Columbia’s Boom Room celebrates 5 years of hip-hop

For the past five years, a small building off Rosewood Drive has been the designated recording space for Columbia’s hip-hop scene.

The Boom Room, a studio affiliated with the adjacent Jam Room Recording Studio, has flourished under the stewardship of local rapper and producer FatRat Da Czar.

In its spare workroom – a single computer with two monitors, an indented leather couch and a closet-sized booth – FatRat has steered local and national talent toward the sounds they sought.

On Saturday, Aug. 20, there will be an anniversary party at New Brookland Tavern featuring more than a dozen artists that have been a part of the Boom Room’s recording roster.

NewSC, X-Zoria, Piazo, Mac B, J. Wood, Fooli, DFR, Star, Marvolus, Gemstar Da Goldenchild, SMG, Akshun, Jigg Nevamind, Berklee, Sheem D and Boondock Fam will perform.

“We want to showcase some of the talent we’ve had and celebrate it,” FatRat said. “There are more and more good records coming out of here.”

The Boom Room started as storage and overflow space for the Jam Room’s Studio A. In the summer of 2011, Jam Room Studio owner Jay Matheson bumped into FatRat at an event and, over a single conversation and a few drinks, the idea for the Boom Room was cemented.

“We had gear in the room within a week or two,” FatRat said.

The rapper recorded some of his first albums with Matheson at the Jam Room in the 1990s, and then learned to mix his own records by taking one of Matheson’s Midlands Audio Institute classes.

“Fat’s abilities as an engineer and producer combined with his genuine interest in improving the scene has really changed the scope of what we can do at Jam Room,” Matheson said in a news release.

Some of the biggest artists to record in the Boom Room are Lil Boosie, Trina, Kevin Gates and KRS1, FatRat said, adding that he was most excited to work with KRS1.

“He’s one of my idols.”

However, anyone who walks into the studio will receive the respect of a star, he added. “I was an artist for so long, so I knew how I wanted to be treated in the studio. I treat everyone like a national act.”

That means making sure every artist is comfortable and not giving his opinion too soon or too often. At the end of the day, the Boom Room experience is about ensuring artists leave with tracks just as they want them.

And when they leave, FatRat will be rooting for them in all of their future endeavors, he said.

“I’ve worked so hard on this scene that every artist that comes in means something to me.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Columbia’s Boom Room celebrates 5 years of hip-hop."