For any Miami Valley citizens who are die hard hip-hop culture/rap music fans, there’s a show for you this weekend. This Saturday, Boom Bap in Belmont goes down at Belmont Billiards at 9pm.
I asked the event’s founder (and fellow WYSO contributor) Cooley The Creator about its origins. Cooley responded, “I created the event back in the Spring of 2023 after having a conversation with the new owners of Belmont Billiards.”
I then asked why he made this show. He explained, “I initially wanted to use it as a one time thing to showcase some music I was working on with Picket Fence and Brother Steve. Boom Bap hip-hop is something we were all raised on, but it’s not a style I get to showcase very often at DJ gigs. The music we were working on fit that description so I decided to make a whole night dedicated to that style. A couple months later I met DJ Don Johnson. He mentioned a similar night he used to do in a different town, but it included an open mic format for emcees and producers. It sounded like a fun way to connect the hip-hop community around here so now we are adding that element to the mix and doing the event monthly.
I had an idea about who the target audience is for this event, but I wanted to ask Cooley about it. He confirmed (my thoughts), “We hope to attract hip-hop fans of all eras and to build a stronger Hip Hop community here as a whole. Don just finished a new collaborative project with Merq. I’ve collaborated with a number of different emcees in Dayton throughout my time here. Collaboration and bouncing ideas is important to us both. Hopefully we can help spread that around and spark some great partnerships between other emcees and producers.”
I wondered if Cooley thought he had the ‘numbers’ as far as potential event goers…if he could get a sizable audience? He mused, “Working in a record store has taught me that the audience is definitely here. One of the best selling records year after year at Omega Music is Madvilliany by MF DOOM and Madlib. You see groups movements like Griselda & Coast Contra getting more popular every day online. People want that true school sound and we want to make sure they not only have a place to listen & enjoy, but to participate if they choose.”
On the flyer for the show, it states “BYOB (Bring Your Own Beats/Bars)”. I asked Cooley to explain this concept to me. He said, “Don had the idea of opening up a channel on the mixer for producers to play beats and having some mics open for emcees. We want to encourage people to come out with a few tracks and share them with our crowd. Or even freestyle! We will DJ in between acts to keep the vibe going. The goal is to have the best act from each open mic session come back as a featured artists at the following month's event. So people need to bring their A- game and get the crowd involved!”
In closing, I wanted to know what Cooley thought the ultimate goal for his project was. He laid out, “To strengthen the hip-hop community in Dayton and the surrounding areas. We really want the first Saturday at Belmont Billiards to be about pushing one another musically and building relationships through music. Hope you and your audience will join us!”
Event info:
Boom Bap In Belmont
Belmont Billiards
820 Watervliet Ave,
Dayton, Ohio
9pm - 1am
No cover for 21 and up.
