Story & Photos
William Eric Graham

With a packed house of hip-hop lovers filling St. Andrew’s Hall Tuesday night, the 4th Annual Detroit Hip-Hop Awards veered from celebrations of Detroit’s rising stars to pleas calling for an end to the violence in the hip-hop community. Paying tribute to the late mayor of Detroit hip-hop Big Proof, (along with Jay Dilla and Blade Icewood), Mike (Money Mic) Matkin, the promoter along with CO-organizer DJ K Nice had the crowd feeling nothing but love for each other between the hot sets on stage. Promoting Detroit love was the recurring theme of the evening as performers ranging from multiple award winners K.D. and Trick Trick to Big Herk and Miz Korona went strong on the mic from beginning to end.

After a brief delay at the start of the evening, DJ “Mark the Spark”, host of the 6 hour long event, had the talent moving on and off stage with the quickness. Beginning with the amazing Rita Mosley and her dancers to the final act of the evening, the explosive MC from Proof’s Iron Fist Records, Supa Emcee, the range of talent that Detroit hip-hop put on display was nothing short of astonishing. Unlike the eras of east coast/west coast dominance, the dirty south/hotlanta scene, or the St. Louis flow of Nelly and his crew, Detroit has yet to be considered nationally a breeding ground for hip-hop artists on the same level, although we have certainly contributed to the genre. After the success of Trick Trick, Slum Village, Royce Da 5’9”, D-12, and of course Eminem, it makes no sense for the world to be still hatin’ on the “D”.

With a live audio webcast provided by RadioFreeDetroit on www.Detroithiphop.com (Matkin’s web site), the show enjoyed worldwide exposure that can only help the artist struggling to make it outside Detroit. DJ Houseshoes, winner of last month’s award at the Detroit Music Awards for best DJ, told the crowd he would be moving to Los Angeles in a couple of weeks to take his music to the next level, but he would always represent the “D”. Winner of the J Dilla Foundation award, Houseshoes urged the audience to represent Detroit with love out of respect for Big Proof and Jay Dee. Representing Detroit positively seemed to be the mantra coming out the mouths of every MC who grabbed a mike on stage. Groups like Fat Killahz, Purple Gang, and the incredible Raw Collection featuring female artist of the year Redbone were perfectly balanced by the solo artists such as Paradime, K Deezy, and crowd favorite Trick Trick.

In addition to the many artist performing this evening, many more (Décor Music’s Bam Bang, True2Life’s Street Justice) were in attendance to network and promote their music. Also the visual arts were represented by the designs of Stylee International’s J.Lee. Tanya J. Stephens, account executive for the new urban clothing line had models flowing throughout the venue wearing the company’s latest custom designs. Indeed music wasn’t the only thing being celebrated this night. A renewed sense of hope was felt. With every tribute spoken to Proof and Blade Icewood, the crowd seemed to be saying that the senseless deaths that took both of those talents away from the rest of us is enough. It’s time to get back to the business of making, promoting, and enjoying new music. The time for mourning is over. Detroit hip-hop is ready to show the world’s hip-hop community that we’re ready to do our part to show what hip-hop is really about.

Some of the other winners of the night:

Lyricist of the year/ Famous
Song of the year (group) Fat Killahz
Album of the year/ Blade Icewood
Live performer of the year/ Paradime
Best new artist/ K Deezy
Group of the year/ Purple Gang
Group of the year (national) Slum Village
Album of the year (national) Proof Searching for Jerry Garcia

William Eric Graham is a metro area freelance writer and the author of the novel Palmer Park. It can be ordered at xlibris.com, Borders.com , Amazon.com