Diggin in the crates was an event that was created by Columbus, Ohio’s own J Rawls. Rawls is not only a DJ, musician and producer, he is also a professor at The Ohio State University. J Rawls who was born Jason Daniel came into the world on February 27^th, 1974. He came into the underground Hip Hop scene in the late 1990’s contributing to projects such as Black Star’s debut album Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Stars.

J Rawls has collaborated with some of your favorite artists locally and nationally.  He just did a Native Sons collaboration that features Talib Kweli, Busta Rhymes, The Roots, De La Soul and more. Throughout his career, Rawls has developed a great quality of work with his solo albums The Essence of J. Rawls (2001), The Hip Hop Affect (2011), and The Legacy (2014).

Now Rawls directs the Hip-Hop Ohio Patton Education Program at The Ohio State University Patton College of Education.

J Rawls stated, “Hip Hop is a culture that needs to be studied. I feel people can learn a lot of where Hip Hop originates from and who all has made those contributions. This is why I am doing the event of Diggin in the crates.”

Diggin in the crates is the first of many events that J Rawls will be putting together where he will bring special guests from the industry and speak about the culture.

On Tuesday, February 18^th Diggin in the crates made its debut at the Wexner Center with a special guest Easy Mo Bee.

Easy Mo Bee born Osten S. Harvey Jr on December 8^th, 1965, is one of the greatest legendary producers in Hip Hop. He has done production for the late great Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Big Daddy Kane and so many more. Born in Bedstuy Brooklyn, he began producing after hearing music by Ced Gee of Ultramagnetic MC’s and Marley Marl.

I asked him what was his favorite beat that he ever did, and he stated, “Busta Rhymes Everything remains raw.” He brought his beat machine and the hard disks with the beats from Biggie Smalls, Tupac and Busta Rhymes. The audience was in deep focus just watching him press buttons showing what he did to make that beat.

“I remember when I went into my manager’s office, and she gave me a list of what artists not to sample. She basically told me to be more creative and not be so loopy.”  With her telling him this made him one of the greatest producers of all times. I asked him how he keeps up with the changes in rap music and he said, “I have tried to make other beats like trap or drill beats, and I realized that it is was not me, so I am going to stick with what I am good at.”

After the event, there was an after party at the legendary Roots Records with the legendary Mix Master Ice of UTFO, DJ Bern and Easy Mo Bee.