Boston rappers 2011

Boston's always had a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to New York City—no shots fired, we swear—and the latter's reality as the birthplace of the genre, not to mention headquarters for a good chunk of the music industry, has meant that Boston has historically been overshadowed by its neighbor to the South.

But the city has one main thing over the Big Apple—a constant influx of dedicated, determined college-age kids from the plus colleges in its metropolitan area who have the ability and passion for building their own hip-hop community.

The last few years have seen an explosion of raw talent in this arena—and that, among other things, has caught XXL 's eye. On that note, the XXL staff has pulled together 15 rappers that we believe you need to know—and because it was such a tough list to narrow down, we tossed in a bonus artist as well to bring the number to a square It's Boston's time to assert itself as a heavyweight in the hip-hop world.

This is the New New. Avenue Hometown: Boston, MA Twitter: AvenueGF Notable song: "I Love My" featuring Last Days Sounds like: Versatile and energetic rapper who fits in equally over an amped-up jazz sample or a spaced out acid groove Why you need to know him: Avenue is one of the most buzzed-about Boston rappers out right now, with his youthful energy allowing him to let his rhymes fit in to any situation.

His first release Words Speak Life and the recently-released Summer of '91 EP raised his profile to the point that the city started paying attention, and his tracks like "I Love My" and "Your Re-Up"—both produced by frequent collaborator HiFadility—bode well for the duo's upcoming release The Chandelier View , which should only push him further.

Why you need to know him: Black El is the rapper. Durkin is the DJ. The two come together to make some of the most lush and evocative music the city has to offer. Durkin operates in a similar realm as Fraud, but vacillates more violently to the extremes, either going super spaced out and wavy or keeping a strong root in the bassline, while Black El's evocative lyrical style make these two the number one go-to soundtrack to zoning and chilling out.

Why you need to know him: Catch Wreck's style exudes the almost lackadaisical confidence of someone along the lines of a Prodigy from Mobb Deep. Charmingly Ghetto Hometown: Dorchester, MA Twitter: CGhettoTheMC Notable song: "Glory" Sounds like: Nas-like street poet rhymes with a strong socially conscious bent and a global world view Why you need to know him: CG has been dropping mixtape after mixtape for the past few years, gaining acclaim from all those who have heard him for his deft and smart lyricism.

Joyner Lucas wrote his first rap at age seven and recorded his first song when he was 10, thanks to the musical influence of his father. With 18 years of practice under his belt, the 25 year-old is finally reaping the benefits of his hard work.

The big break for Joyner Lucas came in Joyner raps the first verse from the perspective of Ross, the kid who got shot, and the second verse from the perspective of the shooter. The song is coupled with some detailed visuals which really bring the story to life:. Joyner recently appeared on popular hip-hop show The Breakfast Club and is currently the biggest artist in Mass. A big moment was when he was co-signed by the legendary R. In the eight months since that moment, Token has taken off.

It features Token walking through his neighborhood while displaying his exceptional lyricism and flow:. The most popular part of the program is when they artists are given a beat and put on the spot to show off their talents. As a 17 year-old kid given the same platform as some of the legends of rap, Token knew that he had to come prepared.

He rapped passionate bars and gave arguably the best performance in the history of Sway In The Morning. He even made one of the co-hosts cry:. If you watched any of the three videos that I posted, then you know that this kid has the potential to be one of the greatest of all-time. Hailing from Roxbury, Michael Christmas grew up in an apartment two doors down from Edo. They used to play basketball together. Christmas is a self-proclaimed weirdo who often describes himself as awkward and the video is a perfect portrayal of his persona:.

Michael Christmas considers himself to be an artist rather than just a rapper and he hopes his rap career will open more avenues for him:. I want to be able to do other shit. I want to write and be on television. I want to make a commercial for Nike or some dumb shit. I want to be creative at all times. Rap is cool but I can show creativity in so many other ways.

I want rap to be an avenue to take me further as far as showing creativity and entertaining people. The disparity was undeniable to promoters like Finelli. I work with artists here. But I don't have the same access here as I do there. The most oft-cited barrier for hip-hop artists in Boston is the dearth of venues willing to book them. Though larger clubs, like House of Blues and Paradise, feature big name, out-of-town hip-hop acts on a regular basis, smaller venues skew heavily toward rock, and some never book hip-hop at all.

Only the Middle East in Cambridge is known to feature a significant percentage of hip-hop on its calendar. With limited options for places to play, local hip-hop artists starting out in Boston find it difficult to gain traction. Nearly every one of the 10 artists and promoters interviewed for this article said they had been denied potential gigs by venues whose policy it was not to book hip-hop.

The Boston rapper Dutch ReBelle said she had faced skepticism from clubs and talent buyers throughout her career. Mark Merren ran a weekly hip-hop series called Motivate Monday for five years starting in , first at the now-defunct Church of Boston and later at Hard Rock Cafe.

Finding a good venue with decent sound and regular availability was tough enough, he said, and sometimes the notion of an all-rap lineup was met with resistance.

Similar stories abound. Pope said he had been turned away from venues numerous times. We don't do that. Pope declined to name specific venues, citing fear that he could further damage his ability to get gigs around town. Few venues openly advertise such policies. In response, Thunder Road co-founder Dan Millen promised not to book "loud" or "dangerous" music.

This, according to some, translated into a ban on rap. Heather Mack, of the hip-hop duo Solo Sexx, emailed Millen in May of asking for a slot at the club. Mack, who is white, attributed the policy to racism. The bands we book feature members of all different races, sexual orientations and political views. We have a vibe we are going for that is primarily roots rock and straight up rock n' roll and BAND based.

Live music, and bands — not DJs with rappers just rapping. Midway booking agent Nick Blakey — who worked as a talent buyer at Church during the Motivate Monday era — confirmed this characterization. The group sought to distinguish itself among the city's small number of independent live music presenters with a quarterly series called The Pull Up that was focused on up-and-coming local rappers, many of whom boasted a growing online fanbase but little performance experience.

It didn't take long for the event to start attracting buzz, and The Pull Up was even profiled in the Metro , which credited the nascent series with providing "a new stage for Boston hip-hop. But the momentum was short-lived.

In a text message shared with The ARTery, Ned Wellbery, then the venue's booking manager, told Neal that the Middle East was cutting back on hip-hop "for a while" due to concerns about security. Wellbery declined to comment on the record in regards to the incident. An email inquiry to Great Scott in Allston elicited no response. Brighton Music Hall rejected the organization's proposed lineup, citing security concerns, and the Lilypad in Cambridge told the group it was not booking hip-hop artists — exchanges that were corroborated in emails shared with The ARTery.

They try really hard to get back to everyone in a timely fashion, but unfortunately some fall through the cracks. But after numerous refusals, he saw a pattern that to him spelled bias. Josh Bhatti, who oversees the Boston office for the booking platform Bowery Presents, said that the dearth of local hip-hop at Bowery-booked venues was due largely to a lack of supply.

Bowery Presents owns and operates The Sinclair in Cambridge, maintains an exclusive booking contract with the Royale in Boston, books national touring acts at Great Scott in Allston and works with a number of other venues in the area.

He estimated that hip-hop constituted about 10 to 15 percent of Bowery's bookings in Boston, most of them touring acts. But he expected those numbers to go up, adding, "I think overall — nationwide and throughout other Bowery venues and the industry as a whole — I think there's a bit of a rebirth of hip-hop at the club level.

But members of Boston's hip-hop community told a different story: The supply was there, it had just been forced underground. In the month of December , for instance, 11 out of 29 concerts 38 percent listed on the Middle East Upstairs calendar included hip-hop acts, beating out the similarly-sized Great Scott in Allston two out of 23, or 9 percent and Thunder Road and ONCE Somerville, neither of which featured hip-hop in December.

ONCE does occasionally host hip-hop, though only "a very low percentage," according to proprietor JJ Gonson, who attributed the club's rock leanings partly the tastes of its staff, who have helped make it a destination for metal.

The Middle East's hospitableness toward hip-hop is due largely to the efforts of Ned Wellbery, who oversees management of the Sater's venues.