'The Naughdition' crowns two hip hop winners (6 photos)

The Naughdition. What else should an audition to open for Naughty By Nature be called?

Presented by Soo York City Urban Arts Collective and Northern Breweries, six area hip hop acts battled for two opening spots Thursday night at Soo Blaster – Mikey T, Bom Kronik, Sdot420, TNT (True Northern Talent), Oh Zee, and ATG (Against the Government).

Once the rhymes were over and the audience voted by applause, ATG and Bom Kronik were crowned Naughdition winners. Each was awarded a 30-minute opening spot when Naughty By Nature performs in Sault Ste. Marie at Soo Blaster on Saturday, July 14. Tickets for this show can be purchased at Soo Blaster, the Community Box Office in the Station Mall or online.

Formed fairly recently, Bom Kronik is comprised of Brendan Garlick (drums), Conika Belleau (vocals), Mister Tahti (keyboard, vocals) and James Watterworth (bass). After a collaboration with the band Honest Job at Loplops, Conika was drawn to the idea of rapping with live musicians backing her up. And Mister was “feeling limited by folk and absolutely loved the songwriting” that forms the base for the jazzhop four-piece.

“A lot of what we’re talking about has to do with the sorts of struggles that people are going through in the city right now – depression, drugs, substance abuse – and just trying to stay positive through that,” Mister told SooToday.

“Every time we play our songs, they’re a little bit different,” Brendan said. “The biggest challenge (as the percussionist) is trying to figure out what people are feeling at the time and then matching that.”

“I reached out to Conika originally when I was doing a project in College,” he continued “I wanted to do something about positive messaging regarding opiates and drug use. I know that Conika, even in her solo material, her message is all about recovery, finding yourself and overcoming struggles.”

For Conika, standing in front of an audience and articulating such personal lyrics is a freeing experience.

“In the beginning, it was very nerve-racking to expose myself in that way. But with the amount of support and positive feedback I’ve gotten over the years, it’s really melted away all the nerves. And every time I get to do this, I’m completely elated.”

In preparation for the upcoming Naughty By Nature show, the members of Bom Kronik plan on rehearsing.

A lot.

Ryan Kroeger of ATG came to the Naughdition from Elliot Lake to join partner and “best friend since he was old enough to walk” Mitchell Rose (AKA Kahspur) who travelled all they way from the Cambridge area to compete.

“My whole family are musicians or poets or writers, so this just collaboration kind of fell together,” Ryan said.

The pair have been collaborating for more than 15 years, has released three albums and is currently working on record number four, Cognitive Collapse.

Although dedicated to the art of hip hop, Ryan sees the genre – in Canada at least – failing and fading from popularity. He places part of the blame on the artists themselves.

“Our song Mumble Rap is dedicated to that. A lot of stuff nowadays, they really don’t put any thought or effort into the writing,” he said. “A lot of our stuff has a tiny political message slipped in somewhere… if you’re going to write something, you’ve gotta put a little emotion and a little of yourself into it and come out with a message.”

Leading up to the Naughty By Nature performance, ATG plans on releasing a video for the track Demon’s Land and promote the night as much as possible.

For updates on the July 14 Naughty By Nature show in Sault Ste. Marie, follow the Facebook event page.