Students move from class to class, bikes weave around pedestrians and student groups hand out fliers outside the EMU. Two Eugene hip hop artists are easily overlooked, patiently passing out handouts to anyone willing to listen to their unfazed determination.
KI Design and Undermind joined with local producer Oka Speaks in July to form the hip-hop group Bad News Tooth. Since then, the group has found that the best way to have success in music is to do everything possible to get its name out.
“A lot of artists get shows and do nothing about it,” said KI Design, a 22-year-old who was raised in the San Jose Valley but moved to Eugene in March 2008. “We have nothing to offer besides we’ll kill the show and promote the hell out of it. We take it upon ourselves.”
Bad News Tooth has shown this philosophy over the past few weeks, as KI Design and Undermind were perched around campus last week promoting the Blue Scholars shows they opened for on Thursday and Friday.
“We’re sure we’ve put out over 3,000 handbills, and we made our own posters,” KI Design said.
This hands-on approach is something each member of the group is accustomed to. Even before Bad News Tooth began, KI Design, Undermind and Oka Speaks understood the importance of recognition.
“We used to do street performing,” said Undermind, a 23-year-old Hawaii native who moved to Eugene at a young age. “When big acts came through, you’d see us out front of the venue beat-boxing and rapping, handing out handbills and CDs. Eventually they were like, ‘Come on in.’”
Pretty soon it wasn’t just local venues inviting them in. Nationally recognized hip-hop acts were asking Bad News Tooth to be the lead in group for their shows. The group has had the privilege of opening for hip-hop household names like Souls of Mischief, Kool Keith, the Pharcyde, the RZA, Abstract Rude, Eyedea & Abilities and Andre Nickatina, just to name a few.
Yet with such success, KI Design, Undermind and Oka Speaks show little reaction to the potential of commercial recognition and more on the concept of simply enjoying what they are doing.
“This last year has been the best year of our lives; everything is coming together,” said 21-year-old Oka Speaks.
“We say that every year, but each year has been better than the last,” Undermind added.
Although Bad News Tooth has made tangible achievements within the hip-hop community, the group still keeps its focus on music. A lot of groups preach the theme of wanting to be only about the music; Bad News Tooth genuinely seems to live it.
“We want to hear the music we hear in our heads. I feel like it’s really rare to find a group collectively that can work to functionally make those sounds,” Undermind said.
The sound the group talks about is a mix between self-conscious hip-hop and party music. The group describes its sound as fun but not light. This is achieved by the distinct polarization of Undermind’s upbeat lyrics mixed with KI Design’s more serious approach rapped over Oka Speaks’ party beats.
“We all wanted to do a dancing, more uplifting thing,” Oka Speaks said. “Sometimes when our songs play, you have everyone in that place dancing.”
Bad News Tooth isn’t looking for any commercial success, though.
“We’re really not trying to sell this stuff; we’re trying to put it out there,” KI Design said.
This is because the group is hoping to help find a voice for Northwest hip-hop, much to the same theme Thursday and Friday’s headline act, Blue Scholars, have displayed.
“Out here we just want to see the scene blow up. There are so many talented kids in Eugene, and it’s so underexposed. If we can make that noise, everyone will get noticed,” KI Design said. “We’re hoping to build a platform for it.”
As Bad News Tooth posts itself on corners promoting its music, the reality is that the group is promoting Northwest hip-hop. And although it’s an opening act for now, Bad News Tooth is hoping to open the stage for all Northwest talent.
“The way I look at it, hip-hop was created. Blew up in the East Coast, West Coast, then the Dirty South with Bone Thugs and Outkast, then Rhymesayers Capital in the Midwest; the only untapped resource is the Northwest,” KI Design said. “We’re going to show them the Northwest isn’t something to mess with.”
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