Coming Soon...

by Cid Standifer

The organizers of Grinnell’s week-long Hip Hop Festival hope to pack Harris Friday night for a concert featuring three up-and-coming groups: The Usuall Suspectz, 50/50 and T-Wes.

The Usuall Suspectz, who played here last semester, are a native Chicago band that got together in 2001 and released their first album, Us vs Them, soon after. The band is made up of seven artist/producers who call themselves Vizion, Trigga Trife, Ready, Qhazi, Nes, Kurse and Mastamynde. Ned Levy ’04 knew some of the members and thought they would make an excellent addition to the Friday-night lineup. The band defies attempts to place it in a predefined category within rap, and instead the members call themselves “street poets.” Us vs Them has received radio play in Chicago. The group also worked with the duo Spike N Jamahl to produce US vs Bobby Drake University Mixtape.

The other two bands performing, 50/50 and T-Wes, are both from Kansas City. Isom Winston ‘04’s aunt manages the groups and the committee decided the festival was a good opportunity to give the groups some exposure. 50/50 has come out with several songs including Hamburger Hill and Something Aint Right. Some of their lyrics deal with common topics, like getting burned by a lover. T-Wes has an album out called Up Close and Personal.

Festival organizer Derrek Chandler ‘04 thinks that having the bands perform here is mutually beneficial for the artists and the college. The bands are all new and therefore within the committee’s price range and the bands could use the experience. “Helping artists out was very important,” he said. “We’re helping them and they’re helping us.”