Serious About the Scene

POH-Hop (the Portland Oregon Hip-Hop festival) is as much an
institution in the local rap scene as weed and baggy jeans. For the
past 10 years the festival has consistently attempted to gather artists
from the area’s segmented scene, bond them together, and expose them to
new audiences. Nothing has changed in this, the show’s 11th year,
except that its promoters—Cool Nutz (Terrance Scott) and new
addition Anthony Sanchez—have redoubled their efforts. “It’s
bigger than us,” says Sanchez. “We want to build the scene because this
is what we love.”

This year’s festival is larger than ever in terms of nationally
known artists, including Portland favorites Zion I and E-40. Scott and
Sanchez have embarked on a media blitz to get the word out, doing
everything from peppering the town with 15,000 flyers to advertising on
Clear Channel radio and cable TV. Local artists are featured alongside
national acts on nearly all of the festival’s stages, and local labels
like Focused Noise are getting shouted on TV channels and radio
frequencies all over the region.

This exposure will hopefully serve as a motivating factor for
Portland artists in future years. One of the problems that Scott,
Sanchez, and others have observed in the Portland rap community is a
lack of professionalism and drive from its artists. While there are
many—perhaps hundreds—of hiphop performers with aspirations
of gaining a following in the city, only a small percentage are putting
forth the concerted effort necessary to do so. “We want to bring
attention to artists that have records to sell, that have albums up on
iTunes—people that can benefit from exposure,” says Scott.

Sanchez adds, “We hope that a successful POH-Hop this year leads to
people knowing through the next year that to be involved here you have
to really be grinding to be heard. We want to help professionals.”

Helping the scene succeed is just what the festival will do if it is
patronized at the level Scott and Sanchez hope. With passion and good
music rolled together underneath a media push, POH-Hop 11 promises to
start a trend in Portland hiphop that will continue for years to come.
Says Scott, “There are a lot of people here that are doing great
things. We just want to show that.”