I started off doing rap shows in St. Louis around 2002. There was actually a decent hip hop scene in this town back in those days. There was The Science Hip-Hop Spin at Blueberry Hill every Friday. There was also (of course) Monday Nights at the Hi-Pointe. There used to be shows booked at Cicero's, The Red Sea, etc. The Loop Underground opened up the doors for local rap artists at Blueberry Hill and The Pageant.
I've been in and out of the scene over the last several years due to family issues. God and family will always come first in my life. There have been times when I've had to sacrifice music in order to make sure my priorities were straight. After my daughter Chloe started to get a little older it became a bit easier to do music again. When I officially started looking to get booked on shows I found that the scene was not poppin' like it used to be. Fubar was the only place that would book me. I played there several times earlier this year and for the most part I had a blast. The only challenge there is selling tickets.
For the ten plus years I've lived in St. Louis the people in this town have not supported local hip hop. It is damn hard to get people to consistently come out to shows. In these days and times who can blame people for not wanting to spend money to go see you perform? We all have bills. Many of us also have families to provide for. I know I can't justify the money and the time away from my family to go see other people perform.
I want to be clear on this. I love St. Louis. I'm just a country boy who dreamed of being able to rap. Where I grew up there was no chance that would happen. This city has allowed me to hone my craft. It seems everyone wants to boil everything down to money. I do this music because I love it. It's a part of me. It's like an extra limb. When it's cut off it hurts me deeply.
The last show I played at Fubar was with my old friend DJ Urban One. Urban and I reconnected when he started DJing for the 12 to 6 Movement live band, which I play drums in. Urban agreed to come out and DJ for me at Fubar and he saw what I saw when I played there in the past. This venue has some serious potential. He also saw how much older we were then all the other performers. LOL! It really tickled me. These young rappers were coming up to me and talking to me as if I was a respected member of the rap community. One kid told me I reminded him of his Dad. :)
I reflected on the night and I realized that I should really have a talk with the owner of Fubar. I need to see if he was receptive to me getting involved in running a local hip hop show at Fubar. I can't thank Robert enough for the CHANCE to build something at Fubar. At this point in my life it's just about the music. I want to give young up and coming rappers a chance to perform somewhere. I met a group called the S.W.E.D. Poet Society at the 12 to 6 Movement show this past Saturday. They gave me props after we performed and gave me a CD of their group. They reminded me of myself at that age. I booked them on this show at Fubar because someone gave me a break once too. I'm very excited to see these young men perform.
To all my friends and hip hop colleagues that were in the scene when The Science was going down, when Monday Night at the Hi Pointe was going down, Fletch is trying to bring the scene back. I need your support. If you LOVE RAP and the hip hop culture please come out to this show. This isn't about politics people. This isn't about ego and who's the best. This is about love.
God Bless and I love all of you,
Big Fletch
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Fubar: October 11th, 2013......something new on the horizon
I started off doing rap shows in St. Louis around 2002. There was actually a decent hip hop scene in this town back in those days. There was The Science Hip-Hop Spin at Blueberry Hill every Friday. There was also (of course) Monday Nights at the Hi-Pointe. There used to be shows booked at Cicero's, The Red Sea, etc. The Loop Underground opened up the doors for local rap artists at Blueberry Hill and The Pageant.
I've been in and out of the scene over the last several years due to family issues. God and family will always come first in my life. There have been times when I've had to sacrifice music in order to make sure my priorities were straight. After my daughter Chloe started to get a little older it became a bit easier to do music again. When I officially started looking to get booked on shows I found that the scene was not poppin' like it used to be. Fubar was the only place that would book me. I played there several times earlier this year and for the most part I had a blast. The only challenge there is selling tickets.
For the ten plus years I've lived in St. Louis the people in this town have not supported local hip hop. It is damn hard to get people to consistently come out to shows. In these days and times who can blame people for not wanting to spend money to go see you perform? We all have bills. Many of us also have families to provide for. I know I can't justify the money and the time away from my family to go see other people perform.
I want to be clear on this. I love St. Louis. I'm just a country boy who dreamed of being able to rap. Where I grew up there was no chance that would happen. This city has allowed me to hone my craft. It seems everyone wants to boil everything down to money. I do this music because I love it. It's a part of me. It's like an extra limb. When it's cut off it hurts me deeply.
The last show I played at Fubar was with my old friend DJ Urban One. Urban and I reconnected when he started DJing for the 12 to 6 Movement live band, which I play drums in. Urban agreed to come out and DJ for me at Fubar and he saw what I saw when I played there in the past. This venue has some serious potential. He also saw how much older we were then all the other performers. LOL! It really tickled me. These young rappers were coming up to me and talking to me as if I was a respected member of the rap community. One kid told me I reminded him of his Dad. :)
I reflected on the night and I realized that I should really have a talk with the owner of Fubar. I need to see if he was receptive to me getting involved in running a local hip hop show at Fubar. I can't thank Robert enough for the CHANCE to build something at Fubar. At this point in my life it's just about the music. I want to give young up and coming rappers a chance to perform somewhere. I met a group called the S.W.E.D. Poet Society at the 12 to 6 Movement show this past Saturday. They gave me props after we performed and gave me a CD of their group. They reminded me of myself at that age. I booked them on this show at Fubar because someone gave me a break once too. I'm very excited to see these young men perform.
To all my friends and hip hop colleagues that were in the scene when The Science was going down, when Monday Night at the Hi Pointe was going down, Fletch is trying to bring the scene back. I need your support. If you LOVE RAP and the hip hop culture please come out to this show. This isn't about politics people. This isn't about ego and who's the best. This is about love.
God Bless and I love all of you,
Big Fletch
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