Rolling from p 21 rap-metal group Bionic Jive, wanted to start a club night at the spot blending spoken word and poetry with trip-hop and art. It wasn’t a foreign concept in Valley nightlife of that era, as events like Move ’98 at Boston’s or the Bombshelter DJs’ Mission Control night at the old Nita’s Hideaway mixed music with elements like live art or b-boyism. Nichols huddled with rapper Bionic Jive frontman Emerg McVay and the two came up with the concept and coined the name for the night: The Blunt Club. Emerg McVay, rapper and Blunt Club co-creator: Back in [Bionic Jive’s] Interscope Record days, we were on the Devil’s Night Tour with [hip-hop groups] D12 and Keith was on the road with us. The tour was ending and Keith and I were trying to figure out something to do to occupy our time when we came back. So he was like, “I got this one kid I know back home that has a decent following and everything. I’ll give him a call and we’ll start something up with him.” So he called Dumper right from the tour bus. Adam Dumper, artist and Blunt Club co-creator: Spoken word was really big back then with Def Poetry Jam on TV. I was working at [now-defunct Tempe art store] Wet Paint at the time, and had been painting and doing stuff at shows and events like Move ’98 for years. So Keith and Emerg came at me and were like, “Yo, we gotta do this trip-hop night with spoken word, painting, and DJs and shit like at Move ’98. And was like, “Cool.” Jim Mahfood, artist and former Valley resi- dent: I lived in Arizona [in the early 2000s] and went to Mission Control and [the Bombshelter DJs] invited me onstage to do live art. It wasn’t just people sitting there listening to DJs spin records. It was a full sensory-involved experience with b-boys, music, and culture, which eventually became the formula of The Blunt Club. The Blunt Club debuted on a Thursday night in May 2002. At first, crowds were sparse and amenities were slim. Instead of a stage, people performed in one corner by a Golden Tee game and the restrooms. Things slowly began changing, though. McVay: It was supposed to be a poetry night where people come out, spit their poems, have some drinks at the bar, that type of shit. I’d be the emcee, Dumper would be the graf artist, and we always have a DJ there to play music. Mr. Hyder, former Blunt Club DJ: I was one of the first resident DJs there, one of the original four [founders] with Dumper, Keith, and Emerg. Back then, we wanted it to be something chill that wasn’t neces- sarily a show. Aran “Catalyst” Kelly, local poet: I got to 22 perform spoken word at the very first Blunt Club. I’d met Dumper through his roommate [at the time] and one night he called me and went, “I’m opening up this venue called The Blunt Club with elements Benjamin Leatherman Counterclockwise from above: Blunt Club co- founder Adam Dumper doing live art; Blunt Club co-founder and original host Emerg McVay; A flyer for one of the early Blunt Club at the Priceless Inn; Rapper and Blunt Club guest Murs. of the hip-hop culture and it’s going to have an open mic with poetry.” And I was like, “Yo, sign me up.” There weren’t many there the first night, like maybe only eight people, but the atmosphere was really cool. Michael “Mic Cause” Cosentino, MC in Drunken Immortals: It was a small niche crowd for a while with this really chill kind of coffeehouse/art gallery vibe. Sean “Crash” Seibert, longtime Blunt Club patron: People would bring their black books and just sit and draw and vibe out to the music. Catalyst ran the spoken word and Dumper did live art with Sharpies on foamcore. Dumper: [Wet Paint owner] Jes Jordan and I hung a bunch of art all over the walls at Priceless Inn. And we brought out six or seven live painters every week. At the end of the night, we’d throw open the mics for poetry with Emerg hosting. Cosentino: People all over town knew Emerg from Bionic Jive, and he’s an OG member of the hip-hop scene. So it defi- nitely lent Blunt Club some credibility early on. Pickster: He’s traveled all over the world with Eminem and Proof on a ton of other tours. He’s a seasoned pro and the kind of person who gets people’s attention. If he talks, you listen. He’s a funny guy. A good host is like gold. Dumper: Emerg brought it [back] in the day, keeping everybody happy and making sure they’re into the show. Kelly: Things didn’t catch quick at first, but all the ingredients were there. Adam was busting his ass every week, like calling everyone he knew to come by. Pickster: It was very raw at the begin- Benjamin Leatherman ning. I went for years before joining up and I remember it being all downtempo, jazzy trip-hop with poetry. And then it slowly began shifting to hip-hop. McVay: After a few months, people just came out to spit their poems. Then it started evolving where people wanted to do poems with instrumentals. Then people wanted to bring in drummers and guitar- ists [as accompaniment] for their poems. And then they ended up performing their songs. Next thing you know, it was becoming more of a full-on hip-hop thing. Dumper: Eventually we started having performances, bringing out more DJs, and kept building it up from there. Kelly: Because of Adam’s hard work and Blunt Club getting bigger, the owners of Priceless Inn decided to put a stage in there. McVay: About three or four months in, it started to evolve into a live performance type of venue. And the b-boys used to just come in to hang around and drink, like the [members of] Furious Styles Crew. Edson “House” Magana, b-boy and co-founder of Furious Styles Crew: I started going close to the beginning when it was still largely spoken word, but it took a while before it became b-boy heavy. If you were any kind of a hip-hop head, you were going to gravitate towards those places. Mahfood: Dumper brought me in a few times and made sure the artists were on stage, so it felt like I had equal >> p 24 Adam Dumper MAY 19TH– MAY 25TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com Benjamin Leatherman
