Leave it to a nostalgic hip-hop craft beer bar to dust off the once tried-and-true concept of featuring local music on a mix CD.
The Commission Beer Chamber releases its second compilation of Orlando area rappers and producers this Saturday as part of its four-year anniversary end-of-summer block party in Curry Ford West.
Put together by Tek the Intern and My Good Phelo, The Commission Beer Chamber Mixtape Volume 2 is both a labor of love and a show of appreciation for bar owner Benny “Mister Blanco” Colón.
“As artists, we all wanted to do it for Benny, almost as a thank you for giving us opportunities and a home where we get to perform,” My Good Phelo says. “He’s built a little community there, and we know he appreciates us.”
That community has blossomed into a diverse crowd of customers at a unique space decorated with art and vintage equipment and echoing with the sounds old-school New York hip-hop.
The music on the new CD, also available on streaming services, is equally eclectic in showcasing varying voices of Orlando-based hip-hop, both veterans and newcomers alike.
“That’s exactly what that place does,” Tek the Intern says. “Everybody that comes around is from different walks of life. Different fanbases for the artists all show up, and then you have the locals that get to learn a little more about it.”
Many of those featured on last year’s CD are back for Volume 2, including rugged wordsmith Midaz the Beast and faith-based rapper Javy XI. Each of them has recently hosted free listening sessions for their own new albums at The Commission.
“Hip-hop is universal, especially the kind of hip-hop we celebrate,” Midaz says. “There’s all walks of life that’s into it. To have a [CD] sampler of all these guys for the average patron that walks into the Commission is dope.”
Colón says he’d always envisioned the Commission as an educational spot where people could talk craft beer, music, graffiti and other aspects of hip-hop culture he grew up with in New York.
But it was a relationship forged with late local rapper Christopher “Crescendo” Mercado, before his death nearly two years ago, that helped grow this vision into something more.
Crescendo introduced Colón to a legion of local musicians and artists that have helped turn the establishment into a genuine part of Orlando’s beer and hip-hop culture.
“I wanted to give them a place where they could share their talents, and that’s what it’s become, sort of by mistake,” Colón says.
“When I started the conversation with a lot of these artists I’d become close with about the mixtape, they really came through with it as a way to share it with us and the community.”
Saturday’s event, which kicks off mid-afternoon near the intersection of Curry Ford Road and Bumby Avenue, features Kappy’s, Pizza Culture, Tasty McGee’s and Da Dunk food trucks, along with music throughout the day by DJ Rize and more.
DJ SureShot and Soy Is Real, also featured on Volume 2, alongside the likes of Shinobi Stalin and Knaladeus, cap the night off with their monthly Sucio Saturday music session.
Shinobi Stalin, much like musical colleague Midaz the Beast, has seen the landscape change over the past two decades as an active Orlando MC when it comes to local venues embracing the art form.
“We’ve gone through different hip-hop home bases that have shut down or didn’t want to keep doing hip-hop shows,” Shinobi Stalin says. “After COVID, it seemed we really didn’t have anywhere to go. But shout out to Benny for kind of letting us do whatever we want when a lot of venues won’t even let hip-hop in.”
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