North Ave Jax and Conswank on set for the “Wrong Choices” video shoot.

Music videos used to be rare around here. Especially good ones. Since the dot com launched in 2018, top quality music videos for 802 hip hop songs have become almost routine. This cultural transformation has been driven by remarkably few people. We're only talking about a dozen or two operators making it all happen, whether as solo auteurs (word to Sammy Chan TV) or small teams (word to Holy Smokes). One of the beauties of having a small scene is the fact anyone with talent & a work ethic can make a big difference.

Gutta - Today Remix

It's only fair that we start with a Love, Kelly video. Not only has the multi-talented young changemaker inspired a lot of new videography talent, he's put a big damn stamp on the entire scene, too. At his level, every collaboration is an implicit co-sign, and Gutta has been making smart moves since his debut. Anyone looking to make a low-budget video should watch this one at least three times and take notes. Kelly was clearly working fast & dirty, but he mines so many great shots and cuts, combined with a fully stocked armory of b-roll, that it stays engaging the whole time. That magic trick is the core of the artform.

Charlie Mayne - Funk Like This

Charlie Mayne didn't drop much music in 2023, but he doesn't really have to. He & his team have always had a knack for making the most out of a single, and sure enough, "Funk Like This" took Best Music Video in the 2023 Vermont Hip Hop Awards. Throwing a party to shoot a music video will never be a bad idea, and doing it by a beach? Even better. It's a perfect fit for such an easygoing, straightforward track, and as ever, the camera loves Mr. Mayne. Dude is a natural and he's going to be even harder to avoid in 2024, too. Big things coming soon, bud.

Conswank - Mad Life

The collaborative streak between 99 Neighbors alum Conswank and up & coming video team Holy Smokes got a ton of nominations. Specifically, they got a ton of nominations for every single video they dropped in 2023, a wave of movie-quality product that turned a lot of heads far outside our Green Mountain State. “Mad Life,” in particular, was a fan favorite in 2023, and for good reason. Even from major labels with major budgets, videos seldom look this cinematic.

Konflik - Don't Let 'Em ft. Termanology

This was a standout cut on Konflik's latest album, lacing a soulful & catchy Nastee beat with two tightly written verses from veteran masters of ceremony. Just about a perfect single, all in all. The video is a gritty slice-of-life piece, maximizing post-processing tricks like distressed textures & color grading to make a couple simple shoots hang together nicely. This is a team with decades of experience and anyone looking to make a living off this rap shit should, again, take notes.

rivan - CA$H

This crackling Fear & Loathing treatment should have been on the ballot for Best Music Video. I'm grateful that rivan (all lower case these days) is a forgiving dude, because that was a jumbo-size fuckup on my behalf. The Holy Smokes team did incredible work here. From the framing to the pacing, this joint is clearly a labor of love because nobody involved had to go quite that hard to justify getting paid. They all did, though.

Nahte Renmus - Stovepipe ft. Kool Keith

Best Music Video was a damn crowded field. Which explains why the Nahte Renmus LP FUNK.95 would get nominated for Best Album but this wild video - with a dialed-in, Ultramagnetic-grade Kool Keith feature, no less - did not make the cut. This is a timeless and wonderfully strange video for an equally unique track, though.

Sad Boy Julius - Out the Mud ft. Xistential

I respect this crew a lot because a year & change back when, they politely let me know they were going to raise the bar in 2023. Then they did. Sad Boy Julius, Xistential and NorthEast Youngin’ have been building a wave all their own, and I think they’re going to be a sleeper success story in ‘24. For “Out the Mud,” they hit up the 802 godfathers, Matt Vinci and Miles Goad. That duo has been behind a lot of professional product and this joint is no exception.

North Ave Jax, jetsonmade - I Can't Stop

Finally, North Ave Jax has been dropping big singles again, and his recent run has been a hard turn into, well, straight-up pop. Ain’t no other way to spin that one. It's a lane that his breezy vocal style suits, and with industry super-producer jetsonmade behind the boards, "I Can't Stop" is a slamming Radio Hit Type Beat. I’m curious to see if his next project resembles this, or a return to form — either way, it’s cool that LVRN encourages their artists to experiment.

In yesterday’s ROUNDUP jonker, we went through a year’s worth of Bandcamp highlights. Today, it’s just wall to wall bangers.

Almost all of these songs got multiple nominations in this year’s Vermont Hip Hop Awards. It was awesome to see how many of you make it a point to really check other artists out — and give them props, too. It’s not just closed circles bigging up their buddies anymore. Thank you all for making that happen.

Funky Diabetic - Biggie's Smoke ft. Shorty Bang & Yung Breeze

Young emcee/producer Funky Diabetic got second place for Most Improved, and as much as he won that honor doing hard work live onstage, it must be said: he has hugely stepped up his game on production & quality control in 2023, too. This song is the moment that drove that point home for me: a Street Religion co-sign, a strong closing verse from ol’ boy, a killer beat and a radio ready mix. A grand slam touchdown, a triple-double home run.

FLYWLKR - haunted w/ tyler serrani

This is, most definitely, some pop shit. It also got a lot of support from the voters this year, and as a dinosaur boom bap lyricist, even I must concede, both of these cats have bars. Their cadence is melodic hyperpop earworms, but every verse here is tightly cut writing — which is why it’s so compelling to their fans, too. There will never be a downside to crafting quality product, and both FLYWLKR and Tyler Serrani are consistently delivering some of the lushest stereophonics in Vermont these days. Salute to them both for helping to raise the bar.

Mavstar - Elixir of Life ft. Subtex

Emcee Mavstar is another 802 artist who is, more or less, universally acclaimed for how much he’s stepped it up in the past few years. Long a steady presence at open mics and sidewalk cyphers, Strong Man Mav has been paying dues hosting events, working with local legends, and promoting the Vermont scene like it was his own music. Subtex has been … man, who knows. Dude has been gone, off on a jazz impressionism kick for years now, and it just keeps getting wilder. (Seriously, though, dude is also a busy dad living a good life and he still puts in work every month to make shows & songs happen up here, he’s a noble beast.)

Hakim XOXO - I Need Therapy w/SYIERR

I’m hoping to see an album come from this particular team-up. The energy of HAKIMXOXO up against the menace of SYIERR is a powerful contrast, and they’re both spinning intense, paranoid street stories. This is a hell of a tag team: so many rap duos, everywhere, rest on the fact that they’re a stronger act together, yet these two can capably carry albums by themselves. Hopefully some ambitious young music manager type in BTV sees the potential here, both of these cats deserve a bigger shot than Burlington can provide.

Shorty Bang - ESKOBARS

A continuously escalating assault on the listener, “ESKOBARS” gained a lot of fans for Shorty Bang in 2023, if the VTHH Awards were any indication. I was surprised how many of the new wave artists were giving artists like Shorty Bang (and Konflik and Nastee and Yung Breeze) a nod in their nominations this year. Shorty Bang’s LP Sofrito, entirely produced by THEN WHAt, also came close to grabbing a Best Album nomination. Proof that people still love that grimy shit.

sepol mas - money dry

Burlington has a whole wave of emcee/producers carving out a jazzy, bumping catalog: sepol mas just happens to be one of my personal favorites. On that, I ain’t alone, because he racked up a lot of votes this year for both for this worthy single and for album highlight “mama sayin.” Looking forward to more material from this cat in 2024, but I also understand this kind of quality takes some time.

Obi the Voicegod - Do's and Don'ts(feat. rivan)

Obi the Voicegod has truly grown into his name since his debut, and the range of his comanding baritone is growing with every new release. For my money, “Do’s and Dont’s” was one of the best 802 tracks that came out last year, and Obi’s verse here was also a valid contender for best sixteen. Furthermore, if you managed to sleep on his latest album, African Born American Made, you made a mistake and you should fix that soon. And god damn, you better know about Rivan by now.

RANCH GOD - SUM CYPHER Bonus (Ft Hakim XOXO, FrostyDaYoungin)

Finally, a big, fun banger that got a lot of love since it dropped: “SUM CYPHER” is an absolutely spastic posse cut that burns through an uptempo beat from Caleb Lodish, one of 2023’s MVPs. RANCH GOD is a gloriously unpredictable wildfire, but both of the guests here do a great job keeping up the intensity. If you’re digging this, there is a whole shared can cinematic universe worth of wild new music from local artists for you to explore, but definitely start with Caleb’s I Expect Nothing In Return and RANCH GOD’s candy, coffee, cigarettes.

After a long hiatus in 2023, there is a ton of music to catch up on, so we’ll be doing ROUNDUP drops all week. First, though, let’s cruise through some gems available on Bandcamp, one of the best tools independent musicians have in our modern shitshow. Some of these are brand new; some of these dropped last year and simply never got the respect they deserved.

Kinetic Fource - This Is Dedicated (Feat. DJ Kanga)

Kinetic Fource was a wild moment in time, a legitimate 802 supergroup consisting of Learic, Rico James, and the Boomslang team of Sed One and JL (Forever!). This was the closing track on their eponymous project and it’s one of the finest hip hop tributes anyone from Vermont has ever given us. Bringing in DJ Kanga was the right damn move, too.

Es-K & Type Raw - Yin & Yang (feat. VVS Verbal, Jarv, & Konflik)

Es-K teamed up with long-time co-conspirator Type.Raw to deliver Raw Essentials, a killer compilation of boom bap purism with a world-class cast of rappers. This cut just happens to feature two of Vermont’s finest, Jarv and Konflik, alongside NYC true school torchbearer VVS Verbal. (If you dig this, be sure to check out his LP with Es-K, Rebirth of the Slickest.)

FOZ. - never complicated

The latest single from FOZ. was a surprise: not only is this a straight-up pop song, it’s also … extremely smooth and well-produced. Dude could easily muster a second career arc of material like this. He does a great job bringing his intricate bar game to bear on simpler fare — the rhymes remain intricate but there’s a newfound clarity and simplicity. All in all, one of his most accessable tracks so far and a very interesting left turn.

Danny James - Time ft. Maari

I thought the Danny James debut album Heatwave was one of the best 802 releases of the year in any genre. That moniker is pseudonym for keyboardist and vocalist Danny Whitney, who is hardly a stranger to the Vermont Hip Hop scene, having been gigging with killer bands and laying down tracks with producers like Loupo and Es-K for years now. “Time” brings 99 Neighbors alumni Maari through for a typically show-stealing guest verse. If you’re feeling the flavor here, buy the album. I know I still have it in regular rotation almost a year later.

FNTN Tollbooth - Excursion 10

This marks the final chapter in an incredible saga from producer FNTM Tollbooth, a/k/a South Burlington’s own Freddie Losambe. For fans of psychedelic hip hop and classic beat tapes, I couldn’t give this series a stronger recommendation. This is an extremely polished, consistent body of work. Looking forward to the double CD set so I can bump it all in the whip this summer…

Pleasant Boys - ASH ft. DJ Lucas

Pleasant Boys dropped their debut LP, PSTREETBANDITS, right at the end of 2023. With another couple weeks to push it and play shows, it definitely would have made the ballot for Best Album. Especially since it’s a real evolution of their sound, a big step up from their singles. Even on such a strong tracklist, “ASH” was a standout, capturing their chemistry over a killer beat. Props to the 2023 Vermont Hip Hop Awards Best Group; their 2024 promises to be a wild ride.

Freddie Losambe - Stardust

Speaking of Best Album nominees: check out this scorching heater off Freddie Losambe’s stunning album The Leaves Still Dance. A self-produced tour de force, the LP is Losambe’s best work yet, which his really saying something given how strong, deep and diverse his catalog is.

Rico James & JL - Opportunity Knocks

Finally, let’s bring things full circle with another dynamite beat tape project, this time from the Kinetic Fource team of Rico James & JL. “Opportunity Knocks” documents 33 minutes of heaters created during the Kinetic Fource sessions, but this is hardly warmed-up leftovers. This is a selection of raw heat rocks that urgently needed to see the light of day.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time once again.

I never could have predicted many of these results, and that's because it was driven by voters, whether new artists or seasoned veterans, whether Burlington-based or building their own scene in the boonies, acknowledging artists outside of their circle, their scene. I could not be more proud of you.

This was decided by 107 out of 164 eligible voters. Despite the growing size of the jury, we actually lost a single percentage point in overall turnout: 65%, versus last year with 66%. Life is like that! 99% of success is just showing up.

Artist of the Year: Charlie Mayne

Runner-up: Conswank

Groundwork really matters. Charlie Mayne has been an inescapable presence, rocking memorable sets at damn near half of the hip hop shows that got thrown in 2023. He's also got a great team behind that work ethic. The same is true for Conswank, who honed his talent with 99 Neighbors before embarking on a solo career this year. He dropped an intensely personal (and musical) debut LP and lined up some movie-grade videos for a year worth of singles. Nothing beats hard work and a good plan, and both of these artists are in position to make noise nationwide in 2024.

Most Improved: FLYWLKR

Runner-up: Funky Diabetic

This was a tightly contested category, ultimately decided by three votes. Near as I can tell, FLYWLKR has done everything right, building a strong catalog, an organic online following, and co-helming Wave Cave Radio, which is probably the single most important platform that Vermont Hip Hop has. A year ago, Funky Diabetic was already making a name for himself as an affable young artist who asked for feedback & accepted it, too. As a result, he's polished a dynamic live show that turned a lot of heads this year. (Honorable mention to Burlington emcee FOZ. for placing a very close third.)

Best Emcee: Konflik

Runner-up: Rivan

There are some big surprises this time around, but Best Emcee is not one of them. The crown doesn't move an inch: Konflik has owned this category since we started. As ever, he took a big lead early on and that never budged. Second place was an exceptionally close call, with Maari, Jarv and Yung Breeze all tied in third, all just behind Rivan. Young, smart, and motivated, Rivan may yet become the first rapper to beat Konflik in 2024.

Best Producer: Caleb Lodish

Runner-up: Es-K

A big upset for 2023: newcomer Caleb Lodish took the top spot this year by healthy margin. Not only were his bright, dynamic productions impossible to avoid this past year, he also dropped an incredible album, I Expect Nothing In Return. 802 resident superproducer Es-K, naturally, has been prolific as hell, delivering a ton of top shelf products and cooking on a half-dozen collaborative albums that will shape the scene jhere in 2024.

Best Group: Pleasant Boys

Runner-up: Street Religion.

Another big upset: Pleasant Boys have vaulted from #2 to #1, winning Best Group by an overwhelming margin. For a duo from the sticks to work their way into the scene and win over Burlington like that is a huge accomplishment. The Street Religion crew have a similar backstory but way more years in the game, and it paid off big in 2023, enabling them to edge out 99 Neighbors and continue building their brand, one new fan at a time.

Best DJ: DJ Kanganade

Runner-up: Mendica

Once again, Kanga reigns supreme. No matter how you define what a DJ does, when it comes to sheer skills and technique, nobody is touching the guy who practices for hours every day. He's also a masterful conductor on the dance floor, and he's been branching out into drum and bass sets lately, too. Meanwhile, Mendica made a strong debut, vaulting past a lot of seasoned competitors to claim second place thanks to hard work, tons of shows, and building a rep for professionalism. DJ culture in Vermont has a wild talent pool in 2024, and I want to acknowledge a number of names who were tied very close to third: Craig Mitchell, CRWD CTRL, Dakota, DJ Taka, SVPPLY, and Two Sev.

Best Graf Artist: Tie. CAPES, Eskae1

Runner-up: FORTUNE

I am grateful that this category is finally competitive. I only mean that in terms of the voting; it's been a wildly competitive artform up here for a very long time. Vermont has almost always had a deep bench of talent on the cans, a secret society of burners under bridges. It's never been more visible than it was in 2023. Across that entire span of local history, Anthill Collective has been proudly repping the 802 across North America. (And again, props to the IG account vtgraff for documenting so much dope work.)

Best Verse: Yung Breeze, Chicken Strips

Runner-up: Rivan, BIG (Tom Hanks Freestyle)

Like most of these categories, Best Verse was based on who could convince the most people outside their circle, camp or clique that they'd earned the top spot. Both of these are dynamite tracks, stripped down to the very basics: just a crazy talented rapper giving 110% in the booth. In terms of skills, consistency and quality control, Rivan and Young Breeze are two of the very best doing it right now, and I don't see how anyone could be salty over how this one turned out.

Best Song: Raw Deff ft The Aztext, '98 Dust Pockets

Runner-up: Caleb Lodish ft. Hakim XOXO, Postman

No category suprised me more than this one. I never would have imagined that a boom bap throwback from New Hampshire rapper/yeti Raw Deff and 802 legends The Aztext would unite both new school artists and senior citizen rap heads to sweep the category by one of the biggest margins of the year. Then again, it does absolutely bang. In second, Caleb Lodish teamed up with Hakim XOXO, one of the most charismatic artists in BTV's new wave, to deliver a modern classic of a very different kind. Like Best Verse, this a huge spread and a tight field, even making the ballot was a serious accomplishment. (Later this week, we'll check out some worthy contenders who didn't.)

Best Album: Conswank, Low Point Retreat

Runner-up: Nahte Renmus, FUNK.95

I expected Caleb Lodish to run away with this one for his incredible debut, but Conswank converted a diverse and huge bloc of voters for his win. I am even more surprised that FUNK.95, another relentlessly funky boom bap throwback from Maiden Voyage alumni Nahte Renmus, placed second just ahead of the Yung Breeze album Ja'lani Skye. As something of a rap fan myself, it is encouraging to see there will always be an audience for dope bars.

Best Music Video: Charlie Mayne, Funk Like This

Runner-up: Conswank x North Ave Jax - Wrong Choices

This category really divided the voters in 2023. The gap between first and second place here was a single vote. (Props to Fabo and Rivan for "VT Vahbe" getting third place by a margin of, once again, one single vote.) Props to the Wolf Visuals team for their gorgeous, crispy work on “Funk Like This.” The second and third place entries are both by Pat & Seamus, the duo behind Holy Smokes, who got well over a dozen nominations this year in the Best Video category, much of it for their visionary work with Conswank.

Best Live Performance - 99 Neighbors

Runner-up: Konflik & Nastee

It's only right that 99 Neighbors would claim this title one last time: their Farewell Show at Higher Ground was a legendary high water mark for the scene, and a major transformation, too. 99 were always earnest students and their live shows are a mashup blending hundreds of influences into a single spectacle. In contrast, Konflik & Nastee specialize in raw hip hop, just an MC and a DJ with decades of experience rocking crowds. It is cool to see both aspects of the genre getting their due this year. You guys have some taste.

Andy "A_DOG" Williams Good Citizen Award: Big Homie Wes

Runner-up: Kelly Butts-Spirito

Wesley Turner, aka Big Homie Wes, is a straight shooter from Lamoille County. He makes deliberated moves, does good business, and provides opportunities for aspiring artists. Constantly. At some point over the past five years, he has helped out ... well, pretty much all of us, myself included. Along the way, he's built a genuine & poppin' hip hop scene far afield from Burlington's bar scene, always ready to do the hard work of promoting and producing another show, whether it's in Montreal or Morrisville. Cheers to one of the hardest workers in the scene.

In 2023, when the human dynamo that is Love, Kelly came in second for this prize, I said he had been "doing more to raise the visibility of Vermont Hip Hop than anyone in recent memory." In 2024, he more or less tripled that output, and the work he's done to get a loop going between BTV and NYC is going to create some wild headlines throughout the year. Kelly Butts-Spirito is a inspiring success story and he's an outspoken advocate of sobriety, too. Always encouraging, always positive, he is one of the brightest lights in our scene and he's only getting started, too.

There's a lot more to come this week, but that is plenty to digest for now.

Thanks to everyone who participated & much love to our winners for 2023.

First of all, I want to apologize to Rivan and the Holy Smokes team for borking up the Best Video category. I mistakenly believed that "VT Vahbe" was a Rivan song featuring Fabo: it is in fact a Fabo song featuring Rivan. This means that Rivan's video for "CA$H" should have been on the ballot. When Rivan cleared that up, I corrected the listings on the ballot, but: we already had 29 votes submitted, so I'm just gonna have to let that mistake roll. And make peace with the fact I am a moron for trying to rush the details on a project where details are everything.

Second, I just want to address the most common issues I'm getting emails and DMs about…

Q: Why is [ insert name here ] not included on your list?

A: They did not get enough nominations to make the final cut. In fact, for a lot of the people asking me that question this week? You didn't recieve any nominations at all. Life is an unforgiving struggle and there is always more work to do.

Q: Why are you sleeping on [ insert name here ] ?

A: This is a valid question. Odds are pretty good that I, personally, haven't heard of you yet. However, in the context of the VTHH Awards in 2024, you were slept on by 81 other people who submitted nominations. You need to do more shows, meet more people, release more music and gain more fans. That will remain true for the rest of your career, no matter how big you get.

Q: How can [ insert name here ] be on the ballot for next year?

A: Do enough work to convince a couple dozen of your peers that you're one of the best in the state at what you do. I realize that is a tall order, but the sooner you come to grips with the fact that the music business is not a talent show, the better off you'll be.

Q: How can I vote in the Vermont Hip Hop Awards?

A: Tell me who you are and give me your email address. That's about it. The scene is growing every year and the mailing list for the VTHH Awards Jury should be growing, too. Please note this is not open to family, friends and fans: this is for participants. Even if you're just making beats in your dorm room and posting them on Soundcloud, though, that's enough for me. Get in touch.

Q: If I didn't vote in the Nominations Round, can I vote on the Final Ballot?

A: Hell yeah, and please do. I'm grateful for everyone who put in time to really think about their nominations, but I also recognize that is straight up work.

Q: Why haven't I heard of this before?

A: This is definitely my favorite question, because ... BRUH, HOW COULD I ANSWER THAT QUESTION FOR YOU? HOW IS THAT ON ME? HOW. This website has existed since 2018 and it's backed up by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I'm not saying this is some kind of big deal, but fuck, it ain't exactly hard to find, either.

Q: Can I sponsor the Vermont Hip Hop Awards?

A: No. Especially not if you're a business that sells legal drugs. I’m grateful that weed money is sponsoring shows and creating opportunities for artists, but this right here is a purely independent community service and an all ages show.

Q: Why can’t the public vote on this?

A: Because this is about respect, not numbers. If we were just going to measure "popularity" by an open vote, why bother doing this at all? I could just add up whoever has the most followers on every social media platform and call it a day.

Good morning & welcome to the final stretch. This is a public announcement of the Nomination Round results; big ups to all the winners. Each of these categories is down to the top five nominees, listed here in alphabetical order. I've got some notes at the end, but let's get straight to it, yeah?

Artist of the Year

Conswank
Charlie Mayne
Pleasant Boys
Real Ricky
Yung Breeze

Most Improved

Conswank
FOZ.
Funky Diabetic
FLYWLKR
Xistential

Best Emcee

Jarv
Konflik
Maari
Rivan
Yung Breeze

Best Producer

Caleb Lodish
Es-K
Rico James
SKYWISE
THEN WHAt

Best Group

99 Neighbors
Juicebox
Konflik & Nastee
Pleasant Boys
Street Religion

Best DJ

Dakota
David Chief
DJ Kanga
Mendica
Nastee

Best Graf Artist

CAPES
eSKae1
FORTUNE
SORTER
WISDOM

Best Verse

Conswank - Mad Life
Fabo - Corn on the Cob
Obi the Voicegod - Do’s and Dont’s
Rivan - BIG Tom Hanks Freestyle
Yung Breeze - Chicken Strips

Best Song

Caleb Lodish ft. HakimXOXO - “Postman”
Conswank - “Blunt Packed to my Head”
Konflik ft. Termanology - “Don’t Let ‘Em”
Raw Deff ft. The Aztext - “‘98 Dust Pockets”
Rivan ft. Fabo - “VT Vahbe”

Best Album

Caleb Lodish - I Expect Nothing In Return
Conswank - Low Point Retreat
Freddie Losambe - The Leaves Still Dance
Nahte Renmus - FUNK.95
Yung Breeze - Ja’Lani Skye

Best Music Video

Charlie Mayne - “Funk Like This”
Conswank ft. North Ave Jax - “Wrong Choices”
Fabo - “Corn on the Cob”
Fabo ft. Rivan - “VT Vahbe”
Yung Breeze - “Brain Matter”

Best Live Performance

99 Neighbors
Boxguts
Charlie Mayne
Konflik & Nastee
Yung Breeze

Andy “A_DOG” Williams Good Citizen Award

Big Homie Wes
Charlie Mayne
DJ Kanga
FLYWLKR
Kelly Butts-Spirito

Voting is open until midnight on Sunday, January 7th and the final results will be posted Monday, January 8th. Peace!

Some Notes At The End: 2023 was not 2022. Some big changes this year, and everyone who earned a spot had to work hard for it. Visibility requires albums with singles and videos. It requires hard, constant work, which is why you see so many names recurring across so many categories.

It was fun to watch this come together and reconnect with so many of you. There were also a lot of great suggestions on categories and presentation.

Out of a bigger voting pool than ever, I got 81 nominations back. Most voters chose to submit multiple nominations for each category, so it was a big spread and a very revealing look at the current scene. ("Best Song" alone got almost a hundred different nominations.) Most of our big winners were early winners. Even as everything changes, any music scene is a story, and that story only has room for so many main characters.

Rivan himself got hit by the Rivan Rule twice this time: in Best Verse and Best Music Video, he scored multiple nominations. In both cases, I kept the nomination with the most votes. This also happened to Conswank, who recieved multiple nominations for damn near every song and video he slowly dropped this year. That's not just "smart marketing," it gave every track time to really connect with his fans -- and convert some new ones doing it. New Hampshire rapper Raw Deff is a longtime honorary 802 hip hop head, but I had to disqualify old boy for the Best Emcee category, despite the fact he got (way more than) enough nominations to make the ballot. His song with The Aztezt, however, does make the cut.

For anyone just catching up or catching on, a quick rundown. (For anyone familiar, there is nothing new here and the final ballot goes up Friday morning.) Every year I do this, there's a lot of the same questions, and that's good. That means this is reaching new people every year, and it means the audience for what we do is expanding every year, too.

Rather than doing a cheap pay-to-play scheme, an even cheaper social media popularity contest, or writing some kind of "Offical Vermont Hip Hop Top 10" list, the Vermont Hip Hop Awards is just under 150 rappers, DJs, producers, videographers, promoters, graf heads, poets, singers, managers, B-Boys, and creative co-conspirators deciding who to collectively give props to this year. Imperfect and chaotic, yes, but it does have the virtue of being real.

Both the nominations, and the final ballot voting, happens only among those voters and this is not open to the general public. There is a guest list involved. That list has been growing every year and will always be insufficient. If you're a participant in the scene, new or old, and would like to vote this year, please get in touch.

The nomination round is pure chaos, and so far, this year's spread is very surprising and entertaining. Some voters nominate single names, some voters nominate five or ten picks for every category. Whoever receives the most votes by Thursday at midnight gets put on the final ballot Friday morning. Voting in the final round is for a single winner, and there are sometimes ties once the final count comes in. There is no tiebreaker — winning is winning and every vote counts.

This year, that final count will be Sunday night after midnight, and winners are announced on the morning of Monday, January 8th. All that said, bud: don't take it too serious. If this isn't fun, then this is stupid, and I'm allergic.

Finally, here's a breakdown on the categories: many of them will have different meanings for different people. Go with your gut. Huge thanks again to everyone participating this year.

Artist of the Year. Who was the headline story of 2023? It could be a big debut or a perfect season from some local veterans, but there is only one name at the top.
Most Improved. Who grew the most in the past year? This exists to recognize artists who have stepped up their game, found a new lane or just finally caught fire properly.
Best Emcee. What this means, precisely, is a matter of much debate for decades now, yet everyone knows exactly what the answer is. It’s a funny thing.
Best Producer. For my money, the deepest bench of sheer talent Vermont has is in the production department. There are a lot of spooky talented beat-makin' musicians kicking around in these woods. Picking just one is not easy.
Best Group. This is open to any crew, collective or even just a duo. The only question is who dominated 2023 collaboratively.
Best DJ. Whether that's rocking parties or laying down killer cuts (and it should be both) the DJ is foundation of the music. Thanks to a thriving nightlife scene in Burlington, there is a huge range of competition in this category. That said, one dude in particular does tend to win.
Best Graf Artist. When this first started, there were very few nominations, but awareness has really grown in the past few years. I think a lot of that is thanks to Instagram.
Best Verse. Who delivered the single best rap performance in the booth this year? This always winds up being a huge spread, and there may be some crazy ties this year.
Best Song. Just like Best Verse, there are usually a tsunami of nominations and winners are decided by very small margins.
Best Album. Feel free to nominate all your favorites, but only one album defined the year. If you think an EP should get the nod, feel free to nominate those, too.
Best Music Video. There are more worthy contenders for this category than ever in 2023. We're blessed to have to some top notch videographers in this state, and they have been busier than ever.
Best Live Performance. For some voters, this is just a reliable set killer, for others, it's a specific set. Either way, this is about whoever rocks the stage at the highest level.
Andy "A_DOG" Williams Good Citizen Award. This one is something special, created in cooperation with the awesome people at Friends For A_Dog foundation. This award exists to honor someone who is a positive force in their community, building connections and encouraging growth everywhere they go. That's a high bar, for sure, but we have many worthy contenders.

See you all on Friday.

RIP Mene Gene Okerlund.

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, it is time.

The Vermont Hip Hop Awards are an annual assessment of the scene, a means of measuring respect more than success. All awards are ultimately popularity contests, surely, but this is a community affair, a consensus of peers.

We are operating on an accelerated schedule this time around. The VTHH Awards got a voter turnaround rate of 67% last year, just like the average Presidential election, and the fact is, most of those votes came in right away. So let’s turn up the tempo a bit.

Nominations are open, starting now, and run until Thursday, January 4th at midnight. You can nominate as many names as you like for each category; you do not have submit nominations for every category. (But that would be mighty nice.) If you're already part of the VTHH Academy, that Nominations Round email is sitting in your inbox right now. If you're interested in participating and haven't before, get in touch. Remember, though: this isn't for family members and this isn't for fans. This is for participants.

There’s only one change from last year. If an artist gets nominated twice for a category, I'm going to remove the second nomination and put whoever was in 6th place on the ballot instead. Call it The Rivan Rule: being nominated twice for a category like Best Verse or Best Music Video just winds up splitting the vote for someone who would have otherwise won the category. Plus we get to spotlight more worthy names.

From here, the Final Ballot goes up on the morning of Friday, January 5th. Voting closes on the Sunday the 7th and come Monday, January 8th, we announce the winners. It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.

As ever, this hinges entirely upon the goodwill and hard work of you, the voters. Thank you so much for your time.

2023 has been a trip, no question. Coverage here has been mostly non-existent, but certain traditions must be observed: yes, there will be another VTHH Hip Hop Awards kicking off on January 2nd.

Coverage here has also been less important than ever. Bigg Faxx. This is a project that was started to make connections, to give a growing scene a sense of itself. Things were very different then. We're a couple years past needing that. We have a thriving, multi-layered hip hop scene in Vermont right now and it's all very much connected. That's thanks to their hard work, not this website.

In particular, I want to shout out Melo Grant, Mister Burns, Kelly Butts-Spirito, Big Rye, Nastee, Charlie Mayne, David Chief, Yung Breeze, Omega Jade, Caleb Lodish, Luis Calderin, and Conswank. All of them have gone above & beyond this year, putting in work to grow the culture and community. That list could & should be expanded. I'm already working on my long-ass "2023 in Review" joint, another ancient tradition worth keeping.

Past all that, things will remain quiet here, especially as 2024 marches on. I’m focusing my free time on my own music. Rest assured, though, there is too much history here for this website to ever disappear. The dot com will abide until the grid goes down, after that, I guess it’s homing pigeons and thumb drives.

Much respect to everyone making it happen. I look forward to more legendary moves and great releases next year. Things have never been so busy — or so dope.

99 Neighbors by Cameron Marygold, who has an amazing portfolio, I might add.

Big news across the board this week. First up, 99 Neighbors have just announced their "Farewell Show" at Higher Ground on October 20th. That's a shock for sure, and a lot of fans have been going through some emotions, like denial, grief, anger and "why are you quitting when you're just about to blow up?" Their transition into focusing on solo work and side collaborations has been underway for over a year now, of course, but ending the collective is still a surprise. But they’re hardly quitting.

Let's be clear: technicalities aside, 99 Neighbors will exist as a legendary force of nature around these parts for quite some time. The level of momentum, support and name recognition they achieved just hits too hard to disappear, even in our attention deficit seizure of a culture. Digital clout and viral fame are very fleeting things, but real world impact lasts for years. (Perhaps some of you reading this can pause to re-evaluate which of those goals you're currently pursuing.)

99 won a Seven Daysie and a Wanzie award this year, for the same title, and they never once had to ask people to vote for them. That’s love. If you haven't seen The Wanzie Awards yet, set aside an hour to enjoy that. If you just want to see 99 win (and accept) the Best Hip Hop title, that's here. Props to Jonny Wanzer for putting in a mammoth amount of work on that -- what started as a joke about sad state of the Seven Daysies awards turned into a major cultural moment and I hope like hell he'll do it again next year. I don't think anyone else has the reach, talent and balls to do it.

So if you're planning on being there for the Farewall Show, cop 'em now because that will likely sell out this week. Oh, and: Kat. Wright. SWEEP.

Endings & Beginnings: A new saga in Vermont hip hop kicks off in Burlington this Friday night. The legendary RAP NIGHT series finally has an 802 franchise, courtesy of Nastee and DJ Kanga, who will be holding it down every week. Fittingly, this debut edition features the crew behind Rap Night Manchester: DJ Myth, Eyenine and Shawn Calibur. Having a hub for that larger New England underground network is going to yield huge dividends, and you're going to start seeing them immediately, too.

Oh, and a word of friendly advice: don't try to rock star Nastee or Kanga. Both of them have seen empires rise and fall, both of them are legends unto themselves. And they are quite literally doing this for you. A weekly residency is a serious commitment, and they're all in because they believe in the scene.

That scene has been busy as hell, as the music business ramps up for another lucrative season of parting college students from their money. Ludacris rocked the Champlain Valley Fair, Souja Boy sold out the fucking Ballroom at Higher Ground just this week, and nothing,nowhere. headlined a show in the same room — his first in Vermont, somehow — just the other night. Even compared to pre-pandemic live music culture, this is a new level of market saturation and high-level achievements.

Another hustler who is all in on the Vermont hip hop scene just dropped a new album. Big Homie Wes is a hard-working Lamoille County representative who has been paving roads and building platforms throught New England for years now. Respect due.

On August 26th, he dropped a new LP, Higher Calling, and it's a damn strong evolution for his signature sound. Keep an eye out for the next edition of his Training Grounds open mic series, which are ridiculously popping, especially considering it’s all going down in Morrisville, Vermont.

Vermont's real-deal superproducin' big dog Es-K recently dropped a monumental slab of beats. It's called The Stash, and it's well worth pressing play, whether you're a fan of instrumental hip hop or an artist looking for some luxury canvases to paint on.

I mention it here because the collection is an interesting insight into his process, especially his quality control. There are tons of truly whumping, catchy bangers in there, but to him, these are leftovers, side cuts, light work. Part of that speaks to his high standards, and part of that is downstream of how carefully he assembles tracklists for all of his solo releases.

I also mention it because so many of these soundscapes would be a perfect fit for the kind of adventurous, low-end heavy, melodic, EDMR&B type wavy shit that so many new Burlington artists are into. There are plenty of hits waiting to happen in this mix.

Es-K is an incredible local resource. We have a lot of those, and I often find myself wondering why more local artists aren't taking advantage of being able to connect with such incredible talents. DJ Kanga, for instance. Or FĀBŌ. Or Imp Girl Art, Freddie Losambe, Teece Luvv, Konflik, Nastee, Eli Wood, Boxguts, Tyler Serrani — I could go on, but you get the idea, bud. Working with standout talents who aren't name brands yet is an apex Win/Win Situation for aspiring artists. Break some bread investing in your product and you'll grow yourself a career. Trust me.

A couple upcoming shows worth flagging for the few faithful who read all this:

You can catch Es-K live this sunday at Monkey House in Winooski, rocking a top notch lineup with Lando, The Productz, and Dirtydurdie. The format is a throwback to the 3rd Thursdays classics, with an early open mic, a "producer cypher," and a listening party for Es-K's upcoming LP with Lando at the close. This is a party for the culture. All this for only $10, bud.

There's a gang of ill rappers on the come up (the real, actual, non-hype come up) from across New England landing at Club Metronome next Friday, September 15th. Chase Murphy will be headlining in celebration of his album Never in Debt, Forever Indebted, which is one hell of a polished product. He will be joined by Luke Bar$ of the incredible Van Buren Records collective, and Maari of, well, you already fuckin’ know. Just an unbeatable lineup. Doors at 9, $15.

Finally, a wild card. It’s month away and only tangentially hip hop, but the team at Full Melt has been a big supporter of beat culture here in Vermont, and brought a ton of left field production & performance talent through Burlington. They’re kicking off a new series, Full Melt Thursdays, which starts October 12th. Expect a wild ride from some exceptionally skilled sonic architects.

Big ups to Club Metronome and the Nectars family for always having space for hip hop.

I am very proud of pretty much all of you. It has been gratifying to see so many new talents growing to full potential. One thing that really sets the New Wave apart is the good attitudes, the strong networks, and the curiously small egos.

Not that I’m accusing Real Ricky of modesty, of course. Rappers have to talk that shit, it’s our fucking job, after all. But there is an undeniable difference in the culture compared to how things were a decade back.

I have a ton of new music to catch up on, and coverage here is never complete. For any struggling artist trying to build from the ground up, of course, any coverage at all is still not enough. But think about this: fundamentally, there are only two kinds of coverage here in the shadowy, shitty world of alleged “music journalism.”

The first is when a publicist, a manager or a label rep gets in touch with a publication to arrange coverage in advance for a project they want to market and make money from on tour. The second is a post-mortem summary of how an independent musician blew up by building an organic fanbase in the total absence of any media coverage. Again, it’s worth thinking it over to make sure you’re clear on which one of those goals you’re pursuing with your actions in 2023.

Oh, and for the record: Real Ricky isn’t arrogant, he’s correct.

It's been a wild summer up here in the boonies. With the 10th A_Dog Day celebration coming up this Saturday, as ever, it's time to pause and reflect. I expected big things from 2023; great things. I have not been disappointed, and I have often been surprised.

That's thanks to the hard work of dozens of artists making it happen all around the state. The overall scene, of course, is far bigger than that: hundreds of heads cranking out new songs every month. But in terms of who has the quality control, talent and team to really raise the bar around here? Well, that's a far smaller list. Yet that core is also bigger than it's ever been. There was a time when making a list like "Top 10 Vermont Hip Hop Albums This Year" wasn't possible, simply because there weren't that many releases. That has changed forever.

Stories tend to simplify and exaggerate in equal measure. For a long time, the story of Vermont hip hop has been about a college town on the shore of Lake Champlain. As crews popped up all over the 802, inevitably, that story shifted to the tension between Burlington and the rest of the state. When VT Digger wanted to spotlight The Horsemen a few years back, it was a story about taking "hip hop beyond Chittenden County." But even then, the story was shifting again to a tale of generations, as a new wave of artists took over, building their own platforms and going bigger than ever in terms of sheer audience and reach.

"North versus south," as Yung Breeze put it in print just last week, "old school versus new school." Heading into 2024, that story has switched up once again. The era of immense opportunity and legendary shit I have been ranting about for five years is, at last, here, now. I agree with Breeze that making the most of this chance will involve a lot of cooperation & new connections. Then again, that's a real easy prediction to make when it's already happening.

Which is not to say there won't be competition: hell, this will be a bloodbath. The attention economy is a merciless arena where most of the contestants will never succeed. Stories require main characters, and the rest of us, even active participants, are basically just spectators in the big picture. So it’s important to remember that the big picture is not your real, actual life.

Vermont’s hip hop scene is thriving because of scale, diversity and momentum. There is no single consensus, no true center of gravity. This a network of networks, a feedback loop that’s getting louder every week. So even if you’re not getting press for your new album, you’re still an important part of this ecosystem, and your successes will help other artists win, too.

So when you’re walking around Burlington this weekend, be mindful of how electric this moment in time is. You are surrounded by opportunities, swimming in potential connections, one random encounter away from your next big step up. You’re building a team, and it doesn’t have to be an official crew, it just has to work for everyone involved. Roc Marciano was always going to be Roc Marciano, but he played his role in Flipmode Squad with no complaints.

This soil is too fertile right now to be complaining. Don’t worry about getting on someone else’s bill — make your own. Don’t fixate on someone else’s fan base — find your own. Don’t waste time on crab bucket mentality games. The demand for what you do is higher than ever, and there are still tons of unexplored lanes out here.

If you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, use that to your advantage. Next year will see new acts get huge, seemingly out of nowhere, but all of them will succeed on the strength of the work they’re putting in right now, cutting demos, perfecting beats, tweaking mixes, and finding other artists who can help bring out their best work. The world might never be yours, but Vermont definitely could be. Go forth & conquer.

Photo by Matthew Thorsen for Seven Days

Two more things: A huge Thank You to DJ Melo Grant for holding down The Cultural Bunker for 40 years, inspiring multiple generations of Vermont hip hop artists along the way. Be sure to tune in this Friday night at 7 pm on WRUV 90.1. Also on Friday evening, the Genesis crew from Castleton will be bringing a packed lineup of young talent to The Mothership, a DIY venue at 19 Church Street. If you’re looking for a great time the night before A_Dog Day, this is your best bet.

This is late, lazy and incomplete but I can’t let this one pass by without noting, for the historical record: holy shit. This Saturday in downtown Burlington, there will be amazing entertainment everywhere you turn, more or less all day long. That is thanks to Burlington’s REIB Committee — that’s “Racial, Equity Inclusion & Belonging” which reads like a mighty broad & ambitious mandate — and especially thanks to DJ, promoter, marketer and fixer Luis Calderin.

The crew got thrown a serious curveball this week. On Wednesday, just as Seven Days went to print with Chris Farnsworth penning a spotlight piece about the event, the headliner cancelled. That would be the dynamite live celebration that is Arrested Development, who were forced to bow out because leading man Speech is undergoing some seriously scary health problems in the middle of their triumphant tour. That man is a national treasure and we need him here for another four or five decades. At least.

In land speed record of a turnaround, just over 24 hours later, a new headliner was announced: none other than Slick Rick, a rap legend with a career spanning … well, pretty much all of hip hop. Every era, every phase, every generation, Rick the Ruler has been slaying onstage, coining catchphrases, and dropping unforgettable tracks. He’ll be touching down at the Flynn on Saturday night along with a slew of worthy opening acts.

Earlier, there will be a ton of talent rocking on Church Street, so you simply cannot go wrong. Go catch some live culture downtown tomorrow. This is one of the biggest events of the year.

Do you ever look out across the majestic splendor of Lake Champlain and wonder what, exactly, is on the other side? Among other things, The Joint Commission, an upstate supergroup of sorts that’s gearing up for the release of their debut LP, Triple Fly Goose. “Solomon’s Tomb” is their second single, coming on the heels of their hilarious & ridiculous video for “Pioneers.” We’ll have more on Monday, but meanwhile, give this joint a spin — and consider heading across the lake next Saturday, July 15th for the second Show and Prove event at the Old Soul Design Shop, which is evolving into a real hub for New England hip hop. The 802’s own Big Homie Wes will be in the building, along with North Carolina spitter CapitalQ.

A huge celebration of both Fattie B’s collective project GUMBO and the BTV scene as a whole will be going down at BTV’s Waterfront Park this evening as Jazz Fest kicks into high gear. Show up early for The Big GUMBO Variety Show, an ensemble presentation with a packed guestlist. Stick around for Sampa the Great’s transcendent live show at 9:30, because that woman is 100,000 volts. It’s all good and it’s all free, too. Come on down.

Even with THE FEED up and running again, there's altogether too much new music to catch up on. Since there hasn't been a ROUNDUP since last November, let's bring that format back, too. What follows is a quick, insufficient tour sampling the state of the scene, here and now, as we careen into Summer 2023. My prediction: from here to A_Dog Day will be an iconic run, and after that? Well, things get even more insane.

Side note: if you don't already know, A_Dog Day will be Saturday, August 26th, and huger than ever to celebrate the event's 10th anniversary. Big announcements coming soon, bud.

D.FRENCH - No Lie ft. Flywlkr

A swing for the fences, right here. Some hella radio-friendly, uptempo summer soundtrack shit from the combo of D.FRENCH and Flywlkr, both artists who are building extremely melodic & musical catalogs. (And, yes…wavy catalogs. Very wavy, indeed.) Anyone with ears will immediately notice how carefully this song was written, with both verses running in parallel. Flywlkr does an outstanding job of flipping the same flow, and he definitely brings his own spice rack to it. Even I'm impressed, and let's be real, I hate shit like this.

Obi the Voicegod - “Do’s and Don’ts” ft. Rivan

Damn, bud. I've been hearing a lot of radio chatter about Obi the Voicegod putting in work on some "next level" material, and this single would seem to confirm them rumors. He sounds way more comfortable with his instrument, just flossing over the beat with a hypnotic banger holding him down. Bringing Rivan into the equation is always going to elevate things, and he kills it once again. Definitely a top ten track for 2023 so far, to my ears.

HakimXOXO x Syierr - M.V.P. 2

Perhaps best enjoyed with headphones, this is a great collaboration in the sense that both HakimXOXO and Syierr are finding common ground coming from different styles. And I gotta say, the mix is explosive chemistry. These cats should definitely drop an album of this kind of urgent, banging & brash material. They just need to get an engineer who can really make their vocals shine in the mix.

sepol mas - 20

I've been consistently impressed with the precocious pen game of sepol mas, a world-weary young rapper with a gift for delivering visuals to his listeners. A bright, sunny summer tune about self-doubt and lethargy, "20" is another great slice of writing. Befitting a man of his stature, he also finds time to talk some prolific shit about the competition.

Moose Got Tha Juice - Off Tha Juice

Moose Got Tha Juice is a force of nature these days, completely losing himself in every song he drops. (If you missed it, we just dropped an excellent GET FAMILIAR interview with ol' boy.) Producer JVP hit him with some luxuriously funky deep pockets to play with here, and Moose makes the most of it.

Sad Boy Julius - Out the Mud ft. Xistential

The tag team of Sad Boy Julius and Xistential continue to deliver mammoth, melodic bangers that sound readymade for some major label shine. "Out The Mud" is gone like a breeze at under two minutes runtime, but it's still a flawless product, and besides, short is always sweet. I'm not sure what's coming next from this crew, but it's guaranteed to be more: more music, more videos, and more elevation on the quality control front. Alongside nxrthstar, this is an impressive team. If you're feeling it, check out the rest of his album, Thanks for nothing.

Bilé - price of luv / we ain’t good

Curiously, the latest from Bilé is also a fresh take on Bitches Ain't Shit subgenre, but from a much different angle. A two-part movement about broken people having broken relationships, this is some of the most venomous material we’ve heard from him. Of course, that kind of car crash honesty only makes it all more compelling. He’s one of the best doing it right now.

Freddie Losambe - 88 Atmosphere

"I'm writing a letter to the editor, letting him know we ain't impressed with the competitors." Freddie Losambe, at some point in the near future, is going to release his 100th project. I don't have a precise count on hand, but that horizon is definitely within view. Over the course of his name-changin', shape-shiftin', fast-movin' streak of EPs and albums, he's carved a lane all his own and sharpened his pen into a diamond cutter along the way. This is a good song, in other words.

ABULLET - Couldnt tell u if i tried

Finally, another dose of those flames from ABULLET, one of the best new BTV rappers I've heard in the past year. He's obviously aiming for The Best, Period every time he gets in the booth. If those adlibs had been turned down even -2db, it would have made all the difference in the world, but I'm also betting that was a conscious decision. Everything he's been dropping is deliberately raw in the best sense. Here’s hoping he locks in with an executive producer with the means & motive to translate all this talent and hunger into a truly undeniable album.

I had to get at least one of these in for the month of May, right? I have been rebuilding my projects after nuking my laptop with a full mug of coffee, and apologize for disappointing more or less everybody who needed coverage & promotion lately. The laptop debacle sucked utterly, because I wasn't backing up my shit and lost a ton of irreplaceable work. If any of you are in a similar situation, please, stop reading this right now and fix that.

First things first: A_Dog Day will be Saturday, August 26th, and huger than ever to celebrate the event's 10th anniversary. Big announcements coming soon, bud. Just make sure you're around when it all goes down.

Next up, the Juneteenth celebration in BTV is shaping up to be simply monumental. Current lineup includes Konflik, Rivan, Charlie Mayne, DJ Dakota ... oh, and Arrested Development is headlining. More information as it comes; there will be activities and events popping off all over downdown Burlington that day. Note that it will be on Saturday, June 17th, since the 19th is a Monday and only a day off for Federal employees. So far!

Big things are popping in the Capital City, too. Fresh off his winter-long run at Reks-N-Effect down in Sugarbush, the tireless hustle of Mister Burns is coming to Montpelier for “Positive Grounds,” a new concert series at Positive Pie. They're kicking it off in high style with The Perceptionists headlining alongside, of course, Sed One and Burns himself. Props to local dispensary Gram Central for sponsoring some crucial culture.

There has been a ton of great music dropping this year, and for that I am grateful. There has been even more mediocre music, of course, but all of this is very necessary. Not to mention inevitable, with a statewide scene growing so quickly. I shudder to think about how much footwork will go into updating the 802 Hip Hop Discography project, which is already highly incomplete as is. Still, let me highlight a few standout releases in brief; I hope to revisit all of these in more detail.

First up, Caleb Lodish gave us a fully realized compilation album, I Expect Nothing In Return. I very much expect to be in the Album of the Year conversation come next January. The young beatsmith gathered up some of the best of his generational wave on one consistent, ambitious project and it all hangs together perfectly. It's a beautiful snapshot of this moment in time, but it also indicates that Caleb Lodish has a bright future in this industry as an old school A&R tastemaker in addition to a one man beat factory.

Then we have Conswank's low key masterpiece of tone & honesty, Low Point Retreat. Similar to Mr. Lodish's magnum opus, it's a project that leaves you even more excited for what's coming next, because it is such a thoroughly realized vision. Making great songs is no easy trick, but making a great album, a coherent journey that hypnotizes listeners, is art on another level entirely. Ol' boy even got himself featured on good old WCAX, which triggered a bit of baffling hate, both from Facebook mouth-breathers and from salty local artists. And verily, fuck them all. 99 Neighbors has been big news around here for a long time now and that won’t change.

In 2023, I hope to see that same stratospheric story arc for BTV's foremost retro-futurist R&B practitioners, Jewlery Company. Their debut LP, Romance Scam Online, is just front to back jams. Manriel Grant and Ezra Ouellette are both outstanding songwriters; sly, smart, cynical and vulnerable. And their taste in beats is world class. (Legendary pull quote from Ouellette in their recent Seven Days review: "If the instrumental sounds like an '80s pop ballad took molly the night before, it's a good instrumental.")

Not stock photography but an actual picture of me, suffering for your art. I am 68 years old.

That’s about all I’ve got the bandwidth for today. I’m still going through all the submissions that came through on my, uh, hiatus, but please assume I’m sleeping on your latest project / release and get in touch. I’m trying to rebuild my situational awareness, here.

And don’t forget: Bay Area legends Souls of Mischief are coming through Higher Ground on Thursday the 15th.

THE CONSULT is a series I started in 2021 and immediately abandoned. Life is like that. It’s coming back weekly this summer, though, because the format fits my bandwidth (I would rather be outside then writing for free) and it’s extremely important to document other voices here. So every Monday this summer, expect to see someone new talking shop and plugging their projects. First up, Barre legend M.Rich, who made his mark with Bar None the Best and is now back on the scene after pivoting to show promotion — although you can expect to hear more music, too.

VTHH: How long have you been representing Barre?

M.Rich: I feel like I represent Vermont more than Barre. Barre is the good, the bad and the ugly of Vermont. Barre got a well earned reputation for a lot of negative shit, but is filled with some great people. Drug addiction has run rampant in Barre, as it has throughout Vermont, though Barre gets the stigma for the addiction and hustling, crime in general. Being in the middle of Vermont, Barre is a pipeline for many things, one that I feel it needs to facilitate to help everyone is the art scene. Poverty mold artists in many ways, and with the deterioration of the infostructure (politically speaking, and poverty wise) is creating a climate of despair that art, in my view music, may help the next generation and some of the people struggling now. 

VTHH: Do you remember the first time you spit a rhyme in front of other people?

M.Rich: The first rhyme I spit in front of people was way back when Einstein's was Millenium, before it was second floor lmao. I would go to teen night with my gf at the time and battle people. First person I battled up there was Big Rye lmfao. I was like 16 then.  Then I ended up battling Jesse, my ex bnb partner, in front of the Highschool in Barre. 

VTHH: What did the 802 rap scene look like back when Bar None The Best were just getting started?

M.Rich: When BNB got started, Charlie Mayne was Chyse, a talented kid in High School that I met at a local showcase. He was dope then, I gave him a couple small tips and he used them and added soooooooo much more.

I really go back before BNB was a thing though, that was more of a mind set rather than a group. When I was getting into this Dj Dakota dropped Self Explanatory, Teflon put out his album after that, then Nastee came in with DJ A_Dog and formed VT Union, which don't get enough credit in my opinion. [EDITOR’S NOTE: This is factually true.] A_Dog, Nastee, Dakota, B Free MC, Manus, all would be rockin’ Red Square and that opened up so many doors for all of us artists. Shit, before that I remember rocking with Dakota at Positive Pie in Montpelier when he was with Hadi and the home team. There was Sin & Lee, and only a handful of others that were actively making, putting out, and performing music. Shit, I can go back to Rude Dog Productions with country and them.

Its crazy to see now though, how far it’s grown. The caliber of music that is being put out is absolutely incredible. Charlie Mayne has grow into one of the most well rounded and complete artists I have ever heard, and when he puts out his funk, rnb, or hip hop album....sheeesh, then his paintings....dude is too talented. Then there is Yung Breeze...this kid Breeze right, the amount of songs/features that are all top tier is insane. This kid was made to make music, his songs are beyond his years, he does the production and has a team of artists that do more than just hip hop.

That’s why I cant wait for this show June 30th at Jewel nightclub in Manchester NH, cheap plug, I’ve been saying for too many years that these 2 need to do a track, but more so, they are 2 of three people in Vermont that should (I hate saying should because it sounds entitled) "make it.” I’ll define make it as be able to live comfortably off music or entertainment. Jarv is an example of what a VT artist given the right opportunities can do. 

VTHH: How did BNB wind up connecting with Nastee for the Green Mountain Sound LP?

M.Rich: We had just finished and printed VT’s Homegrown CDs, at the time there wasn’t many other people with physical CDs. We sold around 500-1000 hand to hand and one of the people who bought it was Dakota. Dak told me that once we got some people listening to hit up Nastee, I have a hard time listening sometimes so I immediately got at Nastee and he was fuckin with the mixtape, and then we started working.

VTHH: Were you surprised by the reception of "Welcome to VT (Kick The H)" or did you expect that to make some noise?

M.Rich: When I wrote that hook and my verse it was more about showing the other side of Vermont, the one I know and the one the media doesn’t cover. I was seeing, still am seeing, so many people dying or on their way that I had to speak to that. After it was done, recorded and the video was about to drop I just happened to email WCAX and they picked it up. I was shocked to say the least, but happy, too. The feedback was interesting because there was negative feedback of the exposure thing, and Vermonters trying to protect the farm, maple syrup hippie white image that many of America perceive Vermont to be. Yeah, we have that, but we got the other stuff too, if we just ignore it then it grows in the dark.

VTHH: What are some of the most important lessons you've taken from your experience in the music business?

M.Rich: That art is very different from business. As an artist it is hard to put a value on something you want people to hear/consume. This made me view music separate from business because me the artist cant separate the two at times. I see the value of music. hip-hop, but allll music as a tool to bring people together in harmony while chaos ensues around us. That goes into where I am going with my education for music therapy with a hip-hop twist.

VTHH: Tell me more about "music therapy with a hip hop twist" -- what's the goal there?

M.Rich: I was watching a documentary on Quincy Jones and he said something like all artists should learn an instrument. My ex wife was pregnant with my daughter so I decided to teach myself guitar. After getting divorced I started school and have started to develop an idea for a therapy system that teaches how to play guitar by emotion, but also teach history and philosphy through certain hip hop artists. Much of Hip-Hop is based on the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program, and Hip-Hop has sort of become Fred Hamptons Rainbow Coalition, so to teach the importance of community and unity for us poor people, while teaching self worth is the twist of Hip-Hop on music therapy. 

VTHH: What inspired you to get into doing show promotion?

M.Rich: I got tired of seeing everyone running on a hamster wheel, so many shows, artists still not getting paid, venues still reap all the rewards for the work us artists have put in. The other part is Spotify streams, which each stream is something like 00.00000000009 cents paid per stream. That aspect of music is dead right now, the part that isn’t, and hopefully never will be? Live shows.

We've had a few artists basically doing old school artist development for years now, so they beyond ready. In order to make a change though I have to start a Coalition of the best artists, producers and djs, btw if you’re a DJ charging a venue 50-100 bucks shame on you, youre 90% of our problem still, and do some old school 90's promotion, that’s my favorite part of the game in many ways. Less focus on internet and more focus on physical bodies. Plus with the loss of Kyle Hoyt a few years ago there has been a huuuuuge void that I don’t know if it can be filled, but someone needs to try.

VTHH: Is there anyone in the new wave coming out of Burlington you could see winding up on the level of Chyse, Breeze and Jarv?

M.Rich: That is so hard to say. The level the three of them are on, most "famous" rappers aren’t on. The three of them are something else. I do have my eye on The Funky Diabetic who performs and makes music with so much joy its contagious. I’m interested to see what North Ave Jax does, that type of rap isn’t my cup of tea but the kid can make some music, I just need to see more. Theres a kid out of Barre named Mike Bowen that is putting out some stuff, but I need to see consistency and the drive to push when your momentum isn’t as high as it was. Then Konflik who is one of the best emcees I’ve ever seen live too, him and Nastee just out grinding for the love of the culture and music.

VTHH: What are you working on now in terms of your own music?

M.Rich: I’m still working on music here and there, my album is turning into more of a collection of life work, briefly talked to Nastee about finishing it. Breeze been trying to get me rapping more too, we'll see though, I’m more focused on getting people I believe in on bigger stages and more markets.

CHARLIE MAYNE x YUNG BREEZE @ JEWEL in MANCHESTER NH June 30th

Yeah, that’s quite a headline. There’s going to be a lot of big 2023 shows getting announced over the next month, but for a certain subspecies of Old Head™, this is the lineup to beat for now. Not just for the nostalgia, either: both Onyx and R.A. the Rugged Man have decades-long reputations for live shows that are just shy of riots. (That’s a compliment, of course; watching Nectars turn into a mosh pit is a rare opportunity these days.)

Also on the horizon: Cormega will touch down at Higher Ground on May 10th, and Souls of Mischief will be there on June 15th to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘93 Til Infinity. More big names coming soon, tough, stay tuned.