Picture the scene. It’s a Sunday night in 1985. A DJ at the local skating rink digs through crates of vinyl, playing the latest soul, funk, R&B and pop records.
Kids skate and dance until 10 p.m. Then a space on the floor is cleared. A 10-by-10 flat piece of cardboard or roll of linoleum is laid down to provide a friction-free surface.
It’s battle time.
The DJ introduces the participants, announcing each crew and their neighborhoods before creating a break beat on the turntables with a pair of records or simply playing the latest hip-hop songs.
The crews go at it. Poppin’ and lockin’, head spins, backspins, slides, flips. The crowd screams at the craziest dance moves.
It’s a battle for city-wide supremacy. But the city isn’t New York. Or Newark, N.J. Or Philadelphia. Or Los Angeles.
It’s Columbus. And this actually happened on a weekly basis at Skate Odyssey on Highway 45 North.
That’s how Juvante Burks, creator and host of the Kingdom Flowz radio show Saturdays 1-3 p.m. on WMUW 88.5, remembers the early days of hip-hop. The genre was barely 10 years old and little more than a novelty to mainstream America, but had found its way down the East coast and across the South to Northeast Mississippi.
“We went to the movies to see “Breakin’” and “Krush Groove” and it inspired us to write rhymes,” recalls Burks. “We started out break dancing, then rapping.”
But it wasn’t just Burks and his friends who had been bitten by the culture. Hip-hop’s magnetism was strong enough to get teens all over Columbus dancing, rhyming, DJing and writing graffiti years before the movies hit.
It was strong enough to make groups of friends adopt crew names like: 23rd Street Snakebreakers, Machine Boys, G-Men, The Drack Pack, Funkateers and even Captain Crunch and the Disco Bunch.
It was strong enough to make MCs step forward with monikers like Joe Thunder, Double B, Killa K and Jazzy D.
Burks, who was born in 1968, was right in the middle of it. He and his friends from 10th Avenue South moved from breaking to rapping.
“We’d practice our dance moves, and rapping and beat boxing through the week. Then Sunday nights we’d go to Skate Odyssey where DJ Chocolate Drop would spin the latest records,” he said.
Burks, who has been a member of the Mississippi University for Women Police Department since 1999, stayed involved in music as a manager and co-owner of Mix Factory Studio on Second Avenue North for years.
Now 42, Burks has made some sweeping lifestyle changes, but his love for hip-hop persists. His combination of lifestyle and passion led him to start Kingdom Flowz in 2008, a Christian hip-hop program now approaching its second anniversary.
What led you to begin the radio show?
I was at a point in my life where I was just conflicted. Some things in my personal life needed to change. My belief system was solid but my actions were shaky, and that was the tug of war I was feeling inside.
I ended up co-executive producing Depp Tone 3, a local Christian rap group, and I was trying to figure out how can we get their music beyond out local area. After a conversation with (communication department instructor and advisor) Eric Harlan, he asked me ‘Why don’t you get a show? You’re an employee of The W.’
So in March 2008, we launched the show. I went on Myspace and messaged other people to send me MP3s and went to Christian rap sites and downloaded free MP3s and built up a playlist.
How does it feel to be two years deep in this project?
It feels great because I’ve been used to help many artists locally, statewide and even overseas.
What would you count as your major successes?
By me having the show, it provided a platform for local artists to get invited to different festivals and church events. Through the radio show, Frederick “Bigg Tone” Price (Columbus) and Di’Marco “Twiceborn” Baskin (Clinton) in 2009 were the only two Mississippi gospel rap artists selected for a showcase. So they could list their spins on the show on their electronic press kits. This year, Big Tone and another artist, Eddie “E-LUV” Turner Jr. (Columbus), got a chance to go.
And you’re planning a companion magazine now?
It’s still in development. I’m going to interview artists Christian rap artists. It will be an extension of the radio show, only in print and on the web.
It will start in maybe June or July. Starting out I’ll be doing the writing but I’ll probably reach out to different journalists on various Christian Web sites.
What kind of market is there in Columbus for Christian hip-hop?
It’s still in its growing stages. You’ve got maybe four artists from Columbus.
The response Christian rap gets around here is mixed. I think there’s a fear to some that you’re bringing a worldly imitation into the church.
What do you say to criticisms that Christian hip-hop artists are hip-hop first and Christian second? Is there such a thing as a humble hip-hop artist?
I think it’s your motives. Either you’ll have self-seeking motives or Christ-centered motives. As long as it’s Christ-centered, I don’t see a problem. The music I play and the artists I know, they don’t brag.
How would you describe the state of hip-hop in Columbus right now?
It’s somewhat at a standstill, but you have a RetroSouth Music Group. They’re making moves. They’re on black college tours and festivals.
You’ve got some young guys that are rappers and producers from 23rd Street North, Full Clip. They’re doing some things. That’s the secular.
Why do you keep your ears open to secular music?
My volunteer work, like with the Boys and Girls Club, requires me to keep my ears open and observe what’s going on. Because I don’t ever want to be irrelevant.
What’s the ultimate goal moving forward with the radio show?
I’m looking for syndication. Having the only live Christian rap radio show in the state of Mississippi, as I know it, I’d like to see it expand from Columbus and go into Alabama and other areas because we’ve used it to go out in the neighborhoods and do street ministry.
And I recently picked up a co-host, Christopher “Cash” Washington, a gospel rap artist from Gordo, Ala.
When did the music become a part of your life and how?
It started with my childhood friend Harry Johnson. We started out break dancing, then rapping.
At that time we had to make the beats with our mouths. We would take turns. He would beatbox and I’d rap. We’d use furniture. The floor. Anything to make a beat.
Later on we’d go out to the neighborhood parks, Hank Aaron Park, and recite our lyrics for our friends.
How big was the group of people in Columbus doing hip-hop instead of just listening?
It was pretty big. Each side of Columbus was represented. South Side. North Side. Sandfield. You had different break dancing crews and rapping crews.
People would bring out their crews and the battleground was Skate Odyssey.
The first movement was in the ’80s. In the mid-’90s is when the foundation was laid for artists that came after us with Magnolia State Records, which was made up of maybe 10 different groups. From there you had Hit ‘Em Hard Records. They did pretty good and went a little further than the rest of Columbus’ artists.
I’d say it fell off in maybe 2006.
When did hip-hop peak in Columbus?
Around the mid-’90s, that group was really bringing something fresh to the table. After some of them got older and gave it up, the younger generation ended up imitating again.
Was there a Columbus sound?
Nah, it was very diverse. You had some guys that were just raw lyricists. Like Kelsey “Kill Hun” Allen and Screwface Invasion. Those guys did graffiti and were really good lyricists.
There were four guys in the group: Tony Price, Shannon Miller, Oliver Reed and Kelsey Allen. They ended up signing with Rich Kid Records but before they signed a distribution deal they ended up running into some legal issues.
What do you th
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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