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Carrying the torch for S.C. hip-hop [The State, Columbia, S.C.](State (Columbia, SC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 02--We've made enough ruckus about South Carolina being the only Southern state without a lasting hip-hop star. So instead of continuing to write about the fact, we're going to profile the people trying to put S.C. hip-hop on the national map instead. Here's the first of several stories. Names of inspiration: No I.D., DJ Toomp, Dr. Dre, Madlib and J Dilla. 9th Wonder is up there, too, scribbled with a black Sharpie. So is RZA. MIDIMarc writes the names of hip-hop producers on the gray walls of his recording studio when they come to him. Someone might write his name on their studio wall one day because MIDIMarc is one of several people pushing South Carolina hip-hop toward an industry breakthrough. "I think it's going to take the people involved in making the music and the fans to see a little bit more value in what's going on here," he said. "We really have everything that we need. The time is coming soon, I feel like. "I'm part of the soundtrack for all of it, with all the different artists I work with." The Hopkins native, whose name is Marcum Core, has produced beats for Fat Rat Da Czar, Preach, Dan Johns and Likwuid Stylez, among others. The three-time champion of the Non Stop Hip Hop Live beat battle, MIDIMarc's sound is distinctive because he is a prolific sampler. His studio space, which is called Cherry Lawn, is bare save for two posters pinned to opposite walls and the marker scribbling that snakes around one corner of the room. On a desk sits a touch screen PC, a 25-key Axiom MIDI controller and a Korg synthesizer. "It's not real fancy," he said of his setup. But his beats are. With his sampling, MIDIMarc pays homage to vintage soul music while updating classic, often forgotten songs. For example, Erykah Badu's "Bag Lady" samples Dr. Dre's "Xxplosive" which interpolated "Bumpy's Lament" by Isaac Hayes from the 1971 "Shaft" soundtrack. Badu and Dr. Dre sped up the sample, but on one of his limited edition mixtapes, "The Secret Ingredients," MIDI Marc almost completely returns the song to its patient roots. He gives the thick and throbbing bass line from the original a more prominent role while allowing the guitar and keyboard notes to maintain their hyper pace from Dr. Dre's cut. He stamps his mix of old and new through pitch and meter shifting. "The producers I grew up on were doing just that," he said. MIDIMarc has been making beats since "whenever 'Wu-Tang Forever' came out." That was in 1997. Wu-Tang's producer, RZA, then showcased a radically changed sound -- for him and hip-hop. "He was sampling still, but that's when he started using live strings," MIDIMarc said. "He had just started messing with Novation keyboards." You can hear the influence in songs like Fat Rat's chilling "Do Whud I Do," which, if broken down, is a collage of keyboards, horns and strings. There's a certain beauty that not even Fat Rat's portentous lyrics can mask. MIDIMarc honed his craft by using the MPC, an electronic beatmaking machine, owned by longtime local DJ Prince Ice. While Ice was on the radio, MIDI was using his equipment. "I'd be over there all day," said MIDI, who went to Lower Richland High School with Prince Ice's children. "I'd just be at his house making beats." Now he makes beats all night. "I end up staying here a lot," he said. "You see the couch up there. I have no problem crashing." Reach Taylor at (803) 771-8362. ___ To see more of The State, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thestate.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The State, Columbia, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |