Allison Ildefonso
Features Reporter

Hip-hop is all about originality.

“What’s your part in the industry? What do you have to prove?”

These are the words of J-Bwoi, a 21-year-old rapper from New Haven, Conn. He may be young, but the rapper already has some words of wisdom about the culture surrounding the type of music he loves.

“Watch your back, watch your circle,” he said. “Don’t believe what everyone says. Create your own movement, and make sure everyone in that movement is dedicated.”

J-Bwoi performed last Friday at Mesa Theater and Lounge’s Fall Hip-Hop Festival, along with Emmanuel Duncan, a.k.a. Envy abd members of Grand Junction hip-hop group G.A.M.B.L.E. Click. They were all openers for headliner Cory Gunz of Young Money Entertainment.

 

Duncan, 30, is a rapper from Minneapolis, Minn., who learned how to rap at age 10 from his older sister, who passed away when he was 17. Growing up, artists like Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. influenced his musical style and flow.

“When I started listening to Tupac, it was at a time when music felt real to me,” he said. “Things were a little more sincere. Now everybody’s talking about money, making it rain. I think he’s one of the most versatile artists that I’ve ever heard.”

So what does Duncan do that makes him different than the rest?

“I try not to swear, that’s probably my number one thing,” Duncan said, “just because I feel like there’s more that you can say besides bitch, hoe, whatever.”

Duncan’s approach to the lyricism of hip-hop is not all that sets him aside from other artists on the scene. Duncan has a goal- — he wants to bring rap and hip-hop back to their roots.

“I try to touch a lot of bases [with my music], but the biggest thing I want people to get is that hip-hop was originally made for people to feel good,” Duncan said. “It was fun. Now you got this image, you gotta be this character. At least for the music I do, I want to get it back to just being yourself.”

Raymond Gamble, a.k.a. Real Talk, is part of G.A.M.B.L.E. Click, whose members include Hawaii native Jason Ornong, a.k.a. Cavi, Colorado Springs native I.Q. and Gutta, originally from Queens, N.Y.

Gamble believes that an important part of being a rap artist is being able to freestyle. He began writing songs when he was about 18, but before that it was all about being quick to drop a rhyme.

“I started in cyphers out here,” he said. “Back then, if you couldn’t freestyle, you couldn’t rap. If I couldn’t get a good freestyle I was like, ‘I’m garbage.’ A writer in his own realm, in his own right, is a genius.”

Although a lot of well-known hip-hop and rap artists have gotten by adhering to a commercial sound, each of these up-and-coming musicians agree that being versatile and innovative are key to making yourself stand out.

Grand Junction may not be the first city that comes to mind when you think of hip-hop and rap music. But the scene is there – you just have to know where to find it.

arildefonso@mavs.coloradomesa.edu