Im about an hour and a half from the city. Im down there @ least once a week. Im prolly going to smartbar sat. come out and kick it.

I'm booked there this Friday. I don't live there though.

Does anyone know of any hip-hop shows coming to Chicago this weekend? I got some boys comin in from Toronto and I'm sure they wouldnt mind a show.

Details?

bump

606 Ent. host a hip-hop open mic night ever tuesday.
Subterranean
2011 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647

peace

The club scene here is crazy. There's basically a party goin on everyday of the week.

What are the hotspots for hip-hop events? Are there any weekend jams that focus more on old-school/mid-school hip hop? Hows the reggae scene down here?

Depends on what your looking for... Dancehall, Spanish reggae or reggaeton.. or str8 up jamaican Reggae?

I spin 4 nights a week.. wed.. Tequila Road house, Thursday the Buzz, Friday Betty's Blue Star Lounge, Saturday Sangria.. Focused mainly on hip hop, reggaeton, House, and Spanish music. These spots are mainly near or in Downtown..

As far as reggae, I'm looking primarily for dancehall.

Cisco, I'm gonna look to get into the club game once I'm all settled in here. Any ideas on where I should start? I'm down to spin in Schaumburg and surrounding area or Downtown. I spin mostly hip-hop (with some old school), and some reggae.

I live in Schaumburg. The suburban scene is terrible, i.e. music-wise. It's all top 40/regular bar music. All that is around in Schaumburg is Alumni Club, Bamboo Rooom, Dakota's...been to all of them and they suck. Drink specials not that bad, but doesn't make up for the poor selection in music. If you spin hip-hop and reggae, you're much better off downtown.

As for hip hop joints in the city, I've been to Rednofive, Funky Buddha Lounge, and Subterranean (mentioned above). Good places IMO.

Word, I live in Schaumburg too. I ended up at the Bamboo Room on saturday; the spot itself was better than I thought it'd be; cant remember the music selection and dj skills cause I was pretty smashed.
Typerel, do you spin at any of the spots in Schaumburg or Downtown?

Bump for some hope that Chicago has a decent hip-hop scene.

For the REAL hip hop scene you will have to check out what they call here the UNDERGROUND hip hop scene.. Im really not into that cuz there really aren't any girls at these joints and its mainly guys trying to rep their crew and make a name for themselves through battles and MCing. Im too old for that.. I did that in High school..

The DJ's and I mix new and old school hip hop.. mainly commercial crap because we need to keep these non hip hop people who think its hip hop on the floor.. I know the Note used to have hip hop nights on Tuesday.. Not sure if this is still going on.. They played some decent music and they had an open mic if your into that sort of thing.. Sub T used to also.. not sure on them either.. but look those two spots up!

Likwid, I spin at Cherry Red on saturdays (some, not all). They play primarily top 40's stuff there, but I try my best to stay away from that stuff in my sets as much as possible.

On another note, I saw in another thread you're an advocate of the TTX. Man, I thought I was the only one on this board who loves his TTX's. Granted I had 1 problem with the motor, but they fixed it and have had no other problems since. Had them for 4 years now.

hip hop chicago

Funky Buddha Lounge 728 W Grand- Im spinnin on DEC 21st, stop by
Celebrity 1856 W North Ave- Good weekend spot
Katakomb 1909 N Lincoln Ave- Great late night hiphop. 4am
Tonic Room 2447 N Halsted- Small spot, good hiphop weekends.

These spots will get you a good overall experience in the city.

I try to stay away from any place where the employees think they're cooler than ice... basically any spot where I'm getting charged 8 bucks a beer to listen to top 40 garbage spun by dj's who never mix.

Good thing there was some replies in this board, I was startin to question Chicago hip-hop, especially because since I've been here, I've heard a 3 song rotation on the radio:
1. That Sean Paul / Rihanna joint
2. Beyonce - Irreplaceable
3. Akon, Em- Smack That

Hell yea, TTXs are the shite. I rocked 12's for like 3 or 4 years, and I have nothin against em, theyre rock solid, but the TTXs have so many extra features. The only thing people had against the TTXs are that theyre known for having bugs, but apparently that was just the first gens. In any case, mine havent had any problems whatsoever. They definitely get 2 needles up.

Those songs are pretty much pumping out of all the radio stations around the country now as they are all pretty much owned by two major companies. I think we only have one independent station left in Santa Barbara and there are no good hip-hop stations until LA or SF!

I work out of one of clear channel stations you mentioned that plays 3 songs 50 times a day. Not news man. Chicago radio might be the number 3 market in the US, but we don't break records. Very sad.

Dont any of these stations at least have a show that plays any true hip hop? On Toronto's main hip-hop station, the usual hip-hop is just as wack, but they throw in 3 mixshows a day and an underground hip-hop show once a week, in addition to the other underground shows that run on other stations. Isnt there any college radio that gets a spot like this?

College Radio hiphop

WNUR 89.3FM www.wnur.org Thurs night 12:30am-2am w/ deluge
Sun night 12am-5am w/ dj 3rd rail

WHPK 88.5FM whpk.uchicago.edu
Fri night 12am-3am JP Chill
Sat night 12am-3am Molemen radio

If you're trying to find dope mixshows on clearchannel or infinitybroadcasting you have to catch the mixshows. you can look up times for different dj's on the websites.
www.wgci.com
www.b96.com
www.power923.fm

Happy hunting.

Sorry... the correct url for Power 92 in Chicago is

www.power92chicago.com

Cool, thanks for the info.

Any ideas on how to get into the Chicago/Burbs DJ game? In Detroit, I would just promote and DJ my own parties, then when I was looking for a new venue, I'd just show club/bar owners my flyers and pix of parties and it was all good. I might make the switch over to just DJing and not promoting, but I'm not sure yet.

You may also wanna try and check out WCRX 88.1 FM which is Columbia Colleges radio station i believe...though they do play a lot of house and whatnot on the weekends sometimes late at night they'll play some nice UG/Oldschool Hip Hop sets..

Word, I'll check that out.

hey chi-town,

i work at level in chicago and we do play hiphop we have changed our format a couple times due to our location but on thursdays we have a invite only event everyweek... its all hiphop on our 2nd floor from midnight till close on fridays we have myself and dj speed of b96 in the main room playin about 90 percent hiphop all night it is more commercial hiphop but alot of older tracks that are heaters too... same goes for saturday execpt its me and dj crash.....

if anyone is intrested let me know i will get you put on the vip list.

How would I go about getting on the DJ list? haha

x2 lol...
Whats everyone doing for new years in Shytown??

I think this is the first year that I have not been booked in about 8 years.. I think Im going to just relax.. Yeah right! HOUSE PARTY!!!

Cisco, maybe you can shed some light?

let me know

Every market has more than their fair share of overplayed wack commercial hip-hop, but I've never seen it like I have here. I kid you not, I hear at least 2 of the songs I mentioned EACH WAY to and from work. AND ITS A 20 MINUTE DRIVE.

Likwid
Um.. the radio sucks.. if you haven't noticed yet. I think I stopped listening to the radio when I was in 8th grade.

As for the burbs and Chicago.. Start partying.. Introduce yourself to the managers and promoters.. Chicago is all about who you know and not about your skills. Its all politics and how well you bullshit.. And if you have pics and prior experience as a promoter/DJ, this should be no problem. The only obstacle that you might run into is that you probably dont have a following here (aka fans/regulars at your events). So you will have to book DJ's who have a strong following for some success.

Plus everything here is super segregated when it comes to promoters.. So decide who you are going to cater too. Most places are mainly all white, black, asian, or latino. Very few are mixed. But go out, party, and get yourself comfortable.

Welcome to Chicago

I'm from Rockford, Il homie. Know where that is? I was just in Chicago a few weeks back. I rocked a set at a club called Enclave. Shit was HOT but we closed it down early (like 1am) and went to this other spot called, ,, well I dont remember what it was called. That spot was open til 4am and we got up in there and partied like rockstars yo.

We're working with the owners of enclave on a pre-superbowl party at that spot, which should be a dope party. I'll post it up for the chicago heads if we lock it.

Yeah I gotta start burnin some CDs cause I cant stand the radio, havent even caught a mixshow yet, you'd figure there would be a 5:00 mixshow, like there is everywhere else.

Thanks for the advice on the Chicago game; problem is, I'm looking to just DJ, hopefully get a resident spot, as opposed to promote a spot; at least for now.

I've heard of Rockford, but I have no idea where that is. That superbowl party sounds dope, keep everyone in the loop about it.

Go out.. meet some peeps.. be cool.. thats all I can tell you.. I spin at a couple different spots so let me know if you want to come out.. Tonight Im at Betty's Blue star lounge..Saturday at Sangria. Next wednesday at Tequila Road house, Thursday at the Buzz, Next Saturday at Martini Ranch and Sangria again.. I'm the one with the White lap top with a bitten apple on it

Likwid,

Boywonder is right, Sub-T on Tues. is pretty much the place you wana be for TRUE hiphop but dont expect much as its more a chill spot but a great outlet for GOOD MUSIC (hosted by the PACIFICS, who just got picked up by a major lable)

DJ Boywonder
Norm Rockwell
DJ verb

To continue my post, this is exactly how it is here in chicago. for example, ima guess Cisco mixes to a mostly urban, upscale, latino crowd. I, mix to a mostly urban, upscale, asian crowd, but we both have many other types people in the club as well. thats just the major client of people that are at the events when we mix.

I do have more mixed crowd nights, it just depends. My nights are:

MODA - Thurs
Buzz - Fri
Funky Buddah Lounge - First Friday's of the month
Zentra - Sat

I have been mixing for 17yr and have guest DJ'ed or held residents at many major clubs since 1997. best thing is go out, meet people, pass demo's, cards and familar yourself with the city.

your welcome to come out to any of the spots that me and my guys spin at. just PM me and ill take care of ya.

Word up, good look on the hospitality.

all good mang. im also at the chicago cultural center for nye.

check them out at www.chicagonye.com

How did the Chicago NYE jams go fellas?

Dope. At one point I was holding a shot of Jack, but I saw 3 of them. I drank the one in the middle and it all worked out.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned 107.5 for radio stations. I seems to be the best one here(and by best, I mean least wack).

It's WGCI... 107.5 - See above.

wow, 3rd rail is still on? that guy has been doing that show for over 10yrs now! I had a radio show on WNUR for one month, only cus the radio show b4 my guys on friday night stopped showing up. so me and another friend did the 2-6am slot. Hilarious i must tell you, and this was in 97

After listening to some of the clubtime mixshows, it seems like Chicago is mashup central. One after the other, there's just mashups/breaks. It that the trend around here?

I quit listening to Chicago radio mixshows when WBMX went off the air. That's when it all went downhill. The wrong people got ahold of it and the rest is history.

I just started listening to Dance Factory its on 92.7 after 9pm i think.. Its all those ol played out djs...bobby D, caffene, etc..Not really my cup of tea, but every now and then they have some decent trax that get played. Nothing like WBMX used to. WNUR has a good house mix show Its monday nights from 930-11.

Chicago DJs:
www.audiolines.com

likwid, who are you working for in schaumburg?
pm me or something...we might work for the same company.

i'm in cincy and will be playing in chicago a lot more
over the next few months.