Any given night of the week Columbus rock fans have multiple options to see live local music, as well as nationally known acts, but this luxury is not afforded to hip-hop and rap fans around the city.
For those in the know, many good hip-hop acts exist in Columbus and are putting out quality music — production outfits such as All City Beats, Roots records, Definitive Jux records, Mean Mug Entertainment, Diamond Mine Productions and a slew of others are hard at work creating and producing hip-hop, rap and R&B acts.
“Columbus has a strong hip-hop scene as far as the underground scene is concerned,” said Clay Atasker, owner of All City Beats, a record store and productions company.
Atasker has been involved in the Columbus hip-hop scene since 1992 and his love of music has fueled his company and the music he helps make.
Many different sounds help to make up the hip-hop scene — from gangster rap to a predominately turn-table style. The variety is healthy for the local scene, yet it also is a major reason why there aren’t more hip-hop shows.
“The different camps are all divided and don’t work together to further the scene for everyone,” Atasker said. “They hold grudges and compete against each other.”
“Rather than forgetting things that happened in the past, certain groups refuse to cooperate and collaborate to promote hip-hop,” he said.
“There is the independent, conscience type sound, which Clay is responsible for, and then there is the mainstream night-life type music with people like Mean Mug doing their thing, and guys like (the rap artist) Relm,” said Jason White, audio engineer and producer for Diamond Mine Productions.
He has been producing music for close to seven years and has been concentrating on hip-hop for the last four years.
“The clientele began to change and now most of what I do is hip-hop and rap. I love it. The music is so vocal-oriented,” White said.
Collaborating with each other is one way hip-hop artists and those who support them can put together shows.
A lack of venues that will put on a hip-hop show poses and additional problem.
“Just the mention of an all hip-hop show scares some club owners,” White said.
“They hear hip-hop or rap and back out, fearing a violent crowd or something violent happening outside of the show,” he said.
“Last year at Buckeye Bash, at Valleydale, after the show, ‘pop-pop,’ and someone is shot. These kind of incidents damage the credibility and safety of the shows,” White said.
Violence and prejudice are not the leading factors keeping more hip-hop and rap shows from going on. The live show isn’t nearly as high a priority to those artists as it is to other musicians.
Many hip-hop hopefuls concentrate their efforts on writing lyrics and coming up with beats and then getting everything together for recording. If the writing, music and the production all come together and a group has a product to market, then shows and promotional efforts become more important.
“Right now all I do is write and work on getting the beats in my head out and on paper,” said 18-year-old Marcus Minor.
Minor and his friend Thomas Vincent, 17, are aspiring rap artists here in Columbus.
With recording costs around $50 – $60 an hour at a production studio, young people looking to create music find it an expensive venture.
“We aren’t even looking to get out and perform yet. There aren’t that many places for us to go anyway once we have something to perform,” Vincent said.
Lack of venues is a major concern as only a handful of bars and concert halls are receptive to the idea of a hip-hop show. Places like Bernie’s, Ruby Tuesday and Bourbon Street host hip-hop nights Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights respectively.
“A lot of artists have to travel outside the city to get felt and their music to be heard and appreciated,” Atasker said.
Not all artists leave, some come in from other places.
Carl ‘Cartel’ Williams a local artist has teamed up with Dwayne ‘Littles’ from New York City to come up with a smooth hip-hop sound that was accompanied by a bass for the first time at Ruby Tuesday on Monday.
“We are trying to put out something that is real and genuine, stuff that comes from our own experiences,” Williams said.
Williams, ‘Littles’ and their manager, ‘Goddess,’ are in the same spot many hip-hop artists are in — the idea and the music are there, yet outlets and venues for their music are scarce.
One artist that has managed to get his name known and his music played is Damon Wright, commonly known as Relm.
He is the man behind “Buckeye City” and the song celebrating the OSU football team’s championship. Relm has been doing hip-hop as long as he can remember.
“We used to pull up on the corner of Livingston and Cleveland and perform and sell our record out of the trunk of the car,” Relm said.
Concerning the present state of the hip-hop industry in Columbus, Relm said listeners locally need to start exploring the music in their own city.
“Rather than saying Jay-Z or Eminem is my favorite rapper, they should be listening to what is right around them, and they will start saying this group or this rapper from Columbus is my favorite,” Relm said.
After circulating his material around OSU and getting it in the hands of Paul Strong, program director of Radio One, which controls WCKX, Wright’s song began getting requested and its airplay increased.
“Columbus needs to stop waiting for a hip-hop scene to take off and do something to make it happen. We need labels interested in hip-hop, venues showcasing it often and an audience that is willing to come out and support it,” Relm said.
The audience seems to be here, yet who is performing and where these performances take place aren’t public knowledge.
“Remember back to the days when Sloopy’s and the Spot and the rest of those bars were open on south campus? There would be lines at every place. What are all those students doing in the evenings?” Atasker asked.
“The hip-hop scene is like any other scene. If you are interested in it, you have to go to the places where it is. The music and artists are out there. It can be kind of a clique, but once you meet some people who are involved, then it is no big deal,” Atasker said.
Agreeing with Clay, Strong from WCKX said the local hip-hop scene is getting better, and there is a lot of talent.
“We are getting better quality recordings and more of them,” he said. “I personally don’t look at local music any differently than any of the other new music we get it. If it is good and the listeners request it, then it gets played.”
