Head Trip: Rapper Tripc Gains Street Cred Beyond His Hometown
Posted on: Sunday, 11 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
By Jennifer Chancellor, Tulsa World, Okla.
May 11--OWASSO -- Raised by a cop and a nurse, Adam Karl Hartzke has a well-honed sense of the working class.
And for the weirdness to which members of that class can be driven.
On a recent weekday afternoon, Hartzke, aka TripC, and his cohort Greg Davis, aka ESP (Experience the Phenomenon), relaxed at Hartzke's modest, pale blue Owasso home.
He talked about his day job at a local distribution center as his small beagle mix dog, Doug, barked outside the chainlink fence. A shiny, cherry-red Camaro stood on the front walkup, a mock electric chair parked on the driveway.
Two young women bounced on a trampoline out back.
Unfazed, he sat down on a well-worn couch and talked while Davis' hair was braided by a female friend in the den.
"It's crazy. My fi rst show with ESP during Christmas 2006, guys were knocked out.
Literally," he said with a laugh.
"People walked on stage and started fi ghting. There were undercover sting operations happening out back.
"Our shows are a perverse explosion of stage diving and mosh pits and rowdy crowds."
With well over 10,000 CDs in circulation across
the Midwest, this X-rated Green Country rapper's take on fame mirrors the tune "One Finger Salute," from Hartzke and Davis' latest release, "P---g in the Mainstream, Vol. 1."
Yes, the tune chronicles the pro-wrestling-like saga of bouncing off the walls at live shows, smoking his competitors and, well, giving a TripC-appropriate kiss-off to naysayers everywhere.
No, the lyrics aren't printable in a family newspaper.
"Some people don't think we have a right to have the popularity we have," he said, referring to his on-again, off again friendship with producer and rapper PDA and others.
"They go so far as to print up stickers, break out windows, create their own 'diss tracks,' " he said.
"But that works for us, too, because our name is in their mouths," he laughed. "I guess we should love 'em for it."
Regardless of detractors, Hartzke's rock-inspired, thrashy, trashy hip-hop style has earned him multiple Spot Music Award nominations and a growing following of loyal listeners.
His gritty lyrics harshly refl ect his core: A 2002 Owasso high school graduate who ranked No. 420 out of 436 in his class, works hard, parties harder, feels like an outcast and yearns to leave his mark.
"But, yeah, I've already accomplished a lot more than most ever get to," he acknowledged. "Honestly, I could quit now and be happy.
The day I wake up and don't enjoy what I do, I'll quit."
That morning isn't coming any time soon, though.
Friday at Cain's Ballroom, he'll open for Tech N9ne, a well established Kansas City rap act he's toured with before, he said.
"And, speaking of Cain's, I helped lay that new wood floor," he said with some pride. "Some jobs you do simply because they contribute to something bigger."
Indeed, even his small local shows have won praise from several of his favorite touring acts, including his heroes, Insane Clown Posse, and Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony, Boondox and the Kottonmouth Kings, said Hartzke.
He's even played to capacity crowds with bands such as ICP, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Grave Plott and more, and he and Davis are known to party with other members of the underground music label Psychopathic Records, he said.
As he spoke, he glanced at game stations that rested in a far corner -- from the newest Playstation console to a vintage Atari 2600. Grunge rocker Nirvana's fi rst record, "Bleach," is tacked to one wall above a novelty mirror with Good Charlotte printed in red ink.
His eclectic decor refl ects his ever-evolving taste and musical infl uences, he said.
"I started out as the worst punk band ever, a real garage rock wannabe," he said with a laugh. "It's a fluke that I put a rap beat behind it one day, and wow, suddenly people liked it. We're morphing as we go along."
Jennifer Chancellor 581-8346 jennifer.chancellor@tulsaworld.com
event
with openers Paul Wall, Ill Bill, TripC and more
When Doors 7 p.m. Friday
Where Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.
Tickets $30 in advance, $32 day of show, $34 at the door; available at Reasor's, Starship Records, Cain's box office, by phone at (866) 443- 8849 and online at www.tulsaworld. com/gettix.
Online www.tulsaworld.com/Cains www.tulsaworld.com/TripC
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Source: Tulsa World
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