Energized fans eagerly wait as Just People, a local band of University students and graduates, finishes packing up its equipment and 4Trees steps up on stage Saturday night at Luckey’s in downtown Eugene. The 4Trees’ raw, edgy sound blends improvisational funk with carefully placed lyrical rhymes. The four MCs intensify the energy in the sprawling bar.
Collaborating with musical talents that can change nightly, 4Trees creates a musical experience that captivates its audience. Arms sway overhead to the beat of the music and the packed audience dances together, moving with the unique liveliness created by 4Trees’ sound and conscious lyrics. The magic of a 4Trees show stems from the symbiotic relationship between the audience and the band making each show uniquely different. Roughly a third of the lyrics are freestyle, and the live instrumental band behind Booker Bartow and University students Adam Doyle, Jeremiah Jumel and Ari Lesser plays almost entirely improvised. The dynamic of the show changes depending on the scene and energy of the audience.
“4Trees is different than any other band that I have played with because there is no playlist. As musicians, we are able to feed off the energy of the audience and each other,” said Andy Doherty, a University anthropology student and bassist for the Boston-based indie-folk band Grimis.
The dancing crowd comprises all walks of life from the ambitious University student to the 60-year-old Eugene native. Fans of all music genres can enjoy a 4Trees show because of the unique blend of sounds. The one thing that never changes from show to show is the presence of the 4Trees family: musicians, fans and friends. More than 30 musicians have collaborated with 4Trees on stage and in the studios, including members of Just People. It is not uncommon for the musician lineup to remain ambiguous even an hour before the show.
“Because the band is interchangeable, the sound is interchangeable,” said Jumel, a senior journalism student. The band has played at college house parties, the Oregon Country Fair, a list of bars in Eugene and various venues along the Oregon coast. 4Trees will take on the WOW Hall on Tuesday.

As sophomores at Newport High School, Bartow, Doyle, Jumel and a childhood friend had a vision to create conscious hip-hop in Oregon. 4Trees was born in 2001 as a means of expression for everything the men had done, lived, experienced and believed. Inspired by hip-hop band The Juice to Make It Happen and Eugene’s own progressive hip-hop band Genus Pro, 4Trees set out to create something real for themselves and their friends while applying hip-hop as a way to generate social change. Insisting on social justice for the people, in the song “Freedom on the Wind,” Jumel sings, “We are the mass of them/Them who must work to mend/The harm that comes from them/We need to come together/As friends, citizens.”
“I see hip-hop as an art form, a culture and as a medium through which we as people can create change,” Doyle said. “After all, which music genre captivated the mind and attention of our generation as effectively as hip-hop?”
4Trees first began performing in the Newport woods, spitting rhymes around campfires while their friends listened and supported them. The band served as a way for the four musicians to overcome the sometimes harsh realities of living in a small coastal town.
“From the very beginning, we have always felt that our friends and the local community have supported us and encouraged us to perform,” said 21-year-old Doyle, an international studies major at the University.
When Doyle and Jumel came to Eugene as University freshmen in 2004, 4Trees took a brief hiatus. Bartow came to Eugene a year later. Miles Davenport of The Party Tigers, Rory Bilocerkowycz and Doherty began to play as the backdrop for the three MCs’ lyrics starting in the fall of 2006. The 4Trees continued to write lyrics that spread their knowledge and experiences, hoping to teach a whole new audience and promote positive growth and greater societal change. 4Trees believe that by working together as a community, people can overcome the hierarchical prejudices that plague our society.
“Hip-hop has been a means for me to empower myself through endless expression,” Jumel said. “4Trees is an extension of that.”
Spoken word artist and University political science major Ari Lesser joined the other three MCs with his provocative lyrics. Performing songs like “Vote Liberal/Vote Conservative” and “Global Warming,” Lesser uses his music as a tool to educate his generation. Other songs like “Whiskey Dick” and “Ninja Turtles” add light to the more serious, politically charged lyrics.
“I get bored doing political music all the time, and I get bored doing party music all the time, so I like to mix it up,” Lesser said. “There are definitely two sides to my music.”
In the fall of 2006, 4Trees began to perform regularly. They obtained their fan base while performing shows at house parties and the Campbell Club, and eventually after they all turned 21, at local bars like the Downtown Lounge. Now the band plays, on average, two shows a week delivering a combination of raw lyrics and funkish jazz creating an unforgettable experience for its audience.
The four MCs hope to record and produce a compilation of both digital material and songs performed with a live band in the coming year. For now, they will continue to play the local music circuit performing inspirational and uplifting hip-hop.
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