Ardamus
Unpopular Opinions About Battle Rap
The thing is...I think every artist even within whatever crew their part of...had to do for self. Because you gotta think, nikkas got kids, they come from rough situations, and all that. So whatever some of them can do to come up, they're going to do. So the music will take the backburner and you'll either see some of these guys hustling and getting knocked. Or some of them straighten up and get a government. Very rarely is it both where you working and still making a lot of music. I'd say Asheru and Kokayi are the best examples of it. Hell, Black Indian, he works with the youth in the system now but still drops joints. Head Roc works with the Washington Lawyers for the Arts (WALA) and he's about to put out some new music. Wes Felton teaches at a school part time I think and hits the road with Raheem DeVaughn whenever there's a CrossRhodes show.
Now, when Wale popped up,everyone I remember from running around on U Street didn't recognize dude. We'd see Fat Trel every once in a while at a few shows. I think in College Park, you had to catch Logic. Everyone kind of scratched their heads like "we don't know this guy?" but later on, I realized he was working with the go go bands in the scene more and he got himself a good publicist to put him in a good position. So with that said, it was proof of how much the scene was fragmented and how much people, mostly individually, go for theirs.
