OUR STORY
Late Lyrics started in 2017, when I was doing stand-up comedy, hosting shows, and getting more involved in event production. What began as a music and poetry open mic after our comedy show at Funhouse Lounge started taking on a life of its own. By 2018, I was producing Late Lyrics independently and shaping it into a hip-hop-focused event where more Portland artists could get onstage, connect, and be heard.
Why I Built a Space
for Hip-Hop
I came up in Portland as a stand-up comedian, and I knew I had something to offer. I loved making people laugh and was building an audience, including online, where my work was reaching people across different platforms. But attention did not always turn into bookings in my own city. As a Black comedian, I sometimes felt that my personality and energy were seen as "too much" instead of something worth bringing to a stage. I knew how frustrating it was to have talent, ideas, and an audience but still struggle to get an opportunity. Hosting became one of my favorite parts of performing, and the more I hosted, booked, promoted, and organized shows, the more I fell in love with producing.
I was already a huge supporter of Portland hip hop, going to shows and showing up for local artists well before I was producing my own hip-hop events. When I began hosting hip-hop shows, I loved bringing my comedy and personality into that environment. But as a fan, I kept noticing the same venues, promoters, and performers. There were talented artists all over the city, yet the chances to be seen did not seem to reach everyone. Some venues were reluctant to book hip hop at all. For a scene built in large part by Black artists and other artists of color, that lack of welcoming stages could mean fewer places to perform, build an audience, and grow.
I knew what it felt like to want an opportunity and not always be given one. When I had the chance to create a space myself, I wanted to use it for other artists, too. I was not trying to replace the hip-hop shows already happening in Portland; I wanted to open another door. Late Lyrics could offer individual performance sets, an audience that was actually listening, and a welcoming place to practice, make connections, and grow. Everybody deserves a chance to get onstage, and everybody starts somewhere.
How the Open Mic Began
(2017–2018)
In 2017, I was co-hosting and co-producing a comedy show at Funhouse Lounge called Only the Baddest. When the venue offered us the remaining late-night hours, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., we decided to try something new. Alongside another co-host, I helped produce a general music and poetry open mic after the comedy show. A music open mic was the familiar format at the time, and I was excited to be part of it.
As both shows developed, I came up with new names for them: Late Laughs for the comedy show and Late Lyrics for the music open mic. They were inspired by the late-night schedule: one for the laughs, the other for the lyrics. We even had a saying, “Start with the laughs, end with the lyrics.” Comedy and music came together on those nights, with some performers crossing over between the two shows.
Over the following months, the people I had originally worked with on the shows moved on to other opportunities. I appreciated what we had started together, but I had grown attached to the name Late Lyrics and saw the potential to build something of my own. I decided to keep producing it, taking on the promotion, outreach, organizing, and creative direction.
By September 2018, I was presenting Late Lyrics under my own name. I kept inviting local rappers and reaching out to artists who needed more opportunities to perform. As the hip-hop community responded, it became clear to me that the music mic could grow into something with a more intentional focus.
Later in 2018, at Portland Burger, I added Hip Hop Open Mic to the event's name. That was an intentional step toward the identity I had been building. What began as an opportunity to fill late-night hours at Funhouse Lounge had become an event with a direction and purpose of its own.
Word of Mouth Built the Room
One of the artists I reached out to early was Swiggle Mandela. I had supported and respected him as both a rapper and a community leader. He brought other hip hop artists with him, and those artists helped bring more people into the room. Friends told friends, performers returned, and word spread without the event needing to be something flashy or exclusive.
Late Lyrics first grew at Funhouse Lounge and Portland Burger. By 2018–2019, we were bringing more than 50 people into an open mic. People talked about it like a full showcase because of the atmosphere and because artists had their own sets in a hosted lineup. A performer who might not have been booked for a traditional show could still have a real moment in front of a room full of listeners. Seeing that happen showed me how much this space could offer. Over the years, Late Lyrics went on to Kelly's, The Heights, and White Owl Social before finding its current home at Atlantis Lounge.
Building the Early Production Together
Photo credit: Brave and Fortune Studio
Brave and Fortune was an early sponsor of Late Lyrics, supporting the event with sound during its Funhouse Lounge days. Its logo appeared on early flyers before the move to Portland Burger. Later, at Portland Burger, Echo the Savage of Brave and Fortune came on as a co-producer, focusing on audio, microphones, and the technical needs of the stage. His equipment and experience helped keep the show running in a venue that needed a sound setup.
Our responsibilities were different. I led the promotion, artist outreach and bookings, lineup and show coordination, administration, communication, hosting, and the creative direction of Late Lyrics. Echo supported the technical and stage side. Both kinds of work mattered, and we contributed in different ways as the event grew.
At Portland Burger, Echo provided sound equipment needed for performances, while I hired the DJ and coordinated the artists and the show. The technical support helped make those events possible, while my work continued to guide the event's overall production and its development as a hip-hop open mic.
I continued leading the overall direction and production of Late Lyrics, and Brave and Fortune’s support extended beyond sound and hosting during my recovery to recording opportunities for artists, including free studio hours for a selected performer and discounted recording rates for others. That was an early example of something I have always wanted Late Lyrics to do: create support for artists that lasts beyond their few minutes onstage.
An Unplanned Pause In the Open Mic (2020–2022)
Late Lyrics was still growing when I was injured in a car accident in 2019. I broke my arm, needed surgery, and then developed a hospital-acquired infection. I couldn’t keep hosting the way I had been, but I didn’t want the mic to disappear. Brave and Fortune stepped in to host Late Lyrics from April through December 2019 so the artists could keep performing while I recovered.
I returned to hosting in January 2020. Just two months later, in March, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live events. I was still recovering from my injuries and the infection, so Late Lyrics went on hiatus. When I brought the mic back in 2023, I was continuing something that mattered to me and to the artists who had helped build it. The break changed our timeline, but it didn’t change why I started.
The Laughs Are Still Part of the Lyrics
Photo credit: Rigo Morales
My comedy background has never completely left Late Lyrics. I have continued performing stand-up, including Kickstand Comedy and Minority Retort's Comedy in the Park at Laurelhurst Park on July 22, 2022 (Instagram performance reel). I bring that experience into the hip-hop event through my hosting. It shows up in the jokes between performances, the conversations with the crowd, the way I introduce people, and the way I celebrate somebody who just gave everything they had onstage.
The old phrase “Start with the laughs, end with the lyrics” means something different to me now. Instead of comedy being one part of a night and music being another, the two come together in the same experience. The artists bring the music, and I bring some laughs and energy that help keep the room connected. I want people to enjoy themselves while still giving each performer the attention and respect they deserve.
Every Artist
Deserves Support
Photo credit: Eduardo Morales
I want artists to feel comfortable bringing their work to Late Lyrics—to try something, learn, and perform without feeling like the room is waiting to make fun of them. I always ask the audience to clap for everybody who steps onto the stage. You never know someone’s experience, their level of confidence, or what it took for them to get up there.
That applies whether somebody is performing for the first time or has been recording and doing shows for years. An open mic should give people space to grow. Having their own set, hearing encouragement, meeting other performers, and getting an honest chance to share their music can mean a lot. Everyone deserves their moment.
The community became an important part of the show itself. Some nights, the people in the audience are artists too. They come to perform, they stay to support someone else, and they meet people they might collaborate with later. That is how an open mic can become more than a lineup of names.
More Than an Open Mic
Photo credit: Eduardo Morales
My work was also being recognized as both a comedian and a community producer. In 2019, I was nominated for the Portland Mercury's The Undisputable Geniuses of Comedy. In 2020, I placed third for Best Comedian in Willamette Week's Best of Portland readers' poll and received Portland Hip Hop Week's Trailblazer Award for helping create positive change in the hip-hop community. In 2021, I won first place at the Portland Coast 2 Coast LIVE hip-hop showcase. Those milestones meant a lot because I was growing my own career in comedy and music while continuing to create opportunities for other artists.
Over the years, I have kept looking for ways Late Lyrics can give artists more than stage time. I have watched people come through as performers or audience members and later build their own stages and events. Seeing that makes me proud because I want Portland to have more places for hip hop to grow, not fewer.
Today, Late Lyrics offers individual live performance opportunities, a Youth Spotlight, Top Performer recognition, radio features, studio opportunities, media connections, and creative partnerships. The artist recognition program celebrates performers and connects them with opportunities beyond the event. Late Lyrics Radio and our radio partners give artists another place for their music to be heard. Studio and media relationships can help them take the next step with what they create.
I also created The Lab, a free artist resource directory that shares bookings, performance opportunities, recording and production services, radio and media connections, and other resources. To me, that is part of the same work I started in 2017: helping artists find doors they might not have known were open.
Late Lyrics Today
Photo credit: Rigo Morales
At Atlantis Lounge in North Portland, Late Lyrics continues with live performances, a hosted lineup, audiences who show up for the artists, and people and partners who believe in the culture. The event is now produced through my company, Nexxt Up Entertainment, but it is still grounded in what I wanted from the beginning: independent artists having a place to perform, connect, grow, and be celebrated.
What began as a music open mic has grown into a community that artists help build together. I am proud of the opportunities we have created, of the people who helped along the way, and of every artist who has stepped onto our stage to practice, build confidence, share their work, or take another step forward. The event has grown and changed, but the reason I keep doing it has not.
Late Lyrics is built for the culture and powered by the community.
— Shrista Tyree
Founder, Producer & Host | Late Lyrics