When one thinks about the modern group of hip-hop artists that are setting Milwaukee ablaze with their sharp rhymes and trunk-rattling beats, certain names probably come to mind sooner than others might.
Anybody who reads OnMilwaukee.com, A.V. Club Milwaukee, Shepherd Express and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and listens to WMSE or Radio Milwaukee knows the names of Prophetic, KingHellBastard and Dana Coppafeel, AUTOMatic and Fresh Cut Collective.
These artists are people that have obtained a large amount positive coverage for what they bring to the table, with the largest name on that list being Prophetic.
All of the artists that I've mentioned have a solid discography, perform shows regularly and are part of the community at large.
However, none of the acts mentioned above even managed to place as a runner-up in this year's Best of Milwaukee reader's choice awards, done annually by the Shepherd Express.
The three artists that did place are the virtually unknown youth group B*Right, immaculate club DJ Kid Cut Up and the very influential The Rusty P's, who haven't released a new album in a number of years.
Anyone who took the time to vote probably noticed that the music section of the voting was, as it always is, completely chaotic and filled with dozens of names of people that sing songs to their friends in their living rooms or basements or spit verses to their friends in the same setting. Any novice musician is able to submit their name to be seen alongside that of a Paul Cebar.
This is part of the fun, but it is also incredibly problematic.
Fictional characters and made-up people are submitted and make their way into consideration. People can log in under different IP addresses or emails from a large system like a computer lab at a university or high school that shares an IP address to falsify results and inflate popularity.
This year's winner, B*Right, has now won two years in a row after materializing out of thin air last year on the strength of two subpar and sophomoric mixtapes and a handful of novice handicam music videos.
Compare this to Prophetic, who has performed at Summerfest the past two summers as the direct opener for N*E*R*D and Wiz Khalifa, respectively, and received nearly 600,000 YouTube views for "Green and Yellow," his song with rapper Pizzle that hit as the Packers were going into the playoffs last year and received spins on dozens of radio stations across the state.
Prophetic has had music featured on ESPN's X-Games and "No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain," and has had song placements on other shows.
Proph has released a slew of quality mixtapes and albums over the last two years with each one getting noticeably better, which led to this year's fantastic "Purgatory."
When you add in all of the other video work that he's released and the tens of thousands of views that they've received individually, one has to ask the question: How is he not the top rapper in Milwaukee status wise?
Let us also look at KingHellBastard and KHB member Dana Coppafeel in comparison to B*Right.
Both KHB and Dana Coppafeel have opened up for numerous large acts over the last several years either at Summerfest or The Rave. Both have released a handful of highly acclaimed albums and mixtapes. Both have released a handful of sharp visuals for their songs. Both KHB and Coppa have maintained a busy schedule of live performances at the different bars that host hip-hop shows in Milwaukee.
When you toss critic darlings AUTOMatic and Fresh Cut Collective and their accolades, coverage, shows and reach into the conversation as well, the water becomes even more murky when trying to justify B*Right as two-time winners of the reader's choice Best of Milwaukee award.
I'm sure by now you've asked the question, "Well if these other groups were so popular, then why didn't their fans vote for them?"
That's something that I don't have the answer to.
I don't have the breakdown of the votes or where the votes came from. I don't know how deep the people at the Shepherd Express look into where the votes come from. I don't know the methodologies they use to say which categories are appropriate labeling for an artist/act and which aren't.
What I do know is that we have a relatively unknown group winning for the second year in a row, a club DJ that isn't a hip-hop artist placing second and a group that hasn't put out any music recently and sparsely does shows taking third.
I guess the question that is truly at the root of this discussion is do Milwaukeeans actually listen to hip-hop created by people in their own backyard and do they care about it?
Looking at the results, I'd have to say no, outside of a handful of dedicated people.
Born in Milwaukee and raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Concordia University Wisconsin alumnus Poppe has spent the majority of his life in or around the city and county of Milwaukee.
As an advocate of Milwaukee's hip-hop community Poppe began popular local music blog Milwaukee UP in March 2010. Check out the archived entries here.
Though heavy on the hip-hop, Poppe writes about other genres of music and occasionally about food, culture or sports, and is always ready to show his pride in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
