It is clear there would literally be no Torch Tuesday if it were not for the passion and dedication of Torch himself. But the lifeblood of this scene, like any other, is the talent of the artists who storm the Bar None stage each week. A typical Tuesday night finds a wide variety of performers stepping up to the mic, including such standouts as the Flatlinaz (featuring the sassy Money Mia), Boby Fshr, Rikashay, Black Trump, Chadi, Dat Dude Scoobie The Lyricist, T-Roni and longtime local hip-hop mainstay, Cornbread. Decatur’s Tebe Zalango cuts an impressive, somewhat incongruous figure, striding into the spotlight with his violin in tow, creating an atmospheric sonic swirl light years away from the general public’s conception of what hip-hop music can be, but which still fits in perfectly with the evening’s freewheeling vibe.
All of these young artists perform like their lives depend on it, whether backed up by prerecorded beats from home-burned CDs or by Torch Tuesday’s recently formed “house band,” Controlled Substance. There is a definite sense of community that comes through as each performer is cheered on by comrades in the audience. However, the overall feeling of mutual supportiveness did not come naturally, but rather had to be fostered by Torch himself over time. “Hip-hop is a full-contact sport, like boxing, but verbally,” he explains. “It’s very competitive, very braggadocious. So it can be really hard to get a rapper to stay and watch another rapper’s set, to clap for someone else. But I’ve explained to them, ‘Think about it, guys. You want people listening to you, don’t you?’ So they come around.”
[SOUND EFFECTS: music switches to jackhammer funk beat, under]
One Springfield rapper very much in touch with his competitive side is 25-year-old Zachary McCoy, aka Agent Orange. A denizen of the Springfield hip-hop scene since 2006 (“Torch is like a big brother to me,” he says), Agent O is arguably the most widely-known of all current Springfield-based musical artists, having battle-rapped his way to national renown last year on the BET network’s 106 and Park as one of the finalists on its “Freestyle Fridays” segment.
“As a kid,” McCoy reminisces, “my dad’s catalog of music included, as he likes to say, everything from Frank to Frank: from Frank Sinatra clear all the way to Frank Zappa and pretty much everything in between. So I grew up listening to everything besides hip-hop.” Starting in fifth and sixth grade, that all changed as he began to cultivate a love for all things hip-hop to the point where, by the time he graduated from Springfield High School in 2003, the young Zach had become associated with several Springfield hip-hop artists, notably Cornbread, who became something of a mentor.
