Buffalo's Emerging Hip-Hop Scene: Meet the Pepperoni Playboy
Coffee shop
music fiddles on as Kevin Spears snaps and taps on the table, unintentionally
providing a rhythm to help provide additional insight into the mind of an
emerging hip-hop artist and producer. The sound, rhythm and beats surround the
young producer, displaying his words like lyrics over a beat.
 |
| Spears, pictured above, is one of the most prominent artists in the growing culture. |
When you see “new hip hop culture in
Buffalo,” you most likely aren’t sure of what that is. With the help of the
internet and Soundcloud, there have been multiple hip-hop acts from Buffalo
bursting onto the scene since Soundcloud’s inception. Spears, like many others,
took advantage of these resources.
“I’m a huge proponent of Soundcloud.
Always have been. It’s where I got my start and it allows people to express
themselves without worrying about judgement…Making it in the music industry,
with things like Soundcloud is a great tool because there’s much more of a
cultural aspect to it, things are easy to share ”
Spears released his first beat on
Soundcloud in 2013, later releasing his first project in 2015 while he was in
his junior year of high school titled “Pepperoni Playboy.” At this time, Spears
hadn’t taken his music too seriously yet, saying “That was kinda experimenting,
trying to find a sound a little more” to describe his first project.
Spears
had always loved music, whether it was listening to a wide variety or messing
around on his computer making beats in high school. He never originally
expected much to come from it, but after his Soundcloud saw some growth, he
said to himself, “I can run with this.”
Around the same time, many of his
friends also became interested in the same stuff and they all began to take
themselves more seriously as a group. They formed a collective of musicians,
videographers and artists which is now known as Free Music Party. Alex Live,
one of the original members of the group, credits Spears for unlocking his
passion for music.
“Before Kevin, I never really touched music.
When I was little I would try to sing and stuff but he broke me into music as
an artform” says Alex Live, describing the days he would come over during high
school to make beats with Spears.
Spears has released four projects
and worked with many of the emerging artists of the Buffalo hip-hop scene
including Freak the Mighty, Eddy Blanco and more. Spears showcases multiple
types of genres, as well as multiple sects of hip-hop in each of his projects.
This draws a direct parallel to this culture. Combining elements of jazz,
electronic, classic hip-hop and pretty much anything you want summarizes what
the artists in Buffalo want to accomplish. When elaborating on the form of this
music, Spears says “Our sound is every sound. It’s being able to not be boxed
in, to do whatever the (expletive) we want.”
Buffalo has never been a city known
for hip-hop. Due to the dominance of rock music in Buffalo, booking venues as a
hip-hop artist isn’t a cake walk. “Buffalo is a rock and roll city, they
associate hip-hop with gang violence, guns and misogyny, all that, drugs, they
are just scared of it.”
Spears recalls the time they booked
a show at Milkie’s, a bar on Elmwood. Spears recalls it was doomed from the
start because it was -2 degrees outside. To add insult to injury, the show was
21+ and a majority of their audience is under 21 years old. The owner denied
them their set and kicked them out because only a few people showed up.
Most importantly to the culture
making it unique to Buffalo is how true they are to their identity of Buffalo.
“I think we are relatable.” Says Spears “ None of us have anything particularly
striking about any of us. We are pretty typical middle class Buffalo kids.”
Spears, Free Music Party and the entire developing Buffalo scene are convinced
it doesn’t matter who you are, you can follow your dreams and create the art
you please.
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