The old North State, home to shitty politicians, amazing food and rad humans. I was born and raised here in the lovely city of Charlotte, NC and have seen quite a bit of growth over the years, some positive, some negative. Growth is inevitable in any metropolis; more people equates to more money and more money equals more shit being built. Some are bummed about it, but not so much myself. For once more money is being circulated amongst the creative circles instead of the “scene” only being supported by the “scene” and it is a nice change. I like seeing people I don’t know at a show, that’s progression. Besides our joke of a Governor: Pat McCrory, and the narrow-minded small town folk that support his agenda, the demolishing of historical areas of the City, education issues and the shit liquor laws, I don’t have many negative things to say. Some might say I live in a bubble and I would agree, it’s zip code is 28205 and It’s a rad fucking bubble; let me tell you about it.
I rep a crew called Permanent Vacation X A Deep Fried Family, (PVDFF) it’s a creative collective of sorts that was formed in 2010. It started as an idea between my DJ homie, Famous Jason and myself. We realized we had a ton of creative friends and if we put it all under one umbrella, we could extend our overall reach and build a network of like-minded individuals. Once we got all the homies down, it just spread from there, meeting new, awesome humans and putting them down along the way. It has expanded outside of the state and now outside of the country. After 6 years, PVDFF consists of DJ’s, rappers, bands, tattoo artists, chefs, graf writers, designers, photographers, b-boys and everything in between. We have thrown countless parties, art events, and shows featuring what we believe to be the best talent around. We make apparel and have collaborated with several artists throughout the years. The apparel side took off nicely, so eventually we decided to open a showroom/ office that will turn into a full retail space by the end of summer. That’s a lot of shit, and I’m not even going into detail. This is also just me and the team I run with, there are countless others. We know what we are doing is rad as fuck, but no ones seem to focus on what is going on here in NC. Welcome to the Hidden Gem.
Since the beginning, it has been an uphill battle getting any sort of media coverage here in the Carolinas. This goes for all genres and all media. Yes, there are some folks that have “made it” out of N.C., but overall, the talent level is so high, and the amount of coverage is so low. We do indeed get bummed over it but it has done nothing to stop us from doing awesome shit. A good bud of mine once said “anyone here (Charlotte) making music is doing it because they love it, not for the fame or attention, because there isn’t any”. I fully back this statement, there is an enormous amount of extremely talented folks here, none of which any of you reading this article probably even know about. I hope some time is taken to explore what NC has to offer, but in the meantime, we are doing fine right here. Yes, we fish, yes, we sip moonshine, and yes every vegetable is better fried. Where else can you go see a ton of Djs play nothing but Southern rap music of all eras while a whole Pig is cooked? N.C. baby!
I imagine there are several cities that feel the same way we do, but this is my soapbox, so we are going to keep it all things Carolina. Even when I travel to major cities and go see a show or some art shit everyone is currently dick riding I’m often unimpressed. That’s the difference between here and a major city; there is no one to gas you up, no one to promise you this and that. We just do this shit because we love it and hope to continue bringing culture to a rather bland city outside of the bubble I exist in. I am not here to complain one bit, I just find it rather interesting in this day and age cities beyond the 4 or so major ones still don’t see any shine. Yes, you can come from the Internet, but there is zero authenticity there. It’s like our whole scene is on some underground shit, and it’s tight as fuck. With that said, if you ever come Visit N.C., call me for a good time! #PVDFF
