Slowly but surely, hip hop is gaining a South.(The Orlando Sentinel)

Byline: Southwest audience

AUSTIN, Texas_Two showcases were scheduled to start at the same time Wednesday night in separate rooms at the sprawling Emo's.

The rock show started on time, but the hip-hop showcase was slow to get going.

That's a good metaphor for the appetite for urban music at the mammoth South By Southwest Music Conference, a taste that is only now starting to catch on.

"It's happening slowly," says Tim Kotas, 30, who has lived in Austin for a decade and is president of the independent label Group Records.

Kotas was in the crowd for Wednesday's showcase by Rhymesayers, a highly regarded independent hip-hop label out of Minneapolis. He watched with Matt Smith, an aspiring rapper from Amarillo, Texas, who goes by the stage name Ntellect.

Smith, 25, says the Lone Star …