UPCOMING SHOWS: Universal Boogie Tour

If you are sick of listening to the same old rap music and want something more than what you hear on the radio, you should check out Bukue One and Ghani Gautama. Also for some local hip hop flavor you can check out Greenville, South Carolina’s Sympl & Coach K and Mountainwalker Thursday night at the Radio Room.

Tion Torrence of Bukue One was surrounded with music at a young age by his father, who sang with Marvin Gaye’s touring band. He started rapping at a young age and was influenced by the skater and hip hop lifestyle. He started recording music in 2000 and has been steadily releasing albums ever since. The music backing his lyrics is soul and reggae influenced with funky bass lines to create a unique sound you don’t hear very often in the hip hop/rap scene. Bukue One also uses old school recording scratching and has an 80’s hip hop sound. He has an intelligent and witty humor that shows through in his lyrics. Coming all the way from Oakland California, he will be headlining the show Thursday.

Tion just recently accomplished his kickstarter goal on June, 20th of $5,000 to fund his first self produced album. This album will not only be 100% his but it will also be printed on colored vinyl. You can’t say no to a talented hip hop artist with colored vinyl. He hasn’t set a date for the release yet but it will definitely be something to look forward to.

Ian Currie (Ghani Gautama) describes his music as “hip hop with a heart of gold” and “rap for rockers.” The music does not have the typical beats that most rap has these days, instead of only the bass carrying the song he also has guitar and piano that play just as big of a role to make the music for his lyrics. His lyrics are out to make a political statement without targeting any particular group, more of a “power to the people” statment than attacking bigots and politicians directly.

Ghani started performing and writing music in 1997 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in a high school band. After moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 2000 he recorded for the first time with a hip hop group, Street Temple Emcees. Since then he has performed with United Underworld, Quanstar, Tommy Lee Soul, and Akil The MC of Jurassic 5 to name a few. Before his new album “The Earth Shall Weep” can be released he has to hit 500 likes on Facebook. So check him out and if you enjoy his music “like” his page so he can get this new album out.

Also on the bill is sympL, perhaps best known for his contributions to hip-hop act Projekt Lotus as well as DJ Coach K and Greenville’s Mountainwalker. Rumor has it that this will be the last Mountainwalker show before he moves to Nashville,TN but at this point we can’t confirm or deny. Thursday night will be a little something different for the Greenville music scene. Come check out these touring bands and, as always, support your local music. Show starts at 10 pm and it’s $5 at the door.