By Kara Kokinos
If you haven’t noticed the HipStory crew taking over Boston hip-hop yet, it’s time to ride that wave towards the future of the scene. We sat down with member Fortè to discuss his newest single, ‘Money Misshun,’ HipStory, and his own grand plans.
One of the best things about witnessing the come-up of each HipStory artist is how much genuine pride and love for the city and its people that they have. Fortè and HipStory founder Cliff Notez have been friends since middle school, sticking by each other as they dived into their art and roles as creators. Fortè notes that collaborating has always been a casual process for the pair, chilling in the studio and jumping onto each other’s songs when they heard something that caught their ear, a hang turned hustle. “It’s always been that process,” Fortè remarks, “It’s always been fun.” That energy is undeniable, whether it’s manifesting in the more somber tracks from Cliff’s 2017 album When The Sidewalk Ends, or the pair’s newest collaboration, which features a fair bit of ribbing at Cliff’s newly vegan status. It’s old friendships, forged out of academia, poetry, gigs, and house parties, turned into a network of support for independent artists.
In a genre that gets a (racially-fueled) reputation for hostility and feuding, Fortè takes a lot of pride in his crew and the fact that they have abandoned the more corny, diss-based dynamic, so popular in other scenes, for one built on creatively empowering and fueling each other. “We can lean on each other if we need to, and you don’t always want to. You want to be able to succeed on your own and as an independent artist but you can always fall back on these individuals to help see your vision through.” There’s a respect but also a commitment to sharing and understanding that the success of others only helps foster your own.
Fortè nods to creative bartering as a popular form of support in a scene feeling economic pressure, a sentiment so often iterated in the punk/DIY spaces of Boston. In a city that draws so much of our income away to vital resources, we make opportunities for ourselves. It’s collaboration as means of survival, forging bonds that are stronger and more intimate than we often give ourselves credit for. The HipStory collective is intentional with their process, going on retreats and setting goals as individuals and as a group, and as Fortè states, “We share a mutual respect as artists and from the chip on our shoulders.” Any competition is internal, a showman’s drive versus a race to the finish line.
Fortè is looking forward to the future; we speak about the steadily increasing venue options for hip-hop acts and the wide amount of artists coming up with great content and building out fanbases. He’s excited to support new talent by bringing them out on his own bills and to put out more content including a full length studio album. Music has been his primary creative outlet since his days in church choir and he is using this time to teach himself the technical skills, building upon the brute strength of his ear. He’s very much in tune with the origins of hip-hop, sampling from artists he loves and taking the sounds he likes, but wants to experiment with the full range of sound. “The future looks really bright,” he says with an audible grin, “I want to immerse myself as much as I can in my creative endeavors. I didn’t have the resources or confidence to do that before but now…”
Given the drive and ambition of Fortè and his friends, there’s no doubt we’ll be seeing him again at the Boston Music Awards next year.