In a state known for dominating in football and a culture founded on Lynyrd Skynyrd lyrics, up-and-coming Alabama rappers often go under the radar. But for Bo Latham and his band The Bad Crowd and UA student Ryan Davis, this is a movement worth embracing.
Rap had always been a hobby for UA alumnus Bo Latham, but when he was given the opportunity to expand it into a career, he did not hesitate to take it.
“Once I got a job offer after graduation, I had to make a decision on whether I was going to take that, or whether I was going to try to build something off of a dream,” Latham said. “I had a good group of guys around me that I liked to work with and who believed in what I was doing, and I wasn’t going to let them down.”
The Bad Crowd has held multiple shows in Tuscaloosa, building up a fan base, but they learned that in order to spread their music, they were going to have to travel out of state. The group has traveled to music-based cities such as New Orleans and Atlanta to spread their sound.
“At first, we had this dream of coming from Tuscaloosa and starting it all here, and we didn’t really know all about that,” Latham said. “We found out that you have to leave here to spread it. This city isn’t big on original music, for whatever reason. This is kind of a cover music city.”
While touring, the group has managed to collect a variety of contacts and expand their fan base. But the group is still hopeful for Alabama’s rap potential. It may be a niche culture now, The Bad Crowd members said, but it is constantly growing and developing momentum in this state.
After touring, the group went on a brief hiatus, but they are back now and excited to travel to other Alabama cities to further promote their group.
“Alabama is developing a sound of its own,” Bad Crowd artist Juwuan Rainey said. “It’s a good look for the state as a whole. There are a couple teams out there making noise. Bad Crowd Music Group, BMB down in Mobile and LDLR in Huntsville. All of us are all coming with different styles, which makes it so dope.”
The Bad Crowd intends to stick to their original music and original sound and not stray from their roots.
“We put our time and effort into putting our feelings into audio form for people to listen to, and sometimes, it gets overshadowed by mainstream artists, or sometimes, people don’t take time to just check us out. That’s slowly changing, though,” Rainey said.
The group has a strong hope for the future of the Alabama rap culture. They said the genre expands a little further everyday, and they hope to see Alabama, as a state, stick to its original sound, instead of joining along with the mainstream rap, stereotypical sound.
“People are really starting to just now get hip to Alabama and our whole hip-hop scene,” Rainey said. “I feel like we have lots of talent to offer, and I’m just excited for people to just hear everything that we’re working on. It takes time, and I think it’s our time to shine.”
Second-year MBA candidate Ryan Davis found his place in the rap culture after beginning to rap and play trombone at the age of 11. He refers to his music as a rock, hip-hop, funk type of mash-up. Davis has played at various venues and said it is not the culture of hip-hop in Alabama that is the problem, but rather the way in which people regard it.
“I think people are closed-minded here in how they think about hip-hop,” Davis said. “I think it’s something that is very unorthodox. It’s very abnormal. It’s not like what a hip-hop scene would be anywhere else. It’s not very extensive, but the culture is there. It’s just different.”
Although Davis believes that Alabama does have a different rap culture, he said he does not ever see Alabama as having its own cultural identity within the genre.
“Realistically, I don’t expect Alabama to ever have a solidified musical identity in any genre,” he said.
However, Davis does not believe rap culture in Alabama has plateaued. He said he definitely thinks it can grow, if given the right opportunities. Using tools such as the Internet to ensure the music gets around to wider audiences is a must, Davis said. He himself has his own YouTube channel under his artist name KadeshFlow to promote his music to audiences that he may not have otherwise reached.
“I think the challenge for people now is to look at it from more of a marketing perspective and see what they can make happen via the Internet and then finding a way to unify the online audience with the local audience,” Davis said.
Despite the challenges that Alabama presents to rap hopefuls, both Davis and The Bad Crowd are staying true to their music. By putting more of their music out there and constantly expanding their audience, they hope to take their music to new levels.
“We’re just kids from Tuscaloosa who believe in something,” Latham said. “And we’re actually going after it and trying to make something original.”
