Juice

Alaska's never been known as a hotbed for the hip-hop scene, but a recent competition in Anchorage showed that a growing number of rappers, DJs and break dancers are taking an interest in the burgeoning subculture-including Juneau's own DJ Astronomar.

"My main intent in going to the event was not to win, but to help the hip-hop scene in Alaska grow," said the disc jockey, otherwise known as 21-year-old Marlon Lumba. "I really wanted to interact with other members of the hip-hop community."

In addition to enjoying the company of other artists and fans, Lumba took first place in the DJ competition for the second year in a row. The contest was part of Juice 3, a hip-hop jam held on June 11th in the Tesoro Sports Centre parking lot alongside the second annual Drive Car Show.

Alaska hip-hop flourishes in summer spotlight

Barry Piser

Despite being Alaska’s largest city, Anchorage is not well known for its hip-hop scene. Some disc jockeys have risen to local club prominence and emcees have been getting some recognition in newsprint.

For the most part, though, the Alaska hip-hop scene has been invisible to those that didn’t seek it out. But the past three summers a competition called Juice gives the public a taste of what local DJs, emcees and B-boys are capable of.

Juice 3, along with the second annual Drive Car Show, squeezed into the Tesoro Sports Centre parking lot June 11 and brought enough flavor to make the Kool-Aid Man say “Oh, yeah!”

Merriam-Webster Online defines hip-hop as “a subculture” that includes “rap music, graffiti, and break dancing.” The Alaska “subculture” was well represented with competition winners hailing from Juneau, Sitka and Anchorage.

UAA journalism student Jim Powers, clad in a button-up shirt and khaki pants, nodded his head along to the beat of the DJ battle. The 20 year old spins records as a hobby and hoped to put together a routine, but didn’t find out about the Juice date until a short time beforehand. Powers still showed up to support friends and was happy with what he saw.

“It forms a community when there wasn’t one in Alaska,” he said.

The DJ battle came down a hotly contested finish between defending champ Astronomar of Juneau and Anchorage’s own Victamone. Both DJs cued up records right and left and had verbal taunts, some explicit, coming out of the speakers. The two showed enough finger dexterity that local DJ Ike Cuttz, one of the judges, was trying to get a closer look.

After the final round, the three judges decided the two needed had to have a final scratch-off using the same record. In a decision the judges seemed to hate having to make, Astronomar became a back-to-back champ.

The Juneau DJ’s name is Marlon Lumba, who got into hip-hop as a teenager. He built up his record collection by ordering online or skipping class to dig at the Salvation Army.

“It’s vulturous,” he said. “You gotta find what you can.”