The History of Cincinnati Hip Hop and the Experimental Sounds of Ill Poetic | Ill Poetic - Synesthesia (Free Album Download)

Cincinnati (and the surrounding areas) has become the home of one of the most serious hip hop movements in the nation. This may be shocking to many of you but you should remember that Cincinnati actually has a long history of musical creativity - in funk , blues, jazz, and rock. Cincinnati, as the home to funk and R&B legends Bootsy Collins and the Isley Brother; jazz great Count Base D, the music industry legend L.A. Reid; and path breaking hip hop artists Mood, Hi-Tek, and IsWhat? was projected to be the next major music city. Artists from Led Zeppelin to James Brown came to the Nati to record making Cinci a sort of mixture of Nashville and Detroit. Later, Cincinnati hosted the first major hip hop festival, Scribble Jam (1996-2008), which predated today's festivals such as Rock The Bells, and helped launch the careers of Wordsworth, Murs, Slug, Eyedea, Brother Ali, Lyrics Born, Eminem, Sage Francis, and Rhymefest. 

In 1997 Rhymefest defeated Eminem in the Scribble Jam freestyle battle: watch for :38 "Ima keep this nigga bouncin like a Suge Knight check" - Rhymefest

Along with The Scribbling Idiots, Mr. Dibbs, Copywrite, and Tanya Morgan, Jermiside, the emcee/producer, Ill Poetic, has been representing this tradition for over a decade. He continues to push himself outside the restrictive boundaries of hip hop and into the the world of creative expression filled with live instrumentation, atmospheric samples, and intricate lyricism. In this new project, Ill Poetic moves into that "next realm" of hip hop production inhabited by masterminds like RJD2 and El-P.

Ill Blogetic, 
WhatUpWally?

Bonus: Check out the WUW? Cincinnati Hip Hop Spotify Playlist: