Like most hip-hop events, the party Mikkey Halsted threw on inauguration day to celebrate the launch of his new Web site was awash in networking—cards were exchanged, demos pressed into hands, phone numbers typed into Blackberries. The rappers and producers in attendance included quite a few with at least modest national profiles (GLC, No I.D., Naledge of Kidz in the Hall, Mic Terror), and together they formed a cross section of Chicago’s diverse hip-hop scene, which makes room for commercially inclined gangsta types, conscious backpackers, and skinny-jeans-wearing so-called hipster-hoppers. And almost everybody there took a second to swing by and say what’s up to the scruffy-looking white dude whose blog, Fake Shore Drive, has become a vital nerve center for that scene.
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In October 2007 he started Fake Shore Drive, which has turned out to be that way in. There have almost certainly been other blogs dedicated solely to Chicago rap, but Barber’s is the first to survive and find an audience.
That’s not as simple a task as it sounds. Once you’re actually on the ground here, the Chicago scene turns out to be just as fragmented and multifarious as any city’s. In fact it might even be more so, since our homegrown celebrities haven’t established a single unified aesthetic for MCs and producers to rally around. And showcasing all the talent in town means reaching across not just stylistic boundaries but boundaries defined by long-standing neighborhood rivalries and, says Barber, even gang affiliations.
This citywide unity—as well as Barber’s newfound pull in the scene—is evident in Fake Shore Drive’s first mix tape, due for release as a free download sometime in early February. Assembled with the help of DJ Timbuck2 from WGCI (107.5 FM), The Chicagorilla Ape Tape Vol. 1 includes tracks from Kanye wingmen like GLC and Really Doe, radio-friendly street dudes like Twista and Gemstones, conscious-leaning MCs like Lupe and Pugs Atomz, and party starters like Hollywood Holt. Everything on it is previously unreleased, given to Fake Shore Drive as an exclusive, and so far only a few cuts have escaped onto the Internet—leaked by the artists, Barber figures. It’s named after the Fake Shore Drive mascot—Barber thinks his is probably the only hip-hop blog to have one—which is basically a dude in a huge, disturbing gorilla suit.
sharp darts
