Cincinnati left with racial tension and no place to break dance-fight the injustice away

Held in Cincinnati of all places, Scribble Jam is a celebration of the elements of hip hop, having provided a platform for underground hip hop musicians, graf writers, breakers and DJs to gain exposure for 13 years. Every August hip hop heads endured the humidity to see artists like Eminem, Dose One, Juice, Rhymefest, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Slug of Atmosphere, Mac Lethal and Eyedea do battle.

As if losing major label rap to the recession wasn't enough, last week hip hop festivals lost to the economy. Kevin Beacham had this to say on behalf of Scribble Jam:

I think it is safe to say that Scribble Jam helped redefine the standard of what a Hip Hop festival could be. Although many Hip Hop festivals may have existed before us and even more have sprung up since our start, you would be hard-pressed (dare I say unable) to find one that has successfully incorporated all of those elements and remain as consistent as Scribble Jam… 13 years.

With all that said, we have been thinking very long and hard about this year. The requests for performances, tour dates, battle contestants, vendors, and so on have been pouring in and all wanting to know when Scribble will be this year. The answer, unfortunately, is that there will not be a Scribble Jam this year. This was by no means an easy decision. There are several reasons why we made this choice but ultimately it all comes down to basic economics… the money just isn’t there.”

You can read Beacham's entire statement here.