In the hip-hop scene, having a crew can boost your career -- or hold it back
Rapper Bet 1 is spitting a little freestyle behind the mic -- "I see you over there smokin', playin' the machines / Get on over here and party wit' me" -- on this Wednesday night as DJ Ammo lays down a dark, churning groove. Only a modest crowd has turned out for "Hip-Hop Roots" night at the Bunkhouse, but that doesn't mean there isn't love for L.A.-based Bet 1. Indeed, his party-with-me gambit works: It's not long before the audience, arms waving and beers hoisted, has abandoned the bar to close ranks around Bet 1. Even the clock-puncher Jacks and Jills who showed up for deuces wild and Bud Light are head-bobbing stageside. On this night, whether it's rhyme-trading local duo Dopest Opus (performing their comical anthem, "She's Changed") or New York's Final Outlaw (who treats the crowd to his tight epic, "Hip Hop 4Ever,") everyone gets respect.
But don't be fooled into thinking this is some chest-bumping lovefest; sidle up to the bar next to a seasoned hip-hop scenester and he'll privately grouse: "There can be so much arrogance in this scene, you know? Crews show up to hear their own rappers, and then they leave, shit like that."
Crews. They're more than bands but less than record labels, not quite cliques, not quite sponsors and not quite promotion companies. Whatever they are, they're a vital unit of hip-hop culture, an entourage of friends, a collective of artistic fellow travelers who help give their individual members entree into the scene, whether it's a chance on the mic at a showcase or a hook-up for an album producer or cover artist.
"You almost need a team or crew to validate yourself, to say, 'Look, I'm here,'" says Omar Starr, a rap battle promoter and host. "If you have no crew to validate you, if nobody knows your story, then you're seen like you're not truly into hip-hop. Having a crew is like safety in numbers."
"A crew is your support system, a crew is your friends," says Mikey VIP, president of CampFire Music, a crew of about 30 rappers, singers, producers, DJs and hosts. "But, yeah, there can a be lot of favoritism in the scene." In other words, greedy crews stifling rival talent by stacking showcases or locking up venues with their own rappers.
Quite decidedly, that isn't happening tonight at the Bunkhouse; indeed, out in the parking lot, CampFire crew members are hanging with Big Chiefs in a beef-free environment. It's all by design. "Hip-Hop Roots" at the Bunkhouse, going on for a year -plus now, was started by HighDro, a Vegas hip-hop artist who got tired of getting doors shut in his face because he himself wasn't part of a crew.
"Other guys would call me 'new booty,' a guy who hadn't paid his dues," says HighDro. "So I just decided to start doing my own thing." He launched his own label, Fresh Talent Entertainment and convinced the Bunkhouse to let him book rhyme-slingers to liven up the midweek. "Before Hip-Hop Roots started, the scene was pretty locked up, but since then, it's really started opening up," he says.
And while there's a little behind-the-back grumbling here and there about some other sucker's crew -- whether it's CampFire, G.W.A.P. Team, Hood Sent, Heat City Recordz, 4 LBS Entertainment, The Fleet or the Las Vegas Allstars -- those in the scene say it's better than it used to be as recently as a year ago, when crews would play dirty to shut out rivals.
"The majority of crews used to be real anti-social," says Shamroc, a CampFire member. He's sipping beer outside the Bunkhouse with longtime friend and Big Chiefs crew member 2nd Nature. "Things would happen, like you'd have one crew bring in their own crowd, and when their members perform, it's this big cheerleading show that doesn't mean anything. But it just got to the point where nobody wanted to deal with all that drama."
The lanky, dreadlocked 2nd Nature concurs. "It had to go through this process where the people who weren't here for the right reasons got filtered out. You found out who was here to beef, and who was here for the music." And the big thaw means a lot of cross-fertilization of talent; in fact, Shamroc and 2nd Nature have formed their own one-off crew. Meanwhile, new events -- such as Monday night's Automatic Tour at The Square Apple with Y.A. Poet and the Las Vegas Allstars -- have popped up where you don't need sponsorship by a crew (though you do have to fork over a few bucks to get stage time). But this bit of happy glasnost aside, HighDro says joining a crew may be right for some rappers, but not him.
"When you join a crew, you feel more secure, but I don't think you push yourself as hard," he says. "I definitely believe if I had started my career in a crew, it'd be a different deal. They would have put me in the back of the line and I'd still probably be waiting my turn. If you haven't been here for 10 years, they think you're a nobody.
"Well, you have to be a nobody to be a somebody."
ANDREW KIRALY
Posted on 20 Jul 2009 by
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