THURSDAY,OCTOBER10,2002
COVERSTORY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9
Brandon Baker/Kansan
Off hands Productions members, Evan Curran, a.k.a Microphone Evan-gilist, and Robert Rosales, a.k.a. Off hand, open Hip Hop night at the Bottleneck. Off Hands productions began in California by Off hand and gained Microphone Evan-gilist in the Midwest.
DJs
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Decks" provides an open-turntable forum for DJs every Wednesday night at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Soon hip-hop fans will be able to enjoy local hip-hop wherever and whenever they choose.
"It's all finally been coming together," said Jeremy Nesbitt, also known as Nezbeat of Archetype. "We've all been working on albums for the past few years and now they're all coming out at the same time."
A preview of the liner notes for the upcoming Archetype release revealed the collaborative, homegrown nature of the Lawrence hip-hop community. Virtually every element of the recording and the accompanying artwork came from Lawrence-based artists and musicians.
"It's all very crossed-over. Every single person has done something with every other person, or they probably will," Miles Bonny, one half of Sounds Good, said. "When you really start to think about how much exchange goes on between artists, I guess it's pretty crazy."
Nesbitt said the collaborative nature of Lawrence hip-hoppers reflected their work ethic.
"We're all friends as well as part of a community," Nesbitt said, "The more we get ourselves out as a community, the more people can appreciate us as a whole and not just as individuals."
Local hip-hop artist and producer John McCluskey, also known as Johnny Quest, said that while the artists might collaborate often, they all maintain their own unique sound.
"Everyone around here is so stylistically diverse. Sounds Good has the soul, party vibe. Close Encounters; the dark wordiness. Mac Lethal is there if you want to get crazy and then you've got I.D. of Archetype if you want to get on the existential vibe," McCluskey said.
Kyle Nelson, a local promoter and hiphop fan, said the easy-going nature of Lawrence affected the hip-hop community.
"We're down to earth in Lawrence. We have a better sense of camaraderie here. It's less cutthroat and there's more trust," Nelson said.
"The Midwest has formulated its own original approach to hip hop. It's more reflective of how normal folks live, get by. It doesn't have any pretension to it," Bogart, also known as DJ Vex-1 of the GoHard Crew, said.
Joel Bogart, Stafford senior, said the lifestyles and values of real Midwesterners were represented in the work of local hip-hoppers.
Bonny agreed, saying "the close knit group that exists here, the lack of competition, and the potential ease of day-to-day life" were important aspects of local life that come across in Lawrence's hip-hop.
"It's not a struggle. We're not forcing music out of ourselves to pay bills. We all have jobs, you know. Whereas in the big city, it's do-or-die," Bonny said.
McCluskey said the same factors applied to the local hip-hop audience.
applied to "Lawrence people are very open to new music. It has a lot to do with the college community," he said. "And they also know how to party. That adds to it."
Edited by Amanda Sears
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