På onsdagen meddelade tre av hiphopscenens starkaste profiler att man tillsammans bildar ett nytt kollektiv, under namnet “Indie 500”. Enligt trion vill man med sina produktionsbolag skapa en rörelse likt Native Tongues, Rawkus Records och många andra som skördat framgångar med gemensamma krafter. Till Okayplayer säger trion följande om sina planer på samarbete:
9th Wonder om musiken:
“Indie 500 is a kind of continuation of the Native Tongues sound all the way to the Rawkus sound. Badu, Jill Scott, Slum Village — anywhere that has that texture of sound that feels good with good lyrics — Indie 500 is a continuation of that and a new generation. We’re trying to continue on the tradition of classic — what they like to call ‘traditional’ — hip-hop. Grass roots, deep-rooted hip-hop music.”
Pharoahe Monch om det affärsmässiga:
“We looked at each other and we were like, we should do business together and music together. Not just on the rap side, but on the touring side, the business side and sharing of information. It’s empowering, it’s beautiful, and it’s important for that to be known. To inspire younger generations to not only rap, but to start companies and corporations.”
Talib Kweli om samarbetet:
“It’s everybody that we’re down with… anybody that has an independent mind state or spirit is Indie 500. It’s important for us, as artists, that we value the art, and we raise the value of art. So we state that we’re independent, that we’re black owned, we’re stating that we have value and you need to pay attention to us.”
