by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Danny Brown / Le1f @ Knitting Factory 3/21/2012

Knitting Factory was heaving with bouncing hip hop fans at last night's Red Bull's Sound Select show that was curated by the Afropunk folks, with Danny Brown, Le1f, The Skins and Oxymorrons. With a zillion RSVPs clamoring for $3 tickets it was quite a scene as I rolled up to the venue 30 minutes before doors.

After a brief introduction from host Telli Gramz of Ninjasonik, Oxymorrons opened the show with a bouncy, energetic take on 90s style hip hop with added bonus of live drums. Fun and very different from the second band of the night, The Skins, a Rock/R&B crew with great vocals and singer that slithers around the room. Le1f followed, dropping bouncy, electronic influenced hip hop beats and whirlwind-swinging his platinum blonde braids like a member of viking metal band. All the sets featured projections that were being hand-drawn by someone in the sound booth. It was kinda like live graffiti, pretty cool. DJ CX Kidtronik played the music between sets.

The main event for most, though, was Danny Brown's playful and bouncy hip hop set, which caused stagedives (most of which were quite unsuccessful - sorry guys) and a dancing room. Brown's rock star persona really shines through live, and in a genre of music (hip hop in general) where the stage show is usually less than impressive, Brown knows how to get that room turnt the fuck up.

The Thursday night show was the 2nd in a 12-part Red Bull Sound Select series in NYC (not to be confused with RBSS in Austin). The 1st NYC show, featuring Hunters & Heliotropes, was curated by East Village Radio and went down at Bowery Electric in February. The next 10 shows are coming in the next 10 months and three of them will be curated by BrooklynVegan (and three will be curated by Brooklyn Bodega). Stay tuned.

More pictures from Knitting Factory are below.

Continue reading "Afropunk brought Danny Brown, Le1f ,The Skins & Oxymorrons to the Knit for Red Bull Sound Select (pics)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

Das Racist / Spank Rock / skaters

The first day of Afro-Punk 2012 descended upon Commodore Barry Park on Saturday (8/25), bringing with it a day of live musical performance, skateboarding and dancing crowds as far as the eye could see. In addition to this second set of pictures from the Navy Yard in Brooklyn (below), check out the first set of previously posted pictures from Afro-Punk HERE.

More pics of Afro-Punk day 1, including Erykah Badu, Yasiin Bey, Das Racist, Spank Rock, Cerebral Ballzy, Oxymorrons, The Joe Jordan Experiment and more are below.

Continue reading "Afro-Punk 2012 day 1: a second set of pictures"

photos by Gretchen Robinette

Yasiin Bey & Erykah Badu / Cerebral Ballzy at Afropunk Fest 8/25/2012

Yasiin Bey joined headliner Erykah Badu on the first day of the 2012 edition of the Afropunk Festival, going down at Commodore Barry Park near the Navy Yard in Brooklyn on Saturday (8/25). The pair were joined on stage when Bey performed Common's verses from their hit collaboration "Love of My Life" on that Saturday evening. Video from that is below.

But of course Badu wasn't the only artist to bless the stages on Saturday, with the festival loaded with appearances from names like Das Racist, Spankrock, Cerebral Ballzy, Oxymorrons and many, many more during the nine hours of stage time. Pictures from the first day at Afropunk 2012 are below along with video of that Badu/Bey collaboration.

Continue reading "Afropunk Festival 2012 in pictures: day 1 with Erykah Badu, Das Racist. Spankrock, Cerbral Ballzy and more "