Hip-Hop Awards and Wars
BET hosted its annual Hip-Hop Awards this past weekend in Atlanta, honoring the game’s bright new faces and living legends. The headlining award went to Snoop Dogg, who received the validating “I Am Hip Hop” award for his lifetime of beats and rhymes. “He mastered the game through tests and challenges that earned him the respect of a college professor, except his game came from the streets,” said Lyricist of the Year Kendrick Lamar, who presented the award to his LA forefather. “He put (me) on game, so I would avoid the same pitfalls.” Other award winners included Fat Joe and Remy Ma (Track of the Year, “All the Way Up”), host DJ Khaled (Hustler of the Year), and Chance the Rapper (Best New Hip-Hop Artist), but the night was about more than awards, focusing on the ongoing fight to prove that #BlackLivesMatter. Leading the fight was T.I. with a performance of “We Will Not” and Sway, who declared, “We’re at war” as the fight for equal rights continues. The show will air in full on October 4 on BET.
Brainfeeder at the Bowl
Los Angeles has emerged at the forefront of the modern experimental black music scene led by a vanguard of creative talents and musical interlocutors ranging from Kamasi Washington to Kendrick Lamar. Bridging old and new, Brainfeeder label head Flying Lotus brought together a cavalcade of musical wizards for an event this past weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. Performances from George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic (who just announced a Philly date next month), Thundercat, Shabazz Palaces, the Gaslamp Killer, and FlyLo himself celebrated experimental black fusion music where funk freed minds (and asses) to a sold-out crowd of almost 20,000 attendees. While more videos will circulate in the days to come, a must-see moment came with the impromptu appearance of Michael McDonald, who performed “What a Fool Believes” with Thundercat, just one of an evening of fruitful striking partnerships that shows that experimental, non-mainstream-facing music is alive and well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-yOfT6WgPE
Live in Philly
The summer concert calendar was jam-packed, but fortunately, Philadelphia remains a concert destination for national touring bands with a fall lineup equally loaded. The Annenberg Center at Penn offers a four-part screening of Martin Scorsese’s PBS mini-series The Blues, with the first installment, Feel Like Going Home showing on September 28 and the second, Richard Pearce’s The Road To Memphis, airing October 26. The Annenberg Center will also host Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas, and Charenee Wade channeling Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Ethel Waters on October 1; Terence Blanchard on October 21; Memphis Soul Stew on October 22; Step Afrika! on November 3-5; and The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphig Big Brass band on December 9. Off campus, TLA hosts rapper YG on October 15, Esperanza Spalding on October 18, Joe Budden on October 26, and A$AP Ferg on November 26, and a certain rapper named Kanye West is set to bring the Saint Pablo tour to Wells Fargo Center on October 4. And don’t forget the World Café’s Monday Jazz Jams. There are few cities in the country with a more a-live scene than Philly.
We Are Not Going 2 Forget U
MusiQology is still reeling from the loss of Prince this past April. No amount of eulogies could do justice to “The Artist,” though with public tours of his home and studio, Paisley Park, beginning October 6, an apparatus to allow his memory to live on appears to be in place. Also of note: A just-announced mega concert at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center on October 13, featuring Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Chaka Khan, John Mayer, Tori Kelly, Morris Day and the Time and more, all looking for a few more moments beneath the Purple Rain. Tickets have gone fast, but follow the event’s Twitter account (@PRNTRIBUTEOCT13) for more info.
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