Every August, Scribble Jam attracts disc jockeys, emcees, graffiti writers and break-dancing boys and girls from across the country to Cincinnati to showcase their talent in three days of competition and performances.
The event began in 1996 as a release party for the graffiti-based Scribble Magazine
which is now defunct.
We were doing (graffiti) murals around the city and one day stumbled upon Dibbs who had wanted to connect with us said Nick Accurso, owner of Scribble Jam. We got the magazine started on some color Xerox copies from Kinko's.
Mr. Dibbs, who currently DJs for Atmosphere, connected with the writers and together they established the first Scribble Jam at Annie's, a local Cincinnati bar.
The first year, the jam focused on the graffiti writers, while local DJs like Mr. Dibbs played records for b-boys to break to and emcees to freestyle over.
In 1997 they held their first full-blown jam by including break dancing, DJing, and emceeing competitions to draw a larger crowd.
That year a still-unknown Detroit emcee named Eminem came to Cincinnati to participate in the battles.
I remember putting together the first Scribble Jam video and not being sure about his abilities
Accurso said. Then
a year later
he is signed to Dr. Dre's label and is everywhere.
After 1998, the founders had to find a new venue. Annie's stopped hosting the jam due to low profits. Accurso said he was scared of what would happen because they had to find a place for the graffiti writers to paint that the police would not bust.
Luckily, for the 1999 Scribble Jam they found a venue called The Player's Club the day before the main event.
It was a chaotic year
but just as everything fell apart
it came together to be one of our most entertaining years
Accurso said.
That year, DJ Presyce from the Molemen won his second DJ Championship in a row with a James Brown beat-juggling routine. The MC Battle was nearly a tie between Eyedea of Rhymesayers, and P.E.A.C.E. of Freestyle Fellowship. In the end, Eyedea inched past P.E.A.C.E.
In 2000, the Jam became a nationally recognized event by the founder's standards, as 1,500 people showed up to partake in the festivities. DJ Presyce claimed his third straight DJ title, which meant he had to retire from the battle.
In the MC Battle, Sage Francis claimed the championship after fooling the crowd by entering the competition under the alias Xaul Zan. Francis wore dark sunglasses, a wig and a metal band
T-shirt to hide his identity until the final round against Cincinnati native Blueprint.
Scribble is important for hip hop because it re-affirms a sense of community for a bunch of people who are scattered around the country
Francis said. People can use the Internet to interact with folks from all over the world
but interpersonal communication can't be topped.
Scribble Jam has been going strong ever since, Accurso said. In the seven years the event has been held, problems with graffiti have been kept to a minimum. Accurso said a few kids went tagging around town and sprayed a cop car, but otherwise, there have been no complaints.
As long as people act responsibly and respectfully
