Hip-hop, so prevalent now in our culture's commercials, sports, and language. (Whasssaaaahhhp?"), is still relatively untouchable in the corporate world. Death Row, No Limit, and Roc-A-Fella are all top-of-the-line successful independent labels because they not only scoop up what the majors don't know, but they have no problems (financially or politically) with putting out generally controversial material. Carl "Boo" Harris and his Phat Groov Recordings is trying to build Chicago's rap community from the inside and aiming initially for local togetherness before national prominence. Chicago's hip hop is, in a word, a conundrum. For the past decade we've put out the artists - Common, Do or Die, Crucial Conflict, Twista - but the rap spotlight fails to shine on the city. Outkast and Nelly brought lesser regions of the country to prominence- Atlanta and (say what?) St. Louis-though even our own R. Kelly, the word "Chicago" was forgettable as last year's Cubs season. Carl "Boo" Harris, founder of Phat Groov (formerly SubCity Records), is willing to take his chances on Chicago. After attending Howard University in Washington D.C. - where many of Bad Boy Records' current staff were his class mates - he returned to his hometown feeling he had what it took to help build a successful roster [and record company]. The trouble was, he didn't have a scene. "I figured that when I graduated college," explains Harris, " I had friends on the music side of things and had met some of the "who's-who" of the [music] business at school, I figured I'd apply the similar business plans in Chicago. I came back to Chicago out of naivete, people [in the business] out in California [and New York] had better ideas of how the industry works [in general] and I had a good idea as to what was going on in Chicago". Past misjudgments aside, Harris is now poised to break out, having scored a number one hit in the [industry trade magazines] Gavin and College Music Journal charts with a song by Wayne Live. He's already worked out a national distribution deal, thematically constructed around the same issues as Rawkus Records (Mos Def, Talib Kweli). The debut release from Nova C.A.I.N., Diplomatic Immunity, should hit stores by early May followed by an Infinite INC album as well as a compilation LP from Diamond Kut. "Right when I started, Notorious B.I.G swung the whole industry into the playa vibe," Harris says. "Everybody [record companies] wanted something gangsta, something killer" [we offered up something different]. Harris also made it a big point to have learned the business side of the music industry so that he could help his friends, "because I'm not in it just for the money," is what he wants people to know. -May issue of Illinois Entertainment (Midwest Music Magapaper) Indie Label Spot Light