Editor’s note: Some of the sources in this story requested that only their first names be used so they don’t risk losing access to their music venues.

As soon as someone walks into The Bedford, the music venue wants them to know one rule: no jumping. Or, at least, not too much of it.

The Bedford, located in an apartment complex within the university neighborhood, has crumpled paper signs reading “No Jumping” plastered around the venue. To top it off, a 3-foot-wide poster reads at the bottom, “yeah our musics [sic] good … just don’t jump around too much.”

It’s the same poster that hung in front of SUNY Geneseo freshman and rapper Grizzee before he performed his song “F**k Mercy.” He warned the crowd, “This next song is really hard, might make you jump.” Then, with a pause, realized the mistake that he made, and repeated over and over, “But no jumping.”

Despite all the warnings, the crowd didn’t listen.

During the day, The Bedford serves as three of the co-founders’ apartment, but on select nights this year, it has become an all-inclusive music venue. Last Saturday, March 7, The Bedford hosted artists from local Wav Mark Media Group, a multi-genre record label based in Syracuse. After their performance, The Bedford hopes to have one to two more shows this semester.

“Similarly to how in New York City there’s off-Broadway shows, this stuff in a sense is off-Greek life shows,” said Jakob Kaplan, one of The Bedford’s co-founders.

The idea for The Bedford, and its name, came to the group while they were roommates abroad in London last spring. SU senior Jordan Zwang grew close to fellow seniors Kaplan, Henry Touma and Noah “Web” Rosenberg while living together on Bedford Place.

Crumpled signs that read “No Jumping” are plastered on some of the walls of The Bedford, which is located in an apartment complex in the university neighborhood. Madison Brown | Contributing Photographer

Zwang said the street name became something they would pay homage to, calling themselves “The Bedford Boys” within their first week in London. It eventually became the namesake for the music venue.

The friend group bonded over their love for hip-hop, streetwear and going out. They also spent their time in London experiencing the underground club scene, which gave them “fantasies” of their own about running an underground club, Zwang said.

Upon returning to campus, Kaplan and Zwang  hosted a pop-up shop by the vintage luxury retail brand “What Goes Around Comes Around” in October. It was then that the duo realized that the apartment they were hosting in could also be used as a music venue.

During preliminary discussions, Zwang said the group wanted to distinguish themselves from bars and Greek life parties by primarily showcasing live hip-hop music and fashion.

Zwang and Touma said this discussion happened at the Orange Crate Brewing Company. The Bedford Boys sat around listening to music that was not quite up to their standards, a recurring situation.

For them, it was not the hits that they were used to — tracks from the likes of Drake, Young Thug and UK rapper Dave — all of whom they now play at their shows. After songs like “Sweet Caroline” and an Eminem song, the collective knew they had to do what they had talked about in London.

“(We) want to play the music that we want to hear and know that this campus wants to hear,” Zwang said. “We want to play the songs that are banging, not (the) EDM tacky bullsh*t music.”

Though The Bedford Boys have never met Zack Bia and Luka Sabbat in person, Zwang said that the social media influencers “paved the way” for their ideas. The Bedford Boys wanted a place where they could DJ, curate culture and celebrate fashion.

Willow The Cat performs at The Bedford. The venue hosted artists from the local record label Wav Mark Media Group for a show last Saturday night. Madison Brown | Contributing Photographer

Over winter break, Touma reached out to Josh Feldman, an SU sophomore involved with artist relations and show planning at another venue, The Ark. Feldman said he also helps Touma and Zwang with the recruitment of live performers at events.

Zwang said he even added his two senior roommates to manage the venue — Jonathan Leibowitz and Jon Bilkis. Meanwhile, SU senior and former high school wrestler Ryan First serves as a bodyguard for events.

During The Bedford’s first show, Zwang said music artist Mutasa performed to a crowd of about 90 people. After an hour of the event, Zwang and Touma stepped outside the apartment’s complex and were met by a line of people stretched outside. They said the venue was at maximum capacity, but recommended all to stay.

“After our first show, we knew we wanted to come back even stronger — just like Tarantino did after ‘Reservoir Dogs’ with ‘Pulp Fiction,’” Zwang said.

Lorenzo, a recent SU graduate and the founder of Wav Mark Media Group, performed at The Bedford’s second show with Joe Morgan, an R&B artist and a recent SUNY-ESF graduate. Weeks before the March 7 concert, Lorenzo asked Feldman if all his label’s artists, including Morgan and Grizzee, could perform at The Bedford. Feldman agreed.

Their second show proved to be even larger. Zwang said around 20 more people came to the second event. He recalled that champagne was sprayed over the crowd as Morgan performed in the middle of a raging crowd.

After much planning, the performance was billed as the label’s debut concert together.

“I think, as cliché as it sounds, like it’s the energy and the drive that these guys have,” Lorenzo said. “I’m hoping that people start to really catch on and be like, ‘Alright, we really gotta get over to The Bedford tonight.’”

The venue has hosted multiple local artists, many of them students themselves. Madison Brown | Contributing Photographer

After the majority of The Bedford Boys graduate, Zwang said they dream to bring the idea to Manhattan, and eventually travel to cities hosting high-end, “inclusive but private pop-up events” involving music and fashion.

On Saturday night, Dave and 169’s song “Funky Friday” played over the speakers after a performance from Wav Mark Media Group. With Kaplan now in charge, the senior hunched over a laptop deejaying while Zwang decked in a black Derek Jeter jersey watched him toy around.

The two looked at each other and mouthed the lyrics. Dave’s single was one of the songs they played the most in London and “is almost our theme song,” Zwang said.

The crowd, now including a passionate Morgan and Grizzee, answered the two seniors’ enthusiasm when they sang along to parts of Dave’s bragging chorus.

As the song’s drums lingered off the song, some patrons exited down the apartment’s staircase, passing the “No Jumping” signs some of them had not followed earlier. But the ones who remained didn’t stop jumping and moshing when Lil Uzi Vert’s “Futsal Shuffle 2020” and Pop Smoke’s “Dior” came on.

“The main reason why we started it was the music,” Zwang said. “That’s the heartbeat of it all. It’s all about the music.”

Published on March 11, 2020 at 12:56 am

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs