Keene, New Hampshire; underground hip-hop music — most people would struggle to find the connection.
But reporter Dan Trudeau has the story of one Keene native who spent his New Hampshire youth writing rhymes … and his early adult years bringing his raps to crowds across the country.
Track: If you ran across Adam Arnone outside the Peterborough library or wandering the aisles at Roy's market, you probably wouldn't look twice.
He's an unassuming looking 28-year-old guy... average height, white, wire-rimmed glasses, close cropped hair.
Nat Sound: Crowd talking — slow fade under track
There is little there to tell you you're looking at a powerhouse (seems kinda strong…is he a powerhouse?) in the world of underground hip hop music.
Nat Sound: Arnone rapping on stage, fade under AX
AX1: It's like the cliche hip-hop story, but in a very bizarre setting.
Track: Arnone... or Adeem (pronounced Eh-Dee-Em) as he's known on stage... grew up in Keene.
But today he's the emcee at the head of hip-hop outfit named Glue.
The three-piece group has sold tens of thousands of records in their four years together.
They've been winning fans through an intimate, up-beat ethic that’s created a devoted following.
AX2: Spreading, we call it, the nice guy gospel, just getting people to be nicer to each other. And that's what I dig about being on these stages and getting people to all come together to make a dope show.
Track: Surrounded by a rural, small-town milieu, Arnone gravitated toward the very urban art form at a young age.
He says his passion made him stick out in a place where most of his classmates listened to country music.
And he faced some skepticism from folks who thought it unlikely that a white kid from Keene could be a rapper.
But by and large, he says, his hometown nurtured his ambition.
AX3: When I started rapping it was just at parties. It was almost like a novelty because no one else where I was at was rapping, which I didn't necessarily like. So whenever I would rap, it became a much bigger thing than it really was.
Nat Sound: (Fade up from under AX3): Tell a friend what you heard, the Glue is on the way with a budget of zero and 50 shows to play. It's the same old story and it needs to be told, from the Orange County sun to the northeast cold. You can get the violence from someone else, right here we seek experiments within ourselves. We got a lot to say... a lot to say... but even more to do... more to do... we got two minutes left... two minutes left... and then it's up to you... up to you.
Track: Adam memorized songs by RUN DMC and the Beastie Boys and began writing his own rhymes in class, struggling to finish his lessons.
He rapped at the prom and organized shows at the local soup kitchen.
As his rapping chops grew, Arnone started traveling farther and farther a field.
In 1999, he took a fateful trip to the renowned Scribble Jam hip-hop festival in Cincinnati, where he made a quick name for himself in the obscure world of battle rap.
AX4: Scribble Jam was my first real battle and somehow I won. I really don't remember how... I don't know. I somehow got the crowd on my side. I landed like a really good line and that was that. That was the beginning of it.
Track: Battle rap involves two rappers standing across from each other on stage, hurling rhyming insults back and forth, playing to the audience who act as judges.
(Do we have any examples?)
It’s a behavior that seems uncharacteristic for the affable Arnone, but he was really good at it.
He won at Scribble Jam again three years later, and to this day is the only emcee to ever win the tournament twice.
That makes him a folk hero of sorts on the Internet and at live shows.
He looks back on those days with embarrassed appreciation.
AX5: It's like professional wrestling. The same way that mainstream rap is. You put on this front, and you know, those wrestlers don't want to hurt the other guy. They just want to put on a show. But that's why I stopped. I didn't find any use in it.
Track: After his second win in 2002, Arnone hooked up with producer Marco Jacobo and DJ Dan Hargraves to form Glue.
The collaboration was an instant fit, and their friendship… coupled with his momentum from Scribble Jam… prompted Arnone to leave the comfortable confines of New Hampshire and pursue music full time.
AX6: just needed to leave Keene. So I just sold everything that I could that I owned, and I just put the rest in my friend's attic or in another friend's basement. Dan, DJDQ, Dan Glue, came to Keene and picked me up. So with just like a backpack full of clothes, I took off.
Nat Sound: Arnone on record: Keene will always be there as my heaven in the trees, and I’ll always be back in autumn just to see those leaves. Born to walk the world looking for the unknown, I figure everywhere I go I’m on my way back home. (Fade under)
Track: In the years since that initial break, Arnone and his Glue band mates have performed in every state except Alaska...
They spent the summer of 2004 on the Warped Tour... following the big bands' tour buses in a Honda Civic...
And they've landed a contract with Fat Beats Records... an outpost for independent hip hop
with a Sony distribution deal.
And after three years, Arnone’s back in New Hampshire…
He just moved to Peterborough with his fiancée… close to family and the place that supported him in his youth.
AX7: Every time Glue comes back there, it's just packed. You've got people from like 60 years old to like eighth grade. And the local paper does something on it every time. So we get a lot of love.
Sound: Keene New Hampshire’s making noise like this…
Outcue: For NHPR News, I’m Dan Trudeau in Boston.
