There were many highlights from the smorgasbord of local and international hip hop on display at (or ‘all up in the’) Ancienne Belgique on Sunday.
First and foremost was going out with my brother and sister. A little sibling time that was augmented and souped-up by the addition of Amsterdam-issue add-ons Gingerfury and Shortcut Kid (the Catalyst).
The entire operation was bound to succeed once you factor in the ‘Filip and Mireia’ factor.
And the music was no joke. Which is not to say it wasn’t funtastic.
B. Dolan: Missed him. Too bad. He looks alot like Sage. Probably good like him too.
Zucchini Drive: two mcs and one dj. one cover(ish) of ‘The Power of Love’ and a hot tune extolling the virtues of doing the donkey dance.
Cadence Weapon: Dude brought the energy to his performance, as did DJ Weez-L who finished a hot show with a sweet backspin. Mr Weapon even frequently came down and jogged through the sparse crowd, rhyming and stealing. Although not really stealing, just rhyming. he brought the full bore of his blowing-up energy to the small-but-appreciative crowd.
Tido Berman: went for a street picnic with the family during his set. Falafels were delicious. My older brother got his without corn. Who knew?
Members of Marvelas: I think these guys were totallyrockawesome. Unfortunately I only caught the end because I was doing Benelux-based hip-hop networking with Shortcut Kid. Is it possible we’ll open up for Zucchini Drive? Yes. Once we get our shit together. The MOM were huge: literally a big band and bringing the funk flavour.
Fun Fact: Tom from Zucchini Drive is doing an album with Pipi Skid. Rad.
Sage Francis: Awesome. Opened his show be-caped with a performance of Climb Trees. My bro described him as half stand-up comedian, half mc. I’d say he has his percentages off, but otherwise an accurate assesment. Hot cover of Buck 65’s ‘Centaur’ although he denied it was by Buck, despite my shoutingest attribution efforts. A great and enthralling performance. I was happy he stuck to his odler stuff, which I know better. Though I now have a copy of his latest disc, so next time he comes he can do stuff from that.
