VTHH NOTES 9/7/23 — Vermont Hip Hop

**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.