@killdoji I think some of it is coming to life for sure. @kaitheczar has been taking his time promoting his I Exist album, with multiple music videos released from it. The show we just did at the Music Farm with the Wu-Tang / Rage tribute was epic and UnHeard did a great job with promotions for it, especially with showing up at Wu Wednesdays to cross promote. That said, it was a Wu-Tang Tribute, and marketing originals would have led to a much smaller turnout.

Nowadays I think the problem with our entire music scene, not just hip hop, but all original music being played at the local level. We struggle with a small community of people who care. We need to find a way to reach a lot more of the people who live in Charleston and get them interested in what’s happening.

Otherwise, the scene will remain small.

Part of this is absolutely building a story behind yourself as an artist, but some of it also has to be done in another way. Social media becomes an echo chamber of all the same voices sharing the same things, but there aren’t as many new faces.

One example of how to do this is what I’ve seen the local rock band Easy Honey doing. They’re sponsoring Beach Cleanups in cities they stop through on tour, including here in Charleston. This exposes them to an entirely new group of people who would have never known they existed if they didn’t hear about the beach cleanup.

They’ve also set up on the site of the road during a busy traffic day and jammed, with a sign in front of their setup that reads “Traffic Jam” with ways to follow them.

This kind of stuff can be adapted for other genres of music and types of events, it’s just a matter of finding the ways to do it. I’m trying to do it for Extra Chill as well, but it takes some creativity and lots of effort.