Promoter Profile: Hoochinoo

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Hoochinoo

Hip hop music in the UK has a rich history; established artists continue to put out quality product and the emergence of new talent within the genre is as prevalent as ever. With so much good music being produced it is important that such acts have a platform to showcase their work.

Hoochinoo have been running hip hop nights in London for the best part of a decade. Their nights provide a platform for both established and up-and-coming artists from all corners of the varied genre that is hip hop. We caught up with Theo Specone of Hoochinoo to discuss the nights origins, highlights from past events as well as plans for the future.

Please introduce yourself...

My name is Theo Specone I have managed Hoochinoo the UK's alternative hip hop showcase for over seven years. I am a promoter, an MC (part of the Receptor Records / Ill Breed collective along with people like Kashmere) and a lover of hip hop music.

What are Hoochinoo's origins?

Hoochinoo was the brainchild of three individuals who wanted to start showcasing a variety of music in London, specifically unsigned artists. We realised that there were so many people recording absolute gold in their bedroom studios that hadn't seen the light of day. So we started the event at what used to be WKD in Kentish Town road and from there it grew.

As the nights went on we realised that we wanted to have more of a fresh, alternative spin on the hip hop sound so that we could incorporate more artists within the alternative scope. Many alternative artists were having trouble getting shows as they were not considered 'right' for many hip hop shows at the time, many of these found their way to Hoochinoo.

Where and when do your events take place?

We run 'Hoochinoo Live' every two months at Vibe Bar Live (upstairs) in Brick Lane, which is a fantastic venue in the heart of London's east end. We also took part in this years Camden Crawl and are scheduled to co-promote Rising Styles London, the London warm-up to the Rising Styles Festival in Brighton.

What are the names of your residents?

Our residents, or the 'Hoochinoo Braves' as they are referred to are myself, Theo Specone, Arv, Crissie 'head honcho' Constantinou, host Nutty P, Ak-One, La Fours, Snuff The Ablist (Dented) and Cherry Fly.

How do you decide which acts / artists to put on?

We have a PO Box where artists send us demos and press packs and also an email address where people get in touch and organise shows, as well as this we use all the usual online medias. We also go to a lot of shows and scout people out, if I see someone who I like I ask them to get involved and do Hoochinoo, so it works both ways.

What's your opinion on the current state of hip hop in the UK? How has it progressed in recent years and where do you think there is room for improvement?

I grew up listening to people like Gunshot, Silver Bullet, Brotherhood, Krispy 3, Credit To The Nation (who is making a comeback apparently), Hijack, Son Of Noise, Kaliphz, Katch 22, NSO Force as well as other pioneers of UK hip hop. I loved all of it but to me there was always a very clear difference between the UK stuff and the US stuff.

I have seen the music develop over the past two decades into what I consider the golden age of UK hip hop - we now have our own 'old school' as mentioned above and our own legends of the music, people like Task Force who are the establishment' as far as I am concerned.

We have 'politics' and 'beef', similar things that we have seen in the US hip hop scene, all the drama that we experienced growing up. It has moulded the music into a serious sound that can be appreciated overseas as well as on our home turf. Our producers and MCs regularly collaborate with artists in Europe, the US and Canada. This may have started as novelty but over time has been accepted by many in the US as the norm. The UK hip hop scene can stand on its own two feet, with a variety of lyricism, performance, production and attitude.

The only area of improvement I would say needs to be considered is certain cross overs that many UK hip hop artists might shy away from due to fear of not being taken seriously. When we did the Camden Crawl many of the generic hip hop artists that were performing as part of Hoochinoo were worried that they wouldn't be accepted by what would predominantly be a rock and indie crowd.

What they failed to realise was that many festival goers want to see a variety of sounds and were blown away by this UK hip hop sound that their knowledge had no understanding beyond people like Skepta, Chipmunk and Dizzee Rascal (whether you would consider this UK hip hop, grime or eski beat is up to you but I believe it is marketed as UK hip hop in many cases).

So to clarify what I am saying is, get involved in festivals or the more alternative side of urban or any other music you can get involved with, I believe this is going to be the way to get more exposure and appeal to a wider audience. I do not believe that we need to 'dilute' our sound or sell out at any level, crossing over to other genres does not mean becoming something you're not.

What's the secret to Hoochinoo's longevity?

Again, it's the idea that we can cross over to a different audience as well as a loyal hip hop crowd that I have always been a part of. We try not to promote anything that will put female crowd members or female artists off the event so that it is a very mixed, diverse crowd and I think people like that. We never have half naked women draped over chromed out Hummers on our flyers and we work with a superb roster of female MCs, DJs, producers and promoters (especially Kala Phool / Sirens collective).

Another reason is that we try to involve many live bands, 6-8 piece groups that can incorporate brass, bass and percussion into their sets. Throwing a live band into the mix alongside hip hop, grime and dubstep sounds really breaks it up and I think generally hip hop fans have loved organic hip hop since The Goats and The Roots, I know I have.

Finally, we throw 'parties', we are not hardcore promoters that take ourselves too seriously, and we try to get as many artists as possible on stage at our gigs, we love the music we promote and want to be an open forum to all that is UK and alternative hip hop, as long as people keep coming to the shows we will keep putting them on.

What are your plans for the future?

We recently took part in the Camden Crawl, for those who don't know, this is a two day festival that stretches for over a mile of the notorious indie stomping ground Camden in North London, opening the doors of over 30 venues to some 150 bands that have been handpicked by a panel of esteemed DJs, promoters, media and record labels.

Hoochinoo was booked as an urban promoter for one of the venues. I am hoping that Hoochinoo will now be a regular feature of the Crawl as it gives us a lot of exposure to a different audience but, as I said previously, an audience who are up for hearing new things.

We want to do more festivals as well as the regular night. Hoochinoo is now part of the Rising Styles Festival promotion team so we will be working on the London based event. Hopefully we will put together a mix CD and possibly even a DVD, we just want to do more of what we are doing and get anyone who is into hip hop elements of any kind involved in the movement.

So to clarify our future plans; more festivals, more shows, more releases, so stay tuned.

What are some of your best memories from the events that you have put on over the years?

As I am also an MC myself we did a Hoochinoo a few years back at Madame Jojo's in Soho and I performed on stage to a fantastic crowd some brand new material I had written, some of which featured on the Receptor Records mixtape (which was actually an audio tape!) and some of the crowd knew the words and sang along, definitely a big buzz for me. Then DJ Skully did a set, at the time he was the DMC champ, so all in all that was one of the best Hoochinoo memories I have.

As well as this, having a drink with MC Mercury from Gunshot at Hoochinoo was a great thing to me. He performed with Snuff The Ablist and Koaste at one of our shows and it was nice to meet someone who I grew up listening to. Patriot Games is still on my list of all time favourite hip hop albums.

Where can people find out more information about upcoming Hoochinoo events?

Hoochinoo.com is the best place to start but as well as that we have the usual online stuff, MySpace (for anyone who is keeping that dream alive), Facebook and Twitter. We put out flyers in London but hope that we may attract some attention from the rest of the UK, so if anyone wants to arrange a party at Hoochinoo and come down from somewhere else in the UK to London for a night out please give me a shout.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about?

As I mentioned earlier Hoochinoo is involved in the Rising Styles Festival, this is the new name for The Brighton Hip Hop Festival, it's a non-profit event that encompasses all that is hip hop. Rising Styles has become the UK's largest celebration of international hip hop culture.

Over the past number of years the festival has gone from strength to strength and is recognised as a must-attend event for all hip hop enthusiasts, as well as anyone with an interest in the many art forms that are comprised within the culture. There are events being held in Brighton and in London, so please come down to these in October and support your home grown artists.

For any artists that are interested in being part of Hoochinoo please email club@hoochinoo.co.uk or send demos to Hoochinoo, PO Box 49044, London, N11 3WJ.

Words: Aaron Jackson