Overdosing on chocolate samplers and setting unrealistic relationship expectations may be most people’s Valentine’s Day traditions, but Minneapolis rapper Botzy is working on building a better one. Saturday, February 11 marks the third annual The Best Love is Free, an affection-themed show with an accompanying CD showcasing local and national performers. Botzy picked the date two years ago when he first decided to apply the mixtape method of artists like Lil Wayne to indie music. “Soundset has May on lock, and Doomtree dominates December, but there wasn’t really anything around Valentine’s Day,” he explains. A best-dressed couple competition helps fulfill the “love” part, but “free” is just as important: Botzy promises that he’ll continue to distribute the compilation CDs at no charge.
Those compilations saw an exciting change this year: an open call for submissions. The response, 778 tracks from 48 states, was more than Botzy ever expected. The deluge of music was too much to narrow down for even a 23-song CD, so TBLIF shelled out the extra money to offer a digital download card with each compilation. Another new feature this year has been exclusive videos of live performances by artists affiliated with TBLIF, including a cypher featuring such local MCs as St. Paul Slim, MaLLy, and Botzy himself.
One of the main goals for The Best Love is Free 3, Botzy says, was diversity. In a November interview on the TBLIF website, local rapper and activist Guante said he’d like to see more women and people of color both on the compilation and performing at the show, and Botzy acknowledges that was on his mind in selecting this year’s lineup. But the variety extends to how the music sounds, too. ”Listeners in this city are conditioned to be open to multiple genres,” he says. ”I want people to show up loving two of the artists and walk away loving all of them. There’s nothing more fun than going to see your favorite artist and having the opener become your new favorite artist.”
Even as he prepares to present Saturday’s show–and to perform there with Culture Cry Wolf–Botzy is thinking ahead to next year and beyond. The volume of submissions this year has given him hope for multiple compilation CDs, each with a different theme or feeling. He’d also like to take TBLIF on the road with a “mini-tour,” bringing the same model to other cities with strong music scenes. While the show features mostly Twin Cities performers, the CD includes artists from throughout the country, and Botzy wants to bring what he’s created to some of their hometowns.
But before that, he’s hoping to just take a break. “I don’t think people realize how much work goes into this,” he says. “I’ve had to put my personal interests and my music on hold.” He’s working on some solo projects, and will head to South by Southwest next month. “The Best Love is Free isn’t something I could have accomplished by myself,” Botzy adds. “I’ve got a great team of people. It’s way larger than the initial dream I had, and I love that.”
