"It's An Art From The Heart/Not Created For The Charts"

Last night, Ropeadope Digital celebrated its launch at the World Cafe Live. The evening was made up of performances by BurnDown All Stars, Electric City, and Aunt Jessica. And a duo of painters who kinda hung out in the corner of the stage for most of the evening with some canvas. I didn't quite get it, but, nonetheless, there were painters in the corner. Yeah.

Aunt Jessica, an electronica-influenced hip hop group, started off the evening. To be quite honest, before I got there, this was the group I was least excited to see. I thought this was because electronica isn't normally the type of sound that makes me go "OOO- that song's going on REPEAT!." Turns out it was really because I hadn't heard enough of their music. The group has Ben Carter on bass guitar, PJ "Starkey" playing piano and running their beats, Chris "Halfcast" Cole on lead vocals, and would normally have Kate Flannery on vocals as well, but she wasn't there tonight. Their friend Christina was, however, and she did an excellent job filling in.

When Aunt Jessica first took the stage, Starkey started up some beats, Halfcast started rapping and I went "Wait a second! They are a hip hop group! HURRAY!," and maintained at least that level of happiness for the rest of their set. All of their performances were solid, and it was clear this group is well-accustomed to performing together, because they fed well off each other (even with someone standing in). There was one song they performed that I wasn't the biggest fan of (they referred to it as their "creepy song," which seemed about right), but even that I was alright with.

Starkey's beats and piano stayed strong throughout their performance, and Carter's bass was solid. The quality of Christina's singing went well beyond what I'd expect from a substitute singer, and she definitely shocked the hell out of me when, halfway through one of their final songs, she busted out rapping. It took me a minute to shake the feeling of "My fellow Nordic-looking sistren rapping?!" before the "Hold up, she's alright at this!" thought came to me. Finally, Halfcast's flow and emotion were on point throughout the set. Whether the rhymes he was spitting came super quick, slow enough that they seemed almost conversational, or he was singing, every word that came out of his mouth was clear and honest. Aunt Jessica was the first band up for the evening, and the first to make me go "Ropeadope's got taste!" They're Philly-based, and definitely worth checking out next (and any) time they perform.

After Aunt Jessica, Electric City took the stage. This two-man group (Mighty FlipSide Esquire is on vocals and DJ Skipmode scratches) keeps their set up simple, as they get back to the roots of hip hop, while maintaining a fresh sound.

The first thing I noticed when they came on was that Skipmode's arm was in a sling. I skeptically pointed this out to my friend and wondered what it'd mean for the performance (because were I a DJ and my arm got hurt like that, I'd be calling out handicapped). Then they started up and twenty minutes later, I realized that if I hadn't been able to see the sling, I never would have known it was there. Whether they were performing a slower song or something more intricate and up-tempo, Skipmode's beats stayed true throughout. As FlipSide's delivery is powerfully skilled, had the beats dropped off, it would have been clear. But they didn't, so what I got to watch was an old school-influenced performance geared towards a contemporary audience of hip hop heads (ie, we wanted to hear the influences they mention in the song "Computer Rock" come through strong while seeing something new—and we did). Again, Ropeadope's got taste and this is a group to keep an eye out for. Since they perform at the Pontiac Grille every First Friday, this shouldn't be too hard to do.

Finally, BurnDown All Stars came on. I've got their CDs and have been waiting to see them in concert for a while, so I was expecting good things, and got even more than I bargained for. These guys has been touring recently, and playing together for a good long while, and it shows.

BurnDown is one really talented crew that rolls deep. There are a whole bunch of them (my counts are different between their website and MySpace, and I couldn't keep track when they were on stage, but there's well more than ten guys in the band), and since they've got members playing instruments as well as one scratching (Cramske), by the end of their set up, the stage looked like it was primed for a rock band.

And, in a way, it was. Their sound is not something I'd normally classify as rock, but their musicians are more than amply talented to the point that they could play just about anything they wanted to, and any audience would have no choice but to listen and enjoy. While BurnDown's emcees alternated their time on stage, the musicians (Rico Joseph, Tom Copson, Tom Wailing, and Dave Quicks, who is also their lead singer) stayed on throughout, demonstrating true performance stamina. The group's herd of emcees—Kuf Knotz, Rokbottom, Jawnzap7, Arcane, Carlito Attack, Syne and Lord Bizerk—is not to be slept on. Each of them had their own, equally skillful and unique style, and whether they were rapping together or individually, everything they did just worked. Really, really well. And (pardon me as I repeat myself), BurnDown All Stars, too, are a group that's from the area and plays around it regularly.

Moral of the story: Ropedope knows what it's doing, and you should keep an ear out for their next batch of new artists, to be released the first Tuesday of May. In the meantime, go check out the albums on Ropeadope's site by Aunt Jessica, Electric City and BurnDown All Stars. And then go see all of them in concert.

Image via Flickr.