![]() ![]() They won't book me doing hip-hop,” said Pope, who is black. ‘Cause they're not meaning they won't book hip-hop. We don't do that.’ And some of the newer ones are even more blatant about what they mean by that. Pope said he had been turned away from venues numerous times. you got to have a live music element - have bands play, and then kind of mix in the hip-hop.” “There were a few venues that blatantly didn't book hip-hop shows - and/or you kinda had to mask it,” Merren said. Finding a good venue with decent sound and regular availability was tough enough, he said, and sometimes the notion of an all-rap lineup was met with resistance. Mark Merren ran a weekly hip-hop series called Motivate Monday for five years starting in 2011, first at the now-defunct Church of Boston and later at Hard Rock Cafe. "'We're trying not to book much hip-hop' - that's usually how it's said." "If I'm going to bring hip-hop artists to a certain venue, there's always resistance," she said. The Boston rapper Dutch ReBelle said she had faced skepticism from clubs and talent buyers throughout her career. Nearly every one of the 10 artists and promoters interviewed for this article said they had been denied potential gigs by venues whose policy it was not to book hip-hop. Only the Middle East in Cambridge is known to feature a significant percentage of hip-hop on its calendar. With limited options for places to play, local hip-hop artists starting out in Boston find it difficult to gain traction. Though larger clubs, like House of Blues and Paradise, feature big name, out-of-town hip-hop acts on a regular basis, smaller venues skew heavily toward rock, and some never book hip-hop at all. The most oft-cited barrier for hip-hop artists in Boston is the dearth of venues willing to book them. But I don't have the same access here as I do there.” The disparity was undeniable to promoters like Finelli. “How is it easier for me to book shows in New York City than in Boston?” she said in an interview over the summer. The panelists described a city that routinely shut rap out of venues and saddled it with a reputation for violence. They saw hip-hop suffering from lack of opportunity and institutional support. In June of last year, a community forum was convened. Hosted by promoter Lisa Finelli, of the agency Xperience Creative, and titled “Boston Music State of the Union: Genre Equality,” the discussion panel featured many fixtures in the Boston music scene, including Pope. And we have to fight for every little bit that we get." Moe Pope It’s not highlighted, it’s not revered, it hasn’t been in the city for my whole career, you know. And we have to fight for every little bit that we get." "It’s not highlighted, it’s not revered, it hasn’t been in the city for my whole career, you know. "Our art is just seen as less than," Pope said in a recent interview. He saw the move as a reflection of the many ways rappers were sidelined in the city, most notably by venues hesitant to book hip-hop. It first bubbled forth in May, in the form of a viral Facebook post by the Boston rapper Moe Pope, who took the New England Music Awards to task for eliminating its hip-hop category. (Joe Difazio for WBUR)Ģ017 was a good year for hip-hop. For the first time in history, the media research company Nielsen reported that R&B/hip-hop had overtaken rock as the most-consumed music genre in America. The rappers Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar led a hip-hop and R&B-heavy crop of topline Grammy nominees - a notable development for the awards, which had in the past faced criticism for overlooking rap.īut Boston's local hip-hop community was telling a different story, one that had long been brewing. Pictured is Boston rapper BusyBars during a freestyle workshop in Everett. Facebook Email Hip-hop artists in Boston say they are sidelined in the city, notably by venues reluctant to book the genre. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |