Scribble Jam was an annual hip hop music festival hosted in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dubbed "America's largest hip hop festival", sort of like Woodstock. It was co-founded in 1996 by "Fat" Nick Accurso, and Jason Brunson, founders of graffiti magazine Scribble, and DJ Mr Dibbs, in the parking lot of a local nightclub. The following year's event benefitted from better publicity, and included MC, DJ and breakdance battles for the first time.Cincinnati CityBeat
In 2000, with the addition of new partners Tony Heitz and Pase Rock, the festival grew in popularity, as tens of thousands of hip hop fans flocked to its grounds in early August. It has been known to attract up to 20,000 fans. In early April 2010, Scribble Jam organizer Kevin Beacham confirmed the persistent rumors that the event would no longer continue, citing the struggling economy and difficulty in securing funding as reasons.
For most of its existence, Scribble Jam refused corporate sponsorship, which Accurso explained as an attempt to keep the festival from being run by "those who don't understand [hip hop] culture", adding that outside marketing or promotion would "defeat the purpose" of the festival. By 2003, however, the festival had started accepting some corporate sponsors; that year's event was backed by Toyota/Scion.
Competition The centerpieces of the Scribble Jam festival are the five competitions, four of which are designed to highlight the main aspects of hip hop culture. They include the emcee competition or freestyle battle, the DJ battle or scratching competition, the B-boy battle or breakdancing competition, the graff-writer or graffiti competition, and the beatbox competition. Historically, the most popular of the competitions has been the freestyle battle, although all aspects of hip hop culture are well represented. The festival expanded its initial 1996 emcee and b-boy competitions to include the DJ competition in 1998. In 2003 the beatbox competition was added to the line-up. In the last five years of the festival a Production competition was added to the festival line-up, and there were performances by guests including KRS-One,Cincinnati CityBeat Eminem, Sage Francis, Atmosphere, Blueprint, Eyedea, Mr Dibbs, Little Brother and Living Legends which greatly increased the festival's popularity.
Past winners As of Scribble Jam's conclusion in 2008 there have been thirteen emcee champions, eleven DJ champions, thirteen B-Boy champions, and six beatbox champions.
Emcee battle 1996 - Vendetta 1997 - Juice 1998 - Adeem 1999 - Eyedea 2000 - Sage Francis (as Xaul Zan) 2001 - Adeem 2002 - Mac Lethal 2003 - Rhymefest 2004 - illmaculate 2005 - Justice 2006 - The Saurus 2007 - Nocando 2008 - The Saurus
DJ competition 1998 - DJ Precyse 1999 - DJ Abilities 2000 - DJ Precyse 2001 - DJ Sprite 2002 - DJ Skwint 2003 - Skratch Bastid 2004 - Skratch Bastid 2005 - Spare Change 2006 - I-Dee 2007 - Skratch Bastid 2008 - DJ T-Lo
B-boy competition 1996 - Forrest Getemgump (individual) 1997 - Self-Explanatory 1998 - Phase II 1999 - Midwest Junkie Cats (group with members of the Junkwartz and the Battlecats) 2000 - Junkwartz 2001 - Motion Disorderz 2002 - Motion Disorderz 2003 - Motion Disorderz 2004 - Motion Disorderz 2005 - Brickheadz 2006 - Brickheadz 2007 - Motion Disorderz 2008 - Brickheadz
Beatbox battle 2003 - A Train 2004 - A Train 2005 - J.Beetz (from SICK.SOUND.SYNDROME) 2006 - DJ Snuggles 2007 - Poizunus 2008 - Scott Jackson
There are only two production champions listed on the official Scribble Jam website: 2008 - Optiks 2007 - X:144
External links Riding Shotgun-Life at Scribble Jam See also List of hip hop music festivals Hip hop culture Underground hip hop
References