Topic: SUNDAY Q
- Nov 27, 2005 10:37pm by NRG - livin the art that is life !
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[img:238cba03a9]http://www.kansascity.com/images/kansascity/kansascitystar/news/reach27_11-27-2005_49HU1BN.jpg[/img:238cba03a9]
JENEÉ OSTERHELDT/The Kansas City Star
Stacy Smith’s career is reaching new heights.
When Stacy Smith submitted a song to Scion’s Next Up Unsigned Emcee Search a few months ago, he didn’t really think he’d win.
His album, “Joys, Disappointments, and the In-Between,†is overflowing with soulful feel-good hip-hop. He’s a regular on the local hip-hop circuit and a recognized name on MySpace ( www.myspace.com/reach ) — but he wasn’t sure he’d win the contest, sponsored by the automaker.
Then Smith, better known as Reach to hip-hop heads, got the call that out of some 2,000 entries, he had been chosen by the judges, hip-hop DJs and producers DJ Premier, Green Lantern and Sean Cane, as one of 10 finalists.
The decision was then left to online voters, and Scion recently announced that Kansas City’s own Reach, 27, is the champ of the mic. He wins a marketing package that includes a music video, $5,000 in cash and the opportunity to perform at Scion-sponsored events across the country.
Q. What were you doing when you found out you won?
A. I was surfing the Web at the time and got a phone call. I didn’t believe them. I was checking the caller ID to make sure it was real.
Hip-Hop is really divided between the coasts and down south. Do you feel like this is a win for Kansas City, for the Midwest?
It feels good on a much larger level than just myself. I feel like maybe the odds are going to turn this way. I always talk to Necia Gamby (hip-hop activist and mother of Kansas City rapper Joe Good), and she always says we are the one place no one has really heard from yet. Knowing that this could be a part of our revolution as the Midwest is real cool.
What are you most excited about?
The video. It’s going to be real cool.
Do you know how you want it to be?
I’m going to do “Coming for You,†the song that won the contest. I want to keep it real Kansas City, with a lot of the hip-hop community and supporters. It’s certainly going to be professional, but I want it to be a family thing.
What’s the most challenging part of being a local, independent artist?
The legwork is yours. Every opportunity you come across is an opportunity you have to create for yourself. The responsibility is yours, from funding to studio time to booking shows.
Will this change things for you?
I don’t know, honestly. I think there will be some bigger opportunities for regional touring and a chance to work with more people.
Do you feel like the Internet has been a large part of your success?
It really gives you a quick way to network and build with people in much shorter turn times. Without it I would have never entered the contest or had a chance to win it.
What’s your earliest memory of hip-hop?
I was about 8 years old. Getting up in the morning before school and sitting in the kitchen listening to Run-DMC’s “Raising Hell†on our floor model stereo.
When did you first start writing?
When I was about 13.
What’s the verse you are most proud of?
“I’m expanding with each design/understanding and peace of mind/poetic like my grandfather slanted with seat reclined†(from “Through Words … Peace†on Reach’s album).
