music out here? i lost count years ago of all the people that try to kick you a verse, have they patna kick you a verse or just flat out try to convince you of how much better they are than you as opposed to just supporting and buying a fucking cd. all barz is saying is that the shit doesnt even out. by your argument other rappers should be even bigger supporters of the cause, and thats not anywhere near the case.

i see what you're saying.
and yes, i have "tried grinding my music out here." in case you haven't noticed, we're playing several shows each month in this area. i know the type you speak of that want to spit you a verse or battle or whatever. but that's healthy if you ask me.
look at it this way: these people are asking you that because they just saw you on stage and noticed you were doin somethin. this means they were at your show. which means that even though they rap, and may think they're better than you (what american doesn't?) they still came out to the show. so that does nothing but back up my argument.
i think other rappers, for the most part, are big supporters of the cause. at least the ones with their heads screwed on straight. it's the unification of the different hip hop acts in this town that keeps the scene alive. i get you a show, you get me a show and then we tack this other guy on next time and he gets both of us a show. it works out that way. of course, there's always the goofball wanna be rapper who thinks he's the shit, but that exists in EVERY musical circle and they are all still alive.
by your argument jazz should have died ten years after it started because everybody started playing trumpet and sax.
that "back against the wall me against the world mentality" you refer to is not just a Tacoma trait. that's silly. that's an american thing. and it's always been that way.
rappers are still fans. the ones you are talking about are not in the majority. i have several years of experience to back up this notion. i'm sure you do too, but perhaps you've just been stuck with all the knuckleheads lately...
regardless, they're still at your shows and they wouldn't want to spit you a flow if they didn't think you were doin it.

Sawchosiz:

I think he means whos gonna buy the shit if the fans are more concerned about making there own cds...? Ive been soliticting my music on the local community before there was limewire or Ipods and its very different now....nobody wants to give props to other artist they wanna become artist and get props

I got people that use to be fans then they started rapping and now there haters and then I got haters who eventually became fans

but the fan aspect is almost gone

i will always be a fan. that is why i do what i do. you don't have to ever worry about kitty wu rapping. i wouldn't subject you all to that! lol.

everybody raps, bottom line. I'm looking at it from a rapper's standpoint trying to target consumers, bro. you don't have to agree but I feel talent should get paid. if the consumer becomes the seller, no money generates. That's like if marijuana got legalized.. weed pushers would be distinct.. there'd be no need because it'd be accessible from any/everyone..

same shit with rap.. if every person who could be a potential fan decides to rap themselves.. who's gonna really be my fan? this is competition at the end of the day.. and my music has inspired many people to rap.

when I first started pushin my cd around town & whatnot.. it was me, Sawchosiz, & a handful of others.. now? everybody has a cd. the waitress at applebee's tried to sell me her mixtape. these types of oversaturation also discourage potential buyers when you're out promoting your stuff. if Becky Sue just met 5 rappers off the street, supported them by buying their music, and it sounded like Bedroom Productions.. that ruins it for me. so if I ever run into Becky Sue, she won't support my amazing music because No Talent Entertainment just convinced her to stop.

I love hip-hop, but this is my job.

So we'll agree to disagree.

I blame a lot of it on Myspace and the advent of "social Networking". Before all of this stuff, the only way that people across the country were gonna hear you was if you toured or got distribution of some sort. You used to have to work your ass off.
Now, people can make a Myspace profile, play 3 or four shows in thier hometown, amass 12,500 friends and sell 1,000 cd's to people on the eastcoast all with never having left thier own zipcode. Eveyone is an emcee and everyone has thier wack-ass music posted on a myspace profile. It's terrible. It has removed the drive from up and coming musicians.

Now let me clarify, sites like Myspace can be an amazing tool for artists but that's all it is- a tool. Myspace is not a sole means of distribution. Without shows and tours you're still nothing more than a bedroom rapper with internet access.

se·ri·ous / [seer-ee-uhs]
–adjective

(1). of grave or somber disposition, character, or manner
(2). requiring thought, concentration, or application

the problem isn't whether or not anyone around here is serious(2) about hip-hop. it's that the hip-hop community - both artists and fans, are too serious(1). music ain't a science, it's a form of art. somebody needs to start pumping nitrous oxide into the nightclubs around here. this is just my opinion.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TjNNxnKVEpQ&feature=related

I'm exaggerating.... but you get the point. The internet and inexpensive recording equipment has given rise to a mass of "rappers". ever searched myspace music with the genre of hiphop?

right now there are 1,060 pages and about 20 people per page....

myspace is cool but myspace will fool you. a muhfucka could have a couple 100,000 views on there and no one knows them in their own town or surrounding areas.. you still gotta beat the streets and make your face known in public by promoting your music.. so this shit is still hard work.. don't think you can get on myspace (with some actual credible music, minus Soulja Boy) and blow up. touring, promoting, radio spins.. these are all things that have to happen.. besides, the more people I meet & tell them to add me on myspace, they say they never get on there anymore.. myspace is about to become what napster became back in '01..

myspace is just a tool for an artist i think. another way of promotion.

do you have a pie chart? I'm much more comfortable with pie charts.