The Diatribe

Some years ago, while living in Washington D.C., eye had a dream of standing between two elongated buildings by a large body of water with a fountain. In the dream he saw a fire burning upon the building to his left and on the surface of the water in front of that building. Though very vivid, it was a v hiery short dream and quickly forgotten. Several years later, upon returning home to Nashville, he came to visit the Downtown Nashville Library on Church St. As he ascended the staircase, he frose on the last set of steps approaching the third floor when the grandiose painting suspended on the wall before him caught his eye. "That place... I... I was there... I dreampt of that... place..." In utter amazement, he presumed to ask every patron in passing if they had any clue as to what this painting was. Finally, a librarian told him it was The Centennial Exposition, which occured in 1897. A date containing ame interchangeable digits of eye's Birth year, 1987. The experience drew eye out to Centennial Park, where The Centennial Exposition once was. Though many of the buildings no longer stand that did then, the lake Watauga still exists to this day. After meditating in the spot where he once stood in his dream, eye began to come to the park regularly as well as the book store across the street on West End, where he met Exavier Quinn, one of the original founding members of the Nashville based Hip Hop group the Diatribe. The first time they united they began writing a song, afterwhich eye busted a flow and XQ asked in surprise, "You freestyle?" After hours of acquainting eachother through free verse, Exavier invited eye to "The Sunday Night Cipher With The Most High", an event that he and his partner (and other original founding member of The Diatribe) Mountainwalker hosted almost ritualistically, every Sunday. eye showed up the same day as Jerzey. The ciphers were still rather small with about ten to fifteen people attending. At that point it was only XQ, MW, Rob Coop, BJ, Rico, Roy, and Mariel. And so it was that eye began to attend regularly and as time went along, The Diatribe began to acquire more talent, and people began to come from all over to see these amazing musicians. The original idea was to just throw a vinyl record with Hip Hop instrumentals on the turntables and let everyone freestyle. Exavier Quinn would bounce vinyls back and forth, djing as the night went along with a collection of records he had tediously sampled and carefully picked out on his own. As time progressed, more and more people began to come and see the event; contribute to the event. Mountainwalker would make organic pizzas from scratch for whoever was hungry. Violinists, trumpeters, Harmonica players, saxophonists, guitarists, solo artists, guest features, and an eclectic mix of interested viewrs came to be a part of the Diatribe. Now the place packs out every Sunday and shows get bigger and bigger every time! There is an energy channeling through the Diatribe that can not be fully described honestly and in justice. It is a spiritual experience for most anyone who walks through the doors of the Summit on Sunday nights; an awakening of sorts. Shows are a more like a party with so many styles and waves of energy that grab you by the molecules and shake you from the inside till you have to vibe with the tribe. It was a life changing experience for eye when he came to be a part of the tribe and in his life journey, it is still changing him every day.