Bubble Gum Pop Rap: festivals

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Photos: 2011 Little Five Fest (taken by Dave Batterman)

Last year, when this was The Other Sound festival, I didn't know about the event until the middle of the day it began. I promised myself I would not miss this year's, and, fortunately, I am a person of my word!

I covered Little Five Fest for Examiner this year, despite some camera issues, but was taken care of by the Little Five Fest crew. The photos you'll see below are taken by Dave Batterman, a well-known concert photographer, a man who knows his stuff.

Covering One Music Festival 2011

It brings about a whole unique feeling when you can sit through a daylong concert with three generations sliding through the lineup, especially when the genres are as diverse as displayed within One Music Festival.

I had the privilege of covering One MusicFest with Carolyn Grady for BlackVibes, assisting her with the writing as she let her Nikon express her vocabulary. 'twas a beautiful site, all these people together under one cause - loving music - and seeing everyone let the music please them. What an orgasmic experience as a concert goer, let alone the vibes from the artists, up close and personal, in the press room via the interviews.

Though I was limited on word count for the website I wrote for, I posted as much as I had on the site via Twitter and Tumblr, including an interview with Phife Dawg of ATCQ on Tumblr. Here's a twitpic of me interviewing The Cool Kids from @willedmond:

You can check out the twitpics I sent to Twitter right here!

I have some video I'll post soon of the concert footage on my YouTube page. Seeing Kyron Leslie, Anoop Desai, Tortured Soul, Anthony David, The Foreign Exchange, The Cool Kids, Pharcyde and Chrisette Michelle all hit the stage was the most refreshing moment I had in music in a long time! You can check out the photos and my official recap of One MusicFest on BlackVibes.com!

Thurzday of U-N-I Interview with Frank151

While covering the Atlanta Indie Festival, I got to see one of my favorite now former group U-N-I member Thurzday perform. Of course, after his set he sat down with me to talk about his favorite Atlanta artists, his new album - which is out today, go cop L.A. Riot - and then I got to let out some lame yet witty U-N-I/you and I jokes. He was cool about it, as well as cool about talking about leaving the group.

Here is an excerpt of the interview. Check out Frank151 for the full article!

So where are you at? Let's talk about this new project.

It definitely pulls inspiration from the '92 riots, and also basically I'm at a burn-and-rebuild stage right now. Left the group, and I had to almost re-brand myself so that people know I'm a force. I burnt down the old image, and it's me re-establishing myself. I'm also putting out quality over quantity, so this thing I put out really represents where my mind is at and all the people that are pushing me right now. It's not a historical project, it just touches on a lot of life situations and, well, real shit.

Ok, so you said you left the group. So does that mean no more U-N-I?

We'll see.

I mean, you and I - as far as I'm concerned - seem ok, as long as you keep doing dope stuff, but U-N-I is ka-put?

Ha! As of right now, we're not doing the group thing anymore. I'm just really attached to doing my solo work. The sounds that I am making are really big, and I'm really digging the music I've created and the producers created lately. I definitely appreciate where U-N-I got me and all the accolades we've received, but right now it's time for me to do me.

Well, I'm glad you appreciate where I've gotten you. Ok, I'm done with the lame U-N-I jokes! With performing, how were you digging the Atlanta atmosphere?

My boy DJ Z reached out to me wanting me to come and rock. He's been supporting all the records I've released so far, so I really wanted to help support that movement. I brought my DJ Ro Blvd. to join me, and I'm glad to be out here.

A Photo Recap of Atlanta Indie Festival

I had the privilege of covering Greedmont Park's annual Atlanta Indie Festival for Frank151, and I took hella photos. I am so proud of the results - like the ones when I covered the Soul Train Awards - that I want to share all of them!

Check out the full recap of the event on Frank151 Atlanta Backwoods League.

Featured in this slideshow is:

J*Davey

Project Pat
Rahbi
CyHi da PrynceGrip Plyaz
Karima Harrison from Noot d' Noot
Tuki and Go Dreamer from Hollyweerd

Thurzday from U-N-I

and much, much more!

Sidenote, plus a bonus photo, I went to the Arts Beats & Lyrics show the night before as the purveyor of awesome that I am, and got recruited to take a photo in front of a person's work because of my KeepItClassic.com "I Grew Up On Hiphop" shirt. Lo and behold, it was for a friend of mine! Check out all of her Rhythmic Images pictures by clicking on her picture of me!

A3C Festival - A Recap with Some Photos

Woke up today and looked at my booklet like "what's going on at A3C today?" Nothing, because it's over!!!

After a star-studded three-day hiphop festival, I'm slapping anybody that says hiphop is dead. This event was almost like a family reunion for some, and a jaw-dropping experience for all. It's the only place where there are several generations of one community under one roof (sort-of, if we omit the fact that two of the five stages were outdoors).

So I should back up first.

This weekend long festival had five stages - two outside, three inside - with over 70 artists putting on a small yet powerful 15 minutes show a piece. From 6 pm Thursday to 3 am Sunday, people from all over the country, well at least people from "All 3 Coasts (A3C)," came together and made friends, future collaborations and even family.

I know of at least one artist that reunited with someone that raised her as a hiphop artist, Lyric Jones. After speaking with her, she said her brother DJ Raydar Ellis taught her just about everything she knew about hiphop - from what's real to what's fake, how the music is made to how the culture has evolved - and he has credentials to back him up, as he is a professor at Berklee School of Music in Boston.

At least every journalist, blogger, vendor, DJ, breaker, emcee, event volunteer, and patron found at least one new favorite artist out of A3C. Amidst the minor technical difficulties from the venue, like microphones cutting out, loud vents, and unlevel floors, each and every artist that I saw perform was near FLAWLESS. The only thing, which I think was weird, was that many of the performers forgot their lyrics at one point through their set. But I heard a lot of backstage action was going on, so there may have been some pre-performing distractions. Some of the artists that stood out for me, and I did not really know much of them, are:

Torae

Skip Coon

Lyric Jones
Sha Stimuli

RA the MC

El Prez (I'm still singing "gone, beating my chest like King Kong!")

Coolroy, aka Lite

The Grand Prize Winners From Last Year

The Jacka

Ayomari & TiRon (the two were inseparable, and it was quite adorable)

STS

Lyrical Preacher

Aside from the emcee aspect of this hiphop event, the only other element that was tended to very well was DJing. Every night, there was some sort of showcase or cnotest dedicated to DJs and producers. Nwo, there is a distinct difference between a DJ and a producer, and although I feel like the two shouldn't be merged together, A3C did a nice job of making producing a part of the hiphop culture. I won't go there and say it was wonderful or it was any good, if anything else having the DJ and production events almost back-to-back like they're the same is rather demoralizing the hiphop culture. I will say the events that unfolded - having the guy from Kane Beatz speak with other up-and-coming producers about the industry, and DJ Shiftee putting on a "DJ" workshop - were very entertaining and informative for people to know how to conform to the way of current society. If that felt like a shot, it was.

The only good news about the other elements was seeing the legendary DJ Rob Swift of the X-Ecutioners put on a show wherever he was, whether he was the DJ or the judge of other DJs. He put on a funky-fabulous set at the Red Bull Music Academy 45s Show, as well as a guest DJ set at the Unique Squared DJ contest he judged. The main reason why he was so amazing was that he only used TWO TURNTABLES!!!! DJ Shiftee had all of his little hook-ups and his laptop with the DJing software, but DJ Rob Swift had a near-identical sounding set with just two turntables and a stack of records.

The breaking tournament was late yet rushed, making the breakers not really flow like they wanted. The result was a blahzay tournament, so no need to go any further.

Overall, the event was like Jasmine Solano said "a hiphop super mall." There were some things that fit very well, some things I wish I could fit into, and some things that just weren't my taste. Fortunately, there was something for everyone! All of the interviews I did with my favorite artists were amazing because of the chill environment. There probably isn't a more welcoming place in Atlanta but A3C, too bad it's just three days.

Below are photos from my phone, because I seem to have lost my USB cord to my camera/camcorder, plus a video I caught of a dope remake to "Thriller":