Concert preview
University graduate Gabe Sechrist is laying down the groundwork for aspiring hip-hop musicians in Eugene.
Known on stage as “philosophy,” Sechrist is the president of Logic, one of 11 groups that will perform in the School Days Hip-Hop Show on Sept. 30 in the EMU Ballroom.
The show begins at 9 p.m. and will feature live performances by Logic, Ethic, Mente One and Nelec, Sapient, Strange Folk and Spidaman, among others. Balou, a well-known Eugene hip-hop artist, will also appear at the show.
To avoid downtime between performances, DJs will spin and performers will hold break dancing exhibitions. There will also be a 10×12 video screen in the ballroom showing the live performances.
“This show will be a fair representation of Eugene’s local hip-hop to new students,” said Phil Bauer, a University graduate known on stage as “Ethic.”
The upcoming show is organized through The Groundwork Movement, the University’s first hip-hop club, which was started this past January by Sechrist, a 2002 business administration graduate. The club is intended to inspire local hip-hop enthusiasts to get together and share their talents and ambitions.
Although Eugene has a strong hip-hop following, there has been “nobody between the audience and the musicians,” Sechrist said about what motivated him to start the club.
While based at the University, Groundwork draws talent from
all over Eugene, not necessarily just students.
Nelec, a student at Lane Community College as well as a performer, describes the upcoming show as an effort to gain recognition for the groups performing and the hip-hop community as a whole.
“We’re trying to build a foundation of hip-hop (in Eugene) as well as expand throughout the Northwest,” Nelec said.
Groundwork hopes to put together similar shows once a month, feeding profits back into the program for more shows, which they eventually want to take all over Oregon and Washington. Nelec has already performed in Portland and Seattle, while Ethic has gone all the way to Sydney, Australia.
The Groundwork Movement also hopes to raise enough money to start a 24-hour studio where all local hip-hop musicians could come practice with better equipment than they might have at home. This would give local youth the opportunity to get out of their garages and basements and practice in an environment focused on motivation and constructive criticism, said Adrein Brownlee, known in Logic as “Strickly.”
Sechrist said the groups have not done much advertising, but the radio show “Liquid Beat” on 89.7 KLCC has been helpful with promoting various shows.
Although each group performing has its own style, many of them do not refer to their music as rap. Nelec said “rap” is a plastic term associated with MTV-style hip-hop.
“I’m a poet,” Nelec said. “I’m laying my soul down in poetry.” Nelec, who will be performing with Mente One, also works with many other artists in the area.
“It’s more like honest, ‘anti-money’ rap,” said Mente One, who is also a designer of incense burners. Talent in Eugene is more based on skill rather than physical appeal, according to Mente One. “More people are respected here,” he said.
All 11 groups performed at the Northwest Lyrical Fest III in September 2001 and at the Audio Adrenaline show in October 2001; both were held at WOW Hall in Eugene. The groups are working on a compilation CD and hope to design a Web site in the near future.
Tickets for the show are $5.00 and are available at the EMU ticket office.
Katalin Linder is a freelance writer for the Emerald.