The Knock Returns April 8 With a Rooftop Hip-Hop House Party

It's a chilly Thursday night in January, and Chris Cart3r's about to record his verse on The Knock's latest cypher with fellow Colorado hip-hop artists At'Eaze, Andwele, BAM Mr. ALLKAPITALS, Lpeez, and Old Soul Era. "Cart3r spitting crack like he's ’97 Hova, who else do you know could flip a Civic to a Rover?," he raps over Old Soul Era's ’90s-inspired boom-bap beat, drawing an uproarious cheer from the five other artists watching. When he steps out of the booth, he's greeted with high-fives, stunned smiles and people excitedly quoting his own bars back to him. And all the rappers at the recording session are equally met with that enthusiasm from their peers: Future collaborations are proposed, numbers are exchanged. By the time everyone leaves the studio later that night, they're already fired up about the next time they'll get to work together.

This is what The Knock, a community of creatives spearheaded by Kelsey O'Sullivan, is all about. See it yourself on Saturday, April 8, when the group throws its first big show of the year at a secret rooftop location in Denver, which will be revealed the day of the show.
O'Sullivan started The Knock in 2021 as a monthly hip-hop house party showcasing local artists, but it's since evolved into a more expansive community effort. "What started as an event series is now working to become a platform for not just the artists, but the entire industry itself: the entrepreneurs, the fashion designers, the videographers, the photographers, the studios and the venues. We try to continually use new creatives in our process, in order to really highlight the voices in our creative community," she explains. "But the long-term goal is a studio and event space that's able to provide funding and education for artists. We see artists as business owners, and being able to provide those skills on a level that artists can grow from is our biggest goal."

That's why O'Sullivan decided to reorganize the event's rollout schedule to give it a more defined structure going into 2023. Last year, events were organized around "when they made sense, when things aligned," O'Sullivan notes. "But this year, when we started in January, our cadence was supposed to be dropping a cypher the first two months of every quarter, and then at the end of every quarter, both of those cyphers would come together on stage. We're essentially on track for that."

O'Sullivan also wanted to start a master-class series for the artists on different skills, such as reading and negotiating contracts. "It's hard, because we live in a society where it's like, 'Don't read through the fine print, just accept it.' We really try to sit down with them and make sure they really understand what they're doing," she says.
The Knock's biggest obstacle so far has been finding sponsors or donors to help grow and realize O'Sullivan's vision. "The biggest hindrance for us is financials, because still, as much as our team has looked for sponsors and tried to bring people on, we don't have anyone. And we don't want to bring just anyone on, we try to connect with brands that really align with our movement, so that they benefit just as much as we do," says O'Sullivan, who has paid for everything related to The Knock so far out of her own pocket.

But she's not deterred: "We understand that growing takes time. We're so lucky to have our supporters, but we're still establishing our brand, and still establishing the cultural movement that we're trying to create."


Shifting its focus from big shows to smaller and more frequent artist-driven events was not just a financial strategy, but also a way to further its mission of creating a stronger hip-hop community. "If I had someone who could pay for everything, I could put together an event on a monthly basis easily. But the reason we started doing the studio nights and video shoots was to add more value to the artists' experience with The Knock. I don't want it to just be another show. We wanted the artists to get to know one another, to connect with one another, and to learn how to collaborate with people that they'd never collaborated with before," O'Sullivan emphasizes.

The Knock has released two cyphers so far this year, with each incorporating a "wildcard" artist from a previous show. O'Sullivan was inspired to add a past performer to each new cypher after seeing how far some of them have come since the first show in November 2021. "I was listening to Nelo's new album, and I was like, 'He sounds so different from when he stepped onto our lineup.' So I thought, 'What if we give space for artists to come back and showcase their growth and their evolution?,'" she recalls.

Malcolm Whyz3 was January's wildcard feature, while February's was Lpeez, whom O'Sullivan was "really excited to bring on, because when she did our women's event, she wasn't able to come to the cypher night. So it was the first opportunity I had to get her on a cypher, and I felt like she deserved that."

Lpeez adds that she was more than happy to return: "Working with The Knock for me has been past phenomenal. It's like the feeling you get when reuniting with family after a long time. I enjoy every second of it."
Lpeez is far from the only one applauding O'Sullivan's efforts to create a more unified and supportive culture in local hip-hop. BAM Mr. ALLKAPITALS, an artist from the February cypher, also compares The Knock to a family: "At this point, The Knock are like my long-lost relatives that I finally reconnected with. The passion, the dedication, the vision, the artistry, and the pure joy exhibited from this group is nothing short of amazing. I felt welcomed, I felt loved and I felt like I was a part of something great. The Knock is really for the culture."

Old Soul Era, a hip-hop artist and producer who created the ’90s-inspired beat for the February cypher, says The Knock has set a new industry standard of transparency: "Since my first conversation with Kelsey, I have been all in. She painted this picture to me of a vision for what musical collaboration and team building should look like. In an industry where promoters take advantage of artists and show no regard for their best interests, it was refreshing to have that conversation with her. Today, I am honored to be a part of that painting, and for the opportunity to add my own brush strokes."

Both Old Soul Era and BAM Mr. ALLKAPITALS will be performing at The Knock's show on Saturday, along with Andwele, At'Eaze, Chris Cart3r (all from the February cypher), Rozzay, Reef WYA? (both from the January cypher) and The Jones (filling in for AJ Angels, an artist from the January cypher who could not make the April show because of scheduling conflicts).

"I can tell you that despite unforeseen obstacles, our team and the artists are prepping for probably our best show to date," hints O'Sullivan. "It's at a secret rooftop location with an open bar. It is outdoors, but they've got heaters and tarps if needed. We'll have a couple of vendors, there will be a lounge area, photographers, a videographer, and a tattoo artist doing flash tattoos."

Tickets are $35 and include open bar access; ticket proceeds go directly toward supporting the artists and future shows. "Every penny of that $35 goes toward paying the artists on stage, and any proceeds left over will go toward the next lineup," affirms O'Sullivan. "None of that is pocketed. It goes back into the hip-hop community."

While having a physical space for The Knock is still her long-term goal, there's plenty of work to be done in the meantime. "The studio space and the event space, those would be amazing things," O'Sullivan says.  "But really, we just want to create a movement in Denver where there's more community, more education, and more tools for artists to actually thrive."

The Knock Presents Andwele, At'Eaze, BAM Mr. ALLKAPITALS, Chris Cart3r, Rozzay, The Jones, Old Soul Era and Reef WYA?, 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., Saturday, April 8, location announced day of show. Tickets are $35 online and include an open bar.