Local DJ declares a ‘golden age’ for Lansing’s electronic music scene

Mike Sherman’s roots run deep in Lansing’s hip-hop and electronic music scenes.

The 33-year-old has been DJing at area venues since 2009. His stage name, Big Sherm, originally a nickname from a manager at work, recalls the late Lansing rapper Big Perm, who he said “was going to be the next big guy out of Lansing.” His most recent album pays homage to a local scene that originated with the late DJ Crazy Caz.

The electronic scene is still up and coming, Sherman said, but the time for electronic music in Lansing is now.

“We’re in kind of a golden era right now,” he said. “We have several different regular events and different groups of people that are all doing stuff, and a lot of us know each other.”

About an hour away from both Grand Rapids and Detroit, Lansing has always brought in “bigger artists” by proximity alone, he said. However, despite having “so many talented DJs and producers here,” he said the scene often existed “in the shadows.”

But as electronic music gained popularity on a global scale, that hidden scene provided a perfect foundation for younger artists who became interested in the genre.

“We have OGs. We have experienced people who have been doing this for 10, 20 years, so there’s a really great foundation of DJs here that allows the new DJs to thrive,” he said.

At MELT Thursdays, an event Sherman hosts weekly at UrbanBeat in Old Town, established locals spin records side by side with newcomers.

“They’ve never done anything like this before,” he said of the venue. “There’s never been a regular electronic night. Honestly, all of Old Town is typically shut down by, like, 10 at night, so this is a first.”

He said the series is going well, but he’s focused on getting the word out.

“We just need to get more people there and let people know that there’s stuff going on in Old Town,” he said.

The community’s lineage is present in both Sherman’s solo music and his hip-hop collective DOPE4EVA. The collective was founded in 2016 to serve as a sort of community record label. Two albums have dropped under the label, Sherman said, but the name has grown to encapsulate an entire scene.

“Anyone can be DOPE4EVA,” he said. “It’s kind of a mentality or a lifestyle, where if you have the merch or you’re coming to events, then as far as I’m concerned, you’re DOPE4EVA. You’re part of this community, this crew, this larger thing.”

Then there’s his electronic music moniker, URFQKZ, under which he recently released the album “Slurmdawg Billionaire.” The album draws from the ghettotech genre, a style of hip-hop that originated in Detroit in the early ‘90s, and the footwork genre, which originated in Chicago around the same time. Both styles of music stem from the “ghetto house” genre.

That older genre choice wasn’t just a style preference, Sherman said, but an homage to the local scene.

“Rest in peace, Crazy Caz,” he said, referring to local DJ Brandon Henderson, who died earlier this year. “He brought a lot of electro and ghetto house and those kinds of sounds back in the day, so there’s actually always been that kind of sound under the surface in Lansing.”

Other electronic music collectives are cropping up across the area, Sherman said, including The Cadre, a Michigan State University student-led booking collective that has recently begun collaborating with the MSU Museum to host music events following the popularity of the museum’s techno exhibit earlier this year.

Sherman has dedicated himself to putting Lansing on the map, operating as a connector between local musicians. He is friends with Juan Trevino, for instance, who hosts a weekly electronic music show at Mac’s Bar called Unity in Music. Sherman encouraged up-and-coming DJs looking to get involved with the scene to reach out to him.

The hard work is paying off, he said.

“Now that we’ve been doing so many shows, people in Detroit and Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo and Chicago are aware there’s a scene bubbling here, and we’ve had a lot of those people out,” he said.

To have people driving to Lansing from Detroit — the birthplace of techno music — to see a show is already an achievement. But Sherman wants more, and he thinks Lansing is on track to get it.

“I see us, 10 years down the line, doing stuff like the Movement Festival in Detroit,” he said. “There needs to be a Lansing electronic festival or show.”

As the local scene grows, Sherman is dedicated to keeping the small-scene interconnectedness alive and well.

“We’ve noticed the difference in the last two years, let alone five years,” he said. “Things are really shaping up. I think the city’s catching on, and I think it’s a very special time. The more we can connect and identify with each other and grow with each other, the better for all of us.”