This time around they are bringin in Abstract Rude, one of the original members of the World Renowned Freestyle Fellowship Hip Hop Collective from the San Fransisco / Bay Area. Currently on the Rhymesayers label, Ab Rude is gonna lull you into a false sense of security with his smooth lyrical style then slap you up-side the head with a lit blunt just for kicks.

Ask your mom to extend your curfew and mark this down on the calendar on her fridge: Friday, July 16th 2010 10pm @ Ritual Night Club.

>>> Facebook Event <<<

You go into the battle knowing the other guy is going to insult you, repeatedly. Yet afterwards, outside, after there was a clear winner, there is a scuffle over what was said between two cheeseballs who lost in the first and second round. Punks are tough motherfuckers, but the indie rock scene in this city collaborates endlessly with anyone who is interested in joining them.

It’s as easy as posting on a message board. Bands will promote each other, find shows for one another and exchange contacts in different cities. This collaborative effort severely differs from the piss to mark your territory attitude of the indie hip hop music scene. You won’t see a battle of the bands end up in a bar-clearing brawl.

The underground indie hip hop music scene ends up being various little clusters, divided by seemingly nothing other than a look-out-for-number-one mentality. I was recently in a punk band and we were asked to be on a compilation featuring Ottawa garage and punk acts. Again, unheard of in indie hip hop. Think of how helpful that would be to up-and-coming acts that can’t afford to book a studio, let alone pay for pressing. Twenty performers can pitch together $100 each and volunteer some studio time and you’d have yourself a collaborative inde hip hop effort that would not only showcase your talents to the community, if not the world, but also how strong our underground indie hip hop music scene is.

Of course I would not initiate this revolution because I am far too lazy, although I do plan on making it my New Year’s resolution to at least help out. Ok … you got me. It’s not because I’m lazy. It’s due to the fact that at the end of the day, the journey to actually getting your album out with no help is a beautiful struggle. You want to keep it to yourself because that way you are the one who has final say on what happens. There is a huge reward after the endless time and effort invested in your craft.

But keep in mind, there is nothing stopping us from working just as hard, in unison, towards the same end. Just imagine the result if all the Ottawa heads put their heads together to get ahead.

With a culture so rich in every kind of music from almost every ethnic background, it confuses me so much that our entertainment comes from the States. Even the underground or independent hip hop that we hear on our own university and college stations is predominantly American unless it’s Canadian content week. Really though?! Should the FCC really have to step in to make sure that we display our own talents? The phrase up-lift the culture never meant much to me until I took a look at Canadian hip hop.

I first started opening my mind to Canadian hip hop in 1997 when I heard Dan-e-o’s “Dear Hip Hop”: an ode to his profession, a sentiment that was reflected in me and my friends. Growing up in Ottawa I was mostly open to hip hop from Toronto which at the time had sick jams coming out. Ghetto Concept put out “Krazy World” and Choclair dropped “21 years” and got recognition from DJ Premier with the track ending up on a compilation titled “New York Reality Check”. Once I exhausted Ontario’s hip hop, I started looking for some more Canadian hip hop to satisfy my hunger for crate digging as I had just started my radio show on CKCU at Carleton University and needed the next hit.

I stumbled on a $6 rap show at Babylon, a club that was once the center of any decent hip hop that came to Ottawa. The headliners were Pip Skid and McEnroe from the Peanuts and Corn Fam. I was sceptical at first because a $6 show usually didn’t get you that much, especially from an out of town act. I voiced my concern to the friend that had convinced me to go but he told me not to worry, anticipating the “who is this?!” look that drives us to drag our friends out on a Wednesday night to get smashed and listen to some good music.

I was hooked; from then I couldn’t stop. Almost every day I would try and put some time away to dig through the internet and local music shops. I wasn’t satisfied with the Rascalz and Kardinal, I had to find the obscure, like Josh Martinez, or I would just have to dig through information in order to like something more. When I would play any of the first Saukrates songs, I would drop the knowledge that he was writing beats for Common as if to convince someone that the States needs us to stay relevant in hip hop … which they do, because we are one of the larger consumers of their hip hop, but it’s time to put Canadian hip hop back on the radar.

Don’t stop switching dials on your radio. Find that local station; find that $5 to $10 show that will blow your mind. Canadian hip hop is flourishing, but if an MC drops a rhyme in the woods and no one is there to hear it, it’ll never make a sound.