...is like that of a baby’s first step.

In 1999, or maybe it was 98, we think it was but haven’t been able to prove it (the posters we made then didn’t have years on em, just month + day) - Baby Steps Hip Hop started simply as the opportunity to do a Thursday night hip hop thingy at a dive-bar named Broadway Joe’s in Buffalo, NY.

There’s something to be said for letting things grow at their own pace. The Thursdays slowly grew into a hip hop DJ night peppered with hosted shows featuring a very specific ilk of underground artists, and then the occasional local emcee showcase one night every month or two, which grew a momentum all of its own running parallel and then intertwined with larger and larger bookings while maintaining a homegrown and casual sensibility.

After the substantial span of doing every Thursday for 7 or 8 years, plus coordinating multiple side events per month which ranged from weeklies, bi-weeklies, monthlies, and yearlies; Baby Steps paused the weekly Thursday night giving heightened focus to its operations as a record label. This also gave extra accent to the annual Anniversary Shows, producer showcases and special summer-time functions.

Now standing on the horizon of a decade-plus of a rich history in Buffalo, NY which spread to SF, NYC, Boston, PA, and Chi-town, the renewed excitement of celebrating what has been while looking forward on what can be, could be best termed as AGAIN.