In the last 2 years the South Florida Hip Hop Scene has grown real familiar witht the SLR Movement. The Shadow League Records roster kicked down the door in 2023 and solidified their position as a crew to follow in 2024 with a slew of single releases, and several Top Shelf EP & LP Releases and a run of High Energy Live Performances, including opening up for some Indie Hip Hops most notable names. However, the deeper you dig into the origins of the crew from the Shadow realm, the more you start noticing that this squad is actually a conglomerate of several Miami Underground Rap Families, who each deserve their own respect and attention. All this time I thought SLR hailed from the South West area of Miami known as Kendall and its surrounding hoods, but with the release of GROOVE FELLAS, I now see that the Team Members that make up SHADOW LEAGUE have the entire Dade County Map on lock. While BIG J CSB, DRU, ESTEBANG, JACK MAKER & MARLON are holding down the South West, the North Side of Miami is getting locked down by CORNERBOI P & SCRUE HEFFNER’S original squad of Hooligans. Enough about SLR, Allow me to introduce yall to UPPER ECH.
Listen to GROOVE FELLAS LP by GROOVY & UPPER ECH Here
As the Back Story goes, Hialeah Hip Hop Producer GROOVY started getting his feet wet in the local scene around 10 years ago, hosting an open mic for young North Miami Talent. Providing a space for local Hialeah, Opalocka and North Miami/ Broward Artists to perform at, and a spot where all their peoples could come out and experience the new music bubbling up in their own back yards, GROOVY booked SCRUE HEFNER, the now infamous Vermillion Heist bandit, and after seeing him perform live, the UPPER ECHELON snowball started rolling down hill.
As the crew explains it….“Both Groovy and Scrue knew each other from school but were not aware of each other’s musical endeavors. After seeing Scrue perform Groovy told him he liked his music and wanted to work with him. Shortly after Scrue and Groovy started cooking up, making song after song, some of which featured the other members of the UpperEch, eventually leading to him working with the rest of the team. The group decided to shoot a video for one of those songs (unreleased). The song featured Cornerboi P, CubanPapi, and Cloud. Thats the day Groovy met CubanPapi and one of the first things Cubanpapi said to Groovy was that he should make a project and call it “Groove Fellas” (a play off of the title from the film “Good Fellas”). Since that day, the idea stuck with Groovy and over time he made it a reality.”
WVCC RADIO – How did yall meet?
UPPER ECH – “Most of us met when we were younger in school, but the family has grown throughout the last 10 years and includes more than just the artists involved on the New Album.”
WVCC RADIO – Oh Really?? Then who exactly are all the members of UPPER ECHELON and where do they each represent?
UPPER ECH- “CornerBoi P, Opa-Locka ⁃ Scrue Hefner, Allapattah ⁃ Cubanpapi, Born in Hialeah but since has been all around South Florida from Dade to Broward ⁃ Deezel, from Flatbush Brooklyn by way of South Miami Heights ⁃ Groovy, Hialeah ⁃ Cloud, Hialeah – Rocky, Pakistan”
WVCC RADIO – What is the 1st Record or single you released that listeners can go back and check out?
UPPER ECH- “One of the first records dropped by the UpperEch family is “GIMMIEMOEDOLLAZ” featuring CornerBoi P and Scrue Hefner. That single dropped on Soundcloud back in the beginning of 2018. https://on.soundcloud.
WVCC RADIO – If you don’t mind me asking, How does the UPPER ECH Crew feel about the success of Shadow League and what differences do yall see in the 2 crews?
UPPER ECH – “It’s all love. We feel that UpperEch is a group that represents diversity in every sense, music wise and culture wise. Even though we’re all from Miami we have different ethnicities from Panamanian, Bahamian, to Cubano and more!We came from different walks of life and formed a group that we feel represents all kinds of people, basically the melting pot Miami resides in!! We feel this is represented in our music by all the different styles we encapsulate, from grimy in your face music, southern trunk slapping songs, Caribbean inspired trap, Heavy hitting drill, to even R&B and smooth player shit. We don’t confine to any norm and one thing we do tend to have in common is we stand out one way or the other. Regarding Shadow League we are excited to be collaborating with them. There’s mutual respect amongst all parties involved and future plans to collaborate again. We understand that Shadow League refers to themselves as more of a “league” rather than a crew so I guess you can say that’s the biggest difference there, but regardless we all have the same goal and its to create at a higher level. Upperechelon has been family based years in the making and proudly said, the family is making heads turn! “
You can hear the different enfluences & styles from track to track. CORNERBOI P, SCRUE & DEEZEL make their presense felt on the opening title track, as the Brooklyn transplant known as DEEZEL lets everyone who wasnt familiar with his voice know, “Ever catch a Nigga talking down on DEEZEL, its cuz I fucked his bitch/ Niggas holding grudges, they can suck my dick/ I dont mind getting Blood on my Brand New Kicks/”. P & Hef talk that blood money business on DEAD PEOPLE which has one of my favorite hooks on the album. They invite fellow Shadow Leagure, The Jolly Hating Giant BIG J CSB on their debut single FIGHT, which is an instant riot starter over the 808 heavy GROOVY trunk thumper. This joint also features my favorite moment on the album, as one of the UPPER ECH members acts a fool on the outro, singing a hilariously raunchy spoof of THEE SACRED SOULS “CAN I CALL YOU ROSE”. I havent been able to confirm who that was on the outro, but brother can sing. Then CUBANPAPI makes his 1st appearance on PARIS. riding on the silky GROOVY production, as he “Rides like a Crack Head riding on a needle” over the classic OCEANS 11 guitar loop.
Each member gets their chance to shine on their own as they each rock a customized beat, taylor made by GROOVY himself to fit each Fella like fine Italian Suit. SCRUE HEF sends his confession to his only judge in Heaven over the angelic IN SCRUE WE TRUST. CORNERBOI P talks his Opalocka Montana Big Boss shit over the sharp Violin Loop of THE WORLD IS YOURS, and CUBANPAPI spits one of my favorite verses on the whole project over IN AMERICA as he slings his bilingual Cubanito guaperia over GROOVYs trap vibes. This here sounds as Hialeah as the Mall where West 49th St meets the Palmetto Expressway or Milander Park. Even GROOVY himself gets on the mic and shows his talents arent restrected soley to the Sampler as he murks the album outro COSA NOSTRA.
I asked the crew if they had any Favorite tracks off the project and they were real as fuh with their reply…. “As a crew no. Everyone for the most part probably has a song or two they prefer over the others but like most artists that probably changes from week to week. So as a group, in the words of Groovy, “You can’t ask a parent to pick who their favorite child is.” We recently started shooting a video for MIA to JFK though. We are especially excited for this video because it’s going to contain shots from both Miami and New York, further capturing the essence of a song that blends Miami and New York culture. The video is being shot by the great Peter Noir of Shadow League.”
Aside from the convo with CUBANPAPI on the fateful day of their 1st Video Shoot together, the squad describes the inspiration behind the GROOVE FELLAS LP as follows:
“From early on in his producing career Groovy was inspired by the likes of many producers one of them being Kanye West. More specifically the production Kanye West did on “Watch The Throne”. Sample based production with 808s that made your car trunk shake, as well as a blend of drums that were both modern and traditional hip hop, Watch The Throne was a great inspiration to Groovy and the way he wanted to go about the “Groove Fellas” project. Groovy wanted to also take this as an opportunity to showcase his production skills by creating a project that had different flavors of hip hop all while still fitting into one theme. Armed with 4 emcees who brought the energy on every track as well as a clutch feature from Big J Csb, Groovy was able to put this vision together and create “Groove Fellas”, a project that represents a period of time for the UpperEch family. “
I then asked them what we could expect to see when we witness them Live for the 1st time on the South Side of Miami as the whole UPPER ECHELON CREW at INDIE GROUND #TheReleaseFeast at LINCOLNS BEARD BREWING this Saturday. They replied with contagious enthusiasm…
“A lot of energy and different flavors. We will be performing some heavy hitters off “Groove Fellas” and we will probably tease some unreleased music that’s going to be coming soon. Sincerely, from the UpperEch family with love, yall will get a taste of that Groove Fella thing”
Follow UPPER ECHELON on Instagram at @upperechlife
GROOVY – @groovyflaco
SCRUE HEFNER – @scruehefner
CORNERBOI P – @cornerboipaper_
DEEZEL – @75deezel
CUBANPAPI – @mrcubanpapi305
Spotify – GROOVE FELLAS
Don’t miss them performing Live This Saturday at Lincolns Beard Brewing Co for INDIE GROUND #TheReleaseFeast / #NorthsMemorialCelebration at 11pm
See the Flyer Below for Details
Written by 8ch2Owens
Founder of Vice City Cypher, WVCC Radio, PROFRESH Publicty. With over 20 Years in South Florida’s Hip Hop Scene 8ch2Owens has carved his name into the Miami Hip Hop history books, and now uses his talents to promote the best in South Florida Indie Hip Hop and Underground Hip Hop from around the globe.
