Urban Discoveries Baltimore

Baltimore’s not always an easy place to know. In Baltimore Voices, our ongoing series of interviews with local true believers, we’ll introduce you to some facets of this town that you might not have seen. This isn’t just the city we live in; it’s the city that lives in us.

Matt and Tim Cooper are entrepreneurs. Their company, The C.O.S.T Entertainment, consists of a music division and a film division whose first movie, Paused In Time, a documentary about hip-hop in Baltimore, will be screened next on September 1 as part of the New Filmmakers Film Festival at Anthology Film Archives in New York. Find out more about the movie here or buy it here.

Shows like The Wire on HBO don’t offer an accurate depiction of our city. People think we’re just known for our murder rate. We don’t get recognized for our great schools, our great hospitals. This is also a great place to live. We have some great crabs and great scenery. There are a lot of talented people here—not just in hip-hop, this is a city that’s rich in artistic culture, period. This was the home of Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Charles Dutton, Dru Hill, even Babe Ruth. We wanted to add to the landscape a little bit by looking closely at the hip-hop scene here and music in general, to talk about people trying to bring something positive to their city and their neighborhoods. We wanted to showcase the talent that we had in hip-hop, in the hope that some of these artists might someday be recognized nationally, or someday even worldwide.

What we think is so special about hip-hop in Baltimore now is that it isn’t just one style. There are guys who are trying work within the music industry, guys who are what you’d call “conscious” rappers, guys mixing hip-hop and R&B, guys mixing rock and hip-hop. There aren’t a lot of female rappers in the game nationally, but in this city we have the Get Em Mamis, who have been recognized by Rolling Stone and Vibe magazines. Bossman is getting recognition nationally for the remix of “Break Me Off.”

If you want to hear good hip-hop, we’d go to the Five Seasons. That, the Penguin, and the Black Hole are the three most popular clubs.

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