BALTIMORE — The 25th annual Maryland Film Festival is underway. 

Friday night, a film documentary more than five years in the making will premiere. 

It celebrates hip hop history – in particular Baltimore Club music, the vibrant scene birthed here in Charm City.

And believe it or not, it is more than just the hype. 

“Baltimore club is really like the soundtrack to our city,” said Baltimore music producer, arts advocate, and DJ, Marquis ‘ Mighty Mark’ Gasque.

He calls it the heartbeat of Charm City.

“Baltimore club is feeling its war is gritty. It’s in your face. It’s an escape from your problems,” said Mighty Mark. 

Baltimore entrepreneur and director Larry “Whaddup” Caudle is working to tell its story in his film – ‘More Than Hype’. 

It’s a project he began in 2017 alongside colleagues he met while on tour as a hype man.  

“I said you know what, let me stand on faith and get out there and tell the story,” said Larry ‘Whaddup’ Caudle the director and executive producer of ‘More Than Hype’. 

The Morgan State University graduate got his degree in social work and says he took the road less traveled, putting his degree and career as a hype man to work in a different way. 

“And that is exactly what I did socially working in my environment through this project that brings the community of Baltimore City together,”  Larry ‘Whaddup’ told WJZ.

From artists like Scottie B to Kevin Lyles, K Swift to Rod Lee, Caudle meshes the stories of the movers and shakers behind the Baltimore hip hop scene— from past to present.

“This film wasn’t just about music. It was a social project, figuring out how to bring communities, people, businesses, organizations, and talent together,” said Larry ‘Whaddup’.

The film weaves together a personal story of the soundtrack of our city’s,  all while finding a way to bridge the gap in a place with a solid but struggling music industry.

 “I wanted to empower the people, enlighten the people, and educate the people about our music,” said Larry ‘Whaddup’.

The film features music producer and art advocate Mighty Mark whose work has been featured in popular movies and shows like Insecure. 

 “I talked about Baltimore club music and how I’m trying to push the genre forward,” said Mighty Mark. 

His work recently featured in an advertisement for the popular sports drink, Lucozade, in the United Kingdom. Mighty Mark worked on the track titled ‘Roll Call’ alongside artists TSU Terry and TT The Artist. 

“Good music is good music no matter what. If you’re in Baltimore, if you’re in London,” said Mighty Mark. 

“I might have to do some other screenings and stuff in Baltimore but 3 in 1 I’m done now it’s time to hit the road. We got to go,” Larry ‘Whaddup’ explained. 

Larry ‘Whaddup’ told WJZ he could not have done this documentary with out the help of the artists, friends and family who helped make it happen. 

“Tell your stories and just don’t keep that creativity bottled up because creativity helps heal the world,” said Mighty Mark. 

Larry ‘Whaddup’ told WJZ he doesn’t know when the next showing will be yet, but stay tuned. For now, he said follow him and “More Than Hype” on social media for any announcements. 

The Baltimore Club Music Day is on June 17. 

“They can use this sound they can. They should embrace the sound,” Mighty Mark told WJZ. 

The Maryland Film Festival runs until May 5. For more information and other film showings, you can visit their website. 

Categories

The first time Maryland faced Penn State this year, the Nittany Lions captured a big lead early, but took their foot off the gas in the second half, allowing the Terps to rally back and complete one of their best wins of the season.

Penn State was sure not to make that same mistake again in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. On Thursday night, it throttled the Terps, 19-9, handing them one of their worst losses under head coach John Tillman and sending them into the 2024 NCAA Tournament in poor form.

It was deja vu to open the match for Maryland. Penn State jumped down its throat, dictating the physicality of the game from the get-go.

The Terps’ offense went scoreless for the first 11 minutes. As for the opposition, Matt Traynor, Mac Costin and TJ Malone got themselves free and helped Penn State get out to a 3-0 lead.

But Luke Wierman spurred Maryland to a quick response with a lightning fast clamp and feed to Daniel Maltz.

The score was an attempt to seize the game’s momentum, but the Terps failed to keep the offense churning. In fact, Maltz’s goal would be one of just three the Terps would pot the entire half.

In the meantime, Penn State poured on eight more. Maryland’s defense, which has been the significantly better of the team’s two main units in 2024, was outmatched on all fronts.

The Nittany Lions found advantages on their dodges in what seemed to be every matchup. Maryland’s defensive midfielders, who have been largely solid this season, were consistently exploited, and their poles, outside of Ajax Zappitello, were not faring much better.

The Terps also suffered a blow to their offense when leading goal-scorer Braden Erksa suffered a scary injury. Erksa absorbed a big hit and his head snapped hard against the turf. He was stretchered off the field, but gave a thumbs up on the way off.

Ultimately, Costin recorded a first-half hat trick and Malone and Kyle Lehman added four combined goals in the opening 30 minutes. The Terps entered the break staring down a staggering 11-3 deficit.

To open the second half, Malone, the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year, scored first to secure a hat trick. Maryland then responded with their best stretch of the game, rattling off four unanswered goals to cut the Penn State lead to five.

But that sequence ended up being just a blip on the radar. Penn State followed the Terps’ barrage with four unanswered of its own to put itself firmly in the driver’s seat.

From that point, the Nittany Lions coasted their way into the Big Ten Tournament championship game, avenging their regular season loss to the Terps in definitive fashion.

Three things to know

1. The defense was season-worst. Maryland has relied on its defense and goalie Logan McNaney to keep it in games all year. This game answered what the Terps would look like with a poor back end, as they gave up a season-high 19 goals.

2. Wierman was strong in the loss. Maryland has also relied on Wierman to earn it extra possessions all season long. On Thursday, he did exactly that despite the loss, going 19-for-28 on draws.

3. Seeding implications. In all likelihood, Maryland will fall out of the NCAA Tournament’s top 10 seeds and miss out on an additional home game.