How has the local hip hop scene changed in the last couple of years?
I think Shreveport is having its “coming of age” right now. Locals are looking elsewhere for inspiration less and less and are starting to draw their inspiration from the environment directly around them. Ultimately, I feel like pride in our city is growing. People 
are starting to attend more live shows and local events. [They are] starting to talk about them with friends as they would a more mainstream show or event: “Did you go to that last Blood Punch show?” “Nah I missed it, I had work” “Ah lame dude! Them fools were crowd surfing going apeshit!” That type of stuff. It’s growing for sure.
Do you think Shreveport has it own unique sound?
In short, no. Hip hop especially (we separate hip-hop from Ratchet, which I’d say Shreveport is most popular for as far as rap goes). I will say, however, that no matter how diverse all of our sounds are around here, a lot of local artists I listen to are so soulful. The feelings and experiences they express in their lyrics are so raw and real. If I had to lump them into one word, it’d be “soulful,” which is a beautiful thing, and the main reason we started “Soul Society.” We wanted to introduce a new vibe to the area, and so far people have been very receptive.
Did you expect Bear’s Hip Hop Night to be as successful as it has been?
It has been successful in “Shreveport terms” as far as turnout goes. Our city is notorious for having “dead shows.” Luckily we haven’t had any dead nights, but I won’t be satisfied until we’re hitting max capacity every show. There’s no reason we can’t, considering the amount of hip hop listeners there are around here; so that’s what we strive for. I will say as far as a response to what we’ve been doing, it’s been pretty surreal. People come up to me during or after the shows and tell me how grateful they are to have something like this here or, “I can’t believe this is happening in Shreveport.” That’s very gratifying, because that’s exactly the experience we’ve been trying to provide. I feel like people have just been itching for a steady place to go that presents uniquely creative hip hop talent. True artistry. The artists that come on stage and pour out their soul always connect with the audience and I couldn’t ask for more from them. We just need more people to witness! Come out! Tell a friend! We do Hip Hop Night @ Bears which has been sort of a jump off spot. The word is starting to get out pretty heavy.
Where have shows been happening besides Bear’s?
Shows have been pretty back-to-back for a while now and just keep getting bigger and more consistent. We are moving Hip Hop Night at Bear’s to Fridays beginning October 17. Bears is pretty much home right now. Shout-out to Chase Boytim for giving us an awesome platform there to be able to cater to all the local hip hop fans. I WOULD like to see more All Age venues open up to live music. Sorry, but Shreveport is the worst at catering to the younger crowd. There’s not one good reason I can think of to not be filling that very desperate need. Young people like hip hop, too! The shows would be huge. Big D’s is our only all ages outlet so far, and they are really wild shows. There is one Oct. 10 that will be no exception.
Where can people find out about new music and shows? I found a blog called “318 Underground.” Is that a good place to start?
318 Underground is headed up by a good friend of the local hip hop scene, Kristi Woodward, who does Mahogani Media. I’d say it’s definitely a place (for music at least), but there really isn’t a one stop website I could give you that has ALL the hip hop shows around here. I post Soul Society’s on all social media, of course. My handle is @mrflossmode on IG and Twitter. I tell people to follow @natetreme, @itstynerhoe, @c_stamps. they post a lot of local stuff, too. We have our hands pretty deep in the cookie jar, so there’s not much we miss and don’t tell people about. I would love to see someone create a website that has EVERY local show, because there are some I still miss that I never even knew about. That has to stop. If someone like me can miss local hip hop shows because I didn’t even know about them, that’s bad, because I dig. We have been pretty much running on word of mouth and social media promotion. That’s the best way to find out who’s playing where at the moment. For now there is Oct. 10 at Big D’s and Oct. 17 at Bear’s. If you come to one of those shows we will make sure you know where the next ones will be.