Recap: A3C 2012 Hip-Hop Music Festival – Day 1

By | October 23, 2012 at 9:39 am | No comments | Featured Post, MUSIC, Recaps | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ain’t nothing quite like the hospitality you are greeted with in the Durrty South. Really tho… Atlanta sure rolled out the red carpet for All 3 Coasts at it’s 8th annual A3C Hip-Hop music festival. The event featured hundreds of artists, from local unknowns to legends in the game. It’s pretty much a trade show for hip hop that spans over the course of 3 days and nights in the heart of the ATL. There were 11 separate venues across the city that all featured some truly ILL performances.

Things started off slow on the 1st day as the crowd gathered at the Masquerade, which was the central location for the festival. There were 4 stages at this location and a DJ booth hosted by Red Bull in the merch section. Brands like Rocksmith had booths showing off some of their exclusive gear at the festival. Even Guitar Center had sponsored an expo in the building that let people get hands on with some digital turntables, as well as new drum machine’s, like Akai’s MPC Renaissance.

One of the illest shows of the day was the Underground Express, which was put on by KevinNottingham.com and put on at the Jakprints stage in the masquerade. Fort Knox made sure the energy was at a level 10 with mo’ fire as he hosted the event. It featured performances from the likes of south Florida’s own Eric Biddines, who raps with a southern drawl about everything from fried baloney to being a Delray rock, referring to his hometown and how he holds it down.

Another act on this stage who tore shit the fuck up was the Doppelgangaz. The dynamic New York duo hit the stage in their traditional fashion, rocking black cloaks and cocking the mic back before wetting the crowd with their bushmen raps and banging brothel beats.

Cunninlynguists was the final act to hit the Kevin Nottingham show. Kno and Deacon the Villain burned the stage down with hell fire while the third member of the group, Natti, was stuck in a plane circling around the airport in Atlanta. That didn’t stop the kings of the Southern Underground from putting on a great show though. They cascaded through their catalogue of seminal classics, including joints from Kno’s solo LP, Death is Silent, and their latest release Oneirology. If you think southern folks can’t rhyme, you really need to check this crew out, because they are the best thing out of the south since the Dungeon Family. They ended their set by turning things up with the first song the crew had ever released, “Lynguistics.”

That show was turnt the fuck up, and as the crowd trickled away and the Jakprints stage prepared for the Texas showcase which was featured next, I picked up a couple ladies and then ditched them in favor for a ride over to the BET Music Matters show at Terminal West featuring Big Boi, Kirko Bangz and 9th Wonder’s prodigy, Rapsody. When we arrived, 9th Wonder and Jay-Z’s DJ Young Guru were chilling outside. Legendary producer Large Professor was in the building too. As we double dutched the velvet ropes and walked into the venue, Big Boi was on stage with some of his Dungeon Family cohorts rocking classic joints like ATLiens and Skew It on the Barbee. Sir Luscious Left Footed showed the crowd why he was cooler than a polar bear’s toenails and proceeded to rock through all of his classic Outkast joints, even without Andre 3000 at his side. Killer Mike made an appearance, and it’s a welcome relief to know their little beef is squashed. Mike showed the crowd why he was never scarred and then him and Daddy Fatsacks rocked the whole world. Big Boi was accompanied by a DJ, a live drummer, and a video projector that matched all the songs he performed to the music videos which were filmed for them. Catching this performance was the perfect way to end the first day at A3C. Really tho, ain’t nothing like that Southernplayalisticaddilacmuzik.

The 5 Spot bar had another dope show going on at the same time as Big Boi was rocking the joints which built Stankonia. G.O.O.D. Music’s Cyhi the Prince did his thing as well as Chip the Ripper, aka King Chip. There was so much going on at the festival, it was hard to catch it all. Good thing there was another 2 days worth of music, cuz things were just getting started at A3C.

-you know ya man’s Drop Jewelz.
All photos by Cali Grindz & ArtNoMad

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