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Wu-Tang Envy? Cool Nutz and Jus Family strive for national recognition. |
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Jus Family plans to release a full-length Izaya album in September and full-lengths by G-ism, Kenny Mack and Hungry Mob in the near future. The Western Conference All-Starz is available in local stores. |
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Spins of the Week: Red Star Belgrade, Where the Sun Doesn't Shine (Put It on a Cracker)--This North Carolina band's songs about women and death rollick and roll with crafty melodies, a wryly emotional vocal delivery, amusing lyrics and 150-horsepower guitar riffs. |
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Checking in with Cool Nutz: In rock-centric Portland, trying to create a scene for another form of music is like inviting frustration to dinner. Trying to popularize hip-hop, a style that many equate with violence, gangs and drugs, might lead to enough stress to require constant therapy. Yet Cool Nutz, a.k.a. Terrance Scott, has emerged as one of this city's most resilient voices for the hip-hop cause. After releasing cassettes of his own recordings in the early '90s, the rapper founded Jus Family Records, then went on to help organize POH-HOP, the hip-hop festival that has occurred annually at LaLuna for the past three years. In June, Cool Nutz assembled the most ambitious local collection of hip-hop material ever, the two-CD set The Western Conference All-Starz. Like every "local band" compilation--from any city--that came before it, whether rock, jazz, folk or hip-hop, All-Starz has its flaws. What Cool Nutz cites as the album's diversity is another man's mishmash. Styles from urban soul to gangsta rap to freestyling to straight hip-hop collide, sometimes unpleasantly. It's a male-heavy crew, with women relegated to back-up vocal duty. A few of the artists sound amateurish, with the type of unsmooth MCing or vapid lyrics that successful artists like Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul regularly dismiss in their songs as "sucka MCs" or worse. Cool Nutz acknowledges the shortcomings, but asserts that the goal of the record is to show the world, and more specifically the record industry, that Portland has its share of ripe performers. "There are people who are the cream of the crop of Portland and then there are people who need some work," he says of the record. "I would say that the majority do have the talent to step in and compete." The compilation does offer some surprises for those unaware of the local hip-hop scene's depth: Over a propulsive beat and ominous keyboards in "Heat in My Holster," Kenny Mack relates the familiar tale of a young black man getting hassled by cops; Lifesavas' "Cream Team 2000" features smooth tag-team MCing and a dark, funk-inflected backdrop; Emerge MC's "Mic Monogamy" winds a tight rap around inventive DJing; Libretto brings a hard-hitting East Coast style; and both Bleek and Izaya represent the slicker, West Coast style, and sound impressive doing so. Now that the record has been released, Cool Nutz aspires to have Portland embrace its hip-hop scene, but he'd also like to attract the attention of major labels. He says an affiliation with a record company would bring this city's artists increased opportunities and would allow him to dispel rumors about Jus Family's roster. "I know people tend to think that Jus Family is just West Coast gangsta rap. When I have the capital to go out and offer groups money, I would sign groups like Lifesavas that have the talent and the vision to contribute to hip-hop for the betterment of the music," says Cool Nutz, who once had a deal with BigBeat/Atlantic but withdrew from it before his record was released. Even without the assistance of a major label, Cool Nutz, along with other activists including Hungry Mob's David Parks and Five Fingers of Funk's Pete Miser, has given hip-hop a place in Portland's music community. As Cool Nutz is quick to point out, the POH-HOP festival and Jus Family Records provide young MCs and DJs a chance to be heard in a city that only a few years ago wasn't willing to listen. Along with Cool Nutz's accomplishments, however, his outspoken style and omnipresence in the hip-hop scene have led to detractors, who see him as overbearing or controlling. "You don't have to like my music," he says, "but one thing I do ask is for people to respect what I do. Respect that I'm opening avenues for MCs, for people to come up behind me." Although the local hip-hop scene hasn't exactly flourished in the last five years, it has grown into a respectable underground scene that at one time did not exist, complete with live shows, record labels and artists. Cool Nutz says these successes make it easier to brush off complaints, and that the promise of bringing Portland hip-hop to the next level helps him stay focused. "You'll never get anywhere if you can't accept the criticisms that people are gonna have," he says. "You'll just be out there fighting everybody." |
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