Brody & Choch

About this district: As the hip-hop youth of the 80's and 90's grew-up, their style of hip-hop faded out, but as post-modern critics predict, the old became cool again. In 2008 a NYC high school crew of old school hip-hop revivalist known as the Retro Kidz garnered a lot of mainstream media attention for their “bring the old school back” mission. While those in NYC focused more so on the old school hip-hop look, NC honed in on remixing the old school hip-hop sound for a new generation of fans. This CLT Hip-Hop District mixes the flava of Kid-N-Play, a dash of a Tribe Called Quest, and a couple of sprinkles of party-rocker mentality. Now, shake and stir. TAD DOW! You have an ample sonic helping of CLT Old Skool Cool.

Representatives: Brody & Choch

Headquaters: Kidnice Entertainment

Bio: Brothers Jordan Evans and Choch Evans, better known collectively as Brody & Choch, started their adventure into hip-hop with a stack of cassette tapes given to them by an older cousin.

“At one point he gave me a butt load of cassette tapes — Rakim, Mary J. Blige — he didn’t even ask me what kind of rap I listened to. Gang Starr, Tribe [Called Quest], to where I played the Tribe so much that the tape actually popped. I cried a little bit,” says Choch. --from Shutter 16

Once out of high school Brody & Choch began to live out scenes from the 90's hip-hop movie franchise House Party.

Brody & Choch were asked to host a 90's-themed talent show at North Mecklenburg High School in 2008 where the two had previously graduated. They ended up hosting the event as “The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Choch” and after that started getting requests to perform at house parties around the area. According to the brothers, their first album was more a product of necessity than anything else. After a few successful house party performances, where the two would essentially freestyle for an hour or two, people started asking where they could get more of that Brody & Choch sound. –from Shutter 16

In February 2010, Brody & Choch released that CLT Old Skool Cool sound on their The Boys Will Be Boys album. By 2011 the Charlotte-based entertainment company B.i.M. Music Group became sponsors of the Brody & Choch brand. They are now signed to Kidnice Entertainment. Last year also marked the first time the brothers took the CLT Old Skool Cool sound on the road with gigs at the CMJ Music Marathon, DC Rap Festival, and Barnstock.

With events like Radio Rehab occurring in Charlotte, hip-hop heads with an affinity for the “Hip-Hop Golden Era (1988-1992)” are now demanding more music tuned to their hip-hop ear. It seems like Brody & Choch arrived on the CLT Hip-Hop scene right on time.

Sonic Characteristics: (Audio | Video) Give-n-Go vocals, end stanza stress flow, party rap lyrics, party rocker themes, jazzy hip-hop beats, boom-bap production - CLTBlog.com

Throwing down startling and unexpected rhymes over sophisticated, loungey beats, Brody & Choch hew surprisingly close to the intelligent and socially aware tradition of alt hip-hop titans A Tribe Called Quest. - Creative Loafing

In a struggling Rap/Hip-Hop scene such as Charlotte NC, I reluctantly followed a recommendation to listen to Brody & Choch; however, I’m glad I did. This duo surprised me with their throw-back style to the late 80’s early 90’s east coast Hip Hop that originally made me a fan of the genre. It’s refreshing to hear something from this region that isn’t over influenced by the Atlanta scene. Their beats are mellow with some nice guitar riffs. It sounds good for a self-produced album. The group that came to my mind while listening to the first few tracks was “The Pharcyde”. This may be the perfect time for Brody & Choch to make their mark, and I’m interested to hear what’s next….. - Foolios.com

Huntersville brothers John Evans III and Jordan Evans are fed up with today's hip-hop music scene.

The excessive use of curse words, the rapping about a lifestyle that regular folks have never experienced, the auto-tuning.

"A lot of times, it gets to the point where I'm hearing the same thing over and over," said Jordan Evans, 20, whose stage name is Brody. "People are looking for something different, something fresh, something they haven't heard before."

The brothers, who both graduated from North Mecklenburg High School, hope to be what Nirvana was for rock or Michael Jackson was for pop - they want to revolutionize hip-hop music by harking back to the days of DJ Jazzy Jeffand The Fresh Prince.

Back when hip-hop was more about having a good time and less about smoking marijuana joints in a club, when funky and bright clothing superseded sagging pants and grills in the mouth.

"We don't curse as much in our music as other artists," said John Evans, 24, whose stage name is Choch. "If you use a curse word, you're wasting a word. It just means you couldn't think of anything else to say."

Added Brody: "There's not much in the creative process anymore. Something will catch on and artists will ride out that beat pattern. I'm tired of it."

Born and raised in southeast Washington, D.C., at a time when the city was the nation's murder capital for three years in a row and their family was on food stamps, Choch and Brody could have easily succumbed to the trials life threw at them. "It hasn't been an easy life by any means," said Choch. "Our parents definitely felt that if we didn't get out, one of the brothers wouldn't make it out."

So in 1998, the family moved to Charlotte and, in 2004, to Huntersville. Choch soon began working at 14 in area restaurants and Brody started working at 16.

The brothers said when they perform, they draw on their experiences with urban poverty and having to work for most of their lives, which often reaches fans in profound ways.

"A lot of our rhymes are about what we do - serving people food, working in the kitchen - and people can relate to that," said Choch. "There's a niche for it that needs to be filled for the ordinary people."

And if it wasn't for their days at Independence and North Mecklenburg high schools, they might never have entered the music business.

During his days at Independence and then when he transferred to North Mecklenburg, Choch battled with other students about everything from classes to girls. Battling is when individuals competitively rap retorts back and forth to each other.

But one day, one of his raps about a girl hit a little too close to home for his opponent, who thought Choch was talking bad about his girlfriend. The two nearly came to blows, said Choch.

After that, he backed off from battling, figuring the aggressive music would not have a positive impact on his life.

"You start drawing that element toward you, and that's one of the things we never want to happen," he said. "Battling is a more aggressive form of hip-hop. Fresh Prince is all about having fun," he said.

About that time, one of his older cousins gave Choch some tapes with early '90s hip-hop, including DJ Premier and Mary J. Blige.

Choch kept the tapes on repeat in his stereo and said they changed his life and views on music.

Then the two were invited to host Mr. North Meck, a male student-only talent show at the high school, in fall 2008. The invitation and performance solidified their love for the '90s style of hip-hop and their dream of performing.

"We'd always rapped but we'd never performed," said Brody. "But we hosted it together, and the crowd loved us."

Since then, the brothers produced their first album, "Boys Will Be Boys" with friends Grant Covington and Kyle Davisand recently signed with B.i.M Music Group, a Charlotte-based company.

And this fall, the brothers got to mingle with leading performers at the BET Awards in Atlanta after Choch - Lake Norman News

At first glance you might suspect that Brody & Choch unknowingly hitched a ride on Bill & Ted’s time-traveling phone booth into the year 2011. But make no mistake about it, these two brothers who now call Huntersville, NC home have crafted a style all their own.

This duo is bringing back the beats, rhymes and style reminiscent of the golden age of hip-hop, when hi-top fades reigned supreme and conscious thoughts met pen and paper. Back when Hypercolor t-shirts were all that, Windows 3.1 was cutting edge technology and Keanu Reeves was cool, or at least as cool as Johnny Utah could make him out to be.

And this isn’t just an image play, Brody & Choch genuinely want to bring back the hip-hop vibe that was prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s. They aren’t feeling the mainstream rap that saturates the radio airwaves these days. In fact, it seems like they gave up on that avenue a long time ago, probably around the same time that older brother John Evans, better known as Choch, was given a gift from an older cousin.

“At one point he gave me a butt load of cassette tapes — Rakim, Mary J. Blige — he didn’t even ask me what kind of rap I listened to. Gang Starr, Tribe [Called Quest], to where I played the Tribe so much that the tape actually popped. I cried a little bit.”

“You start going back just because what’s now isn’t happening,” adds Jordan Evans, 21, better known as Brody. “They lost the jazz, and if you lose the jazz you lose the soul.”

When you first meet the brothers, who were born and raised in Washington DC, you have to be intrigued by their charismatic, outgoing personalities and unique sense of style. They come complete with an image that’s both old and new from the throwback jerseys and fanny packs to the black-rimmed no lens glasses and hi-tops, hairstyles and fresh kicks alike.

That’s probably why Brody & Choch were asked to host a 90's-themed talent show at North Mecklenburg High School in 2008 where the two had previously graduated. They ended up hosting the event as “The Fresh Prince & DJ Jazzy Choch” and after that started getting requests to perform at house parties around the area.

According to the brothers, their first album was more a product of necessity than anything else. After a few successful house party performances where the two would essentially freestyle for an hour or two, people started asking where they could get more of that Brody & Choch sound.

They enlisted the help of their friend Grant Covington, also known as C.Y., who they had met a few years earlier when the three worked together at Bob Evans. Around that time Grant had discovered classic hip-hop on his own accord and was introduced by a neighbor to Fruityloops, a computer program used to create tracks. Years later that neighbor would end up being the group’s manager.

The trio started hanging out on a regular basis and refined their respective MC and DJ skills. As Brody recalls, “At that time we weren’t really on top of our craft, we just did it for fun. But as we kept hanging out everybody got better — [Grant] got better at making beats learning the program he was using. We got better at rapping.”

They caught a break when a high school friend of Brody’s asked if they were interested in recording on some new equipment he had just bought. The brothers quickly converted their living room into a makeshift recording studio and put together what would become The Boys Will Be Boys, which was independently released in 2010 and described by Brody as a “legitimate in-house album.”

Later that year, Brody & Choch signed on with B.i.M. Music Group, a Charlotte-based management company owned by Giovani Gonzalez and local singer/songwriter, Jocelyn Ellis. Since then the duo teamed up with Brooklyn-based rock/hip-hop crossover Shinobi Ninja on the band’s two tour stops in North Carolina, most recently in June at The Evening Muse in NoDa (Charlotte).

They are currently working on their second album titled Partners in R - Shutter 16 Magazine

Check out the new album from Charlotte, NC natives Brody & Choch. I had the pleasure of seeing these two perform last week at the Heard Case CMJ Showcase and they were very impressive. The Boys Will Be Boys is a fun album (which the game has been missing) and it lets us know not to take ourselves so seriously. I'm betting there's more to come from these two. Support the artist. - ThisIsRealMusic.com

In search of Raquoon Blowjob (at SXSW), my first stop yesterday was the Kosha Dillz-hosted Oy Vey bash at Club 606 near the creek. He and The Company Man from HipHopDX like the same kind of shit that I do, and from the jump they impressed with their selections. Brody and Choch are a riot, earning the right to sport their retro WB fashion. They're blood brothers from DC who relocated to the well-known rap Mecca of Huntersville, North Carolina to launch a career. More power to them; if you make me laugh, and can cut the dance floor down like Choch and Brody, then by all means hole up in Wasilla for all I care. - The Boston Pheonix