GoodWaves is on a mission to bring goodwill to Chicago’s hip-hop community.
The new multiday music festival and conference kicks off Friday with two days of panels and networking at Venue Six10, featuring talks with rappers Killer Mike and Vic Mensa as well as writing sessions with Brother Ali and Phenom. It will be followed with an all-day festival Sunday at Salt Shed, headlined by Killer Mike, with additional performances from Snow Tha Product and Rapsody, alongside up-and-coming local talents Recoechi and Pinqy Ring. The nonprofit collective Floating Museum will also be present with three monuments.
All of the events are free (They’re “sold out,” but there is a waitlist that people can sign up for online).
“I want everyone to feel welcome. No one should feel like hip-hop is alien or not safe. We’re too old for that. And we are amplifying that by taking down the barrier of having to pay to [take] part,” said organizer MURS 3:16.
The L.A.-based rapper, a leader in the underground rap scene, is staging the event as part of his Groundwaves organization, which aims to mobilize hip-hop communities around the country. The group previously engaged in similar efforts in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where it helped establish TMC Records, the first-ever label run by students in classes at McLain High School for Science and Technology.
Last year, when MURS was approached by local artist and culture organization Good Chaos about creating programs to benefit young emcees in Chicago, he was all in. Every month, MURS flies in to host popular open mic nights at Co-Prosperity in Bridgeport, one-on-one mentorship sessions at Parkway Social in Grand Boulevard and all-ages Generations parties at the National Public Housing Museum on the Near West Side, where everyone from ages 8 months old to 85 years old has come to participate in clean rap sessions. GoodWaves brings it all together and allows more space to invite more people.
“Our goal is to solidify Chicago as the fourth pillar of the hip-hop community in the United States behind New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta,” said MURS. “When you think about Twista, Common, Lupe, Chance and Kanye, no one can argue they are five elite-level artists. And there’s no other city in the world where they could come from and not have it considered an epicenter. But the industry doesn’t always respect Chicago as an epicenter,” MURS said, referencing the fact that there are no major record labels and few industry launching pads in the city beyond a media brand like Lyrical Lemonade.
And one of his big takeaways was that creating actual spaces for exchange is the key. “I met all my friends at a record store, but that isn’t always the case anymore,” he said. “People in my generation are criticizing younger generations not realizing that a lot of spaces disappeared.”
Much of GoodWaves is inspired by what MURS gleaned from attending notable music conferences 30 years ago when he was coming up. One of them, the Gavin Seminar in California, is where he linked up with Killer Mike’s Run The Jewels collaborator El-P, who ended up signing MURS to his Definitive Jux label.
“We wound up at a Denny’s after the conference, and from there toured the world and put out lots of records and had a ton of fun,” MURS said. “That’s what I want to come out of GoodWaves.”
Recoechi is excited about that potential.
“Collaboration is the thing that’s going to bring us together. We gotta build our community,” said the Chicago rapper who will perform at the event Sunday. “I think we lost community for a time because everybody became superstars and went to L.A. But I think people are going to witness the new era of what Chicago hip-hop is becoming … with unity among artists.”
His perspective is one of the reasons, when MURS was laying the groundwork in Chicago, Recoechi’s name kept coming up.
The rapper, who grew up on Stony Island, was inspired by Taylor Bennett to take up freestyling when he attended Urban Prep in Bronzeville in the mid-2010s. And on his just-released new album, “ACT II: Body of God,” which will also be celebrated Wednesday at Schubas, Recoechi shines a light on the power of the Chicago music community. Guest spots include Vic Mensa, J. Ivy and Saba, as well as his mentees Malik Jewelz, Rhome and Young(IN).
There’s also a greater sense of neighborly community that Recoechi, who works with programs including Healthy Hood Chicago, preaches in his music, too.
“I care about my people the most. I am signed by the community and want to use my platform to spread awareness,” he said.
That is music to Killer Mike’s ears. He’s another prime example of the power that can be found within the intersectionality of hip-hop and community building.
“I was an organizer before I was a rapper,” said Killer Mike, born Michael Render, who most recently launched a rent-to-own home program in his city of Atlanta. He’s carving out time from his acting duties on “The Lowdown” and “Scarpetta” and working on the follow-up to his 2023 solo album “Michael” to be part of GoodWaves, largely to honor MURS.
“He’s an underground champion and showed us that you could go your own way,” Killer Mike said.
There’s also another person he has to thank when it comes to showing him the way: Alice Johnson, a Catholic white woman who wound up working with the Atlanta Fulton Commission on Children and Youth where the two first crossed paths.
“Alice was adamant about organizing with young people, and I was one of the young people she recruited,” said Killer Mike. “She always told me you don’t organize for people, you organize with people. And even when I got lucky to live out all my dreams, she was adamant about me being a mobilizer and helping. I will never forget my friend and mentor, and I will never allow her memory to be forgotten,” he added. “And I really think some of that work continues in the spirit of what MURS is doing now.”