2007 Best Hip Hop Performer
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33.45% Sankofa*, Third Frame (tie)
Others with Votes (more than one):
* On the ballot |
Third Frame nabbed their third Whammy in the Best Hip Hop category, tying with Sankofa for the win. Now in their 11th year, Third Frame took home the Whammy in 2004 and 2005, narrowly losing to Sankofa last year in the annual hip-hop off. A certified basement band, Third Frame formed in 1997 by high school chums Ry-Guy and Ddlux, who first met in 1990. Way back then the pair figured out they shared similar hobbies and attitudes. “We had a dope chemistry,” Lux flashbacked on their Myspace page. For the last five years that dope chemistry has included DJ Spot on the beats. The main prerequisite in successful rapping is attitude. The right attitude leads not only to the in-your-face stage presence pervasive among hip hop artists, but to clever rhyming as well. Third Frame have both those bases covered. As KRS-One once put it “Rap is something you do, hip-hop is something you live.” Third Frame proved both with their No.1 local single “Mari-I-Wanna,” which featured 2 Live Crew’s DJ Mixx And living is something Ry-Guy appreciates more than ever. “We’ve had a tough year, going through a lot of changes,” he said. “I spent this last year going through chemo.” But the ordeal of testicular cancer has not dampened Ry-Guy’s spirit, or the spirit of Third Frame. They’ve continued working on new material and should be dropping a disc of greatest hits in the next month or so, as well as a disc of new material, their fifth, sometime soon. (Mark Hunter). |
For the second year in a row Sankofa walked away with the Whammy for Best Hip Hop Performer, this year sharing the honors with Third Frame. Stephen Bryden, the human behind Sankofa, is a man of few words. At least he had few to share after winning his Whammy. “I’m thankful that Little Brother Radio can play my music, for my mother and for Garrison Keillor.” But apparently his natural reticence disappears once he has a mic in his hand. He saves his verbiage for the stage. Bryden is a transplant from afar. His carbon footprint rivals that of a New Zealand lamb drunk on Australian wine, packed onto a slow boat to China, shipped to California by container ship, driven by a confused trucker through Minnesota, hauled by bear over the Appalachian Trail, finally winding up on plate at a bar near you. In other words, Bryden has been around. Bryden spent his childhood in Australia, moved to Minnesota, taught school in China, lived in La La Land for awhile, hiked the Appalachian Trail, then settled in Fort Wayne. Along the way he’s learned a lot about life and a lot about himself, and he’s poured all of it into his music. One thing’s for sure: the people of Fort Wayne like what he’s pouring. In addition to winning his second Whammy award, Sankofa took second place a little over a year ago at the whatzup Battle of the Bands III. So far Sankofa has released four proper albums, the most recent being The Tortoise Hustle. Bryden doesn’t let moss grow under his feet or, presumably, anywhere else, so look for this quiet man to let his alter-ego continue his rambling ways. (Mark Hunter). |
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