Monday, October 31, 2011

Pray for Rob Quest

You probably know Rob Quest as 1/3rd of the Odd Squad or maybe as the blind dude who is often on stage with Devin the Dude. I know him as both of those and also as a great friend for 20 years (literally). He's a great man and an immense talent and while underrated there is no doubt in my mind that his production skills helped shape the Houston sound and honestly the whole sound of the south. His jazzy funk laden straight up down south beats were always some of my favorites. Listen to the Odd Squad record and everything that came after it and tell me what you think. The man is a legend.

He's been battling liver problems for a long time now and it seems to be taking its toll on him for real right now. He's in the hospital and in a coma, and word is he opened his eyes a bit today, so we have hope. I have heard that he needs a liver and maybe even a kidney replaced, so man, this is something really serious.



Keep the man in your prayers and maybe go help out a bit by buying some of his music on Itunes, search Rob Quest. You won't be sorry. His solo work is amazing and highly slept on.



Pray for the man Rob Quest. My Coughee Brotha.

New Video: Cali Zack & N/A - Money To Make

Featuring TuJoint Swagg it's really goin' down.

Friday, October 28, 2011

FunFunFunFest STARTS THURSDAY NIGHT!

Holy Scheisser Batdude(ette)s. Lace up your Doc Martins, or your Adidas, or whatever it is that you wear and get ready to rumble.



Its happening at Auditorium Shores Nov. 4-5-6 that's Friday - Saturday - Sunday with pre-parties on Thursday and night events every night. Man, it's really goin' down. Best line up ever.

Below please find my picks for each day and some information on each act. So stoked for this every year!

I left out the times because these things tend to change. For the full line up complete with times and all that go to FunFunFunFest.com and feel the real.

FRIDAY

Orange Stage

Ocote Soul Sounds


Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears


Black Stage

Ty Segall


Danzig Legacy


Blue Stage

Fat Tony


Black Milk


Omar Souleyman


Big Freedia


Spankrock


Public Enemy



Yellow Stage

Best Fwends


Upright Citizens Brigade


Reggie Watts


Nite

9:00 pm - Glass Candy, Big Freedia, Fat Tony and more - Mohawk
9:05 pm - Kool Keith, Death Grips, B L A C K I E and more - Empire Automotive


SATURDAY

Orange Stage

Joe Lally of Fugazi


Tinariwen


tUnE-yArDs


Black Stage

B L A C K I E


Death Grips


Dead Horse


Youth Brigade


Negative Approach


Hot Snakes


The Damned


Blue Stage

Cecil Otter


Dan Deacon


Rakim


Childish Gambino


Major Lazer


Yellow Stage

Donald Glover


SUNDAY

Orange Stage

The Budos Band


Slayer


Black Stage

Zero Boys


Kid Dynamite


Cannibal Corpse


Black Lips


Blonde Redhead


Blue Stage

Soul Khan


Bird Peterson


G Side


Grimes


Baths


Del the Funky Homosapien


Flying Lotus


Diplo


Yellow Stage

Rap Battle Royal

Chris Trew


Henry Rollins Spoken Word


Nite
Dengue Fever - Beauty Bar


More to come on the subject of FunFunFun Fest all this week. Can't wait to dive in to it.

Help Ocote Soul Sounds Spread The Good Word! #STTP



Hands down one of my favorite groups to see live. A cut above the rest and a breed of their own. Just super real.

Help them hit the road this December (after a serious show at next week's FUNFUNFUNFEST here in Austin). Check out their KICKSTARTER PAGE and give these folks a helping hand. If anyone deserves it... And the world needs music like this to travel to many, many different earholes.

Tour Dates:
11/4 - Fun Fun Fun Fest @ Auditorium Shores, Austin, TX
12/7 - Low Spirits, Albuquerque, NM
12/8 - Solar Culture, Tucson, AZ
12/9 - The Satellite, Los Angeles, CA
12/10 - Brick & Mortar Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
12/13 - Nectar Lounge, Seattle, WA
12/14 - The Media Club, Vancouver, CAN
12/16 - The State Room, Salt Lake City, UT
12/17 - The Walnut Room, Denver, CO
-------

Co-led by Adrian Quesada, of Grammy-winning Latin ensemble Grupo Fantasma, and Martín Perna, of Antibalas (the famed afrobeat orchestra associated with the acclaimed Broadway musical Fela), Ocote Soul Sounds warm things up this December when the band sets sail in support of their fourth studio album, Taurus, out now on ESL Music.

Taurus sees the cosmic producers honing their signature psychedelic, analog funk infused, Afro-Cuban sound and crafting an album bigger than any of their previous efforts. That's not to say it's a massive departure from their back catalogue, but this time, the vibrations are stronger, more muscular and confident. Marking their first time working with an outside producer, Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation, Ocote Soul Sounds maintains their cosmic ambiance while building on the pan-Latino rhythms that have become favorites of dance freaks and headphone space cadets alike.

Download the single - Ocote Soul Sounds - Primavera - here

And then of course there's this:

Good Morning Austin
#StupidMotherfuckers

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I wonder What Willie D thinks of this. Also Davey D. #NewLow? GOP is NOT the new black, its still the same old stank motherfucker its always been. Democrats too. #EatTheRich #NoHope

Saying anything is "the new black" is racist even if a black sell out says it.



via KVUE.com

Click here if the video doesn't play for you --> GOP is the new black claim East Austin billboards




Also Fuck Godfathers Pizza.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Ask Yourself: Why are these British women rapping harder than you?

How did I miss this???



Ladies Gang

My Man DJ DUS Killin' the game

Who knew they got it so live in Corpus Christi????



Hula hoops and pinatas is real living.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fishbone Everyday Sunshine Tonight at ALAMO and In Store at Waterloo!



PALE GRIOT FILM PRESENTS THE AUSTIN THEATRICAL PREMIERE OF THE DOCUMENTARY “EVERYDAY SUNSHINE: THE STORY OF FISHBONE” AT THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE. ONE NIGHT ONLY AS PART OF THE AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY'S DOCUMENTARY TOUR AND POST-SCREENING Q&A WITH THE FILMMAKERS AND BAND.

ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Wednesday, October 26th at 7:00pm
Alamo Drafthouse (Austin Film Society Documentary Tour)
1120 South Lamar Blvd
Austin, Texas
*Post-screening Q&A with filmmakers and band

https://www.austinfilm.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=264
http://drafthouse.com/austin

Additional Fishbone events that week in Austin:

Wednesday, October 26th (5pm to 7pm)
Waterloo Records (In-store Performance and Appearance)
600A North Lamar
Austin, Texas
http://waterloorecords.dostuff.info/

"Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone"
directed by Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler
narrated by Laurence Fishburne
featuring Fishbone, Flea, Ice-T, Gwen Stefani, Perry Farrell, Bob Forrest, Branford Marsalis, and George Clinton.

From the shifting faultlines of Hollywood fantasies and the economic and racial tensions of Reagan's America, Fishbone rose to become one of the most original bands of the last 25 years. With a blistering combination of punk and funk they demolished the walls of genre and challenged the racial stereotypes and political order of the music industry and the nation. EVERYDAY SUNSHINE is a story about music, history, fear, courage and funking on the one.

http://www.fishbonedocumentary.com/

"Effortlessly entertaining." - Variety

"Fascinating!" - New York Times

"One of the best music documentaries, period" - Portland Mercury

"A rare beast: an inspirational, happy film about failure." - Variety

"Let’s be clear, this is no lame-ass “Behind the Music." - indieWIRE

Critic's pick by the LA Weekly

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Today is John Peel Day
Tribute tonight at the North Door

Today is John Peel Day. What’s that mean exactly? It means that 7 years ago today we lost one of the most unique and impassioned voices ever to touch the music business, and every year on Oct. 25th unto infinity we will celebrate his good name.



If you don’t know anything/much about John Peel, there’s numerous websites that can tell you his history. I’m no historian so today I just want to try and relay to you what he meant to me, and my views on music and the industry that so often sucks it dry.

I’m not going to opine and say that today the state of music is all that different from when he was alive. It isn’t. There’s great music and there’s terrible music and there’s everything in between. There’s independent music and there’s music made by people who don’t really care to do a thing but make music, and there’s music that is controlled, created and delivered by a massive corporate machine, that while shrinking, still holds a massive amount of control on the people’s collective consciousness.

Now listen, I said the state of music isn’t all that different today than it was, ever, but yeah ok there’s lots of new and exciting ways to acquire and listen to music these days. Many say that these new things make radio largely irrelevant. In fact, I personally say that every time I attempt to surf the commercial stations just to see what might be on. I can plug a thing into my car stereo and have hundreds of songs I want to hear at my disposal on demand. I could have thousands if I were to go out and purchase a more expensive thing. But I’m old, I can’t even process all that. So a couple hundred is fine.

That being said I often still find myself surfing the stations, in hopes that I will find something that I haven’t heard before that is not complete shit. In Austin we are lucky. From 88.7 – 91.7 on our FM dial we can hear a pretty good selection of stuff at the right time on the right day. KAZI, KUT, KVRX, KOOP, that station Alex Jones is on all the time, and that weird “music of your (grandparents) life” station that comes in from Killeen on 91.3, all have real DJ’s playing real things. If some of these stations have play lists to follow at certain times, they are certainly fairly loose in comparison to the computer driven stations we have to deal with any further right of the dial.



But most cities aren’t so lucky. Many towns across the US (and the world) don’t have any independent stations and many these days don’t even have college radio to turn to. Their dial is a vast wasteland of pop music where the most adventurous sounding stuff they will hear will be on the classic rock station. Venture to the alt-rock station, or egads the “hip-hop” station these days and you’re likely to vomit on yourself if you happen to give a shit whatsoever about art and/or culture.

On the alt-rock station they’re crying, real tears, and on the hip-hop station they are laughing all the way to the bank while they dance on the heads, backs and necks of middle America. It’s a travesty, but fuck it’s never really been all that great. Radio is a business and most people who are in that business are in it for the money or for the kind of fame that comes without having to stand in front of a camera. The real music heads are few and far between and always have been.

John Peel was not few and far between, he stood alone, with a good portion of the worlds music on his shoulders.

I first heard of John Peel when I was a really little kid. Pre-10 for sure and probably more like when I was 7. I’ve been collecting records (and mangling my parents collections) since I was probably about 4 years old, and have been reading about music since about then too. I remember getting British magazines like NME and Kerrang when I was super young (ok probably not 5 but definitely 7ish) and seeing ads in the back selling records. Many would be titled “Peel Sessions.” And it was only a matter of time before I found out what that meant.

Peel Sessions were special recording sessions that bands would do, at the request of John Peel for the BBC, that would generally be played only once on Peels show. Sometimes the artist, or a bootlegger would make these recordings available on record and later CD. These sessions span more than 30 years and feature a wide range of recording artists from around the world. John was a champion of real rock and roll, psyche rock, one of the first people to really play and pay serious attention to punk rock, reggae, and even to a lesser extent, hip-hop. He championed new music coming from original sources that were as genuine as him. He eschewed anything fake. He was not a tool of the major label machine, but the majors certainly looked to him to figure out what they should glom on to next. (Why the majors never got fully behind Happy Hardcore though is beyond me. One of my favorite things to hear on Peel’s show was the insane pummeling rhythm of a gabber track from Holland just after a song from Melys or PJ Harvey or some shit. It was startling and unnerving and exactly what I needed at that moment).

((In fact, I have found myself, obviously inspired by the man, tuning in to some Happy Hardcore at work and turning it up really loud in my speakers or even headphones to wake up co-workers at random times in the day. The world needs Happy Hardcore.))

But that’s neither here nor there, I was young and I was like “Who is this John Peel guy?” Back in those days we didn’t have this internet thing that makes “life” so easy, all I could do was read and hope that I was getting the correct information. Until one day I heard the man’s voice on Canadian radio. I don’t remember what station. See, I was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and in Erie, as you are right on the lake aka the border with Canada, you get a lot of Canadian stations on your radio dial, especially late at night. So often late at night I’d sit with my radio carefully tuning tuning tuning looking for something decent to listen to. And one night I heard him. I heard John Peel.

I don’t remember the songs, I don’t remember what he said, I just remember thinking to myself “Wow this is wildly different from anything else I’m hearing on the radio.” And that’s what he did. He played the music, of quality, that others were scared to touch. In fairness he played the music that others probably never even heard of. He found it, he liked it, he played it, and it showed.

I heard him a few more times in those days, but really not much. I don’t think my young brain totally understood the concepts of time and place, I just kind of tuned tuned tuned looking for something good, all the time.

I was in my early 20s when I moved to Amsterdam for a year and met a guy named Jasper McWhinney. Jasper was from Scotland, but lived in Germany where he and his brother ran an “English Shoppe” and often Jasper would drive from Germany to England, via Amsterdam and he’d stop over and see me. And sometimes he would bring me cassette tapes of John Peel shows he had recorded of his syndicated program on German radio, or on BBC’s Radio 1. Either way it was always a treat. Again I was hearing music, of quality, that I would hear no place else.

THEN a couple of years later, back stateside with newfound internet access I saw that the BBC had begun broadcasting on the internet. That meant that I could hear John Peel, live, three times a week from 4pm – 6pm central time here in the USA, and the shows were archived to listen back to anytime I wanted. Or I mean anytime the dial up connection was strong enough. I swear I listened to the man every Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday from 1998 – 2004 fairly religiously. John Peel’s show (and underground rap) was what I listened to. Religiously.



And on October 25th, 2004, I woke up, as I do everyday thank the Lord, made some tea and flipped on my computer. My homepage had been set to the BBC site and across the top I saw the announcement. John Peel had died in a hotel room in Peru where he was on vacation with his wife of many years, Sheila. Aka The Pig.

My heart sank. I remember my exact thought at that moment. It was, “What am I going to listen to now?” Not that John Peel was dictating my taste in music, it was that I LISTENED to John Peel and what he played, multiple times a week for six years. His Festive Fifties year-end count down show became as important as Christmas itself. He was like a friend, a real friend, I could turn to and just turn on and feel like I was in the presence of someone great, who really cared about the things I care about. That might sound like a bit much, but it was fucking real. If you really listened to John Peel and his radio programs throughout his 30+ year career on air, I bet you considered John a friend.



That’s why so many people all over the world are celebrating John Peel Day today. The impact he made on real people’s listening habits is immeasurable. There’s podcasts, websites, concerts, all sorts of things happening today in the mans name and that really makes me smile. He’s one of those people whose spirit HAS to live forever.

Tonight I’m going to attempt to do my part, perched at the far end of the bar, in the corner of the North Door – the back bar at the ND – playing nothing but songs from classic John Peel Sessions. It’s free to get in, and there probably won’t be hardly anyone there. But I’ll be there, jammin’, hoping that you show up to jam out in the name of one of our finest patron saints of real music and good, good living, John Peel.

9pm – 2am
Free admission.
Great drinks.
Possibly some tamales.
501 Brushy, pretty much right at East 5th Street and I-35 on the east side of I-35. Come down, there’ll be plenty of parking, trust me.











Sunday, October 23, 2011

Tonight on the AustinSurreal Show
Get your John Peel Week Started

John Peel Day is this Tuesday and we have the party at the North Door to all come together in the name of the man, and tonight we have a special sneak preview, John Peel Day Tribute show special thing.

Tune in 11pm Central time for 2 hours of Peel Sessions and more. Its gonna be as live as Texas Rangers World Series Game 4 I swear.

Friday, October 21, 2011

NYC TONIGHT! Celebrate Roxy's new label and see FAT TONY y mas!

OMG ITS REALLY GOIN' DOWN!



It's CMJ Week in the big city and you know its really goin down out there. My family has an incredible party tonight celebrating Roxy Cottontail's new Bunnyjawn label. The line up is incredible and my brother FAT TONY will be pon di mi wreckin'. Wish I could be there but alas, I'll be there in spirit via the Facebook or some shit.

Anyhow check this line up and if you are in NYC for CMJ go get you some free Heinekens and JAM OUT! Say hello to my folks and congratulate Roxy for me. Its a big night!

FACEBOOK INVITE PAGE HERE SPRED LUV.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 21st 2011

Roxy Cottontail Presents...

BUNNYJAWN CMJ SHOWCASE

www.bunnyjawn.com

11PM - 4AM


Bunnies FREE w/ RSVP: CMJ@BUNNYJAWN.COM

Jack Rabbits $5 Bucks


DROM http://www.dromnyc.com
85 Avenue A (b/w 5th & 6th)

New York, NY

ROUND ONE

11:00 PM - OPENING DJ (10 min) - DJ HARUKA SALT & BETWEEN ACTS


11:10 PM - ARTIST #1 (10 min) - MISS MARTINI


11:20 PM - ARTIST #2 (10 min) - POISON IVORY


11:30 PM - ARTIST #3 (10 min) - ZUZUKA PONDEROSA


11:40 PM - ARTIST #3 (15 min) - DUCKY


11:55 PM - ARTIST #4 (5 min) - ROXY COTTONTAIL


ROUND TWO


MIDNIGHT - ARTIST #5 & 6 (30 min) - CAZWELL & AMANDA LEPORE


12:30 AM - ARTIST #7 (10 min) - FREAKY FRANZ


12:40 AM - ARTIST #8 (10 min) - 40 THOUSAND


12:50 AM - ARTIST #9 (10min) - LIL FRIDAY HOE

ROUND THREE

1:00 AM - ARTIST #10 (15 min) - FAT TONY


1:15 AM - ARTIST #11 (15 min) - GET BUSY COMMITTEE


1:30 AM - ARTIST #12 (40 min) - NINJASONIK & JASMINE SOLANO


2:10 AM - ARTIST #13 (30 min) - JAPANTHER


2:40 AM - CLOSING DJ SET - DJ HARUKA SALT & TERRORDACTEL

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Talib Kweli Live in Austin This Friday!

My family at Proper Entertainment and Knuckle Rumbler Present one of the best Live MCs on the planet with a live band this Friday night at the Mohawk.


With Cali Zack and N/A, Crew54, G-Eazy, Phranchyze and Hosted by Dubb Sicks

I'll be in Florida missing this, but you definitely should not. There's actually a lot of big name rappers in town on Friday and I'd expect a few of them to show up at Mohawk to support Talib Kweli, when reality hits them like a Mack Truck (no subliminal).

SLAYER HEADLINES FUNFUNFUNFEST

And you already knew that of course. Look for mucho FunFunFunFest posts coming in the coming days and weeks cuz yeah its really goin' down and this is going to be the best one yet. Slayer, Tinariwen, The Damned, B L A C K I E, Fat Tony, Public Enemy and so much more on one line up? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Anyway, Merry Christmas.

First Look! 10YR + D Madness Project
Live Tuesdays at The White Swan

Ahem, the LEGENDARY White Swan that is. A spot that is rapidly becoming my spot. How come all the coolest bars in Austin are on 12th and Chicon? What happened???

Anyhoo last night it REALLY WENT DOWN. Always glad to see the legend D. Madness do his thang (drums, keys, bass, vocals, extreme beat box, etc...)



And tonight was special because we got a sneak preview of his new project with vocalist Yadira Brown, 10YR.


And they freakin' wrecked.


Earlier in the night though we were treated to the legend Tray God and CJ on the mic.


It seriously went down in there.


Real soul music from Austin


Laney and Erin Jantzen joined Yadira on the mic(s)




DOS showed up and wrecked as well.


And me and Aaron were chillin. Anyhow, it really went down. Tuesdays the place to be is the White Swan, the LEGENDARY White Swan. Except for next Tuesday the 25th. See post below, you will be going to the North Door. With me. Celebrating the life of John Peel. Thanks.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

John Peel Day Celebration
At The North Door
Tuesday Oct. 25th

More info coming soon but I will be DJing all night, playing nothing but jams from classic PEEL SESSIONS.

In celebration of the only man I'd really ever call, my hero. The dude who REALLY put it down for real music. More John Peel info coming soon. Hope to see you out on the 25th. No cover, great drinks, great music and its gonna be fun.

FINALLY Photos & Fool Report from A3C 2011!
Plus SXSW Atlanta A3C Kick Off Party Mixer Event!

Oh Bloggazphere, it hath been a while. Way too long in fact. More server issues means less blogging from me and I apologize for that (I seem to do that a lot). Anyhow, man seriously, I been waiting more than a week to say this but...

IT REALLY WENT DOWN! A3C is THAT EVENT. Something I will never miss ever again if I can help it. It's hip hoppaz Heaven and I swear I had an amazing time. But first, I went out to Atlanta a day early to have our official SXSW Atlanta Industry Mixer and A3C Kick Off Party. Big ups to the fine folks at A3C for connecting us with the fine spot Noni's, and for coming out and kicking it just 15 hours or so before their own festival kicked off.


Noni's is the bomb and we packed the place with cool, young Atlanta music folks (And a few Texans). Great food, strong drinks, Yuengling, etc. I walked in and they were playing rap music complete with cuss words blasting and I knew I was in the right place. Classy spot but they ain't trippin'. Which is the kind of spot I like.


Nice group of folks.


Including my man, the late Esbe da Bully. I know you heard the news. It pains me so bad, thinking of my man. We kicked it JUST LAST WEEK IN ATLANTA. He came to the party, we had a talk, we had some drinks, went to some spots, and he and the League of Extraordinary G'z RIPPED their show to shreds, and one week later, and my brother has passed on to a better place. Its a real tragedy for all of us left behind. WE LOVE DA BULLY and he will always be with us. Seriously yo, last week, we kicked it. I saw a bright future for he and all the LOEGz and now, here we sit. Still bright but slightly cloudy with a chance of depression.


Matt D. Proprietor of Noni's. A total gentleman with a fine establishment.


Max Burgundy in the house. Saw him at Pop Montreal, A3C and now he's at CMJ. DOING IT.


Me and Mike Walbert kicking it. Mike is one of the main dudes at A3C along with Brian. They have a great staff and have created and ESSENTIAL event. So fun every second of it.






BLUNT FANG CAME DOWN AND SHINED LIKE DIDDY!


A Day and A Dream. Man. Brandon told me that I inspired him to blog and I don't think that he knows that I live for that sort of thing, so thanks so much brother.






4Ize in the house! First met at the Ozone Awards in Houston with Wendy Day, was great to reunite.






MY OLD SCHOOL PARTNERS! CJ of Konsole Kingz and Maurice Garland. The man.


MY OTHER OLD SCHOOL PARTNERS! Fort Knox and Senor Kaos seen here with a friend. Man, I met Fort Knox in 2003 at SXSW with the man Ishues. Dude still has CRAZY ENERGY.


My man Greg Schick from World Hip Hop Market is already formulating a killer SXSW International Hip-Hop Showcase with some great partners. Get ready for it.


FORT KNOX (is Atlanta)


League of Extraordinary G'z were in the house.


Putting in work and gaining new fans in Atlanta. Seen here Mr. Greezo, S. Dot and Lowkey


My man HashBrown in the hizzy!


MS RIVERCITY CAME THROUGH OMG!




Kunal repping TX


Lana from A3C and friend came through. Big ups to Lana for looking out the whole fest!


Me and Scotty


Young Scolla is on to some big things for sure.


ATX REALEST. Blaxsmith and Sertified in the alley


The man we miss so much, Esbe, Reggie, Chino and Sertified.


Anyway, the party really went down. On to the fest....

WAIT NO NOT YET! That night me and super publicist Cherelle Renee tried to organize a posse and see Count Bass D and Master Blazter at this spot called The Drunken Unicorn, but alas we were the only ones keeping it real enough to see this insane show.


CountBassD STRAIGHT WRECKED! I've known him for 15 years or some shit.


Nashvilles finest.




Master Blazter blew my mind. Dam Funk, Computer Jay and a drummer who is on straight up fire.








Great kick off to the week. Drunken Unicorn is one of those places that is so underground, it doesn't have a sign and is even in a basement. I was feeling that. Also Yuengling.

Hit up this clothes spot for an in store.

Wish


And saw Brandon, Cherell and T. Piper in the street. #HTOWN


And the LOEGz of course, hitting every spot in the city #ATX

Was shocked to get to the festival and first person I see on a stage is HeadKrak from Dallas! Friend of mine for YEARS! He hosted the first night of the Jagermeister stage.





And he and his group the Bodega Brovaz came out and wrecked! Does Dallas have Bodegaz? I know you have to buy beer in weird lil stores that are all on the same street, but not sure if they have bodegas.




Lyric was one of the first artists I saw and she killed it. As did the girl above in the radical outfit. Need to know her name.






Mos from Crew 54 was in the place getting footage, thanks to him for all the great footage of our man Esbe.


Always so happy to see Boog Brown come out and kill it. She is amazing.


#Detroit


MAN! Diamond D spun a whole set of breaks on 45s and WOWSERS!


El da Sensei came out and wrecked some Artifacts tracks.




I told him about the first time I ever saw the Artifacts which was in 1993 at a memorial for Subroc. I went out there with Will Strickland and we saw Artifacts, Beatnuts, Hard 2 Obtain, Pete Nice, Kurious, man it was SERIOUS!

RIP Subroc, another tragic passing in hip-hop.


Marz Lovejoy was super dope too.


Can't front, A3C may be THE ONLY hip-hop festival that has the respect to book a lot of female MCs. I mean seriously. RESPECT FOR THAT.

Cuz I hate dudes.

Except Killer Mike.


I love Killer Mike, can't wait to see him in Austin with Immortal Technique REAL SOON!




My brother Homeboy Sandman put on one of the most energetic hip-hop sets I have ever seen.


I love this dude.


Cuz he is not pop. Which is IMPORTANT to me.


Freeway also wrecked it










And the Ying Yang Twinz had a song about skinny jeans and I think said the word faggot 45 times in 3 minutes at the end of their set. THIS is what stuck with me about the Ying Yang Twinz set. Whatever.

The next day was super dope as well. So glad to be able to see my girl Wendy Day and my man Kelly G from BET.

This was after hanging all day with Dante Ross and eating BBQ. What a day.


The Media Panel


The gear area.


DJ Burn One manned the decks on the big stage on this day and just killed it. Jam after jam after jam.


That being said he had a guitar player playing along to the songs he was playing. Which I have mixed feelings about. In concept I think its cool. In reality, I just don't know. Also just so you know I think that the DJ / Drummer combo is the corniest and most annoying thing in the musical world. THATS JUST MY OPINION THO.


Good good friend Fiona Bloom and Soul Khan. Excited to see Khan at FunFunFunFest SOON!

MAN. The bittersweet memory of the League Of Extraordinary G'z show. Dudes wrecked, was an amazing thing to see. I felt like a proud uncle. And I mean, well, you already know how I feel about all this. RIP Esbe. His last show was a FESTIVAL. At least we can say that....

















My fuckin' dudes.


Sertified!


Finally got to see the ReMINDers from Colorado and YES they are all that.








Seriously.


Always great to see Dee 1 from NOLA as well.








ETERNIA came out and killed it too. One of my favorite performers in hip hop.


Again with the serious energy and straight up heart




My current favorite group from Texas, Dallas's ADd+ KILLED IT!


Only got 2 photos because it was so packed in there I couldn't get close.


My lil bro Lido Lido came all the way from Norway.






He's really on the verge for real.


And of course, my sister, Jean Grae killed it too. I love seeing her perform more than almost anyone.






Sadly thats the end of the photos. I didn't take any of Big KRIT cuz it was so packed I couldn't get close. And I missed the final day cuz I had to fly home on a 6:30 am flight. Hate that I missed Action Bronson too but oh well, I'ma see all these folks soon enough, at SXSW at the latest. Look for A3C to come official with us at SXSW next year and well, stay tuned for updates right here. I'm back ta bloggin.