• Courtesy Of Alysse Gafkjen
• 99 Neighbors

Being in a band is weird. You get together with some other musicians and, based on a shared taste in music, form a collective. Maybe you're pals, maybe you become pals, and just maybe you stay pals. But, with some very rare exceptions, such as the Rolling Stones (who clearly have made a pact with Beelzebub to die onstage), the life span of a band resembles that of a decent pair of sneakers. And success seldom turns out to be the stabilizing force many expect it to be, sometimes even hastening the end.

Take Burlington hip-hop crew 99 Neighbors. The group of vocalists, producers and rappers, which includes Hank "HANKNATIVE" Collins, Sam Paulino, Connor "Swank" Stankevich, Julian "Juju" Segar-Reid, Jared Fier, Caleb "Somba" Hoh and Aidan Ostby, formed in 2018 as a loose collection of artists looking to collaborate on projects.

The seven friends, who shared a house in the Northeast Kingdom for a time, quickly found success. They dropped their debut LP, Television, in 2019, then signed with Chance the Rapper's manager, Pat Corcoran, who signed them to the Warner Records imprint Nice Work later that year. They released their major-label debut, Wherever You're Going I Hope It's Great, in 2021.

But the experience of working for a big record label, as well as the culture shock of moving to Nashville, seems to have spurred the group's demise. After five years together, 99 Neighbors are calling it quits (at least for now) with a goodbye show at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington this Friday, October 20.

"After record deals and living together through a pandemic, I honestly think it's a miracle we still all enjoy each other and want to be friends," Fier told me by phone. "And we don't take each other's friendship for granted, so yeah, it's all a little bittersweet."

While Fier was clear that the main impetus for the decision was the individual members' desire to explore new projects, he admitted the end came sooner than they intended.

"It's weird, because we never actually meant to become a band," Fier said. "And when we signed with Warner [Records], they wanted us to be this kind of hip-hop boy band thing, which was something none of us wanted to be."

Moving the operation to Nashville just before the pandemic broke out in 2020 didn't help matters. Fier revealed that the band members, New Englanders all, struggled to adapt to their new surroundings. They moved back to Vermont a year later, ready to rethink their trajectories.

"We've all been living and working together, seeing each other every day for the past six or so years," Fier said. "For all the high highs and low lows, we're all connected for life. It was just time for everyone to explore our own stories, though."

Fier pointed out that Swank has already been releasing new singles, while Paulino is working on a new album with local producer Es-K. He's sure the other members, including himself, will have new work to show off soon.

"The Warner [Records] thing showed us what we really want, and that's to get back to our roots of being a bunch of friends doing cool shit and helping each other out. So we're getting back to that," Fier said.

As for the final show, Fier knows it will be an emotional experience. The group has been planning a career-spanning set list to say goodbye properly.

"I'm sure there will be some tears," he said. "But it's the last time. Fuck it, let's get weird."

Fier believes the group is leaving behind a hip-hop scene that is stronger than it was when they started out. He points to acts such as North Ave Jax and Kelly Butts-Spirito's work with his Love, Kelly production company as signs of a healthy future for Vermont hip-hop.

"We showed people that it's possible to make it out of Burlington just rapping with your friends," he said.

So is this the end for 99 Neighbors? Will we see their like again? Fier isn't about burning bridges, but he doesn't foresee a reunion anytime soon.

"We're not closing doors, but I don't want to promise anything or get people's hopes up," he said. "We never wanted to be a band forever. But it's like what we said with our last record: 'Wherever you're going, I hope it's great.' We don't know what the future holds for us, but we know we'll all be good and we're going to do great things."