Yes, There Is Hip Hop in Moorhead

To the surprise of many, hip hop is becoming a bigger and bigger deal in the Midwest, more specifically in Fargo-Moorhead, yet there is only more room to grow.
Spring Jam 11 is a showcase for groups from all over the Midwest—including many local hip hop groups—to show their stuff. The annual Spring Jam show has been quietly moving along for 11 years, but this year things may change. SJ11 is poised for its biggest year ever. It is safe to say that the cat is out of the bag. So if you’re dying for some hip hop, be sure to show up on May 2 and May 3 at the All Star Bowl, to see some of the area’s brightest hip hop groups, and ladies remember to practice your booty-shaking—you might just win some kanye west tickets in the booty shaking contest.

One talented group set to get on the stage during Spring Jam is T n T, a local hip hop group, which consists of T Mac on the beats and JT and Breez on the Mic. I recently caught up with T Mac and Breez to discuss their music and the area hip hop scene in general.

“Our sound is really up-tempo,” says T Mac. “It’s really feel good party music. It’s really mainstream. Something you would hear on the (mainstream) radio. We pretty much just find that new sound to bring out the Midwest and bring out the north side of things. The east coast had their uprising, the west coast had their uprising, now South is the big thing for hip hop and rap. Now all that’s left is the North to find that new sound and bring it out.” He continues, “We make music we think people will like and that we like, we still hold down the underground hip hop stuff, but a lot of people like dancing and hearing party music and going out dancing. They like hearing party music and that’s kind of what I am into.”

T n T has a very laid-back jazzy sound, not unlike something you would hear from classic Snoop Dogg or Bone Thugs and Harmony. Don’t confuse them with gangster rappers though, said Breez, “It definitely has its own flavor for an upper Midwest group. We are not coming out here and rapping about all this gangsterism and trying to keep it as thug as possible, nah, we’re just coming out and saying, ‘hey, cats out here are doing this, by making music worthy of being heard,’ and we put our heart and soul into it one hundred percent, I feel confident in the music and we will see how that translates into the crowd.”

I went on to ask the guys how they think the area hip hop scene was developing. T Mac and Breez agree that there are more groups in the area and the number is only growing.

“Yeah it’s getting bigger, it’s definitely not getting worse. There are a lot more groups coming up doing shows, more beat boys coming out just making music themselves coming out and performing,” T Mac said. Breez had this to say: “It’s interesting. It does seem like it (the scene) is growing. It is kind of difficult for this area, but there are more groups coming out all the time. The people seem to recognize who we are and some of the other local groups are such as The 701 Crew, J sauce, and ColdCat Crew, There are some firmly established people who keep the scene going from year to year. I feel like it’s a good medium. There needs to be some hip hop in this area”

If you make the good decision to attend Spring Jam 11, you will most definitely be seeing some of the above-mentioned established groups. Admission is 8 dollars but if you remember a canned good (which will be donated to a good cause), your admission will only be 6 dollars. So come out and see T n T and other great hip hop acts. See you there.

If You Go

WHAT: Spring Jam 11
WHERE: All Star Bowl, 309 17th St N,
Moorhead
WHEN: May 2-3, 9pm
HOW MUCH: $6, $8
WHO: 18+
INFO: (218) 233-2020