Morung Express News UrbanJam a Hip hop concert series initiated by Naga Homeboiz in collaboration with Richa Production will be held on November 12 at the State Academy Hall. With the theme ‘Initiate Express Influence’, the event aims to bring together and promote notable and potential artists, explore their talents and introduce them to a bigger audience. This was announced during a press conference held on November 8 at Dream Café by the UrbanJam team managed by Richa Productions with Setolu Veswuh as the event head, Aribah Kips as the event Manager and Teputo Richa as the Managing Director. While the organizing team is headed by the Naga Homeboiz with Martin Longkumer as the Coordinator, Imcha as the artist manager, Moko Moza and Zhavi Thorie as members. Naga Homeboiz were the winners of the Fifth edition Music Awards of Nagaland in 2013. Some of the highlights of the show are rap battle, freestyle, open deck scratches, cipher, b boy, beat boxing and emceeing. “UrbanJam is a team effort that represents its community’s hustle, flow, the energy and momentum to bring out a jam session that celebrates the art of Hip Hop and urban music. It is a recreation sport for the youth that follow Hip-hop and its sub culture, a platform where young upcoming artist can be nurtured and where performers can showcase new underground acts with promising skills to the masses.” states the team. Viewing that Hip-hop has not been given enough platform despite the huge influence it has on the younger generation in Nagaland, Martin Longkumer says, “We want to let people know what Hip-Hop really is. Through this event, we want to keep the essence of Hip-Hop and use it as a voice and movement.” The team also plans to take UrbanJam to Dimapur after the November event in Kohima. Sharing experiences on the influence of Hip-Hop growing up in Kohima, 19 years old M-Dox, one of the performers for the event says, “I started listening to Hip-hop since I was 16 years old. I had a tough childhood and nothing was giving me motivation.” Listening to popular Hip-Hop artists like Eminem, gave hope and inspiration for the 19 years old artist who started writing songs and recording them which has further motivated him to take the genre as a career. “It gave us a voice to share our life stories to a bigger audience. It is like our solace.” states Martin adding that most of the Hip-Hop influences in Nagaland are usually in the broken and downtrodden parts of the society. “We all feel that this is our identity and we can relate to each other.” adds Martin. UrbanJam will be host by DJ Tskillz and Musician Sunep Oz as the emcees while Rugk Ngouri, Moko Koza, Big Dane, M-Dox, Macnivil will be the main performers. The beat boxers for the event are Maong, Zonimong Imchen, Ottom bomb, and Athozo. Hop Crew and Stacks Ivories will perform dances while the performers for the Rap Battler are Akhrie Slim, Yank L Soul, Calvin, Kraxy K and Lone Wolf. The passes for the event costs Rs. 100 (general) and Rs. 300 (donors) and can be booked by dialing the following numbers- 8575586125/8132061823.
