Milwaukee's coolest club you've never heard of

MILWAUKEE — In the back of a barbershop in Milwaukee, you can hear loud hip-hop beats while seeing strained faces contemplate their next chess move.

Hip-hop and chess may seem like two things that don't go together, but somehow the combination of the two is seamless.

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"I think that hip-hop is definitely competitive in nature when we look at the history of battle rap and things like that, and likewise chess is a game of minds. A game of really battling out using critical thinking," Cesar Cornier, one of the organizers for the Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin.

The club blends chess and hip-hop in a unique way that makes two opposites seem so similar.

"So I think having safe spaces like this for the community to come and to have that fellowship with each other and music and art and self-expression is extremely important," Cornier said.

A group of guys huddles around music-making equipment tucked behind a counter. They are making hip-hop instrumentals on the spot. They are the DJ's for the young chess players.

Around 30 people were there on Jan. 28. It was a mix of young kids and their families representing multiple different ethnicities.

"An inter-generational way for people to get involved through the community regardless of their background," Cornier said.

The Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin hopes to attract kids anywhere from the age of 7-18. That becomes easier when you open up the beat making to the kids as well.

Anyone can walk in and learn how to make a song, delve into what the music business is like, or spit a verse they have been working on.

This club is especially important for Cornier, a Milwaukee native, because it allows him to give something to the younger generations he always wished he had.

"When I was younger I use to like playing chess, and I thought it was cool but nobody who looked like me would play."

He didn't have anyone to relate to which presented a barrier to engaging more with chess. Now though, in a space that features hip-hop beats made on the spot and Air Jordans on the shelves, he feels like he is making chess more approachable.

"You hear loud rap music. You see graffiti. You see people that look like themselves being interactive with chess I think that changes their perception about what the game originally is."

The club meets every Tuesday from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the back of Flip 'N' Styles in Milwaukee at 817 W. National Ave.

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