“I was in an interview with Nelly and was just rapping with him,” said Young Dip, a.k.a. Terrell Evans, popular personality for Hot 104.1 FM. “And in talking with him and a whole bunch of other artists, I was inspired to do something.”
Major changes coming to Dip’s broadcast starting Monday, continuing the DJ and the rap star-turned-DJ’s “then and now” stories that are equally compelling and eerily parallel.
“8-23 is basically me reinventing my show and just trying to build that unity,” Dip said.
In seemingly unrelated situations, the odds were stacked against them both back in 2000. But that year, they were gearing up for something big and neither could have known at the time just how bright their futures were to become.
Nelly (with the blessing of his group the St. Lunatics) dropped Country Grammar – at a time when St. Louis was the furthest thing from rap music’s radar.
Meanwhile, Dip had just been reunited with his mother after spending nearly his entire childhood in the foster care system. A student at Beaumont High School, he was asked to give the morning announcements as a part of the “Good Morning Beaumont” radio show.
The two seemingly unrelated turning points in their lives would ultimately lead them into each other’s light.
Ten years later, Nelly is an international hip-hop mogul. Dip is the evening personality ( 7 p.m. – midnight) for the only primarily hip-hop station in St. Louis.
Coincidentally, the two currently share the spotlight as Nelly fills in for Hot 104.1 personality Staci Static in the afternoons for the next few weeks. Nelly’s extended guest stay has hip-hop eyes on St. Louis, but locally the shine of his temporary gig has been met with hate and shade by those alleging he left STL artists hanging.
Dip picks up where Nelly leaves off on air and is hoping to do the same with respect to drawing attention to the city for its talent.
With the re-launch of his show “The Dipset” on August 23, Dip hopes to pass along more opportunity and build on the foundation laid by Nelly and the St. Lunatics a decade before.
“People always say, ‘He didn’t put nobody on from this city,’ and I’ll have to stop and correct them,” Dip said.
“I say, ‘Okay, bruh, put yourself in his shoes. If you got signed tomorrow and you blew up big … big … big – who the first people you gonna look at?’ They say, ‘All my boys that’s rappin with me.’ I say, ‘Okay, so who you think the St. Lunatics is?’ As a matter of fact, this dude put on everybody that rolled with him.”
Dip is turning the challenge of missing morale into an opportunity for local artists to capitalize on the national face time the station is receiving thanks to Nelly.
“You know how you can feel when something is getting ready to happen that’s good?” Dip asked. “I really feel that right now, and I’m geeked!”
STL talent pool
The most noticeable change to his format will be the insertion of local acts within the regular rotation of music.
“Many [local] artists will hit a brick wall in their career,” Dip said. “They’ll make a mix show, and that’ll be it. We have a lot of artists with a lot of hot songs that can’t get over that hump.”
He’s decided to use his show to offer additional momentum.
“I want to give them some of that prime time on my show,” Dip said. “Sometimes all they need is that extra push. I got major labels calling me saying, ‘We just need to show that the city is behind them a little bit more so we can move on ‘em’.”
His show will have entirely new segments and features, but the primary reason for the redesign was for the sake of local artists who need an avenue to national exposure.
“I’m on this mic and in this chair and basically I just feel like it’s my duty to just take action and make it happen,” Dip said. “I’m kind of like the voice of the city and I take part of the blame for what’s going on. So I sat back, analyzed the situation and now I’m attacking it.”
Humble to hip hop radio
By 11 p.m. on Monday, it had been a long day for Dip. He had been up since 5 a.m. after rooting on students at his alma mater for their first day of school.
“I couldn’t wait to make it so I could go back and preach,” Dip said. “When you come from nothing and your blessed with something, you’re not gonna look at it the other way people look at it.”
It’s been three years since he debuted on the airwaves of the all new Hot 104.1 FM, but his name is synonymous with the local hip-hop scene as if it has always been the case.
“People will say, ‘You spoiled and arrogant,’ and I have a tendency to laugh at them because they have no idea,” Dip said.
He grew up on St. Louis’ West Side in a foster family of six living in a two-bedroom house.
“There was a period when I was really depressed,” Dip said. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe I was born into this world and not into a normal life with my own family.’”
But through encouragement, he was able to see past his situation.
Dip was in high school on his way to the club and started imitating another St. Louis high schooler, DJ J. Knicks, on the radio when they were on their way to the club. His friends were blown away.
The young man he was mocking a few years before would ultimately be the key connect in his career.
After graduating from Beaumont in 2002, he worked the promotions scene while being mentored by DJs Wreck1 and Sir Thurl before teaming up with J Knicks –who would ultimately make a national name for himself in hip-hop radio.
Knicks was in town from Atlanta and gave him the heads up that a new hip-hop station was coming to St. Louis and handed him business card of then-programming director Garth Adams.
“He was like, ‘Well, young man, how come I came to St. Louis and I asked six different people who should be my night jock on Hot 104.1, and why did every single last one of them request your name?’” Dip said, imitating Adams’ proper tone.
The next day, Dip went to the office and sealed the deal.
Today he’s a local celebrity. He’s since become a father to 3-year-old Ariyah. Dip says she is the reason why he works so hard.
But earlier that day, it was back to the halls where it all began. Even though his “Good Morning Beaumont” probably had a different ring to it, he was there to pump students up about learning and remind them of the importance of taking advantage of the opportunities– which is exactly what he’s trying to do for the entire hip-hop scene of St. Louis through his show.
“Just like the St. Louis Public high schools lost their spirit, I feel like St. Louis hip-hop scene has lost its spirit a little bit too,” Dip said. “So I want to be the one to help them to boost it back up and roll with it.”
