Monthly GoodGospel Hip Hop Series Finds a Home at Duffy’s

By Karynn Brown
Jan. 29, 2018

Headliner Eddie Branch takes the stage at midnight to celebrate his 21st birthday with a performance. Karynn Brown/KZUM

The Dreamscape Media Group event GoodGospel has finally found a home at Duffy’s Tavern.

GoodGospel Volume 8 hit the Duffy’s stage Sunday night at 9 p.m., featuring the works of four local DJs and emcees to a intimate, energetic crowd.

Omaha DJs ROSV and Redbeard started the night off with relaxed, powerful mixes of beats. ROSV spun vinyl records, mixing heavy beats and light samples.

ROSV and Redbeard’s style created an intimate energy with a small crowd of head-nodding fans and fellow artists.

The GoodGospel series is organized and hosted by local hip-hop musician Sleep Sinatra. Sinatra has been featured on KZUM’s Intertribal Beats several times, and works to create an experimental community of artists. Sunday’s event was the eighth iteration of the freestyle and open mic influenced showcase, which has been bouncing between venues for much of 2017. Duffy’s has agreed to host the GoodGospel Sunday night shows monthly for 2018.

“We wanted to create a laid-back vibe where artists can network.” said Sinatra.

The last two performers of the night, Midwest Marcus and Eddie Branch, turned the bill from voiceless beats to hard-hitting hip hop.

Lincoln native Midwest Marcus brought the crowd to their feet with an anthem-esque sound. Performing much of his published SoundCloud work, Sounds of South Street including the single “Livin Free.” His music featured a classic hip-hop style and lyrics about heartbreak.

Midwest Marcus and Eddie Branch performed alongside Dreamscape’s DJ Kamukazzy. Kamukazzy has worked with Dreamscape and their artists to build and perform complex, layered hip hop beats. Kamukazzy spun between sets, showcasing some of his own work. His mixes are a unique blend of smoothly jazzy samples with complex modulations of layers.

Headlining and celebrating his 21st birthday for this GoodGospel was Lincoln emcee and DJ Eddie Branch. Playing a mix of old and new favorites, including one of his first songs, “Lotus” and a new song that saw its first live performance. Branch’s live performances have an intense and raw energy that allows his lines to hit hard among a stream-of-consciousness style work. Branch’s on-stage presence is nervous and improvisational, with a stripped-down style that feels very personal.

“Making music takes a lots of misunderstanding” Branch announced to the crowd as he spoke about a project dropping this spring. He hopes to emphasize more of his own beats and include a variety of features.

Kamukazzy and Eddie Branch have performed and worked together on several occasions, creating beats. Eddie Branch’s backing beats emulate the harsh energy he brings to the stage. Heavy drops, loops, and sharp modulations keep the energy high. The beats drop into bass-leaden lapses that fall on punctuative rythmes lines.

GoodGospel closed the evening with a tradition, opening the mic to all the crowd’s artists. Sinatra emphasized creating a supportive community of artists and experimentation. “We hope to bring in more genres, house and dubsteps especially,” he said.