In Deep Ellum, the streets are always buzzing with crowds. Walking down Elm Street, rock music pours out from the Three Links garage. Fans are waiting in line at Trees waiting for the next punk show. It’s a vibrant music destination, but not everyone feels welcome.
“I feel like there’s a big discrimination when it comes to hip-hop or rap shows,” said Romii Rae, talent curator and founder of Vibes Texas.
For years, Black and Latino creatives have had to carve out their own spaces in the arts neighborhood, which is home to clubs and music venues. One of those creatives is Tommy Jay, co-founder of WeAreDallas. Jay said when Deep Ellum started to become more like Uptown, with more restaurants and fewer welcoming venues, he and his friends decided to rent a space.
“We need, as a community, a venue that is run by the community that understands the community,” Jay said. “A lot of people don’t understand how important that is.”
Originally founded in 2011, WeAreDallas is a creative collective that started hosting DIY parties in East and South Dallas. In 2015, the collective began renting a semi-cylinder tin warehouse on Malcolm X Boulevard, just outside of Deep Ellum. The warehouse was the place where local and notable rappers and artists partied with Dallasites.
Playboi Carti performed at the warehouse once. Post Malone showed up a few times. Dallas rap acts such as Blue the Great, The Outfit, TX and G.U.N. were there, too
The idea was to make the warehouse comfortable for everyone. But after seven months, WeAreDallas stopped throwing parties there after they couldn’t sustain the business.
While most came to party and left with memories, others were inspired to do more.
Creating Vibes Texas
Rae, an artist from East Texas, had just moved to Dallas when she started working the door for WeAreDallas and handling their social media accounts. After the warehouse closed, Rae continued to work in the music industry as a promoter working big concerts, including SZA and Migos.
“It kind of inspired me to do my own thing, figure out how to create a production like that, or even better,” she said.
In 2017, she established herself as a talent curator and founded her brand, Vibes Texas. A year later, she began curating shows in different Dallas locations featuring local rappers, hip-hop acts, R&B artists and DJs. Instead of just putting on performances, Rae incorporated her love of art into Vibes Texas. She also added art vendors, local clothing brands and body painting to her shows, making them feel like more than just concerts.
Local artists such as Coach Tev, Electric Tongues and Tears, have performed at Vibes Texas.
“If I’m going to go out and party, I might as well include my friends and we can all get highlighted from this because I’m building a platform that we can be beneficial on,” Rae said. “I feel like a lot of my friends were getting overlooked, and it kind of bothered me.”
Creators Don’t Die
Rae wasn’t the only one taking notes from WeAreDallas. Another regular still believed the hip-hop scene needed more options.
Meka Jackson, a multi-hyphenated creative, remembers spending up to a thousand dollars each week booking rap shows in Deep Ellum venues. At the time, people were going to Deep Ellum more than Uptown or downtown Dallas, and the crowd was a mix of all types of music fans.
“Then came the gentrification,” Jackson said. “Venues charging higher pricing, then came dress codes and then came, ‘We don’t want this type of music.’ The same venues we’ve been building up, we couldn’t even book at all.”
In 2020, Jackson saw the former WeAre Dallas warehouse on Malcolm X Boulevard was on the market. The pandemic had made properties more affordable than before, so he took the chance.
“Our scene, this Dallas hip-hop scene, you could spend [up to] $4,000 at Trees and book a year in advance, or if you want something next month, there’s only a handful of venues,” Jackson said. “It just came down to necessity where, like, ‘This is a problem, I gotta think of a solution for myself and for everybody.’”
That year, he began leasing the warehouse under the name Creators Don’t Die, based on his belief that art lasts forever.
Creators Don’t Die, which was painted on the façade of the warehouse, became a space for people to book events of all kinds, not just rap and hip-hop. Much like Vibes Texas, Creators Don’t Die is a platform for artists who don’t always get opportunities to perform. He said the connections some artists made there have led to music, film and art collaborations.
“Creators Don’t Die is a statement but also a reminder to creatives to channel that inner infinity,” Jackson said.
Touring artists, such as Nascar Aloe and Xavier Wulf had stops there. Milkshawty and Emotional Xan both shot music videos inside the warehouse. They also hosted festival-style events, including the early 2000s hip-hop nostalgia FubuPalooza and the Urban Arts & Indie Music Festival.
“There’s certain things you can’t just buy, it’s creativity,” Jackson said. “That’s the feeling when people walk in to Creators Don’t Die. It’s a feeling you can’t explain.”
The party doesn’t stop
What started inside a warehouse continues today.
After a long hiatus, WeAreDallas began throwing parties again in 2023 at the Heights District, an event space and streetwear boutique in the Design District. Their goal is to find another location built for festivals and brand collaborations.
“You gotta invest, you gotta stay consistent to get those places we need,” Jay said. “We just gotta keep it going.”
Last year, Rae debuted Open Gym, a monthly event at Royal Lane Studios sponsored by Audiomack that also focuses on cultivating new artists. It provides guidance for artists and creatives who have never performed before, or who need help figuring out the next steps in their music careers.
“It’s not that hard to be supportive,” Rae said. “We have a community, we have culture, we have places to go.”
After its two-year lease was up, Creators Don’t Die moved to Shiloh Road near Garland for another two years where they continued to do more jam-packed events. After that lease was up in 2023, Jackson wanted a more permanent spot. He found it on Regal Row.
The new location is an immersive experience similar to that of Meow Wolf and Sweet Tooth Hotel. It includes installation rooms, wall art for photo shoots, interactive arts, murals and a canoe that floats in the air.
“As far as right now, Dallas hip-hop [knows] we got Creators Don’t Die,” Jackson said. “If I still had venues accepting me, I would never even thought of having my own, so I’m glad they kicked us out and didn’t let us book in Deep Ellum anymore.”
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
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