JASPECTS' JAMES KING ON TRUMPET
Art, Beats + Lyrics — an urban art and music show featuring performances from DMC and Jaspects, plus plenty of whiskey to go around — hit the W Midtown on Friday, August 7, bringing another year of the Gentleman Jack-sponsored free show to Atlanta.
See the photo gallery.
(Photos by Dustin Chambers)
Arguably no on else among Atlanta’s hip-hop scene embodies the phrase “keep it moving” more than Señor Kaos. So much so, in fact, that at times it’s hard keeping up with him before he’s on to the next thing.
Before I could post this remix of Jaspects’ “Fallin” featuring Kaos’ extended verse, I heard the news that the he’d been profiled on BBC Radio’s 1Xtra by DJ Sarah Love.
Internationally known, locally respected. Unbossed and unsigned. He speaks on it in a raw, emotional verse, touching on everything from the 2008 loss of his friend and mentor Jax of Binkis Recs to his beef with labels that seem more interested in defining him than signing him.
Kaos performs tonight with Camp Lo, Binkis Recs, Catalyst & Ty-Vicious. Hosted by Fort Knox with DJs Jared Alan, Bill Steady, and Mafioso. $10. 10 p.m. Cenci, 1259 Glenwood Ave. 404-627-0533.
Tonight’s previously scheduled show featuring Deep Cotton, Jaspects, Hollyweerd, Rahbi, Scar, Tendaberry, Brittany Bosco and Jimi Cravity is cancelled.
For more information, call the Rialto box office at 404-413-9849.
See more CL soundmenu picks for shows this weekend, including Random Rabbit, Afro-Cuban Allstars, Michelle Malone, Omar, and the Strange Boys.
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF ATLANTA INDIE MUSIC FESTIVAL @ SIDESHOWATLANTA.COM
Saturday, Oct. 8
Near the end of the scheduled seven-hour Atlanta Indie Music Festival on Saturday night, I experienced an epiphany: Hipster girls have zero booty meat.
No, that ain’t it. Just one observation among many made as I stood in the half-full parking lot adjacent to the Bench, watching trains crawl by at 5 mph in the backdrop while some of Atlanta’s finest took the stage in 40 degree weather.
Soon after the smell of hot skunk wafted into the crowd from the fire set in an industrial-strength drum by a member of Mach 5, it struck me. Hip-hop needs air to breathe. Never before had Supreeme seemed so precocious, as Shaka performed “The Best Years” shirtless. And Hollyweerd celebrated its one-year anniversary by striking a balance between controlled and chaotic, perhaps for the first time.
Still, the music (Gripplyaz, Jaspects, Mike Flo, Señor Kaos, Yelawolf, Newberry Jam, Flyy Academy, Kidz in the Hall, Brittany Bosco, etc.) was secondary to the family reunion vibe. For all the talk of Atlanta’s emerging rap scene being too trendy, it was inspiring to see the next generation lose its cool.
Now somebody please feed those skinny girls some chicken.
(Photo by Alan Friedman)
(Photos by Hannibal M.)
“We on some black hipster shit in here!” announced Wil May, host for the hip-hop showcase “Perfect Attendance.” Yes, it’s true: Atlanta’s black hipsters are back and in full force. For the past several months, they’ve been organizing concerts and parties with the fervor of punk rock bands. Rarely a week goes by without a show featuring either Proton, Gripplyaz or Hollyweerd. Typically, all three were on the Perfect Attendance lineup.
Perfect Attendance was held at the Drunken Unicorn Friday, Feb. 8. It was presented by Fadia Kader’s Come Up Kids crew, and much of the two-hour showcase featured Jaspects as both lead performer and backing band. Several of the scene’s players were either performing or were in the audience, including Battery 5, Kid Kaos and others. Perfect Attendance was just the latest of dozens of events seeking to inflate the ATL hip-hop buzz to record levels, but it was as good an opportunity as any to see what the hype was all about.
