Khary Kimani Turner has covered the Detroit music scene for several years now and is himself an integral part of it. A leading figure in Detroit’s Black Bottom Collective, Khary had kept his pen active in covering Detroit Hip Hop for the Metro Times like no one other.
I know he writes for several other publications nationally, but his local writings will in the future speak like an ongoing history of Detroit Hip Hop.
This is an article written 5 years ago about the Detroit Hip Hop scene entitled, “Detroit hip hop’s identity crisis”.
This piece of the article summed up Detroit’s hip hop scene well 5 yeears ago, but it also holds true today.
Detroit’s lack of a clear identity in hip hop may actually be explainable. Brother Moushetti Muhammed, manager of local artist Budda Bless, has been working to pull together local rhyme crews like Street Lordz and East Side Chedda Boyz. He notes that sense of individualism that exists among Detroit MCs.
“One thing I can say is that Detroit hip-hop culture has such an independent mentality, and it’s crying to be heard,” he says. “What really sets us apart is that everybody in Detroit has such an individualistic mentality. That’s a good thing, and it’s a bad thing.” Muhammed and Ill share similar views, in recognizing alliances that have formed among Detroit artists lately. Sometimes, the alliances exist in moral support, but for hip hop, that can be enough. The most important result of these alliances is the sense of personality that emerges. Check similarities in the styles among the Eminem-D12-Royce da 5’9”-Obie Trice set. It may not be overt, but it’s detectable. Or note the similarities in the guerilla marketing techniques of the Chedda Boyz, Rock Bottom Records or Street Lordz. Among the most distinguishable of these trends may be the production style of Jay Dee, formerly of Slum Village.
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