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Art, Drugs and Kids: Getting To Know the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Scene

This story is featured on an upcoming episode of Inside Appalachia focused on hip-hop culture throughout the region. To listen to this episode and others, subscribe to the podcast .

There’s movement in the hip-hop scene of the upper Ohio Valley. In fact, there’s an actual hip-hop movement organizers are calling “The Movement.” It’s all about lifting up hip-hop artists, and one of its latest efforts to unite and celebrate the scene is the first annual Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards. A diverse pool of artists are contributing, and working hard to be be heard.

A Cypher: Pass the mic.

In preparation for the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards, artists came to a studio in East Wheeling to record a cypher. Many artists, including those nominated for various awards, took turns passing the mic, demonstrating rapping skills. Each artist’s verse was recorded and later used to promote the award ceremony through social media channels.

“This is THE studio, Future Entertainment. You can ask around, everybody who has recorded anything or tried to do local music has been in this studio,” said Claudell Whetstone, one of the sound engineers helping to record and mix the cypher. He’s 34 years old and remembers building the studio in East Wheeling in the early 2000s.

Claudell Whetstone is one of the major movers of The Movement in the Ohio Valley. He was also one of the judges for the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards and says the best hip hop today can’t be found on the radio or TV.

Claudell Whetstone is one of the major movers in what is referred to as The Movement in the Ohio Valley. He was also one of the judges for the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards. He says the best hip-hop today can’t be found on the radio or TV, and the cypher and the award ceremony are ways to shine light on talent that’s deep underground here.

Shanne Gain: ‘I grew up surrounded by drugs.’

Shanne Botizan, AKA Shanne Gain, was one of the artists participating in the cypher. He’s an Ohio Valley hip-hop artist who grew up here in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia.

He says he raps honestly about his life. And it hasn’t been a charmed life. He remembers running through the streets of south Wheeling with a group of dozens of kids.

“It was actually horrible,” Shanne recalled. “When you found needles on the ground and people sleeping in the alley and stuff, but, if we all stuck together we were good.”

He says he started listening to rap music at the impressionable ages of 12 and 13.

“Kinda screwed my life up listening to it,” he said. “Now I’m old. 30. It’s going by super-fast and I need to grab onto something now.”

When you meet Shanne, you meet an enthusiastic, hopeful and desperately positive person. He’s a man who clearly cares about his family and friends. But Shanne has had run-ins with the law. He raps about societal pressures and a life surrounded by drugs because he says that’s the world he was born into. His musical ambition is to give listeners goosebumps with his explicit, lyrical storytelling style.

Sliiiiick: ‘I don’t know what I want to be, probably a brain surgeon.’

At the cypher recording session in Wheeling, Shanne was rapping next to a young man named Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer. A very young man.

Alex “Sliiiiick” Reymer and his mom Claudia at the cypher-recording session. Sliiiiick is on the autism spectrum, and she says when he took to writing and producing verses and wanted to be involved in the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards, she wanted to do everything she could to support his passion.

Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer and his mom Claudia were at the cypher-recording session. Sliiiiick is on the autism spectrum, and she says when he took to writing and producing verses and wanted to be involved in the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards, she wanted to do everything she could to support his passion.

Q: Tell me how you got interested in this. Sliiiiick: Well, it just sparked my interest in this a little bit. I can’t exactly recall how I got interested. Ask me for any advice that I can say or something! Q: Yeah, go ahead. What advice do you have? Sliiiiick: Speak clearly! Go at a medium pace. Q: So is this something you definitely want to do? You want to be a rapper when you grow up? Sliiiiick: Maybe. I could be a cartoonist, I don’t know. I’m shifting around with my interests. I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Probably a brain surgeon or something.

Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards: Meet Ron Scott Jr.

Whetstone, Sliiiiick, Shanne Gain (and everyone else) point to Ron Scott Jr. as the ring leader, founder of The Movement, and the organizer of the Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Awards.

Ron Scott Jr. founded the Ohio Valley African American Student Association from which grew The Movement and the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards.

“I thought, ‘What’s the best way to keep this genre and culture in the valley moving but to get a system where we could acknowledge, reward and encourage these artists to keep doing what they do,” Ron Scott Jr. said to a crowd of about 200 people who showed up for the award ceremony at the McClure Hotel in downtown Wheeling.

“Most of these artists that are being honored haven’t received a dime for doing these things that they love,” Scott said in an earlier interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “They’re spending their money and never getting recognized. They’re solely doing it because they love it. And nothing drives me more than giving somebody a little push toward something that they love doing.”

More than 19 artists were involved in the awards.

2016 Ohio Valley Hip-Hop Musical Award Winners:

Artist of the Year – Ponce De’Leioun
Best New Artist – Poetic Peth
Duo or Group of the Year – YNC
Hip Hop Pioneer award – Slick Watts
Hip Hop Is Universal award – Alex “Sliiiiick” Raymer
Video of the Year – “Music Is My Life”/LaRon
Lyricist of the Year – Poetic Peth
Best Album of the Year – Poetic Peth

-A

Poetic Peth: ‘My grandmother wrote poems.’

Josh Pethtel, AKA Poetic Peth, took three of the eight musical awards: best new artist, best lyricist, and best album. During the awards he thanked his grandmother for inspiring him.

“After my uncle passed away my grandmother would always write poems about him,” Peth said in an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting after the awards. He said watching her use poetry to deal with hard times inspired him as a teenager. He started writing poems, then refining his poetry, then putting verses to beats.

“I didn’t take rap fully serious and understand my effect on people until last year,” Peth said. “When I started to realize people are paying attention to what I have to say, I thought, let me put all seriousness into this craft and now I’m happier than ever and getting awards. It’s a trip.”

Chermayne Davis: ‘A queen’s gonna shine.’

Chermaybe Davis – writer, mentor, artist.

This is Chermayne Davis. (SheLovesBattlerap on twitter.) She lives across the river in Ohio and was among the members of the public who voted for Poetic Peth in this year’s hip hop awards.

“Here’s the reality. The hip-hop scene in the Ohio Valley is very much alive, it’s booming, it just needs a push from the area.”

“Hip-hop sometimes gets a bad wrap,” Davis said. “People don’t see it for the true art form that it is.”

Davis is also a hip-hop artist and has performed throughout the area. Her definition of the art extends beyond carefully crafted verses set to beats, beyond freestyle cyphers, and music videos. This is Chermayne performing improv spoken word poetry recently at the Towngate Theater in Wheeling.

“What this area would need is for the city to push it, the city to accept hip hop for what it is, to allow a light for this area that it hasn’t had yet. So that it can come together for the Josh Pethtel and Kelz, and the John Nice and just everyone who wants that upper step that shouldn’t have to leave where they’re from to get it from somewhere else.”

Dinosaur Burps: From the City and the Country, Definitely From Out of This World

This story is featured on an upcoming episode of Inside Appalachia focused on hip-hop culture throughout the region. To listen to this episode and others, subscribe to the podcast.

If you’ve spent any length of time around the music scene in Charleston, West Virginia — be it at the Empty Glass, the Boulevard Tavern or the Blue Parrot — you’re bound to have come across the hip-hop act Dinosaur Burps.

Fronted by B. Rude and DJ Sqweazle , Dinosaur Burps are cerebral, yet goofy and endearing — with raps that flow so quickly you might miss something deep while being distracted by your own laughter.

The album cover to Dinosaur Burps’ second full length release, ‘Awesome Stuff We Did When Nobody Was Looking’.

Growing up in South Charleston, B. Rude first became interested in hip-hop as a kid, finding influence from the tapes and CDs his older brother, Mike, would have around their home. It didn’t take long before his affinity for the genre led him to compose raps of his own.

“We would steal cassette tapes. They were singles. It would have the song, the edited version and it would have the instrumental,” B. Rude said. “My buddy had a karaoke machine that had two tape decks on it and a microphone. We would put a blank tape in one side and we would put the single tape with the instrumental, hit record and we make our own little tapes.”

When one conjures media portrayals of hip-hop culture, the Kanawha Valley of West Virginia or Appalachia may not seem like a place that translates perfectly to that particular art form. Yet B. Rude argues that perceived cultural divisions and stereotypes of musical styles are just that: perceived.

“To me, it was for everybody. It’s music — you know what I’m saying? It’s not just for them or just for us, blah blah, blah. It’s for everybody,” he said. “Nobody ever really told me I couldn’t do it. I was always encouraged to do it. It was never really ‘You can’t do that ’cause you’re white, or whatever, or you’re from West Virginia.’ I do what I want.”

Eventually, B. Rude teamed up with Sam Harshbarger, another Charleston-area MC known as Meuwl, to form Rabble Rousers. The group added DJ Sqweazle to the mix and quickly gained quite a lot of momentum around the region.

“We started off — we would record stuff with our buddy L-No. We would make albums where we would just throw together whatever random songs we had and just name it whatever,” he said. “And then we actually decided to record a full-length Rabble Rousers album. Recorded that, released that and then Meuwl passed away in 2009. After that, me and Sqweazle decided to keep making music but change the name.

“The name Dinosaur Burps actually came from Meuwl, me and him were driving around in a car one day and I burped really loud. He was like, ‘It was like a — it was like-a dinosaur burp.’ It kinda stuck with me and I always wanted to use it for something. We both agreed it was a good group name and now we’re Dinosaur Burps.”

"Nobody ever really told me I couldn't do it. I was always encouraged to do it. It was never really 'You can't do that 'cause you're white or whatever or you're from West Virginia.' I do what I want."

The group’s debut full-length album came in the form of the 18-track “Mother Nature Wants You Dead.” Heavy on pop-culture references and samples by producer and beat guru Ben Coll, known in the group as Kroosh Dogg. As for B. Rude’s lyrical subject matter? It mixes everything from a sharp sense of humor to keen observations about the struggles of life in Appalachia — including unhealthy lifestyles and other issues related to poverty.

“You know, I grew up hanging out in the city and in the country. I’ve seen a lot of stuff. I’ve seen lot of the bad stuff. I’ve seen a lot of the good stuff,” B. Rude said. “My main goal, usually whenever I write a rap, is to make somebody laugh or be like ‘Ah, I know exactly what he’s talking about.’ I don’t really try to downplay my state but I do talk about the darker side, the underworld, you know. There’s a lot of bad stuff that goes on. But there’s a lot of good stuff that goes on, too, you know?”

B. Rude says Dinosaur Burps has sometimes been described as conscious rap, a sub-genre of hip-hop that focuses on creating awareness and imparting knowledge. But he also admits his inclination to weave in self-deprecating — or self-effacing, rather — observations about life around him in Appalachia. There’s no question, B. Rude is reflecting on what he knows about the place he’s from. At least part of the time.

“I rap about what I know about. I also rap about stuff I don’t know about, too,” he explained.

When asked about those raps in which he knows “nothing about,” B. Rude points to some of the subject matter found on Dinosaur Burps’ sophomore release titled Awesome Stuff We Did When Nobody Was Looking.

“Sometimes I say big words and talk about space travel and aliens and stuff,” he said with a laugh.

The group is working on material for a third release, although no release date has been set. Charleston-area hip-hop artists — including the Dinosaur Burps — will celebrate the life of their late friend and member of the Rabble Rousers during Meuwlfest Saturday, April 23, at The Empty Glass.

Q&A: Ohio Valley Hosts Inaugural Hip Hop Awards

The Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards branched out of an organization called the Ohio Valley African American Students Association (OVAASA). Wheeling native Ron Scott Jr. founded the organization which has a mission is to “advocate and promote educational achievement, higher learning and scholarship opportunities for the African American students in the Ohio Valley.”

Scott isn’t exactly a hip hop artist himself, but he and a group of self-proclaimed co-conspirators decided the association needed more emphasis on the arts, so they created something called The Movement. The goal: grow the hip hop scene in the valley. It started with a series of showcase events.

A New Opportunity

Ron Scott: We did [showcases] for three years and I was amazed at how many people would come out to perform and that was ALL THEY did with their art ALL YEAR. No venues would let them perform; they didn’t have a way to sell their music; and they didn’t even have much access to recording equipment. They were working all year, and would perform their hearts out, it was all they had. I wanted to give them more. I was thinking the same principals for OVAASA where I wanted kids to do more with their education by recognizing what they had done already. I figured, if we recognize them maybe that will be more motivation for them to want to do more. So the Ohio Valley Hip Hop Awards were born.

Q: What kind of a ceremony will it be? What will the event be like?

I guess I’m ripping off all of the award shows I’ve ever seen in my life. So kinda like the Grammys and the BET Awards. We’re going to have an audience, performances, presentations of awards. We even have clips of each nominee and we asked them a few questions for each category. It shows each nominee and lets them talk a little bit so you kind of get to know them.

We even have two specialty awards that address the community service portion of everything, because I didn’t want it to be just straight music. And we even partnered with Cloud 9 Salon & Spa; there’s a modeling competition. Those winners not only get a contract to do some print ads and some hair shows with Cloud 9, but they’re going to be in the Wheeling Christmas parade this year.

Q: How many hip hop artists are we talking about?

Scott: We have 19 artists. That’s all the nominees, and the artists who participated in the promotional cypher we did. Altogether we have 19.

The awards feature artists from West Virginia:

Hancock County
Brooke County
Ohio County
Marshall County
Wetzel County

and Ohio:

Jefferson County
Harrison County
Belmont County

Cypher

Q: You recently wrote and recorded a cypher, too. So explain what a cypher is and tell us about yours.

Scott: The cypher is one of those old staples of hip hop where artists that want to rap and – it has nothing to do with the business sort of side of hip hop. Artists stand in circles, either someone would beat box or freestyle accapella, and guys that think they got lyrics would just sit in the cypher and just go. It’s very different than battling because you’re not going against anyone; you’re just trying to show off and show your skills.

When the BET Awards started happening, they started recording and showing it and I always loved it because it was a raw side of these artists.

And as much as I love rap music, I could never do it like I wanted to. But when we were at the cypher recording the one for these awards, the guys just started tapping me. I spent probably 30 days trying to write a very small portion. Because, they measure in bars – everybody else is writing 16s, 32s. I think mine was about nine, maybe nine or eleven bars. But don’t get me wrong – it is eleven bars of fire. One of my proudest moments.

I give my son a bath sometimes (my one-year-old son) and I will just play it. And my other two will come in and they’re digging it, like, ‘Yeah, that’s my dad rapping!’

Scott: I think a lot of folks think [hip hop] is just gangster-y stuff where 100 people are getting shot in the face. And that isn’t the case. Everybody isn’t rapping about shooting. Everybody isn’t rapping about selling drugs. The best artists are rapping about their lives. And if that’s what they grew up in, that’s what they rap about. So I’m hoping people don’t get swayed by what they think hip hop is or what they might have seen on a couple of news shows or some videos. If they have any interest at all, just come down, check it out, and see if it’s what they thought.

Promoting Passion

Q: So if you aren’t a rapper, why pour so much effort into this? What’s in this for you?

Scott: I think my biggest motivation is seeing people pursue a passion. I love art and I love academics as well, but the only thing I love more than that is seeing folks DO something that they WANT to do. Most of these artists that are being honored haven’t received a dime for doing these things that they love. They’re spending out of pocket for studio time, for blank disks to burn. They’re spending their money and never getting recognized. They’re solely doing it because they LOVE it. And nothing drives me more than giving somebody a little push toward something that they LOVE doing.

There are too many folks out here today that go to work every day, or just live their life hating what they do, or fantasizing about doing something that they love. My opportunity to give these guys a chance to do it, and sit in a room full of people that will clap for them, and say ‘You are the best,” or, “I loved your CD the most,” that will do it all for me. I don’t need any other reward at all. Just to know that these folks are doing it is enough for me.

Ceremony is in the ballroom of the McLure Hotel, Saturday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.

K Flay – Mixing It Up

Channel surfing one night, I stumbled upon a video of a young woman performing on Carson Daley’s Last Call. She was rapping and singing what appeared to be original material. It was infectious.

Accompanied by a drummer and a man working computer keys and other electronic gizmos, I was fascinated by what appeared to be a hybrid rap-hip-hop-electronic music. Her stage presence had none of the street-wise bravado and neither was she pandering to the audience, nor putting her body on display. She seemed lost in her own world; pacing about the stage, engulfed by the music, earnestly gesturing while rapping and singing.

I had seen other artists perform in this style, but never with this kind of sound and stage presence. Whatever the big “it” is, meaning star quality, K Flay aka Kristine Flaherty, has it in spades.

Her songs sound fresh, her ideas original and free from self-consciousness and her voice will get under your skin. K Flay has big things coming her way. It’s just a matter of whether or not the music industry will recognize and embrace her originality.

We talked about her new album, Life As a Dog, and what it’s like to be in a male-dominated genre, stereotypes, getting faded and her ambitions.

A tiny disclaimer: K Flay has the occasional naughty word on her album. If you are offended by that, then don’t say I didn’t warn you.