‘The Best Kept Secret’ hip-hop show brings sequel to The Grand
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NEW ULM -- Last November, one of the best-kept secrets in New Ulm was leaked during a hip-hop concert.
That secret: New Ulm and the surrounding region have many hip-hop fans and followers.
The New Ulm American Legion hosted a hip-hop show called "The Best Kept Secret" featuring seven local hip-hop artists. The event drew a large crowd, showing the city once again embraced another style of music.
This Saturday, at The Grand Center for Arts and Culture, Gunner Beckering, who performs under the stage name GunnerB, hopes to blow the lid off this secret again with a sequel: "The Best Kept Secret Part 2."
This show will feature performances from nine different hip-hop artists including GunnerB, BELTZ, FlowFanatic, Just Keep it Going, Bipolxr, Beazy, Dr. Goodie, Luke Staude and Hazardos.
Beckering said all of the performers are from the region. Jack Fairbairn, who performs under the name FlowFanatic is a New Ulm native. He played at the previous show in November. BELTZ is also from New Ulm and some performers -- Just Keep it Going and Luke Staude -- are Martin Luther College (MLC) students.
Beckering said he is excited to have MLC represented in the concert because this concert is the last weekend before commencement. He's hopeful the show will bring in the college crowd to The Grand.
The Grand is well-known as a musical venue, with performances in the Kaberet most Fridays.
Tamara Furth said that technically, this will be the first hip-hop show hosted at The Grand, but it isn't the first time hip-hop was performed at the venue.
Beckering, as GunnerB, has performed at previous Open Mic nights that were well received.
"We are excited to host this," Furth said. There is a desire to expand musical offerings. "We want this to be a space for all ages and demographics."
Beckering said one of the things he loves about New Ulm is its love of music and musical history. The Grand has strong ties to history and music and he feels his brand of hip-hop music will fit the venue.
"My hip-hop is respectful to the space," he said. One of his goals is to remove the stigma associated with hip-hop," he said. "I want people to understand it is not dangerous."
Beckering believes hip-hop can be message-oriented and he tries to use his music to raise awareness for issues close to his heart. The last hip-hop show they raised $1,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
For this show, they are raising money for a Mankato homeless outreach program called "The Reach" through a silent auction.
Beckering said The Reach is a program for kids ages 14-24 in Mankato struggling with homelessness.
"I was in that state at that age and I want to help kids out of it," he said.
"The Best Kept Secret 2" show begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6. Tickets for the event are available at presale for $10 and at the door for $15. Beckering warned tickets to the show were going fast. As there is limited space at The Grand, only 70 tickets are available. Around 30 presale tickets have already been sold.