Radio Hip-Hop

The Hip-Hop Project
Connected

It’s no secret commercial radio in Chicago has never been best buddies with hip-hop. It almost seems surreal to recall there was once heard an all-hip-hop station in the city – “Rap Radio” on WJPC-AM (950) – even if it didn’t last long. But where mainstream stations have failed to properly support beats and rhymes, college radio has always been a reliable outlet. And on the North Side specifically, The Hip Hop Project has been an integral piece of the local rap game since 1995, thanks to Loyola’s WLUW-FM (88.7) – one of Chicago’s most respected community-oriented channels despite its relatively weak signal.

LUW’s reputation of being centered on all things indie is something the DJs behind the long-running “The Hip-Hop Project (THHP)” can appreciate. Every Saturday night, the show’s core staff – Cosm Roks, DJ Monky, Roper, and Eves – takes full advantage of the fact it can play quality tracks you may not hear on WGCI-FM (107.5) or Power 92, WPWX-FM (92.3). As Roper puts it, “We’re trying to play music that people don’t necessarily have 24-[hour] access to.”

That said, “THHP” increasingly isn’t allowing itself to fall into an elitist underground-only abyss, either. One particular mid-November night, Cosm and crew play a well-balanced mix of new tracks (local and national), New York Golden Era goodness, and a few remixes sure to get listeners talking. One of those remixes the staff is especially eager to play is the 9th Wonder reworking of a Cool Kids track, “Delivery Man.” Being that 9th Wonder is the poster boy for using traditional, soul-sampled beats, he has become a favorite among purists while the Cool Kids’ flashy raps have largely caught the attention of a more trend-conscious crowd. And this type of crossover on the “Delivery Man” remix is what “THHP” strives to support, breaking the notion hip-hop has to be divided into neat subcategories. To them, popular or subterranneous, all is fair game.

“A lot of our artists you hear on the show will never get Top-40 spins, but we don’t stray from artists like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Young Jeezy, etc.,” Cosm says. “There’s a lot of great music out there, and we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the foot by boycotting popular artists. I think that’s what makes our show special. In a typical one-hour chunk of the show, you’ll hear a Longshot record blended with a Jay-Z, then maybe a Ludacris blended with D.I.T.C., and when we do it, it’s genuine.”

Not be mistaken, “THHP” are heavy supporters of the East Coast DJ Premier school of street rap in the vein of Gang Starr or M.O.P. But on the same note, the show’s crew makes it a point to pay close attention to the influx of MP3s available on blogs and in e-mail inboxes, keeping an ear open to where hip-hop is moving next.

“Rather than judge an artist on an album-to-album basis, we judge them on a song-to-song basis,” DJ Monky explains. “We don’t pass judgment on an artist on the whole, we judge on the song because at the end of the day, if you’ve got a dope song, we’re gonna play it. I’m not a 50 Cent fan at all, but there are 50 Cent songs I will play. So I think that’s different from other people who say, ‘Our show is [about] the underground artists and you don’t want to hear that other crap.’ Our umbrella is bigger where we’re gonna pick everything that’s good and play that.”

Beyond the subjective standard of the music being “good,” connecting with the Chicago hip-hop community has always been a key element of “The Hip Hop Project”‘s mission. Founded in 1995 by Brother El and Ishmael, the show, which then aired from Loyola’s Gold Coast campus, has been a haven for local MCs.

Cosm, who first began helping at the show in 1998 to write for the newsletter as a high schooler, recalls how hip-hoppers flocked to WLUW studios. By the time he took over as host in 2000, the environment almost became too welcoming.

“When I took over, I’m not kidding, it was like a clubhouse for a lot of underground artists,” he remembers. “People would come in with liquor, try and smoke up, use our studios to record while we weren’t watching, steal records, etc. Of course, you would have artists curse on the air as well. WLUW had turned into the new hot spot for artists to hang out, and naturally because we were playing their records more than anyone else.”

Relaxed environment or not, WLUW and its management eventually cracked down on the clubhouse. “I laid down a few ground rules, and sometimes I had to be a dick about it because that’s the only way people can understand certain things,” adds Cosm. “By the time we moved to our new studios in Rogers Park, people wouldn’t come as much. Part of it was because it’s far north, but the other part was because they didn’t like the appointment-only rule. Over time, people grew to respect the rules and, like I said, we’re still around. So I think we did the right thing.”

Guest appearances have become less frequent, but in recent months Chicago regulars like The Primeridian and Longshot have stopped by while New York legends like Large Professor have called in for exclusive interviews. Beyond getting artists to appear on the show, since 2002 “THHP” has embraced the mixtape movement as a means to extend its relationship with local and nationwide acts alike. Mixtapes have been made with the blessing of a long list of MCs including Longshot, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, Rashid Hadee, and Freddie Foxxx.

More than a show, “THHP” has become a brand – a standard of music that hip-hoppers have come to recognize. “The mixtapes have been a huge thing – kind of like how the newsletter set us apart originally,” says Roper. Monky says the mixtapes have “become a staple outside of the show to keep our name afloat without the radio show, so to speak.”

“I see our mixtapes as something similar to an audio flyer or ad for our show,” adds Cosm. “It keeps our name in the street when our show is not on. In Chicago, the mixtape game is not what it should be. We try our best to fill the void by working with some of Chicago’s up-and-coming artists. Anybody who is anybody in Chicago and is on the rise has made an appearance on one of our tapes at some time. We never stop networking with artists from Chicago, and are always looking for the next person to work with.”

With the help of marketing director Gabriel Ledezma, “THHP” has also landed sponsorships from like-minded businesses. Most recently the show has connected with renowned Bucktown skate shop Uprise, which led to the mixtape Uprise Radio Volume 1.

To bring all of “THHP”‘s endeavors together, Cosm and company try to make the show’s Web site, www.thehiphopproject.com, an all-encompassing experience where you can find news of upcoming shows, playlists, and downloads of mixtapes, interviews, and full podcasts of each episode.

Considering WLUW’s 100-watt attenna has a limited range covering most of the North Side and some suburbs, Cosm sees the Internet as the key to expansion.

“The live stream at Wluw.org certainly helps a lot, but the podcast has breathed new life into our whole objective,” he says. “The world we live in continues to move by at a faster pace, and it’s important to have your product accessible to people on demand. Our listeners like knowing that if they miss an interview, or just want to bump a four-hour mix, they can go to the Web site and catch up on their own time.”

While they have no way of tracking how many people are listening, it’s the random bits of feedback they get via the Internet and phone that reaffirms they’re doing something right.

As Monky recalls, “Cosm one time got this e-mail from a guy that was a big moment – from a guy who was helping out after Hurricane Katrina and he was staying out in a house boat ’cause they were just doing repairs. And at night, they would just hang around and drink beers and play our show on Saturday night and just blast it over the swamp area. [When] you hear shit like that – it’s crazy.”

— Max Herman

WLUW-FM (88.7) airs “The Hip Hop Project” 7:30-11:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

Category: Features, Monthly