Sounds of the underground
Local hip-hop mogul goes to work
By Chris Jay 11/19/2009
Much is written about the local music scene, but one genre that undeniably receives little to no attention is hip-hop. It’s strange, too, because rap music and the vast culture that it’s spawned is more evident on a daily basis than any other musical style. From fashion to art to speech, love it or hate it, rap music, as the pioneering MC KRS One correctly predicted, was not “a passing hope or a phase with a rope.”
Ventura County’s hip-hop scene is not only alive and well, but absolutely thriving, and one of the many long-time active members of its community is Matt Elkins, a triple threat of producer, performer and promoter.
Elkins, who works under the rhyme-ready name of Short Term the Crate Worm, has been a Ventura native since his teens, when he was a bassist more inclined to the Dead Kennedys than Jay Z’s “Dead Presidents.” Despite his punk roots, when he discovered the art of beat making, he knew he had found his musical calling.
The Worm initially honed his craft by making and selling beats for everyone and anyone, locally and beyond, but with the advent of the Internet and social networking sites, as every MC with a PC a became pro beat maker, Elkins turned more to making music for his own means.
Elkins joined forces with Kingsly Mannasa, a well-respected local MC known for his work at the Oxnard P.A.L. and its weekly Friday night hip-hop nights. Together with DJ Spinobi, an extremely popular turntable vet who has worked with Grammy winners like Ozomatli, the three formed the local hip-hop supergroup Forgotten Science.
From the sound (a mix of samples, original beats and actual instrumentation) to the visual presentation (outer space-ready jump suit, mask-wearing b-boys) to the spaced-out rhymes with classic refrains like “smack a robot in the face,”
Forgotten Science is not the everyday hip-hop group.
The polished and eclectic trio has seen its best turnouts at an unlikely venue: Bombay Bar and Grill. Elkins and his promotions partner Graco Hernandez, also known as Scripts Unlmtd, have been running their bimonthly Electric Hooligans Hip-Hop shows, typically on the venue’s Thursday local rock nights. Beyond Forgotten Science and several other local hip-hop artists who perform short sets, they’ve had success with their theme nights, which have included MC battles, DJ battles and beat battles.
Though Elkins is clearly an expert on the matter, when asked about the local hip-hop scene, in a stretch from rap’s more familiar stance of bragging and belittling the competition, he shows the unity the local scene is known for and is quick to rattle off a laundry list of local acts that he would put up against any in the world. Acts like Points of Ellipsis, Epsilon Project, Shoddy Cons, Cross, Icky Green, FiliBlunt and Leadership are names not known much outside the hip-hop scene, but Elkins’ enthusiasm for them is infectious.
As for the overall scene he’s devoted the past decade to, he feels it’s more than worthy and ready to receive more of the attention that other genres do.
“Ventura County’s underground hip-hop community is one of the most unified scenes in the area,” explains Elkins. “People still don’t like to think of hip-hop as music, but the turnout at shows speaks for itself. People in the area love hip-hop.”
Forgotten Science plus an MC battle on Thursday, Nov. 19, at Bombay Bar and Grill. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/forgottenscience or www.myspace.com/bombaybarandgrill.com
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