Last week, I sat down with Louisville Legend, in preparation for their upcoming Lou City Classic show at Headliners on Saturday, June 9th at 8pm. This show features performances from all local artists in Louisville from Shloob, WHYDOMS, to Prodigy Tha Kid, and Hooiser. I sat down with Ron West of Louisville Legend, along with artist J Dom from the duo WHYDOMS for an exclusive written interview about the upcoming show.
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Lady Dee: Hey y’all, thank you so much for sitting down with me today! I’m super excited to speak with y’all about the upcoming show, and learn more about what you all are doing in the local hip-hop community.
J DOMS: Thank you for having us, we truly appreciate it!
Lady Dee: Since we had you recently on the show (J DOMS), let's start with Ron. Can you introduce yourself, tell us more about Louisville Legend? How did you get your start, what inspired you to create the collective?
Ron West: My name is Ron West, I'm a Louisville native, I was born and raised here. Louisville Legend in my collective. What we do is we provide artists from the city with, not only a team that's behind them, but we provide creatives with an opportunity that brings their vision of work to life, whether it be from photo shoots, music videos and even shows. We strive to provide artists with a team they can trust! How I really got my start was photography. I've been obsessed with the camera since I was nine and I've been shooting ever since. But on a professional level it was around, I'd say, 2022, where I would really just start showing up to local shows and not charge people, but just do it for the love of the city and just show my work to the artists.
Lady Dee: That’s awesome! Do you feel like some of that photography language has transpired into how you help other artists in shaping their vision?
Ron West: oh, of course, of course. Going to local shows and seeing how the artist interacts with the crowd and has that presence in the audience. Not only can see that through the photography, but seeing it in person is just on a whole other level.
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Lady Dee: I know we've had you (J DOMS) on the show before, but for our listeners who didn't get a chance to hear you previously, can you tell us about yourself, your collaboration, with WHYDOMS, for anybody who didn't get to get the introduction the first time?
J DOMS: My name is J Doms. I'm a part of a rap duo known as WHYDOMS. I've been doing music ever since you know, I could babble and crawl around. I remember getting a little Fisher-Price drum set when I was probably like two or three, and I remember the first time I took a trip in an ambulance was because I slipped and fell while I was dancing the OutKast. So I feel like music has definitely been a part of who I am. I met my brother, Mark (WHY MARK), in high school and ever since the 2020 pandemic hit, we just decided, you know, let's, let's take the ball and run with it. Last year, we did about 20 shows, so we were just trying to make it a goal of ours to put our face out there as much as we could. And that's how I met this cool dude. (Ron West). So I definitely think, without him I wouldn't have been in this position to talk with you today.
Lady Dee: Can you tell us more about the recent project you dropped in January, different wav.?
J DOMS: We dropped a single called different wav. with one of our buddies, Ty from Save the Kids. It's a little funky, it’s got a little bounce to it. We're definitely in our newest body of work. We're taking our time with it. We don't want it to feel rushed or anything. We've been working on it (an album) for the past two years but we're definitely putting the final touches on it. But in the meantime, just trying to tap in with other local creatives, whether it's artists or producers, having the chance to be on your show a few months ago was awesome! Kind of opened my eyes to “oh we can really do this!” We got another single coming out soon, produced by Hers and it’s called Slow Summers, we've been performing that so be on the lookout for that on the album as well.
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Lady Dee: As we were talking about previously, there's so much diversity within our music scene in Louisville being offered right now and it can sometimes be overwhelming for artists that are involved in it or even for, like patrons, who are coming and enjoying the shows. In your own words, what do you think makes Louisville Legend different from other collectives and how do you all support your artists and patrons in a new way?
Ron West: well, let me just say every group and collective in the city is different and we all have something special to offer and, honestly, having variety is very important. But I'd say that one of the reasons that Louisville Legend stands apart, is we give artists really the vision to bring their work to life, offer them not only one avenue of photography, but we all offer them an avenue of video content, we offer them shows, we we are, at the end of the day, fans of their work, and we truly do bring the love of the city of louisville to what we do and to the artists that we work with.
J DOMS: Speaking from an artist that's done a handful of shows with Ron, He really is one of the most genuine people that I've met. He'll tell you like it is and if there's even a hint of like, oh, this might be an issue, Ron is the first person that'll bring it up to talk about it. How can we, you know, come up with five solutions for one problem and I feel like a lot with his shows too is every artist on his lineup may not know each other or be like cool with each other, but will definitely show out and, you know, give each other that admiration and respect of, like yo, we're both local artists, we're both doing the damn thing, so it's kind of got this huge sense of like community behind it as well.
Lady Dee: I feel like a lot of places, you don't get that so, I think it's really needed, especially in the scene that is growing in the way that it is. Even in the the group of people that y'all have for the show on June 9th, it is an all-star cast and you all have different flows, you all have different ways that you come in your artistry, but even seeing the lineup together, I know the show's gonna be crazy and it is really refreshing to – kind of talked about J-Dom's last time – there can be a lot of competition in the music scene but with the support of Louisville Legend and other collectives alike, being able to really bridge the gap for artists that are trying to make their artistry a livelihood in a way that everyone can feel supported artist, and audience members alike.
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Lady Dee: Well, let’s get the people inspired and excited about June 9th! Anything you want to say about this upcoming show?
Ron West: Well, yes, June 9th coming up. This Sunday, we have my next show. Doors open at 8pm, and show starts at 8:30pm. It will be Locals only, a Louis City Classic, and we have some very special performances happening. We have from Private Garden and the Homies, like we have Shloob, who will be headlining that night, we have my homie Prodigy, the Kid, and his own band, Tha Sluggerz, and let me just say they performed at my last Headliners show and they absolutely knocked it out of the park, no pun intended. How can I even forget? We have my brothers, WHYDOMS, performing and they're going to steal the show. Last but not least, we have my boy, Hoosier. If you didn't already know, he creates most of my art, like every flier you see of Louisville Legend, it's done by Hoosier.
Lade Dee: How can artists get connected with Louisville Legend?
Ron West: Easiest way is through Instagram, @official_LouisvilleLegend. But for locals here in the area, you'll easily find me at a show, I'm usually at shows every weekend. If it's not every weekend, it's every other weekend.
Lady Dee: Well this has been awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me on this fine evening, and I can’t wait to see you all on the 9th!
Ron West: Thank you for having us!
J DOMS: Yess Thank you so much for having us!
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Want a glimpse of the performers before this Sunday? Check out some of their work, below!
Shloob: diabolical - live! w/ church friends
J DOMS "POWER" feat. Prodigy Tha Kid (Official Video)
Hoosier: SPECIAL AFFAIR (Official Music Video)
Prodigy Tha Kid: PSALM 118:6 (Official Music Video)
Written by: Lady Dee (In the Pocket)
