Youstun
Most Historians of Black American culture would agree that Houston, Texas is the origin point of southern hip hop. From Big Moe to the Geto Boys, and current stars like Megan Thee Stallion, Houston has been known to produce some of hip hops most iconic performing artists. Most importantly, the underground hip hop scene is where you can discover new upcoming artists.
Despite the amount of talent that Houston has produced in both the mainstream and underground scene, the city is also notorious for having toxic traits in its live performance culture. Some critics would describe Houston as one of America’s most toxic cities for performing artists to thrive in. Some metrics rank Houston as one of the top five worst cities for musicians to succeed in. Most unfortunately, the 2021 Astro World festival tragedy obviously put Houston on the global stage regarding this topic.
Houston, do we have a problem? With this project, we aim to document the underground Houston Hip Hop scene by following the journeys of upcoming artists from the city. Our goal is to take a wholistic approach to the question of Houston’s performance culture reputation from the perspective of Houstonians themselves. With their stories, we aim to create awareness about Houston concert culture, challenge music lovers to self-reflect on their relationship with live musical experiences, and to spotlight hidden gems in the hip hop community.
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