School of Hard Raps

New Jersey rapper Tim "Shy" Scheiderman moved here a year ago, hoping the local hip-hop scene would buoy his career. He says things are moving slowly.

"The reason I came out here was because New York rappers had the limelight," says Scheiderman. "No one cared if you were from Jersey; you had to be a lot more vicious to get noticed if you were from Jersey. Now I find out it's the same thing here.... In San Diego, every man is out for himself. You can't name a single San Diego success story of a white guy who does hip-hop."

North County native Ryan "K-Nine" Kernion concurs, saying, "Trying to do hip-hop in San Diego is like trying to do R&B in Montana."

Kernion, Scheiderman, and New Jersey transplant Jay "P.I.T." Rake perform as a trio.

"My first big cock-block in San Diego was with [Sicko Records founder] Lil Uno," says Scheiderman. "I contacted him to get some opinions on some of my songs. He came back with 'I'm behind your songs 100 percent.' He said my shit was ridiculously hot. Then he proceeded to tell me that all I had to do was pay him $1500 and then he would do us the favor of recording a verse over our songs. And then he would think about releasing it on his label.... I told him if I had $1500 to throw away I'd buy some nice mikes, which is what I did."

The three rappers contend they built up a Monday hip-hop night beginning last September at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos, but that arrangement has changed.

"We got it so we'd get 100 people paying five dollars on a Monday night," says Scheiderman. "We were going to have our CD-release party there on May 14, and they canceled us. Fuck the Turtle. The Blvd. [also in San Marcos] picked us up. It's only 21-and-up there, but they have nice posters."