Students give positive spin to local hip-hop
■The Eugene hip-hop scene
is growing and changing,
according to groups trying
to improve hip-hop’s image
By Alix Kerl
Oregon Daily Emerald
A dedicated group of students
has started an organization to
bring together musicians and
artists interested in strengthening
the Eugene hip-hop scene. The
group’s efforts during the past year
are culminating in “Let it Reign,"
a hip-hop show Saturday at the
EMU Ballroom.
The group is known as The Hip
Hop Organization, and its 50-plus
members are working to bring to
gether artists and musicians who are
interested in hip-hop and creating a
more realistic perception of the
genre. Gabe Sechrist, a University
student, has led the charge, organiz
ing hip-hop shows that involve mu
sicians, breakdancers and artists.
The roots of hip-hop began with
Jamaican ska. A DJ would create
music with records and an MC
would shout poetry or rhymes over
it. This music was carried to New
York, where modern hip-hop and
rap were created. Presently, there
are hip-hop groups in the suburbs
of Portland, the cities of Israel and
even in Japan.
“Hip-hop is a living,
breathing culture. People
look down on it because
they don’t understand. ”
Hunter Blackwell
Juice 2 Make it Happen
“I’ve definitely heard some
Japanese ffeestylers,” said Cosmos
Corbin, member of the group Rag
ing Family.
Until recently, hip-hop was
mainly associated with inner-city
gangs, drugs and derogatory speech
about women.
“A lot of people have negative per
ceptions of hip-hop,” Sechrist said.
“We’re trying to be originators.”
Scheduling venues, dealing
with administrators, paying for
flyers and drumming up interest
in an art-based hip-hop organiza
tion has been difficult, but no one
is discouraged.
“The point of our union is to
bring that all together, right?” said
Luke Mallery, a member of Raw Ac
tion’s break squad, a local break
dancing squad.
“Right,” Sechrist said.
Sechrist plans to go beyond per
forming to work on education and
outreach issues.
Community education
Organization members Cortez Jor
don and Garrik Buschek have-been
educating the masses on the truth
about hip-hop. Buschek has been
working with Eugene middle and
grade schools to create after-school
hip-hop classes to encourage kids to
disassociate violence and posturing
from hip-hop. Jordon has initiated a
program called Cosmic Swimming,
a baby brother of cosmic bowling.
Jordon throws performers, DJs and
some 300 middle-schoolers in
swimsuits together to provide a safe,
albeit crazy, extracurricular pro
gram. Sechrist’s group Logic once
performed at the event, which takes
place at Echo Hollow Pool at 1655
Echo Hollow Road.
“Half of them are swimming and
half are trying to break and beat box
very poorly,” Sechrist said. “It’s ab
solute mayhem.”
Mallery is excited that the kids
got a chance to be exposed to the
positive parts of the scene.
“(In breakdancing) there are a
limitless amount of moves, and it’s
an opportunity for physical, mental
and artistic expression,” Mallery
said. “Breaking is a wonderful form
of expression.”
Numerous members of the group
are frustrated by the mainstream
idea that listening to rap music cre
ates violence. They believe that
hip-hop has grown beyond that.
“Hip-hop is a living, breathing cul
ture,” said Hunter Blackwell, a mem
ber of the music group Juice 2 Make
it Happen. “People look down on it
because they don’t understand.”
What makes a scene
There are currently hip-hop
groups in nearly every U.S. city.
They abound in urban, suburban
and rural areas and for many peo
ple, hip-hop is no longer about
growing up in the ghetto. “It’s pret
ty wild how hip-hop spread,” said
Mike Schuman, a member of the
group 13 th Tribe.
However, Levi Banner argues
that hip-hop hasn’t spread enough.
“Even Medford has a bigger
scene (than Eugene), and it’s small
er,” said Banner, a member of Raw
Action’s break squad.
Banner is a strong believer that a
healthy hip-hop scene needs four
components: MCs, DJs, break
dancers and graffiti artists, com
monly called graf artists.
All four ingredients are strong in
Eugene, although graf artists have
the most difficult time because
their art is illegal. Banner supports
the idea of Eugene supporting a free
graffiti wall — a legal wall where
painters can draw over other peo
ple's work at any time. In the Unit
ed States, graffiti is considered
criminal mischief, with penalties
that range from a Class C misde
meanor to a felony, depending on
the extent of the property damage.
It has been difficult to establish a
stable graffiti wall in Eugene. The
Lane Arts Council presented a plan
in 1999 for wall and mural projects,
which the Eugene City Council ap
proved. The plan included com
missioning local artists to paint on
the side of businesses that wanted
to participate. It also established a
free wall on the side of Factory Fab
rics near Seventh Avenue and Fil
more Street. Eugene Police Depart
ment gang information coordinator
Lin Holmquist said that the free
wall was intended to create a place
for expression.
“The intent was to allow an oppor
tunity for not everyone involved in
the program, but a lot of people, to
come work on the project and to ex
press themselves,” Holmquist said.
While the free wall survived for a
short time, EPD eventually decided
to shut it down because neighbor
hood businesses were being tagged.
“There is a fine line between
what’s OK and what’s not,” Black
well said. “Between what’s legal or
not, between what keeps or kills a
free wall.”
Where hip-hop is headed
Sechrist doesn’t know what di
rection hip-hop is going in, but he
does see an increasing emphasis on
live musicians and the incorpora
tion of a variety of different instru
ments in creating hip-hop music.
“I plan to go beyond performing.
As people who do art and perform
ance, we have an influence on how
people act,” Sechrist said. “Right
now, I’m just trying to put together
as much stuff as I can.”
The ballroom show on Saturday
will be one of the biggest events the
group has organized, with perform
ances by several local groups and a
few well-known DJs from Portland.
E-mail reporter Alix Kerl
at alixkerl@dailyemerald.com.
Alix Kerl Emerald
Powder, a member of Raw Action’s break squad, breaks Wednesday at Street Faire to attract interest in Saturday’s hip-hop show.
‘Let it Reign,’ sponsored by The Hip
Hop Organization, includes six acts,
beginning at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April
27th, at the EMU Ballroom. The Hip
Hop Organization is a student group
bringing hip-hop artists and musicians
together.
Where: EMU Ballroom
When: Doors at 8 p.m., show at8:30
p.m.
How much: $3 students, $4 general,
$5 at the door
Advance tickets are available at the
EMU Ticket Office
Featuring:
Metric & Marv Ellis
Raging Family
Logic
Juice 2 Make it Happen
13tti Tribe
Raw Action’s break squad
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