By RACHEL DAHNEKE
Rachel@newsroom.byu.edu
Three MCs and two DJs that have helped spin hip hop culture into Provo will be playing at Wrapsody tonight, Feb 10.
A local hip hop group, the Numbs, consisting of rappers Mark Thomas, 26; Gunnar Olson, 25; Cornel Saluone, 25; and DJs Rick Angulo, 24 and Shawn Murphy, 25, will play at 8:30 p.m. at Wrapsody, located at 117 N. University Ave. Admission is $4.
Starting as a hobby in 1994, the Numbs went from free-style rapping for fun to rapping on tour across the Western states.
Their new album, The Word, will be released in April with the support of their two-month-old record label, Guapo Records, located in Riverside, Calif.
'We want to take this as far as we can,' Thomas said.
For the Numbs, hip hop is not just music, but a lifestyle.
'The elements of hip hop are DJ-ing, MC-ing, breakin' and graffiti art,' Angulo said.
The Numbs were the first to support and supply these elements to Provo, said Wrapsody manager Corey Fox, who has been involved in the local music scene for almost ten years.
'They are the pioneers in the hip hop scene, doing hip hop in Utah before I heard of anyone else. Out of everything I've heard in the state the Numbs blow them away. The Numbs are the kings of the local hip hop scene,' he said.
Of these hip hop elements, the most growth has been in break dancing, said break boy Jason Harris, 20, from Provo, who started breaking six years ago.
With the Numbs introducing the hip hop scene, Provo has gone from having three breaking crews to 18.
Harris said breaking is a form of expression.
With the help of breaking crews, the Numbs create an atmosphere where break dancing is accepted.
'We invite that, we like people to get involved. Who wants to go to a show and just stand there? We make people as much a part of what we're doing on stage. It's a whole vibe,' Olson said.
Break dancing started in the early '70s, but was called 'going off' or Boioing, Harris said.
By the '80s break dancers were called b-boys and became mainstream, Angulo said.
'In '83 break dancing went mainstream. It was the craziest, newest thing people have seen. Then in '86 all this buttrock started showing up and everyone started liking Guns and Roses and stuff. The kids that were really with breakin' kept doing it,' he said.