Milwaukee has a hip-hop scene ... and it is GOOD.

This is a statement that some of you reading this might already know. This is also a statement that might seem like it's out of left field to those who don't actively participate in the consumption of local Hip-Hop, or hip-hop in general.

To those of you who already know me and know what I do, please allow me some time right now to introduce myself to the great readers of OnMilwaukee.com that may not be so familiar with me.

My name is JC Poppe and I am a man who has dedicated the last eight months to covering the Milwaukee hip-hop scene in a very in depth way. I accomplished this through my blog called Milwaukee UP in which I generally posted more than 20 times a month about the different things going on within the scene.

I've covered album releases, mix tape releases, single releases, shows, interviews, reactions to overzealous grandstanding politicians, etc. ... all in an effort to make sure the crop of talent that some consider to be the best pool of artists Milwaukee has ever had gracing the microphone or MPC was catalogued properly, essentially to add to "pot" and NOT to undermine or circumvent the work done by the great publications that came well before me and will be here long after I have moved on to something else.

I have also been, or currently am, a pseudo manager / promotions specialist to several artists in Milwaukee that tries to get features on said artist's music...not only in local media, but in national and international blogs, papers, magazines, etc., as well.

Over the past year I've been getting more and more involved in the community in the form of coordinating charitable events, most notably a concert series called "Hip-Hop Hates" which puts together some of my favorite performers on the same bill, and we throw a party at the Cactus Club to raise money for something important. We just did a benefit for Breast Cancer awareness that was a great success.

Lastly, I myself am an artist. I put out my first album last summer to mostly positive reviews and I am currently working on two new albums that will both be out in December.

I believe that all of these things give me a unique perspective on Milwaukee hip-hop and my ability to maintain working relationships with the artists of the scene gives me more awareness at times of what is going on, but admittedly NOT all the time.

I have decided to team up with OnMilwaukee.com to continue my writing because it's time to get more eyes on what the Milwaukee hip-hop scene is doing. As a niche blog I did fine, but the opportunity to reach tens of thousands of eyes, potentially, versus hundreds every time I write about something seems to coincide completely with my goals as a writer of such a specific entity ... the goal of course being to create more awareness.

So, there you have it. I sincerely hope you enjoy what you hear and read. I know that it's not possible for any one person to enjoy everything, but I encourage you to keep checking back with an open mind because it's entirely possible that you might like the majority of it. Anything is possible.

If you have any tips, hints, tricks, letters of love or malice, etc., please don't hesitate to drop me an e-mail at grownmancollective@gmail.com. The original form of Milwaukee UP is going to stay up as an archive of what's been done up to today and I strongly encourage you to go back and read the interviews and listen to the music that is there because there is a wealth of information to sift through. I promise you, it's worth your time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, thank you to the people who have been keeping up with Milwaukee UP and will be joining me here, and thank you to all the new people who will give Milwaukee hip-hop a shot via this column.