Interview Producers, start your turntables: The Miltown Beatdown returns

Now in its fifth year, the Miltown Beatdown rectifies pretty much everything people gripe about regarding hip-hop in Milwaukee, coalescing the historically segregated north and east side scenes while attracting national artists like ?uestlove and De La Soul's Maseo as past guest judges. Most importantly, it offers proof that the city can and will support local hip-hop. This year, the competition has been narrowed down to feature 16 local producers competing head-to-head in four events held at The Wherehouse starting tonight. The A.V. Club spoke to Jordan Lee—aka DJ Madhatter from the Rusty Ps—about how the Beatdown has grown into Milwaukee’s defining hip-hop event of the year.

The A.V. Club: The Beatdown is scheduled for four rounds this year, with 16 producers battling in total. Last year it was a weekly event, and there were more than 40 producers competing. What's the reason for the cutback in the number of producers and events?

Jordan Lee: Well, I'm a new papa. So in my life family always comes first. I also couldn’t do a series on a weeknight due to my responsibilities at Radio Milwaukee. I get up for work at 4:30 a.m. That's tough to do when you leave the bar at 1:30 a.m. This schedule allows for more people to come in a bigger venue on a weekend, and I wanted to put quality over quantity. We had over 30 producers sign up, but I wanted to ensure only those who were on top of our new challenges. I only chose 15 producers; we are offering everyone who did not get in a chance to battle a shot at the 16th slot.

AVC: The Beatdown is credited with breaking down barriers that have historically divided the city’s hip-hop scene. How is Milwaukee hip-hop different now than it was five years ago?

JL: Milwaukee hip-hop has taken a step away from doing what we think we are supposed to do and begun to do what we want to do. The east side scene has diversified a lot. Groups like KingHellBastard have songs that sound super underground and some that sound super pop. Or look at a group like The Cranberry Show—pop and krunk beats with nerd-like lyrics about skateboarding, video games and girls. Milwaukee has always been behind the trends of the national hip-hop scene, and now we seem to be on to our own thing.

AVC: Specifically, how has the Beatdown inspired Milwaukee hip-hop to find itself?

JL: Here is a perfect example: KHB met Reason, who is in this Friday's battle, during last year's Beatdown. They went on to record a EP together, and their first single not only got national attention, but Radio Milwaukee put it into heavy rotation, and it won best music video in the [Radio Milwaukee] music awards. Reason was in Goonie Tunes, a mostly north side rap production squad. He still works with a variety of dudes, but the battle built a bridge for him and KHB to work together.

AVC: Can you elaborate on how the Beatdown has drawn the national spotlight onto Milwaukee hip-hop?

JL: During our third annual battle, Maseo from De La Soul came to Stonefly to judge and DJ. Before the battle, we got the finalists together at Lotus Land Records for a beat making session with Maseo. He spoke about his history with rap music and beat production, and in a video on You Tube, he spent most of the clip focused on Adlib, the champ of last year's live mix battle. That video has gotten a ton of hits on You Tube, and has helped to place Adlib into a national arena.

AVC: There’s a lot of talk about how Milwaukee has a hard time drawing national hip-hop acts. Why do you suppose that is?

JL: It’s money. It costs a lot to support a national act here, in a city that national booking agents consider to be a small market. The discussions we've had at Radio Milwaukee, and that have been continuing on A.V. Club boards and a number of blogs, is that the traditional means of acquiring the funds needed to successfully promote these gigs is hard. But I am not a booking agent; I do get national acts to come through, but the Milwaukee artists are the stars.

AVC: Which producers are you most excited about seeing?

JL: I'm always excited to see what Jihad Baracus has for us.  He's become one of this event's favorites. He was last year's champ. This new kid Noah Styles has some sweet ideas on how to use turntables and midi controllers, so that should be cool, and Magic Fingaz is always a gas, so he's gonna be cool, too.