Vermont Hip Hop: Still A Work In Progress

The "802 scene" that this website exists to hype doesn't quite exist yet. Considering all the deep history here, all the established talent, not to mention all the recent momentum and triumphs, that might come off as a crazy thing for me to say. Bear with me a minute.

From the heavily promoted run-up to the actual capacity crowd for the Love, Kelly showcase at ArtsRiot last Saturday, there's been one constant refrain: "WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?" It's a chorus that never gets old, and I remember it well from the last big success story in these mountains, 99 Neighbors.

Let's be clear and let's be fair. Very little of this is actual "hate." Some of this is just old heads grumbling, sure, but most of the 802 scene honestly hasn't heard of most of the other artists in the 802 scene, especially the younger cats and recent arrivals. So when someone like Stax Bodies says he's never heard of North Ave Jax, it's not a diss, just a statement of fact from a guy who has been crafting killer bars in BTV for about as long as North Ave Jax has been alive. And he's been doing it on North Ave, too.

Throughout the short run of years I've been dumping unpaid time into this project, the most consistent feedback I get is "I had no idea there was so much hip hop here." I hear that from random readers, from local music journalists, from booking agents and venue managers, and most of all, I keep hearing that from other artists. Just two weeks ago, I talked to a rapper from UVM who told me, earnestly, that there was no hip hop in Burlington and it was hard to carry the torch with no competition or support.

So there's something wrong here, right? Usually when I bring up problems I try to suggest solutions, but in this case, you're staring straight at it. This was my solution. And it's not working out so far. My work here has been mostly inadequate.

Fortunately, it doesn't matter much either way. Things evolve quickly on the internet, and printed words are ancient technology, submerged beneath an ocean of streaming video and emoji hieroglyphics. This website gets surprisingly decent traffic, but as anyone who has been featured in a ROUNDUP before can confirm, I'm not driving a lot of plays or new listeners for you guys. The average time spent on a ROUNDUP post is less than three minutes.

That's just artists being artists. It's not going to change anytime soon. As for regular-ass listeners, "the fans," they're every bit as fickle and bored. One of the many reasons you should keep promoting your albums and videos, over and over, for months after they drop, is because that's how long it will take most people to finally decide to click that "play" button.

Youth culture is one of the biggest engines of the entertainment industry, especially for music. You're getting older every year, and that pushes you further out from that magical combination of infinite free time, disposable income, and zero responsibilities. Scenes are built by the people who show up. That doesn't mean that old heads have no business making music — if anything, the opposite is true, fuck — but it does mean that the ground is shifting under your feet, week after week, and one day you're going to realize you barely recognize your own town anymore.

For a lot of you, that's already happened a few times over. Artists who have put in work for years building a scene, growing an audience, winning over venues and putting out albums want to believe they have some kind of ownership over the turf they've stomped. But that simply ain't true. Never was, never will be. Time marches on and there's always a new batch of high school and college kids having peak life experiences at bars and festivals and parties. And you've never heard of the new artists they're showing up to see. And none of them have ever heard of you.

All that said, there are some other solutions. Last week, I quietly re-started THE FEED, a feature dedicated to new music, every day. Even if nobody ever checks that out, it will at least help new artists get some search traction on Google. Ideally, though, people will check it out and it will lead to more awareness, connections and collaborations. A boy can dream.

I'm also thinking about how to organize and deliver a list of essential Vermont hip hop history, an abbreviated guide to the most influential and important artists, past and present. If you think that sounds like a dumb idea that is destined to fail at anything aside from generating controversy, hell, I agree. Definitely going to do it anyway, too.

None of the most important changes will happen on this dinky little website, though. The return of regular showcases like Yo! BTV Raps and the Anthill Collective's absolutely crucial 3rd Thursdays monthly at The Monkey House is going to shape 2022.

The arms race of constantly improving quality control in terms of production, mixing, artwork and videos is going to force every competitor in the game to step it up; steel sharpens steel.

But nothing is going to accelerate things here as much as more success stories will, just like North Ave Jax. So instead of asking who's next, let's dream a little bigger: how many artists will be "next" in 2022? How many singles can blow up and go viral? How many emcees can go on their first tour? How many producers can go from Soundcloud obscurity to Take A Daytrip level success? How many new labels and crews will we see by next November?

Momentum creates momentum. Don't let this moment in time go without a fight.