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Hip Hop in the 239: Being seen in the Scene

Couples dance and make out on the dance floor at The Reserve night club in Fort Myers during a 420 Celebration on April 20, 2011.

Couples dance and make out on the dance floor at The Reserve night club in Fort Myers during a 420 Celebration on April 20, 2011.

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  • Vonbitt Robinson, right, and Angelica Tirado hang out after hours outside of The Reserve night club in Fort Myers after a 420 Celebration. 'There's so much to being successful in hip hop and it's not just having talent,' said Scrap 'Scrappy' Jackson, a D.J. and program director at 105.5 The Beat. 'It's having swagger, having a certain person carry that talen, team of people around you, create your own movement if you will, a street team and viral mediat to quantify to a record label.'
  • T.T. Thompson, TimWes' cousin, shows off his tattoo during a video shoot in Fort Myers.
  • Manuel Cox, a.k.a. Complex, passes his drink of choice off the stage during Fear The Chausso 5 at Squarehead Venue in Naples. Squarehead was a short-lived venue in the industrial area of Naples that promoted live music. This was a rare occasion for Fort Myers and Naples hip hop artists to come together for one show.
  • 'Black lights producing harps from heaven.' Light filters in from outside revealing the silhouette of Robert Pigozzi, a.k.a. 'Wizeass,' as he records a mix tape in a smoky haze at the home of Ernie Bordon, a.k.a. 'EbGb,' in East Naples.
  • A group of concertgoers show off their swag for a photo at a Fat Joe concert at Loft 59 night club in Naples. The crowd paid $50 for tickets and waited until 1 a.m. for Fat Joe to perform for about a half hour.
  • A Fort Myers hip hop artist unfolds a dollar bill that holds his weed during a video shoot.
  • Promoter Shannon Fuller, background, puts on a bikini car wash to help promote hip hop artist Theodore Wilson, left, a.k.a 'Hylo Griffix,' album 'Full Clip' at a gas station on U.S. 41 in San Carlos Park, Fla. Melissa Rogers, second from left, came to be a bikini girl, help wash cars and support her friend and his pursuit of his music.
  • Couples dance and make out on the dance floor at The Reserve night club in Fort Myers during a 420 Celebration on April 20, 2011.
  • Cars and money are used as status symbols in a lot of hip hop music. 'Some of us get caught up in the clothes and materialistic stuff,' said Fort Myers rapper, Big Goon. 'That sometimes sidetracks us from where we need to go in life.'
  • Juelz Jammall, left, and Daniel Holmes, both 19, battle during a Mic Check Monday at 105.5 The Beat radio station in Fort Myers. Scrap Jackson, the program director for 105.5 The Beat radio station in Fort Myers, announced on air that he would allow local artists to come 'spit a verse' that he would then play it on the air. Overwhelmed with the response, he decided to start something called Mic Check Mondays where local artists freestyle battle in 16-week competition. The winner was given the opportunity to sit down with studio executives and an opportunity to learn what it takes to make it in the industry. 'Everyone wants be hip hop artists, said Jackson. 'Let's say one percent of them is super, but that one per cent in Southwest Florida is not getting mentored, not getting the door opened for them, not getting the opportunity that otherwise New York cat would get.'
  • Sean Dandridge, from Muzikpro Entertainment, background, Shannon Fuller of Takeoff Productions, both hip hop support businesses, and others pop champagne at The Reserve night club in Fort Myers during a 420 Celebration.
  • Girls pose for photos at the Ford Entertainment Awards Show at Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers. The show is put on by Chelle Chevrin who runs Ford Entertainment Magazine, a hip hop magazine based in Fort Myers that features local hip hop and R&B talent and culture.
  • Fat Joe performs at Loft 59 night club in Naples. The crowd paid $50 for tickets and waited until 1 a.m. for Fat Joe to perform for a half hour.

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