We are a collective of hip hop and theater artists. Our mission is the creation and production of theater influenced by the hip hop aesthetic that tell seldom-told stories of the community.
Rhymes over Beats was launched in March 2014. Founding members Chi Ill ( MC ) and Patrick Blake ( Playwright) had written a hip hop musical (Freedom). Freedom tells the story of an innocent man, arrested, tried, convicted, but later exonerated.
The reaction to industry readings of Freedom, were positive, and we were overwhelmed with actor, director, and hip hop artist friends who wanted to be a part of it.
After many discussions we realized that there was enough talent to create a dozen musicals and plays about life as it is and was lived in the urban community, and too much for everyone to participate in just Freedom. Patrick started thinking about creating a theatrical company that would be able to provide the space for everyone in the community to create work that spoke to them.
Because we are a theater company whose focus was on hip hop we chose a name that not only describes hip hop music but also described how Greek drama was structured three thousand years ago at the birth of western civilization – rhymes over beats.