The Ins-and-outs of
Learning to Promote
Cleveland Underground Hip Hop
Learning to promote Cleveland underground hip hop can be easy and fun. It is a great way to get your local voice heard and the best part is all the respect you get from the people who enjoyed your events. There is a lot of stumbling blocks I encountered on my journey to becoming a Cleveland underground promoter…
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How I got Started...
It was a snowy Saturday night and I was scheduled to do a two song performance on local legend mc AUG's set. The venue was The Symposium located in Lakewood off Detroit rd near Grand Pubas record store.
AUG was always helping flyer for events that Cleveland promoters where throwing and so he was always getting gigs to perform at. He usually got guest list +1 to all the headliner events in the city and since I spit hot floes and show ill b boy skill on the dance floor I was a perfect fit for his plus 1 to these events…
The promoter for this particular event was a local MC and as usual we had sold the most tickets and where ready to rock the crowd. The problem is when you are the group that brings the majority of the crowd the promoters do not want to put you on stage to early because they do not want your crowd to leave.
So we waited…
And waited…
And waited..
By the time we got to perform it had gotten very late and a lot of people who came to see us had left. I remember we had a five song set loaded onto AUG's cd and I was scheduled to perform on song four and five.
You will never guess when our set ended? I was salty as hell because I had sold all these tickets and all I ended up doing was back up vocals for AUG.
So I left…
I needed air…
I remember standing on that corner and looking up to see the florescent glowing Phantasy Theater's sign…
I do not know why at that time I felt the need to go in but I did. I walked up the red carpeted stairs and told the door guys I needed the owner. They set me to the bar strait through the middle of a pretty cool looking Goth show that was going on.
I told the bar tender I needed to talk to the owner about booking the club. He said to wait and she would be back in five minutes. I said "cool" and began to check the venue out. This venue looked like the terminal towers compared to The Symposium and best of all …Hard wood floors with plenty of room to breakdance and with a floor like that who wouldn't want to.
I was learning how to promote cleveland underground hip hop. After about ten minutes the owner finally came out and we spoke I explained to her I was with Champagne Productions (sounded nice) and I wanted to do a local hip hop show at her venue.
The rest is history…
Or is it….
My First Show...
With my date secured and my venue booked I was ready to take that jump. My first show was amazing...
Other than a couple fights it went great. It was packed with the perfect crowd b-boys, emcees, and b-girls. Everyone happy to be out showing off their talent. I believe our head count was about 250 people. Which is great for a local underground hip hop show.
Unfortunately, We did not make any money because I had almost every breakdancer in the city on guest list and my partner at the time, Sunnylicious, got pissed at his girl and ripped the door off of a bathroom stall. It turns out those things are really expensive.
Even though I didn't make a dime that night I felt like a world headliner. Most importantly the "Freshstyles" tour was born and I was hooked but I had no idea what I was getting into. If you do not know by now I threw the "Freshstyles" tour for three years in and around Cleveland. It was not easy learning to promote Cleveland Underground Hip Hop.
This is a glimpse into our local underground hip hop scene and what lesson I learned on my bumpy ride to learning to promote Cleveland underground hip hop...
It Can Be the Best of Times..
Throwing a good show makes you feel like Puff Daddy on steroids and you get a lot of respect from the scene. Anyone who has thrown a packed show can tell you there is nothing better than getting paid to party hard. One good show can open doors for you for years to come. The best news is a couple good shows and you are official.
It Can Be the Worst of Times...
Learning to promote Cleveland underground hip hop is not all smiles. Imagine you have spent a lot of money on making everything perfect for your event and it blizzards, or your headliner cancels, or your venue cancels, your sound….ect.
You guessed it, you have to have back up plans for everything. With the worst case scenario being everything goes perfect but no one comes to your event. When it is a bad show it is the worst, people stare at you with a pathetic gaze like you’re a wounded puppy. You can usually tell by 11:30 but sometimes you get lucky.
Every real promoter can tell you that while learning to promote Cleveland underground hip hop not every show is going to be packed. Throwing a bad show is a lot like anti-promoting but mostly your ego takes a major hit. The best way to describe the feeling of having 30 people waiting all night for your crowd to arrive is humbling.
Learning to Promote
I have thrown some packed events and some wacked events like I always say it is a part of learning to promote Cleveland underground hip hop.
Still want to learn how? Well I want to show you how and save you the trouble by giving you this easy to follow video guide. All I ask is you contribute to the scene in a positive manner. Some important tips I cover by my Learning to Promote Cleveland Underground Hip Hop Guide are...
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