The Diatribe
By Justin Peterson (Weird Sense)
Underground Hip – Hop Blogs are biased. They have a tendency to showcase artists that are up and coming with opinions based off of the writer’s taste and sometimes questionable life choices. Dear God! I hope this blog achieves just that, and yet, there are so many facets of this genre that are not typically touched on. Where is the advice to people that want to advance their skills in freestyle? Where are the humbling yet truthful interviews with promoters telling these aspiring rhyme sayers exactly what they are looking for when booking? Where are the artists criticizing ridiculous concepts like “pay to play”? Well, Aggie Radio and “The Diatribe” plan on accomplishing just that with constant updates, interviews, and advice for aspiring underground Hip-Hop artists everywhere. But why listen to me?
Here in the mean streets of Logan I’m known as Weird Sense throughout its vibrant hip hop scene (he typed sarcastically). That omission always sparks the most intriguing reaction from girls I am interacting with for the first time at a performance or party. Throughout my exploits of rapping (which has spanned about 13 years) I have finally nested here in Logan, Utah and DJ on The Weird Socks Hip Hop Radio Show every Thursday from seven to nine. I belong to a band called Black Lion which includes the show’s co-hosts Eddie Lion and Mowefa Eastmond. We are by no means famous…well hood-famous* maybe…
This past year was probably one of the craziest roller coasters in random performances of my life. That moment of meeting your favorite rapper is one thing, but realizing the dream of opening for them (or in some cases interviewing them) is utterly indescribable. This for Eddie Lion was meeting Koncept and J57 from the Brown Bag Allstars at a show we opened up for located at the Canyon Inn. For me, it was opening up for Blackalicious and interviewing B Dolan here on Aggie Radio a year prior! (A video by which you can absolutely go see by clicking on this link.) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4LNNGk22PQ) At that time we actually were so new to the radio process that Mr. Dolan kindly pointed out that the microphones we were using were pointing the wrong way. Equally embarrassing and educational when interviewing someone you idolize….ahem. But the education does indeed pay off! Warped Tour was an incredible experience and I highly recommend performing there to everyone, as well as opening for an audience that is vibing on your songs before Bone Thugs in Harmony comes on at The Great Saltair.
All those things, however, are in the past. So looking back, what did we learn that can be useful to others? What skills can be acquired from closely analyzing the incredibly right decisions made in the past, and the vastly larger wrong decisions? Check back as we start our first discussion on knowing when you can take your art form to the stage and not waste everyone’s f’ing time in the process.
Next time on…
The Diatribe
· * Hood Famous- well known in your local community, but not necessarily transcending into a larger stratosphere of notoriety.
