The Side Bar: John Pate's Online Hip-Hop Community Shifts the Culture Forward
Side Bar Hip Hop creator John Pate working on his music. Credit: John Pate
After consistently joining in healthy debates with former high school classmates and friends of friends discussing topics in hip-hop via social media, St. Louis Native and on-the-rise rapper, John Pate brainstormed the idea to launch an online hip-hop community for fellow hip-hop fans to talk about all things enriched in the culture. John’s brainchild was created three years ago.
Since its inception The Side Bar has already garnered more than 40,000 members including fans, supporters and artists from all over the world. In return, the group sparked the business endeavors SideBarHipHop, a brand dedicated to discovering unsigned talented and Side Bar Media Co., a graphic design agency specializing in illustration for cover art, logo design, flyers and more. Read more below to learn why John created Side Bar Hip Hop, the group’s impact on his music and why he makes it his duty to always represent St. Louis.
What inspired you to start the Side Bar Hip Hop Facebook Group?
Initially, I wanted to give myself a platform to speak hip-hop with people at a high level. I would always have these moments where I wanted to talk about things in hip-hop, such as specific music videos and albums. I never really had people around me that I could discuss it with because they weren’t as passionate about hip-hop as I was. I created the group to gather likeminded individuals that knew and loved the culture just as much as I do. It started as networking to talk and get to know other people. From there it grew. At first it was just high school classmates or friends of friends that joined then it started to build with more and more people. Next thing I knew a couple months later there were thousands of people in there.
SideBarHipHop brand logo. Credit: John Pate
June 20th made three years that the group has been active. How do you feel about the progression of the group from then to now?
It’s been crazy to see the success from the group because when I first started it, I never pictured it becoming as big as it is now. I thought it was going to be something small where it was just me and maybe 50-60 people talking about hip-hop online. I never imagined it getting this big and even branching off into other things.
We started the brand SideBarHipHop, which gives artists a platform to be heard. Through the page, we release music videos and provide mixing and mastering services to artists. The group also birthed another brand, Side Bar Media Co, which specializes in graphic design services, such as cover art, logo design and more.
The group grew to be something completely different from what I imagined happening. It’s crazy to see because it’s so many people from around the world that’s affected by it. People have gotten into relationships from the group. They met in Side Bar and are on two different ends of the world of the country. Now they’re engaged!
As a hip-hop fan, yourself, what are some of your favorite debates in the group that you’ve participated in or seen from afar?
I think one of my favorite debates to see is the discussion surrounding the older generation vs the younger generation. Sometimes things could go left or sometimes it can end up being a situation where both can get each other hip on different things. You can see somebody that’s mad young like 18 having a conversation with someone that’s 40+ and they’re talking about Biz Markie. Or you can see a younger person putting an older person onto Young Thug and then they realize that his music is nice. It’s all perspective. I love seeing everyone come together and introducing each other to artists and music they probably wouldn’t know or talk about outside of the group.
I know you’re also an artist yourself. What influence does the group have on your music?
The group holds a major influence over my music, 100%. At one point I didn’t want to rap anymore. With the group being filled with artists, seeing artists from all over the world that could rap extremely well inspired me to continue with my music. I’ll see an artist drop something on Freestyle Friday and I’m in awe like, ‘Yo this is crazy’. Or just having the opportunity to have a platform like Side Bar where your voice matters is inspiring within itself. I used to release tracks and it would get views from friends. To be able to release something in Side Bar and receive input from people all over and them tell me that they f**k with my music is on another level of inspiration. As an artist having different opinions on your projects is always good to see. It’s good to see where you rank amongst other people. It’s a lot of talented people in there to keep me motivated.
How would you describe your sound when it comes to your music?
I honestly wouldn’t even consider myself an artist-artist like that. I’m just kind of one of those people that will drop a freestyle here and there for the sake of doing it. It’s always been in the back of my mind to do a project one day. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. If I had to compare my sound, I would say its more along the lines of a Cole, Drake, or Boogie type artist. It’s relatively conscious in a sense cause I’m talking about real things that affect my life and the people around me, but it’s also me doing it in a way that’s slick. I like for my music to be told in that way so that people can be like, ‘Yo, that’s dope how he said that’ and just really appreciating the words. I’m always big on how I say something.
When did you first fall in love with hip-hop?
It would probably be when I first heard College Dropout, specifically when I heard “Slow Jamz” and “Through the Wire.” Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and they always played old records. I would hear Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and other artists with similar music. On the other hand, I spent a lot of time with my uncle who was heavy into hip-hop, mainly gangsta rap. When I heard Kanye West, it sounded like the two worlds were meshed together with soulful samples. On “Slow Jamz” when I heard the Luther sample with him saying, ‘Are you gonna be, Are you gonna be,’ I remember thinking to myself this is the s**t that I listen to when I’m in the car with my grandmother.
It was mad familiar. I couldn’t really understand or appreciate the gangsta rap’s content but when I listened to Kanye it was him putting some s**t together that was more relatable. It may have not been gangsta, but I still appreciated how slick he was with his lyrics. It just felt good. It felt real good and that was when I fell in love when I heard College Dropout. Hearing that song helped with sculpting and molding me into the artist that I am now when it comes to wordplay. I love the way it made me feel. It was pure!
Why did you decide to incorporate the Freestyle Fridays element into the group?
I noticed there was a need for Freestyle Fridays when people asked for it. At first the group was about discussions and people just discussing what was already happening in the culture. As more and more artists were being added to the group, they expressed how they wanted to be heard too. I figured there were already enough people in the group to include it, so I said, let’s do it! I started picking a beat every week for people to hop on. Most of the time it’s an old school classic that I pick.
When it first started it went crazy. People were damn near going viral when they dropped their freestyle in the group. There was so much love being shown and it felt like a real community. Everybody was supporting each other, and people would share the hell out of it. Artists appreciated that because they knew they could come to the Side Bar to make a name for themselves and gain new fans. It was really about giving artists a platform to be heard and for other artists to get inspired by that. You see other people going hard and getting love, so that inspires you to say let me write something and drop it in the group.
SideBarMixtape Track Listing Credit: John Pate
What other things outside of Freestyle Friday does Side Bar do that sets it apart from other hip-hop communities?
For sure the Bar4Bar challenge is something we do that sets us apart from other hip-hop communities. It’s a challenge where we find 32 artists and set them up like an NCAA bracket where we’ll match them up against people, give them a beat and they’ll go against somebody. Then we post it side-by-side and have judges to vote. Whoever wins advances to the next round. It’s really like an NCAA bracket of artists going head-to-head and its one person left standing in the end. The winner will receive a cash prize, free promotion from The Side Bar, a gift card, t-shirts and more. I think that’s one thing I haven’t seen any other hip-hop community do. In addition to winning prizes, you’re also gaining new fans because there’s so many people in tune for the Bar4Bar challenge. Literally hundreds of people are watching it.
Another thing that sets us apart is the SideBarMixtape Vol.1, a compilation project that was released May 2017. I had people in the group send over their music and we received about 300 songs. I went through them and broke them down to the best of the best of the best and put out a cohesive project for people all over the world to listen to. The mixtape trended on DatPiff’s What’s Hot page alongside industry projects like Moneybagg Yo and Tory Lanez. It did extremely well! These are a few things that set us apart from everybody else. I feel like that’s what makes this community special.
One debate that I often see in the group is who are the best top five rappers of all time dead or alive. Who’s in your top five?
I would say hands down 100% JAY-Z is the GOAT, no question. That’s my number one. My number two would be the first three albums Kanye West. I say his first three albums since they helped mold me to become the person and artist that I am today. I’m not a fan of Yeezy or Yeezus or any of that crazy s**t, just Louis Vuitton Don, that n***a would be my number two. Number three would probably be Cole. My number four would probably be Drake and number five would be Common.
Nipsey Hussle’s death left a major mark on the music industry particularly hip-hop due to his humanitarian work and the legacy he left behind. How did his death affect the Side Bar?
I would say it affected our community just as much as it affected the world. It was kind of like wow. It was shocking as hell. Initially when we first heard about it, it was when we first heard about him getting shot. It’s like f***d up to say, but n****s get shot all the time and survive especially rappers that are out helping in the communities they came up in. Typically, they get shot and they always bounce back, but when we heard he died it just f****d everybody up. Everybody was just like what. It was unbelievable.
To take it away from the community and talk about how I felt about it, it was disheartening as f**k because he was a black man chasing something, trying to build a name for himself and just make something of himself.
It’s like no matter the good you do somebody can strip your life away and it’s f****d up that always seems to be the narrative with our leaders that look like us. If it’s not the government or whatever you straight got somebody that looks like you that can take your life away from you for pretty much nothing. That’s super sad and discouraging as a black man to see. It really f****d me up a lot and I know a lot of people in the community that felt the same way. We talked about it.
Since you’re from St. Louis, what type of impact would you say St. Louis or the culture of St. Louis has on The Side Bar?
I think coming from St. Louis we just automatically have a chip on our shoulder just cause we’re so overlooked, but I feel like the culture in St. Louis is something that everybody should experience. It’s like we have our own world. We’ve effected a lot of things at a bigger level that people don’t credit us for. I feel like with anything I do I have this chip on my shoulder where I have something to prove and I must put that St. Louis stamp on it. That’s like for The Side Bar Mixtape there wasn’t no way I wasn’t going to include more St. Louis artists than anybody. That’s mandatory to me. We deserve that look especially with a platform that’s coming from the city.
I would feel like I’m doing the city dirty if I didn’t give that look. I have St. Louis as the cover art for the project. People from all over the world saw the project and they saw St. Louis on the front of it. There were about 15 artists on there and like seven or eight of them are from St. Louis. The project gave a whole different sense of pride since we’re so overlooked. I have a chip on my shoulder where I need to, to let you know everything that I’m doing, we’re doing is from St. Louis and I will always make sure I stamp St. Louis on it at all times.
How does it feel being from St. Louis having a platform like yours garner so much success with more than 40.000 members?
Its humbling man. When we first started selling merchandise for the brand, I always told people to snap a picture, send it to me and tell me where they’re from once it shipped to them. That was really the wow moment for me because people would take pictures of themselves and they would be all the way in f*****g Iceland, Norway or Argentina, just these places I would probably never go to. It’s super humbling cause these are all ideas I came up with in my bedroom, in the shower or in my car in St. Louis. These were all ideas I came up with that grew to become something I never imagined it ever be.
These were literally things I was doing just for the sake of doing because I wanted to talk hip-hop and it grew into something that’s affecting people from all over the world. It’s unbelievable. I can’t even put it into words. I still can’t even fathom it a lot of times.
What do fans and supports of Side Bar have to look forward to in the future?
For sure SideBarMixtape Vol.2. I can’t put a date on when that’s gone drop. It has to be super dope! The first one was received so well. I can’t half a** the second one at all. F**k Lotus Vol.2 will also be dropping soon. Lotu$ James is a Canadian artist that I’ve been working with a lot. We dropped a project last year. It did really well. That’s for sure coming by the end of the year. I may or may not be dropping my own EP this year. No name or anything like that, I’ve been working on music lately.
We did a festival where we curated the talent for it about a year and a half ago with live entertainment out in Dallas. Another opportunity just came up for us to work with this company in Atlanta to do the same thing. We’ll be curating the talent by finding people via social media that are dope and giving them the chance to perform out in Atlanta. So that’s what we got coming up so far. Its always new things coming up and new ideas.
Why should people join The Side Bar?
I feel like The Side Bar is the place to be for people that love the culture and enjoy getting hip to new music. There’s people with different taste from all over the world. There’s artists I never heard of that I got hip to from The Side Bar and now they’re actually some of my favorites. I feel like a lot of people have shared that same experience. It’s a community that does a lot of different things that really capture and embody the essence of where this all started at.
On our Instagram page I always highlight up-and-coming artists and the projects they’re working on. I do the same thing on our business page, sharing new talent. It’s also a place for artists looking to build their fanbase. You definitely want to promote with us. We’ve got crazy numbers for artists. EJ Carter has literally done millions of views on The Side Bar. A-Game has gotten hundreds and thousands of views. Both are St. Louis artists. It’s just the place to be. Side Bar Hip Hop is the s**t! It’s the thing that you need to be tapped into if you’re an artist or a fan of the culture.