Another roaring success of a Rap Night took place on Monday 18th December, 2023, hosted by our latest addition to the Hear Me Now team: Jess1. This time we situated ourselves at Mr Shaw’s House, on Sadler Gate. (Refer to our recent blog on Mr Shaw’s House for more information on this venue.)
The evening began with local DJ and Baby People mentor – Joe Shez – radiating good energy with a range of house, garage and hiphop genres. Jess1 was first to take to the mic, repping the Mr Shaw’s clothing line and opened the evening with his up coming release ‘Parenting’.
Rappers flocked in from all across the region to showcase their talents and clever word play.
This open mic attracted some “old” and new faces in the midlands rap game. 26 year old Beetone, who has become a well known name in Derby’s rap scene, hopped on the mic to remind us all why we call him the UK Eminem and Birmingham hiphop legend and founder of Baby People, Rukus, teased his soon to come releases with his intricate word play and elite musicology. Newer to the scene, YSN and Skriptz utilised this open mic to acquaint themselves with the live music sector.
This Rap Night also brought something new to the table: producer’s lounge
The producers lounge was the first of it’s kind and it couldn’t have been more successful.
We had four producers showcase two of their best available beats. Max Mizumi, 18 year old producer, kickstarted this section of the evening displaying two of his recently curated beats, followed by 16 year old, Thir13en; Singer, rapper and producer, T Dot, followed suit and drummer, singer and producer, Dev Jamz was our final producer and last minute entry.
The audience then voted on the best beat for each producer, which commenced the freestyle challenge. Rappers lined up to spit their best bars over each of the four selected beats; this meant that they could trial out beats that are available to either purchase or collaborate on, while also enabling producers to see their creations live and in action and scout out new talent to work with.
Let’s just say the energy and raw talent was unmatched.
We look froward to further elevating the rap community, breaking stereotypes of this trouble-free audience and hosting more events for the poorly misjudged genres of music within Derby.
Stay tuned!
