As in Joe Ugly. His grassroots hip-hop online radio station, UglyRadio.net, is moving up.
Specifically, Ugly & crew have moved up to the second floor of 928 Chapel St., above the Subway restaurant across from the Green. Ugly Radio moved from State Street, where it started two years ago as a hip-hop offshoot of Ultra Radio, where Joe Ugly was a deejay.
With the slogan “Independent radio for independent listeners,” Ugly Radio airs 24/7 on the web. It plays the music of unsigned hip-hop artists from New Haven and around the country — and only unsigned artists. Now in its third year, the station/site has also amassed an extensive archive of independent recordings.
Visitors to the station’s new suite are greeted by a framed T‑shirt signed by DJ Kool Herc, the Jamaican-born “father of hip hop“ who brought “blend beats” to the Bronx. Click on the play arrow to watch Joe Ugly tell both the founder’s tale and the story of the T‑shirt, produced by two former workers at New Haven’s old Starter Sportswear plant.
“This is where new media is taken to the next level with hip hop in mind,” said Ugly, a 1980 graduate of Wilbur Cross High School who lives in Newhallville.
His own show airs Mondays, Thursday and Fridays from 6 to 10 p.m. Click on the play arrow to watch him run down some of the New Haven groups he’s featured.