Whenever people think about East Coast Hip Hop their minds automatically go to NYC. This is understandable being that New York is the birthplace of Hip Hop but if you take a ride down the turnpike you’ll find a scene just as rich in Hip Hop culture. Philadelphia has made huge contributions to Hip Hop from Schooly D to the legendary Roots crew to countless others. The 215 is doing their thing when it comes to our music. One crew that is representing lovely is Philly’s 30 & Over league. They are a collective of artists, producers, videographers, and anyone who contributes to their movement. We had the opportunity to chop it up with them.
First off, thanks for taking time out and making this happen.
7B – What is 30 & Over League?
30 & Over – A movement rooted in the common ground of hip hop consisting of some of the best talent in the world.
Who’s in the group, and is everyone from Philly?
The whole League consists of DJs (Cenobite & Philly Will), videographers/photographers (Mrs. Beast, Taurin “Cousin T” Gordon, Katrina Santiago), producers (Brizzo Beats, Tucky Beats, Dre Drums, Rhythm J, Rawthreat, Cenobite, Bundy Beats, & Mysti Gal (R.I.P. God Rest her beautiful soul.), and emcees (Blessa, Slim Dsm, Rec Raw, Al Mighty, Crisis, Xap, Microphone Tone, Chris Vance, Jonny on the Spot, Edd Bundy, Leigh Allure, Nico The Beast). We come from many different places but Philly is home base.
We’ve got crazy extended family as well as “administrative” personnel. Shouts to Mike Trampe, Dom Pinelli, J. Hatch, Cizz, Don Di Napoli, Baby Blak (C7 Jay Blak Labs), BAU, Exponent Ent. and the list goes on.
Who is your music aimed at?
The music is aimed at anybody who is looking for no nonsense, grown folk, message laden songs. There’s a major gap between the youth of today and the veterans of yesteryear. Such an over saturation in the market has caused the older artists to turn a shoulder on the up and coming artists out of fear that their spot is in jeopardy if they let the new artist into the spotlight at all. It’s also the fact that they just don’t understand each other’s approaches. Elder statesman see it as one way and the only way, while younger cats see it as a system yearning to be redesigned. We play the middle. It’s cool either way and neither way is wrong.
What are the most difficult parts about being in such a large group?
The most difficult part is the logistics and time-framing of the whole thing. It’s a lot of priorities and responsibilities among the lot so it can get a bit hectic when you’re trying to build a movement. That being said, we are all family so no matter what we know we have to make the proper sacrifices to make this machine run as smoothly as possible.
What is 30 & Over’s main goal?
Our main goal is to bridge the gap between the neglected youth and the stubborn ole heads. We strive to make moves that have a positive effect on the hip hop scene, the community, and the city of Philly. Plus we just want folks to know we still nice wit it! Hahaha!
What’s the group’s biggest strength?
The biggest strength is the unified goal and the deep rooted and genuine care for each other’s success. Most of us have known each other for a pretty long time and understand the easiest path to success is realizing the strength in numbers.
What’s the group’s biggest weakness?
It’s a group consisting of apex predators. Hahaha! It’s so combustible that I call it chaos in harmony. You see it and think that it’s a ticking time bomb. So you wait for the explosion to happen and when it doesn’t, THAT energy is what most people complement us on. I guess the weakness is the unknown. You never know when something will go wrong or if it ever will go wrong.
What would you like the people reading this to know about you?
Hip hop doesn’t die at 29. In fact, I’d argue the point that most of the greatest artists of all time seemed to hit their stride in their late 20’s into 30’s and beyond. We only want to show that age means nothing and years should be marked by wisdom not time.
Where can people hear your music?
Find us at 30andoverleague.com, YouTube.com/30andoverleague and all the other known ones audiomack, bandcamp, soundcloud, you can just search 30 And Over League
Last words?
Shouts to the 7th Boro for the interview and support. Thank you to everyone involved in helping make this movement what it is and hopefully even larger in the near future. We just want to carry the torch properly and do the city proud.
#That30 #WeAreTheLeague
Thank you!
