The creative soul of Richmond has been flourishing for years. Within the past two, it’s made itself known through Endling, a creative collective of underground hip-hop artists who have one goal: to prevent the underground from dying.
From originating in house shows to selling out Ember Music Hall within 23 months, along with shows in New York, Orlando, Miami, and Chicago, Endling is a growing force of young individuals who use their talents to prop up their friends and their respective careers.
I sat down with Lydon, co-founder of Endling and an experienced producer, along with Sicko Nicco, Pros, VMR, and Myles Lee, other artists from the collective. The group spoke collectively about Endling, its goals, and where they hope to take it.
For Endling, preventing the underground from dying doesn’t necessarily mean keeping the music itself alive. It means keeping the connection between artists and the community around them.
“When an artist from Richmond blows up, sometimes the connection to the community that helped them get there starts to fade. It’s rare you see a lot of free shows, collaborations, or opportunities being brought back to the people who supported them in the first place.”
Their goal is to create a space where success for one person can also mean opportunities for everyone else.
The collective told us, “We’re trying to do something positive for the sake of our community. There’ve been a lot of highs and lows, but through it all, we’ve kind of just stuck together, and that’s what’s allowed us to do what we do.”
Like any group trying to make a name for themselves, Endling has experienced frustrating and selfish adversity, but because of the structure they’ve set up with each other, they’ve been able to come out stronger and more determined to prove their worth and skill set.
“That’s what we’re trying to revive, the idea that the underground can build something together instead of everyone having to make it out individually.”
That mentality helped the collective deal with the challenges that come with performing outside of Richmond, especially with their show in Miami.
“The venue ended up changing last minute, and some of the headlining artists who were supposed to perform ended up not coming. Definitely wasn’t what we expected going into it, but it was still a good experience for us. It put us in a position where we had to be comfortable with uncertainty and still figure things out as a team. We couldn’t control what was happening around us, so we had to focus on what we could control and make the best of the situation,” Endling explained
When it comes to the sound, influences throughout the collective are stark. Endling takes the context from drill rap, especially the way artists talk about their experiences and their environments, and combines that with the energy and sound of EDM, which has become a growing staple of Richmond’s local music scene.
This combination gives the artists within Endling room to experiment while still keeping their music connected to Richmond and the current music culture within our city. A big part of that experimentation comes from how different each member of the collective is.
Lydon acts as the producer and manager, creating many instrumentals while also organizing events and helping keep everything moving behind the scenes. E-man brings connections that have opened doors for larger concerts and other opportunities.
VMR and ProsDaKidd consistently put out music, keeping the collective visible and active, making sure they don’t lose momentum. Sicko Nicco pushes the limits of Endling’s sound by experimenting and taking the music in directions that might not be expected, and Myles handles the visual side of Endling as their videographer, giving the collective the quality visual content they need to properly represent what they’re doing.
Everybody has a different role, but all of those roles come together to make Endling what it is.
That idea of being more than just music is also part of where Endling wants to go long term.
“We want Endling to grow into something that exists in every avenue we choose to take. Music is obviously a major part of it, but we don’t want to limit ourselves to just that. We’ve gotten into fashion through modeling for local Richmond brands like Utmost, False Profits, and Gibél. We have visual art through our music videos, we throw our own events, and we’ve even made a short film.”
Five years from now, Endling sees themselves throwing events all around the country. They’re still in the early stages, having only consistently done shows for about a year and a half, but the long-term goal isn’t simply for Endling to become bigger.
As Richmond’s underground scene continues to grow and revive, Endling hopes to keep creating opportunities for local artists and show that the city has a sound and culture worth paying attention to.
“[We] want to see everybody involved be able to sustain themselves through their art, whether that’s through music, hosting events, visual work, or whatever avenue they choose.”
Photos by Vinny Candela
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