In July, five Twin Cities rappers participated in an online national hip-hop competition, Coast to Coast, sponsored by LÜM, an upstart music and creatives platform.

Artists from 32 cities and states competed, each of them submitting their best songs — which fans would then listen to and vote on their favorites — in a head-to-head fashion.

What seemed like a battle of best tracks was actually a competition over which city or state had the best rap talent. From Minnesota, Bayo Raps, Mac Turner, NoTrace and Diwan Smith joined forces with J. Plaza to take on the challenge.

I spoke with J. Plaza about his experience and what winning the contest means for the state of hip-hop in Minnesota.

JEFFREY BISSOY: Earlier this summer, you participated in a national rap competition, representing Minnesota, and you won! How does that feel?

J. PLAZA: To have won feels surreal. I still can't believe it. We been pushing Minneapolis music, we pushing it every day … I found out about LÜM's thing and it was a competition and I was like "Bet." The last day of the submission, I submitted my song. I was picked out of five people in Minnesota: me, Bayo Raps, Mac Turner, No Trace, Diwan Smith. We started going against the cities, but we won. It came down to the championship round against Florida.

I knew Mac Turner and Bayo Raps, and then I found out about the other two. Both Bayo and Mac Turner are super fire to me.

What did that win represent for you and for the state?

Being a part of this music scene, I'm not really from Minnesota, but this is where I started dropping music and had my daughter and built with the music scene. I had to get to know everybody and now it seems like Minnesota got my back and it's great. When I put this thing up on social, "I need you to vote," and everyone started voting. [The competition] is based off the talent; I don't know everyone, but they know me and that's tight.

You say you not originally from Minnesota. I think that's new information for many of us. Where'd you move from?

I'm originally from Georgia, been there, New York, Ohio, went to South Korea. My moms was in the military, and I ended up in Minnesota. Birth dad lives in Georgia and I often get back there. Growing up, I loved Cassidy, Dipset and Biggie, so you can see the Philly, New York influence. My family is out East as well.

As the winners of the competition, you won a $25,000 cash prize. How are you hoping to use that money?

There's five of us, so we had to split it five ways. I just paid off some debts, I got a few things, and I invested a bit into crypto.

You got into the crypto and bitcoin game during the pandemic, too?

My brother told me about it last year. I never really got into it, but started getting into the stock market and lost lots of money. I did call options and betted on AMC, when Robinhood shut down AMC and Gamestop, and lost everything, because I was betting on it.

I started learning more about crypto, but haven't invested too much, but I will more. I did have a lot in DogeCoin and put in $600, but I took out my money too early, because I could have had 100K. I think the world is crazy but it's the future.

Back to the music. You got to connect with the other artists during this competition. Do you have any plans on future collabs?

Me and Bayo, he had a track he played for me. I also want to link with Mac Turner. If me and the other guys link up, then it will. I'm just focusing on J. Plaza. I've done many features without working on my own catalogue, but I still got to work with Bayo and Mac.

You've had many singles, freestyles and shows in the last year. Can we expect a longer project sometime in the near future?

Working on a project right now. Working on music every day. I want to put tracks that I got and drop a little project, and then I want to work more on a story. But I have some things coming soon, and I'm ready to flood everybody.

What up-and-coming Twin Cities artists should we be keeping an eye out for?

KayCyy Pluto, Upstairs, Mac Turner. These are three that I really f*** with, and Trayson Green. There's so many more that if I name them, I'll fill a whole paragraph. You got other artists closer to my age. John Ray, Mac Irv, and everyone on the cypher. Knucky, need him to drop more. I basically know everyone out here, need everyone to keep going hard and keep working on their stuff because they got it.

Jeffrey Bissoy is a former assistant producer at MPR News. Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, raised in The Twin Cities and now based in Mexico City, Jeffrey has grown a passion for representation and identity, Hip-Hop, and the impact of sports on society. In addition to his work at The Current, Bissoy has also written for The Sahan Journal and other outlets, and he is the CEO and founder of The Plugged App.

External Links

LÜM - official site

J. Plaza - official Facebook page

Bayo Raps - official site

Mac Turner - official Facebook page

NoTrace - official site

Diwan Smith - official Facebook page