Haters Ball

Hip-hop is in love with hatred — the way members of Opus Dei, say, are in love with self-flagellation. It's an odd, pathological fixation. (Freud would undoubtedly love hip-hop for the way hip-hop loves hate.) Hating, in the mouths of hip-hop artists, has all sorts of uses. On "Hate Me Now," Nas and P. Diddy invite people to hate them. On the R&B front, singer Kelis found brief stardom by simply screaming out her hatred for her boyfriend ("Caught Out There"). More recently, Maino, a promising upstart rapper from Brooklyn, created an underground hit by saying hello to his haters ("Hi Hater"). Often artists appeal to haterism — as in, You're just hatin', man! — to deflect legitimate criticism of their work. In fact, if an album isn't pointing out the nefarious ways through which an artist is hated on, slighted and questioned, then said album just ain't hip-hop. Some local DJs want to push the treatment of hatred even further: They want to hate on hate. This Saturday, local hip-hop DJs Sku, B-Stee and the duo Tactic are throwing the 2009 Haters Ball. The event presents an opportunity for those who aren't feeling the love around the Valentine's Day season to self-medicate with some bouncy beats and mixes and reclaim their hater-free integrity.