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Basementalism is a specialty show on the University of Colorado's Radio 1190. Radio 1190 was born in 1996 when Jacor Communications donated KVCU (then KBCO)'s equipment and transmitter to the University of Colorado. The Foundation then turned over the equipment to a small group of students who at that time ran a small campus only station known as KBCU. After two years of negotiating, planning, and implementing, KVCU went on the air on November 4th, 1998.

The station began taking on volunteers who would use their airtime to play their favorite types of music. Tuesday nights 9-11 pm was the scheduled hip-hop specialty show. The show began as a simple average college radio show, however it was the vision of Mike "Adict" Merriman, with the help of KVCU volunteers Infinity and Viscous, to turn the Tuesday night show into what is today now known as Basementalism. The vision was to create a hip-hop radio show that would uncover and educate the often overlooked underground of hip-hop left in the shadows of mainstream commercial rap music. Focusing on the positive elements of hip-hop, Basementalism began to expose new talent and music in the national underground hip-hop scene, and push forth a cohesive Colorado Hip-Hop Scene that would bring together all elements of Hip-Hop (Emceeing, Grafitti, B-Boying / Breakdancing, and DJing).

On Air Personalities

At first Basementalism was hosted solely by Merriman. He was joined by Colorado Springs native and up and coming MC Nate "Resonant" Harvey. Harvey was part of a group called The Procussions who would later release an album on "Basementalism Records". Adict and Res became fixtures on the Colorado airwaves and began enlisting the help of a local graffiti writer who went by "Nime", world famous scratch DJ, DJ Vajra, a CU undergrad named Jeff Hlad who also went by "Pious", and Jesse "DJ Mung" Reim. At this time Mike "Adict" would also go on to become the Student General Manager of KVCU. In this period Basementalism saw short lived syndications in a few countries including Canada and South Africa. In 2000, Adict spent a year studying in Japan. In Adict's absence, Nime and Pious took over a lion's share of the hosting duties. In the fall of 2000, Christian "Judge Mental" Arcand joined the crew. Judge's main duty was writing down the playlist of records that the DJs would spin. Nime and Pious eventually let Judge read the playlists on the air. Soon after Judge joined up, Sean "LazyEyez" Choi joined the crew as a street teamer. After a wave of departures, graduations, and an overall upheaval of staff, Judge and Lazy became the permanent new co-hosts and have been the voices of the show ever since. Along the way, Rachel "Rockelle" Romero, Chris "B Money" Behm-Meyer and DJ Dylan joined the crew and fill in for Judge or Lazy or occasionally both of them when necessary. Romero in particular has cemented herself as the female voice of reason to Judge and Lazy's wild theories on hip hop. In 2003, Masta Fuol from the Lyricist Lounge joined the crew as a part-time co-host. Loyal listeners agree that most of Basementalism's wildest episodes came in the Masta Fuol days.

DJ's

Basementalism features three hours of live mixing by three different DJs each hour. The following is a list of DJs who have appeard on Basementalism:

Colorado DJ's

Double U Thomas
Ichiro
Styles Davis
Destro
Idiom
Square
Enemy
Prominent
Low Key
Amen
Psycho
Andirexit
Tense
Mike Thunder
Rootz
Panther & Technic 9
Stretch
Dent
Deft
Skip Ripkin
Mercy One
Soul 45 Chicanos
Es-Nine
Phi (aka DJ Itch)
One Twenty

National DJ's

Vadim
First Rate
Neil Armstrong (5th Platoons)
Daddy Dog (5th Platoons)
Kid Koala
Melo-D
Kico (Platter Pirates)
Spryte 1 (Platter Pirates)
Spooky
Ming & FS.

BASEMENTALISM MIXTAPE VOL. 1: "TOO DAMN HYPE!"

In 2002, the Basementalism crew came out with a mixtape. Mixed by DJs Inka One and Thought, the mixtape featured exclusive tracks and freestyles from Murs, DJ Z-Trip, DJ Melo-D, Eyedea, and others. "TOO DAMN HYPE!" is currently out of circulation but could possibly be tracked down online.

BASEMENTALISM IN OTHER MEDIUMS

From 2004-2005 Basementalism was also featured in weekly segments on The Real Hip-Hop TV Show that broadcasted on Denver Public Access. Segments included live interviews with The Perceptionists, The Procussions, and DJs Q-Bert & Flare. Judge Mental also wrote hip hop music reviews for the Colorado Daily at this same time period.

BASEMENTALISM AND THE PROCUSSIONS/BASEMENTALISM RECORDS

In 2003 Mike "Adict" Merriman graduated from CU and moved to Los Angeles to manage The Procussions who had relocated there a year earlier. Stuck in a new city with hardly any connections, Adict created "Basementalism Records" as a platform to release the Procussion's debut LP "As Iron Sharpens Iron". The LP and subsequent touring around California caught the attention of Rawkus Records (once home to Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoah Monche, etc) who were in the process of rebuilding their label. They enlisted the Procussions to be one of the flagship acts on their label relaunch. The sophomore album, entitled "5 Sparrows for 2 Cents" has given the group a much larger audience than almost any hip-hop act from Colorado. Adict has also gone on to establish Basementalism Radio Promotions, servicing records to hundreds of DJs across the country and spreading music that Basementalism supports. Basementalism Radio Promotions has promoted albums for various hip-hop groups including Lightheaded, Braille, Time Machine, CL Smooth, DENT, and more.

BASEMENTALISM POLAND

From 2003 to the present, Basementalism has gone on to the worldwide Hip-Hop Radar. In 2003 Double U Thomas of Poland created what has become Basementalism Poland, a European branch of Basementalism. Basementalism Poland intially began as a way of translating Basementalism's website for the Polish audience. However, Double U Thomas went on to produce several radio shows throughout Poland, write several articles for Poland's Hip-Hop Magazines (including Klans), and produce and sponsor several hip-hop shows in Poland. Basementalism Poland has expanded to form it's own crew and mission. In the fall of 2005 Double U Thomas finally made his appearance at Basementalism's homebase in Colorado.

External links

• University of Colorado

References and Citations

• The Daily Camera "Sounds Of The Underground" By Aimee Heckel
• The Comprehensive History Of Basementalism by DJ LazyEyez
• The Westword "And You Don't Stop" By Laura Bond

• Articles lacking sources from December 2006