As stated before, hurdcore.com is primarily geared towards fans supporting local bands, venues and events with an emphasis towards “all ages” offerings, so our recent foray into the Albany (Oregon) hip-hop community deviates some in the “all ages” aspect but is certainly well rooted in the local details. Just to be clear, our endorsement of local rap artists does come with the disclaimer that Albany’s local hip-hop talent isn’t PG (I know, shocking) in its content, but it cannot be denied as perhaps the local scene with the most traction and deepest support.

I was recently invited to travel with local artist Suganuts (interview link here) to attend a local show at Cantina in Corvallis (Oregon). As usual the show was well attended, and by several claims was by far the best attended live show to date at that venue. Local acts included: Suganuts, Poverty’s Posterboy (interview link here), Mr. 541, Treu, Markus Tha Great White (interview link here), Yung Royal, and so many more. I originally set out to review the show as a whole, but decided that as hip-hop isn’t a scene of origin here at hurdcore.com, I might be a small voice to share an outsiders view to what may be unknown about this brand of local rap.

So, whether you are unfamiliar and/or have passed on the local rap scene it because of pre-conceived notions of what hip-hop is all about there are a few things that stand out to me whenever I am around this group of artists that I think might cast a different light. This is a gathering of individuals who refuse to let their dream die. I don’t mean that to sound as though its a rag-tag bunch of has-beens that don’t know when to quit, but in the much respected sense of people who are punching the clock like the rest of us to take care of their families, bills and life-in-general but people unlike many, who maintain the resolve and discipline to carve out time to pursue their craft. These aren’t people trapped in a dream sequence of what could be, these are artists driven to act upon their passions and willing to put themselves to the fire.

More than a gathering of individual artists, this is a community of artists who have become incredibly tight knit in their support for each other while maintaining a distinction of uniqueness in their presentation of this music genre. Immediately apparent is an underlying respect for each other as artists, which comes with a celebration of individual accomplishments and an eagerness to collaborate on stage as well as in production. Even though they perform together, produce and appear on each others albums, individual artists maintain their uniqueness to such a degree that no act sounds alike. If you venture out to a local show, you will be witness to a community on the rise with a buffet of hip-hop offerings from real people who sing and share in real life.

So, if you’ve ever had a dream and wanted to be a part of a genuine community that creating momentum together, I think you would have a hard time finding that you don’t appreciate these characteristics on display wherever Albany (Oregon) hip-hop is performing. Rap may not be your thing, but perhaps you will think a little differently the next time you notice Albany (Oregon) Hip-Hop being promoted.

For UPCOMING EVENTS most of the artists mentioned in this article have Myspace pages that they update frequently, as a standard, Bogey’s Bar and Grill (Albany, Oregon) hosts Hip-Hop Night every Wednesday usually starting around 10PM.

SIDENOTE: The question that I have been asking both hardcore/rock and rap artists as well as fans, is how would a collaboration show work? I believe we can get local rock bands and hip hop artists together, several have said that they would do it, but where would we host it (primarily thinking it should be an all ages venue) and how best could we promote to generate a turn out? It seems Corvallis has a great diversity of rock offerings and Albany has to be one of the best rap communities that I observed to date, so what do WE say – at hurdcore.com we’d love your input on how to make this happen – YOU can make it happen! Taking suggestions for artists, venues and even a cause that might bring this all together.

Tags: Albany, Corvallis, Hip-Hop

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 1:08 am and is filed under From the Scene, Oregon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.