From the Mar 23 – Mar 29, 2006 issue

Music

Hiphop People

Meli Darby's Obese Productions Promotes Artists on the Verge

by Larry Mizell Jr.

Think back to the '90s—if you were underage and loved hiphop there wasn't a lot of opportunity to see it performed live in Seattle. Okay, there were Sunday nights at the Sit & Spin, open mics at Langston Hughes, and the occasional RCKNDY throwdown, but otherwise the Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO) stifled any chances of your young ass seeing some good music—rap especially. Slowly, however, that changed, and if you've been to a hiphop show in Seattle in the last four years, chances are you've been to an Obese Production. Obese's booker/owner Melissa "Meli" Darby is a driving force behind many of the great shows Seattle has seen in the last few years.

Darby's dedication to the local music scene derives from her days at Redmond's Old Fire House, where she was neck-deep in the underage indie-rock scene. "Then, one day," she laughingly recalls, "I was at a meeting at the mayor's office regarding the TDO, and met (then-UW student and future Stranger hiphop columnist) Sam Chesneau. Sam was saying he felt the hiphop scene [and minorities in general] was being unfairly targeted—and that hit me very hard."

From this unlikely meeting, the germ of SHOW (Student Hiphop Organization of Washington) was formed. The nucleus of this group is familiar to many local hiphop heads: Darby; Chesneau; Jason "J-Promo" Norcross (of local production squad Dream Team); and Marc Matsui, George "Geologic" Quibuyen, and Saba "Sabzi" Mohajerjabzi of the Blue Scholars. Darby, among other tasks, was responsible for designing the majority of the group's promotional materials—and as her signature used her now-ubiquitous graffiti character that today serves as the Obese logo. During SHOW's tenure, it was a vital conduit for underground hiphop, and an asset to the under-drinking-age hiphop head. In its five-year run, SHOW never put on a 21-and-over event.

With SHOW having drafted the blueprint, Darby's Obese Productions took over where the group left off; her first official show was a near-sold-out Buck 65 gig, and since then Obese has taken over Seattle's hiphop promotions game (alongside co-promoter Steven Severin's Wake Up Productions).

Despite its rewards, promotion can be a thankless task, Darby has found. "It's not easy," she asserts, "booking good acts, putting on local hiphop artists, giving them opportunities—which has been a struggle, due to town politics, which then means people complaining about the same artists opening up for shows all the time... People say hurtful things, and try to hate on what it is we do."

"But one thing that sets Obese apart from any other promotion company in the Northwest," Darby continues, "is that we do the big shows... but we do all of the little shows, too. All of the random, up-and-coming artists from outside of Seattle, we're the only ones that will fuck with these people! I purposely book events knowing that I'm going to lose money, just to make it happen!"

Darby's commitment to supporting artists on the verge is evidenced by Obese's Make It or Break It shows, quarterly events in which local up-and-comers vie for future opening slots, by virtue of word-of-mouth promo and ticket presales. With this, Darby hopes to train artists to be hungrier, and focus on getting heads to come out to shows—a trait she feels some in the local sphere have neglected. "There are a number of very lazy artists in this town," Darby complains, "that feel entitled to shows and privileges, and that bothers me when there are so many talented artists starving for the same opportunities. I want to help train artists to be self-sufficient, show them how to hustle like I do. I want Obese and its resources to be a kind of focal point for artist support."

In 2006, Obese entered into a partnership with the Vera Project, and it hopes to make some big changes. "We have a very big responsibility in Seattle to make sure that the music is available to our youth, to strengthening our community," Darby explains.

It's apparent that Darby is not ignorant of her unique position in our burgeoning scene, and as such, takes her role very seriously. "What's most important to me, and the mission behind Obese, is history. Part of my job is to preserve the history [of hiphop] in Seattle. Hiphop in general is at a major crossroads right now. I feel it's my job to be in Seattle, and keep our hiphop in the right hands—with the people."

hiphop@thestranger.com