The Pacific Northwest has never been known for rap music. When most people think of hip-hop, they think California or New York.
If you were to ask people not from the West Coast to name a rapper from the Northwest, most would be unable to do so, and you’d probably get more blank stares and laughs than knowledgeable responses.
This is not to imply that there are no talented rappers from the Northwest.
The simple truth is, the NW is unknown because there is no rapper that has made it big. Just as the Bay Area has its own sub-genre, called “hyphy,” and Washington D.C. has “go-go,” the Northwest has what’s called “conscious rap.” Like hyphy or go-go, conscious rap has not gained a large national audience.
Though these sub-genres have not received a lot of recognition, they seem to have devoted fan bases.
The rappers who make it are those able to switch up their style from a generic style or sound. To reach out to a larger audience, you must be creative and fresh.
I have found a group from the Northwest who can successfully do all of this.
Representing the Portland area, Chill Crew has developed a unique style of hip-hop they call “pure” hip-hop. Chill Crew is made up of Jon Belz and Jesse Pipkin-Cade, who is a student here at the University of Oregon.
Belz began rapping as a youngster. Inspired by Will Smith from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jon began to write his own raps and hasn’t stopped since.
Pipkin-Cade met Belz in high school. Unaware of his own talent, Pipkin-Cade was reluctant to start making his own raps until Belz encouraged him to start writing during his freshman year of college.
“One day I was like, ‘Bro, just write something.’ So I tried it out and it felt tight to me” Pipkin-Cade said.
Chill Crew has recorded a mix-tape called “On The Rocks.” Like most mix-tapes these days, Chill Crew raps over reused instrumentals, but they also use a few of their own.
Do not be fooled — the reused beats do not mean that the mix-tape lacks in creativity in any way. Chill Crew makes each beat their own with unique and clever lyrics.
Pipkin-Cade and Belz have two very different styles of rap: “Jon knows more how to just go crazy and chop hard. I focus more on creative words and how to play off them,” Pipkin-Cade said.
Belz can rap as good and as fast as the best of them: Like lyrical speed-demon Twista, Belz has the ability to rap six to 10 syllables per second.
No easy feat.
Though Belz’s style focuses on clever lyrics and punch lines, that’s not all he can do: He shows his ability to sing on their mix-tape, as well.
Alongside his project with Pipkin-Cade, Belz also has an emerging solo career and has been signed to an Atlanta recording label.
Many of the songs on “On the Rocks” are easily relatable for the average hip-hop listener. The CD has so many different styles and sounds on it that it is impossible to try and lump them into one category or say a statement that would remain true for every song.
When asked why they think the two very different styles of rapping work so well together, Belz replied, “Because this guy’s like my brother! We’ve been good friends for years and we share the same dream. It’s easy to just create when both people have the same goal in mind.”
Pipkin-Cade has high expectations for the upcoming year: “I was kinda on a little slump for a minute while I was in school. Right now, I’m writing like crazy to stimulate my thought process. I am hoping to release about three mix-tapes worth of material by the end of the summer … we just want to show people what we are capable of.”
“On The Rocks” is only a taste of what is to come; my word to the wise is, don’t sleep on this mix-tape. You just might be missing out on the first big names in Northwest hip-hop.
Check out Chill Crew’s mix-tape at http://ChillCrew.weebly.com.
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