You'd think The Chapter, our best chance to export Vegas hip-hop outside the 702, had just won American Idol:
"I know we supposed to act like this ain't nuthin really, and play it waaayyyy cool, but eff that. I was jumpin and screamin' and callin' my mama as soon as I saw it on the okayplayer.com site."
—
Clarence "Verbal E" Long on thechaptercrew.com.
"Yo, Damon, this is big. It's the first time a Vegas hip-hop group has gone national. Give me a shout."
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Reese "3Sixty" Thomas on my voice mail.
"Right now, in stores, True Notes Vol. 1. Let me tell who's on it. The Roots is on it, Little Brother is on it, Skills is on it, Dilated Peoples is on it, Madlib is on it, Baby Black, Jean Grae, and of course, The Chapter crew, reppin' Vegas lovely, is on this record. So get it, it's in every store everywhere."
—
Long on The Chapter's answering machine.
When you're 10 years in and three albums deep in this dream killer of a hip-hop town, you take success where you can. Without a major-label deal, The Chapter seemed destined to play setup men for platinum-selling big hitters like Twista and Method Man. On May 4, all that changed.
Call it their 54 seconds of fame.
That's the length of "For the Wreckord," a Roots-esqe intermarriage of drum beats and heady lyricism that landed on Okayplayer.com's True Notes, Vol. 1 compilation, beating out nearly 5,000 songs submitted via an unsigned artist contest. Crazy thing about the song: It nearly dismantled the group.
"One day, I recorded two or three minutes of different drum patterns," group instrumentalist Reese "3Sixty" Thomas says. "I took that pattern, looped it and played the keys, bass and guitar on top of it. So not everybody played on it, which caused some problems. And this is the song (Roots founder Ahmir Thompson) ?uestlove picks. Go figure."
In fact, Thomas says, ?uestlove—easily among hip-hop's most discerning ears and sought-after producers—told him how he stumped for the song's inclusion on the 19-track CD, dismissing various gripes, including the obvious—that it was Roots-sounding and too short.
Gratifying as having a dedicated fan base is, Thomas says support from such a respected hip-hop luminary is invaluable, and especially key in convincing talent scouts to give Sin City more than a cursory once-over. No Vegas hip-hop act has broken into the mainstream.
"That's how Vegas works—people here need outside verification before they believe in you," Thomas says. "This makes us feel appreciated. It shows we're not spinning our wheels."
At times during the past decade, it's seemed like there was more wheel-spinning than career-building. Occasional violence at hip-hop clubs made it hard for the group to land gigs. Arist and repertoire agents, as a whole, seemed disinterested in Vegas acts. And major labels offered flimsy deals. As much to diversify the group as to ease into rock venues, The Chapter added a live-band component. Doors didn't exactly fly open.
"People thought we were a rock band," Thomas says. "Once we got in and they saw we were a hip-hop group, some of them got nervous. But when they saw that the people we brought were cool and there was no violence, it was cool. We opened people's eyes to hip-hop in Vegas."
And they hope to continue doing so.
Thomas' Tips
Avoid Vegas Syndrome: "Every time some groups gets notoriety, they act like they made it, despite the fact they don't capture the Vegas market or the imagination of the people. They forget to work hard. I've seen this from groups in every genre, from rap to rock."
Practice: "We weren't very good in 1996 and 1997. We took two years off to work on our craft. We said, 'This is what we're good at and this is not what we're good at,' and went from there."
Have a professional project ready: "You run into the entertainment manager at Mandalay Bay or the entertainment manager at House of Blues but don't have a professional project, you're doing yourself a disservice. We got an HOB show based on a project handed in. That's how you get respect, outside of performing at the park on Saturday. You can't just drop out of school and be a musician anymore."