Sunny Lou and 414BigFrank
Milwaukee has sometimes been overshadowed as a musical city by Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and St. Louis. In recent years, however, rap and hip-hop have become genres that have begun to jump into the crowded playing field of Milwaukee music, with some national and regional recognition too. But despite this recent recognition, Milwaukee’s rap scene has been dancing in the dark for years, working on its sound, connecting with the community and moving forward steps at a time, year after year.
On a mild night in May, I got my introduction to this Milwaukee sound at Bremen Café where I was hit by a wave of bass boosted, clap sounding beats and a series of performers on stage hyping up the audience and playing call and repeat games. It was a wave of energy and my friend pointed out that though the audience was sparse, it did not impact the performers; they acted as if it was a sold out show at Fiserv Forum.
I found out shortly that this was SmackinTown, a rap collective and label in Milwaukee. On stage were Milwaukee rappers Spaidez, iGh3tto and Tae23, three artists in the collective who share a tight bond, performing and recording together…