The Virtual World of Local Boston Hip-Hop Artists

By Luisa Fischer | December 9, 2020 |

Having grown up in Atlanta, Georgia, there were many cultural differences I became aware of when moving to Boston my freshman year of college. One that I was particularly aware of was the music culture. Although Boston is a town filled with students, many of which study music, there were some obvious contrasts in which music and which artists were most ingrained into the city’s focus. While Atlanta’s history is well known as where Trap music originated in the 90s, Boston doesn’t have quite as obvious of a connection with hip-hop and gives a completely different experience in its dedication to the arts and music. Thus, this is how I first became interested in Boston’s hip-hop community and how local artists have had to evolve with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Not only is hip-hop the most popular music genre in the United States, but it has a rich and important history. It dates back to the 1970s of the Bronx, New York, and to this day remains an outlet focused on the economic, social and political hardships of minority communities of low-income - primarily African-American males. Although these aren’t the contents of every rap song or even every rapper’s primary message, hip-hop remains an important genre that has given people made ‘other’ by society a passage into the mainstream (although this too raises its own issues).

Nonetheless, hip-hop culture remains ingrained into many parts of Atlanta, and I can count on two hands the people I know personally who are self-proclaimed/ independent rappers. No matter how well-known a rapper is, hip-hop gives artists the creative outlet to voice their opinions, struggles and stories. Boston is made up of smaller local artists who have now had to reprogram their career strategies in order to adapt to the restrictions of the pandemic. This is part of what makes this topic so important. Looking at the history of hip-hop in Boston give’s insight into how this vital style has influenced a city’s culture and community, as well as how that community has developed over time. This leads to my main research question: In what ways has the pandemic affected local hip-hop artists in Boston?

In order to go about this research question, I used sources I found through Northeastern University’s library databases, as well as Google and social media platforms such as instagram. The contents of these sources gave me insight into the history as well as growth of Boston’s hip-hop scene, and how the once underground community has since made its way into the mainstream. Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, all of the fieldwork I conducted was virtual. I relied on instagram to find a local artist to interview, and was able to contact about three potential interviewees through private messages as well as the emails linked in their bios. However, after all of these fell through for various reasons, I relied on Google for further research. There, I found a name come up in several articles and videos, and I took no time to reach out to local Boston rapper Red Shaydez, who agreed to give me her insight into Boston’s hip-hop community as well as how she personally has been affected by COVID-19.

(Luisa, 24 November 2020, Me during my interview with Red Shaydez)

While I was nervous at first that a phone interview and a recorded livestream of an album release party wouldn’t give me a proper lense into the music scene I was interested in, my findings quickly proved otherwise. Along with the written resources I collected, I was able to determine that local rappers in Boston have always had to utilize virtual resources into their marketing strategies. This was due not only to the technological growth in the 80’s, but also because hip-hop was not accepted by most local venues, bars and restaurants - where many smaller artists usually get their start. These lack of performance opportunities pushed local hip-hop artists to take advantage of radio shows and forms of guerilla marketing. This has ultimately given these artists, such as Red Shaydez, a ‘head start’ with the restrictions of COVID-19, as the Boston hip-hop community has already been exposed to the value of virtual engagement to grow their brand and their fanbase.

Earlier this year in October, NPR published an article written by Darien Carr by the title “City Scenes: How Boston’s DIY Hip-Hop Community Is Fending For Itself”, which explains the resources smaller artists had to utilize when Boston’s hip-hop scene first started forming. “In the '80s, college radio shows like Lecco's Lemma played a huge role in supporting the development of Boston hip-hop. With few physical venues where hip-hop artists could perform, these stations served as stand-ins where artists could share their music, and where listeners could get information about the next show” (Carr, 2020). This goes to show that the greater Boston music scene was not supportive of the rise and growth of hip-hop, and excluded it from outlets important for smaller artists to use. Carr mentions that college radio shows were most reliable for hip-hop artists to turn to, as even many local black radio stations weren’t supportive of rap music. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why many local rappers still go on radio shows or podcasts today - there is still a young demographic with a demand for their music.

The article also states “Other spaces critical to Boston's hip-hop scene were record stores and places that sold musical equipment. Getting to "the venue" meant hanging out at local staples like Skippy White's Records, or electronics stores like Radioshack” (Carr, 2020), which Red Shaydez said is still a common strategy in today’s scene. If you aren’t getting your fans online, chances are you’re getting them through guerilla marketing and word of mouth. This is something that I’ve also seen evident in Atlanta’s local hip-hop and overall music scene, but only throughout artists that have been around for a decade or more as it seems many independent artists today rely solely on social media and live performances. As that wasn’t the case for Boston’s rappers, they’ve already been exposed to adapting to various changing elements.

For example, Carr mentions that “After the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, many of these brick and mortar locations started going out of business, forcing the community to adapt” (Carr, 2020). This is when the internet really came into play with Boston’s hip-hop community. Blog posts, personalized websites, social media as well as streaming services such as SoundCloud gave local rappers a new level of support and exposure they weren’t finding in Boston’s music scene. Red Shaydez, also mentioned in the article, notes that for the past ten years, most of her audience came from online. Only in the past few years has she gained the attention of local Bostonians.

When I sat down for my interview with Red, I was nervous - partially because I was afraid of boring her with another virtual interview, and partially because I was talking to a local celebrity. However, the moment Red answered the phone all - or most - of my nerves faded away. She was down to earth, calm and collected, yet bubbly and seemed excited to be able to talk about her experiences. We started off talking about our common roots in Georgia, and transitioned into discussing what it was like growing up with her father who was also a hip-hop artist.

Clip of my interview with Red Shaydez, discussing marketing and virtual shows in the pandemic:

Red further illustrated the importance of digital marketing when she first started getting into Boston’s hip-hop scene around 2010. By this time there were already more platforms for local artists to speak on than in just ten or twenty years before this, but still she stated that there were few venues hip-hop artists were able to perform at. Because of this, she promoted her as well as other local music on her own radio show, and along with her videos was able to grow a following online. However, when the pandemic hit, Red said she had to re-strategize, and decided to go back to the roots of Boston’s hip-hop marketing. Not only did she do as many interviews as she could, but she used posters, billboards, instagram posts and live streams to spread awareness of her album Feel the Aura, released in July of this year - please give it a listen, it’s amazing and you won’t be disappointed.

(Red Shaydez, 26 July 2020, Still from her graphic music video for “They Call Me Shaydez”)

When I asked Red about her livestream album release party, and what it was like doing a virtual gathering like that with an audience, she said it went really well. She was able to connect with her fans and listeners and got mainly positive feedback about how intimate and authentic the livestream felt. When I asked about how she was able to maintain that personal connection with her audience over screen, she said she

“strategically did not perform the songs because this was my first time presenting this whole new full length project to, you know, my audience and people that didn't know who I was….. So I specifically marketed as a get together, like, we're gonna listen to each song, I explained the meaning and thought process behind each. And we all heard it together... I think the reason why I was able to connect with them is because it was more like a community conversation, as opposed to like, `Hey, watch me perform my new songs’” (Personal Interview, 25 November 2020).

(Red Shaydez, 26 July 2020, screenshot from her Virtual Album Release Party)

Once we finished our interview, I found the recorded album release party livestream on Youtube, and indulged myself into the video. It was a riveting experience, even though I was sitting at a self-made desk in my bedroom, and Red was talking to me through a computer screen. The visuals and music Red has created are captivating enough, but she was able to draw her viewers in by encouraging them to turn up the bass for certain  songs, as well as talking through her experience creating each track. Her enthusiasm and bubbly personality have only worked in her favour in growing her fanbase virtually during a global pandemic.

 

Red Shaydez 'Feel The Aura' Virtual Album Release Party!

(Red Shaydez, 26 July 2020, Album Release Party 17:19-22:00)

After conducting my research, interview and watching a virtual album release party, I’ve found that Boston hip-hop artists have had a leg up when it comes to the changes the pandemic has pushed upon the music industry. They have already had the practice and experience in conducting a career digitally, and although most artists are eager to get back to live performing, these rappers know that this aspect of the music industry will only continue to grow in importance. Red Shaydez herself is glad that she can take a break from live concerts for now, as she told me she prefers every other aspect of her musical career over doing concerts. As local venues, bars and restaurants have been and will unfortunately continue to close due to the effects of COVID-19, for Red Shaydez and the rest of Boston’s hip-hop community, the virtual music world has time and time again proven to be a necessary and successful outlet.

Thank you so much to Red Shaydez as well as her booking manager Kim for being open to my research project and helping me gain this new insight into Boston’s hip-hop community.

Links to related web materials:

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/14/922245184/city-scenes-how-bostons-diy-hip-hop-community-is-fending-for-itself

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/23/arts/six-boston-hip-hop-artists-this-moment-music-activism-maintaining-momentum/

https://www.complex.com/music/2020/03/coronavirus-canceled-shows-effect-live-rap-venues-promoters

https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/07/24/boston-rapper-red-shaydez-makes-a-bold-return-on-her-new-album-feel-the-aura

https://www.rockthebells.com/blogs/articles/boston-and-hip-hop-an-overlooked-history

https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/08/27/boston-djs

Works Cited

BRITSCHGI, CHRISTIAN. “Covid Concerts.” Reason 52, no. 4 (August 2020): 76. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.neu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=143754980&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Foster, Pacey, and Marshall, Wayne. "Tales of the Tape: Cassette Culture, Community Radio, and the Birth of Rap Music in Boston." Creative Industries Journal 8, no. 2 (2015): 164-76.

Killman, Brandon. “Virtual Concert Fills the Void Left by Live Music Festivals.” University Wire, 2020.

Lukowski, Sarah. “The Show Must Go on(Line): Boston Musicians Share How COVID-19 Impacted Them.” The Suffolk Journal, 2020, thesuffolkjournal.com/30044/ac/music/the-show-must-go-online-boston-musicians-share-how-they-were-impacted-by-covid-19/.

Smith, Meghan. “Boston's Musicians Are Finding Creative Ways To Support Their Community During The Coronavirus Crisis.” Org, GBH, 16 Apr. 2020, www.wgbh.org/local/2020/04/16/bostons-musicians-are-finding-creative-ways-to-support-their-community-during-the-coronavirus-crisis.

Wallace, Sara. "Local Music Scene Performs Virtual Concerts, Keeps Community Connected." University Wire, May 11 2020, ProQuest. Web. 1 Oct. 2020 .

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