Long ago in Halifax, Wednesdays meant hip-hop. Mid-week, the Khyber, then the Seahorse, then Hell's Kitchen, then Coconut Grove would be flooded with beats and beers and records, DJs and MCs and fans---since 1997. More recently, venues closing, or hosting shows less often, meant a reduction in our city's hip-hop intake.
But the fans are still there, and your pick for best MC in the Coast Best of Music readers' survey, Ambition (AKA Joseph Ward) and Uncle Fester (AKA Shaun Ryan), want to make hip-hop accessible again.
Beginning April 10, hip-hop and Wednesdays are happily reunited at The Company House for Droppin' Science, a bi-weekly hip-hop night. "In a city like Halifax there's so many bands and so many people that like to drink you'd think it'd be easier, but instead the scene is getting smaller," says Ward.
"There's been no connection to the hip-hop scene in the community in years," says Ryan. "The community is really fragmented in every sense. The audience is older, you need to reach out and this is what a night like this does, it gives people a place to hang."
The two reached out to some of the more seasoned DJs like Jorun and Gordski, and hope to create a regular event where the new generation can meet and collaborate with the founders of the scene.
"The music can be different but the energy is the same," says Ward.
"I don't want any elitism to creep in," says Ryan. "The hip-hop scene is so small in the city that to have it splintered is not what we need. When you look at scenes that are working, there's support. We just want to build a home base again and build the support from that."
Expect album releases, special guests both local and otherwise, and the same good vibes as the original nights all those years ago. --Stephanie Johns
Droppin' Science
w/Ambition, Uncle Fester, Jorun
Wednesday, April 10, 8pm, $3Br />
The Company House, 2202 Gottingen Street
