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It’s that time of year again, when love is in the air and snow is “usually” making your life a living hell. It’s also that time of year when the crew from Deaf to the Static Records and Hopeful Opus productions bring you the annual “The Best Love is Free” event and compilation CD. Whether you are looking for a great show to take your special someone to for Valentine’s Day or you’re simply a fan of local independent hip hop, the Fine Line Music Café is where you need to be Saturday, Feb 11th.
Bringing together some of today’s most talented local artist, this Saturday will launch the third annual “The Best Love is Free”. The event not only offers a night of live local entertainment, but with every ticket purchased comes a free compilation album of both local and national artists. The Best Love is Free’s basic mission is to expose great music to new ears, while building a closer relationship between the artists and the fans.
This year, TBLIF features a lineup of heavy hitters in the local hip hop community as well as some new artists with great potential. The bill includes Culture Cry Wolf, Toki Wright, Crunchy Kids, K. Flay, Wesley Opus, and Ceewhy with SlipMats Entertainment spinning the wheels all night long. There will also be plenty of special guest appearances sure to please.
I had the opportunity to sit down with the people responsible for organizing this annual event and discuss the past, present, and future of TBLIF. The following interview is just a small sample of that extensive conversation.
What was the initial thought that gave birth to The Best Love is Free?
“Free Compilation CD. That was the main thing. Give somebody something free for coming to a show.” -Wesley Opus (Hopeful Opus Productions)
“I remember distinctively being irritated that the mainstream scene had such a large mixtape market, yet in a city like Minneapolis there’s ten times the amount of music of good quality yet no local compilations.” -Adam Botsford (Culture Cry Wolf, Deaf to the Static Records)
This will be the third annual TBLIF, do you feel that is has changed or evolved since the beginning?
“It’s almost creepy, I’m already thinking about next year and how we can better what we’ve done. And it was the same way last year; we are consistently trying to do better.” -Adam Botsford (Culture Cry Wolf, Deaf to the Static Records)
“Well, the first year we burned the cd’s and printed them at our house. Up until the day of the show, actually. Then the second year, we had the cardboard sleeves. And now, we have the digi-pac, which is a free code to access digital copies of an additional 39 tracks online.” -Wesley Opus (Hopeful Opus Productions)
The popularity for TBLIF has grown significantly this year, receiving 771 submissions to be included for this year’s compilation. What do you feel has been the source of this overwhelming response?
“Copycats! Justin Kristal with Copycats Media has been very supportive, this year they have taken over the social media side and even sent out a newsletter to all their clients. We received a crazy amount of submissions just in the first day.” -Adam Botsford (Culture Cry Wolf, Deaf to the Static Records)
“We got submissions from 48 states this year, when last year, it was mainly Minnesota artists.” -Wesley Opus (Hopeful Opus Productions)
Hype has been high for this event for some time now, do you expect to sell out the Fine Line?
“I would love to. And I would be surprised if we didn’t. Culture Cry Wolf and Toki Wright is something that I feel is long overdue. Plus, we’re giving away a free CD.” -Adam Botsford (Culture Cry Wolf, Deaf to the Static Records)
The Minneapolis music scene has become a national powerhouse in regards to devoted fans and strong talent. What is it about the twin cities community that spawns this environment?
“A longstanding history is a big part of that, the city has been known forever for having a strong music scene. It’s build into our culture. I also attribute a lot of it to a strong public education system that exposes kids to the arts at an early age.” -Matt Raskin (Sheeped)
“And the people you can look up to as artists in this city are human. You get to witness that, you get to see them around. And then you also get to realize that you can aspire to do something like that. Almost everyone is killing it with the do-it-yourself method.” -Adam Botsford (Culture Cry Wolf, Deaf to the Static Records)
“It’s also a combination of great venues like the Fine Line and record stores. Small businesses in the cities are definitely a big source of our support.” -Wesley Opus (Hopeful Opus Productions)
“Performance by Culture Cry Wolf”
For more info about this event:
Article by Steve Poons written for MplsMusic.com