Despite weather conditions that were less than ideal, the Brooklyn Hip Hop festival wrapped up another successful year this Saturday. The event opened up with a series of panel discussions presented by both the Hip Hop Institute and the Medgar Evans College English Department. Black Lives Matter activist Deray Mckesson served as the keynote speaker for the discussion, and she gave a stirring talk on the realities facing the country during this time of social upheaval.
Following the series of panel discussions was Saturday's day-long finale concert. Rhapsody was the first performer of note, and she used her time on stage to announce the fact that she recently inked a new deal with Jay Z's Roc Nation Management and Marketing Company. She followed that announcement with tributes to legendary artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and Prince. This included covers of classic Tribe songs such as “Check the Rhime” and “Electric Relaxation” and a freestyle over Prince's “If I Was Your Girlfriend.” Rhapsody was followed by Masego, a self-described trap-jazz musician. Masego wowed the audience with his unique combination of saxophone playing, rapping, and scat singing.
The next headlining artist to take the stage was Talib Kweli, and he proceeded to do a version of Black Star's “Knowledge of Self” over the instrumental from A Tribe Called Quest's “Check the Rhime.” Additionally, in fitting Brooklyn Fashion, Talib Kweli brought Masta Ace, Buckshot, and Special Ed on stage, and reunited the Crooklyn Dodgers as they performed their classic track “Crooklyn.” After Talib Kweli's performance, Fabolous took the stage, and he elicited a chorus of “whooo hoooo's” from the audience during the performance of his 2001 song “Young'n.”
Finally, the event was capped off by Nas, who gave the crowd a set full of songs from his landmark album Illmatic. Performing with the New Orleans band The Soul Rebels, Nas gave exciting renditions of classic tracks such as “The World is Yours” and “NY State of Mind.” Nas also did an emotional performance of “One Mic,” which he dedicated to Alton Sterling.
By Ryan Donberg for RAPstation.com
