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

March 22, 2013

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

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

Leif

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.