So as you all know yesterday I went to the annual Rock The Bells Hip Hop festival here in Miami. This year the festival featured artists such as Murs, De La Soul, Immortal Technique, The Cool Kids, Wale, Jay Electronica, Dead Prez, The Pharcyde, Mos Def, Method Man & Redman, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest. It was held in Bayfront Park Ampitheater in downtown Miami, right by the ocean. First I'd like to start by apologizing that I wasn't able to get any shout outs, or interviews. Although that may be so, I still got a lot of good pictures, videos, and reviews to share with you guys. (some pictures and all videos courtesy of
Jay Santos)
To start the review, I'd like to say that this was the first concert I've ever been too, and to add to that I had the time of my life (so far). We (my brother, my boy
Jay, and I) got there around 11:30, and the doors didn't open until maybe 12:30 or 12:15. To kick off the concert
B.o.B did his thing, but to tell you the truth I wasn't really feeling it, so I didn't take any pictures. I took this time to check out the venue, and the merchandise, which was pretty damn expensive (a single shirt was $30!). After B.o.B finished his set, the was a pretty long break, where Supernatural freestyled a bit (I'm glad I got to see him in person). Around this time I was extra excited because the schedule said that The Cool Kids were up next, and after that Jay Elec was supposed to perform. Those two acts were two of the main acts that I was anticipating the most, but it turns out that they didn't even show. That dissapointed me quite a bit. So instead they skipped ahead and had Murs come out and perform his set. Now, I never really thought much of Murs until yesterday when he rocked the crowd. His charisma, and hilarity lightened up the crowd after that horrible B.o.B set (haha no offense to those who like him). In fact after his show, I made a mental note to check out some of his stuff. He also i
nsulted Soulja Boy which gave him some credibility in my book.
Anyway, after Murs, Immortal Technique came out, and screamed some angry political speeches over the mic. But don't get me wrong he still did good, he rocked it with Obnoxious, Peruvian Cocaine, and Harlem Streets. Jay recorded some of his speeches, I'll try and get a few of those up for you. He was signing stuff for fans after his set but I didn't wanna miss Wale. When Wale came on, I was probably one of the few people
who knew who he was. I was also one of the few who knew the words to the W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E and Nike Boots. His performance left people wondering who he was, and I'm sure in the future he'll be one of the leading artists. Dead Prez had next, and did pretty well. They performed a couple new songs off their next release. When the beat for their most famous single
Hip Hop dropped, the crowd went crazy, heads and hands bobbing until they looked like they were going to fall off.
Since the festival is too much to cover in one post, I'm going to stop here for now. I'll be doing this in parts, so I'll fill you in on a couple more performances later on. Check back soon, and stay posted!
Keep rockin fresh,
Optimus
Yowza, I was just perusing through 2DB's older posts and stumbled across these gems right here. A few Demo songs by the infamous Jay Electronica. This stuff is fire. Jay Electronica never ceases to amaze me. I'll be sure to keep you cats updated if I find anymore of these elusive demo tape tracks.
