Check the rhyme

Audio Perm Block Party

When: 2-10 p.m., Aug. 27,

Where: Shuga Records parking lot

Who: Pac Div, Toki Wright, I Self Devine, others

Cost: $10 advance;$15 at the door

It’s no secret that Rhymesayers Entertainment has a vice-grip on the wrist of Minneapolis hip-hop. To start a hip-hop label or festival in this town isn’t unlike opening a department store across the street from Walmart. But two youngsters — both in their early 20s — set out to challenge the monster.

University of Minnesota business senior and No Static Records founder Jake Heinitz, along with Audio Perm producer Taylor Madrigal are announcing “Audio Perm Block Party,” their humble alternative to Rhymesayers’ now-huge Soundset Festival. The Block Party, which will take place in the parking lot of Shuga Records, is already picking up speed nearly a month before it kicks off. The organizing pair estimates roughly 1,000 people to witness their hip-hop showcase. In addition to well established names like Southern California trio Pac Div, Rhymesayers’ Toki Wright and I Self Devine, the bill packs a lineup of decidedly under-the-radar acts.

Though Heinitz and Madrigal lack anything but ambition, they have no delusions regarding the audacity of their task, and both express admiration for the clan that put Minneapolis hip-hop on the map.

“It’s like you know your big brother could kick your ass, but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to challenge him every day on the basketball court,” Heinitz said. “You’re going to work really hard and maybe one day you could beat him, but that doesn’t mean you don’t look at him as a brother.”

“I love [Rhymesayers]. I gotta give thanks to them,” Madrigal added. “If it wasn’t for them, nobody would be paying attention ... It’s not ‘forget about them; we’re the new shit.’ We want to build off of what they created.”

Their respect for the big brother is clear in action as well. Two of the acts at Audio Perm Block Party — Toki Wright and I Self Devine — are signed Rhymesayers. But the crux of the lineup exists in the discreet underbelly of Minneapolis hip-hop. Young groups like The Tribe & Big Cats!, Duenday and Madrigal’s own Audio Perm are what the organizers perceive to be the future of Minneapolis hip-hop.

Wright, who has been doing limited shows while working on a new album, said he respects what Heinitz and Madrigal are doing.

“I think everybody should have an alternative to Rhymesayers. I was an alternative to Rhymesayers before I was a Rhymesayer. The only way this scene is gonna grow is if there are multiple, talented groups.”

One thing that Audio Perm has on their side in their quest to be heard is this culture’s fleeting attention span for what is cool. Though Rhymesayers and Doomtree’s grapple hold on the scene has hardly loosened, the culture has a knack for turning on artists when they don’t feel full possession over them.

“Everybody thinks it’s not cool to like something just because other people like it,” Madrigal said. “People want it to be their own thing; they want to have it just to themselves. I think that’s [expletive]. If you want to like something, like it. Don’t just not like it because somebody else likes it. That’s stupid.”

Madrigal and Heinitz certainly have green in their eyes. The former’s astute ear for music complements the latter’s entrepreneurial eye for success. Heinitz spent his summer traveling across America, keeping his ear to the hip-hop soil, while Madrigal stayed back surveying and participating in that of Minneapolis.

Time will tell if the soil hears them back.