To start of the new year I decided to look for some good Midwestern hip hop artists to feature. Now that is an interesting statement that people sometimes raise their eyebrows to. Sure New York and LA are known for their hip hop scenes but the flatland Midwest have some gems that if you look in just the right places you can bounce your head successfully to the amazing beats. Chicago has many niche hip hop communities that I repeatedly check to see who is popping up but this time it was Columbus, Ohio that snagged my attention.
Copywrite, born Peter William Nelson, has been making the Midwest his hip hop stomping grounds since 1998 when he was with the group MHz (Megahertz) and some mild success with his track “World Premier” but was forced to go solo when MHz did not get signed on with DJ Mighty Mi. With this solo career kicking off in 2000 is where I began to explore some of his tracks.
Irish/Italian, this rapper has older tracks are just as enticing as his new tracks and his flow is equal to very few (but gives me a very Rhymesayers feel like Atmosphere and Brother Ali). While some of the songs can be classified as classic hip hop some of them are extremely hard rap.
There is not just one style to his flow and he touches on everything from some politics, to religion, to pop culture. Exemplifying non genre specific hip hop (something that makes an artist for me) creates a type of music that you can listen to for hours. His old tracks from the early solo album The High Exhaulted to the new albums like 2012’s God $@ve T.H.E. King are equally fun. I am going to let you decide if it’s old or new for you. Here’s two of my favorite tracks I have discovered: “Holier Than You” from his first solo album The High Exhaluted and then “J.O.Y.” from God $@ve T.H.E. King.
For me it’s the new. “J.O.Y.” has been stuck in my head all day. If you are like me and need to see him flow in person then you are in luck because he is coming to Chicago to show us all how to flow. He’ll be at The SubT on Saturday January 18th opening for Ras Kass and playing with Number 2 and White Jesus as well as Pozlyrix. If you want to pre-order your tickets you can here for $12 and then you are guarenteed to see all these amazing artists but especially Copywrite.
Be sure to check out Copywrite on his social media and share it all around as well.
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