Common feat Sadat X - 1999

just conformed for July 11th at the High Water Music showcase the great Datty X aka Sadat X

(great song featuring the Unspoken Heard sample)

KRS-One - The MC

just some audio because I am not fly enough to do embed the audio.

This song says it all.
done and done.

Your BHF 08 Gameplan

Alright y’all. Drink your water. Eat your vegetables and proteins.
Two weeks from today the 4th Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival will begin at the Masonic Temple in Fort Greene.

Speaking of July 10th at Masonic we will have a SUPER BIG artist announcement on Monday. We just need this cat to finish another obligation in NYC before we can announce for our little shindig.

July 11th we will be at powerHouse with High Water Music, Sucio Smash, Fresh Daily, Sputnik Brown, P. Casso and friends. Free admission (donations accepted of course), Free Beer courtesy of our family at Brooklyn Brewery, and fresh beats. Sucio came by yesterday and told me he is inviting Spinna and Bobbito down as well.

On July 12th at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is when ‘we gets busy.’ There is a lot going on so here is how you should play it:

At noon bring the little duns, your moms and auntie down to the park. Get free stuff from Nickelodeon, learn how to play lacrosse, check your blood sugar, take some salsa lessons, get some fresh lemonade from Jakada Juice and listen to our homegirl DJ Misbehaviour.

At about 3:30 tell Auntie to take the kids home because the show is about to begin. Go get a beer from the Brewery. Get a burger from Sal and the boys at Front Street. Or go get some grilled chicken from the good folks at Rice.
Tell Auntie to hurry back because we got some old school legends in the house she does not want to miss

Text your cousin and tell him Blu and Exile are about to rock. And he does not want to miss Mickey, Fresh or 88 either.

Get a mixtape and CD from the truth.com truck and say ‘thank you.’

Then buckle in because J Period is about to get on the wheels. And the word is he is bringing a gang of special guests like he did last year. And you missed Chubb Rock last year so don’t front.

After J, Buckshot will hit the stage with all of Brooklyn behind him. Time for ‘Who Got Da Props’, ‘Buck ‘Em Down’, some joints from the new 9th Wonder joint. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sean P, or Smif N Wessun come out.

Then my friends prepare to see the Greatest MC of All Time – motherskunkin’ Blastmaster KRS ONE Da Teacha. All you old farts – limber up because KRS is gonna take us back to the old school (‘take it to Union Square’). Young’uns – rest assured KRS can rock it for you as well. He is old school but is still the best there is on stage.

Then… catch your breath. We are not done yet.
Get a car, catch the train and head over to Southpaw. We are gonna take it to Detroit (Day-tway) with The Platinum Pied Pipers, House Shoes and Invincible. Downstairs DJ Parler will be spinning nothing but the goodness. Classic Hip-Hop from ’76 to now (no Lollipops).

Then you can go home.
Thank you and God Bless.

Uncle Ralph returns for 2008 to host the Festivities

For the third straight year legendary VJ and Hip-Hop pioneer Ralph McDaniels will serve as host of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.

Uncle Ralph, as he is also affectionately known, has been hosting the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival since it moved to Empire Fulton Ferry State Park in 2006. More than just a host Ralph has been an ambassador for the Festival. "A student of Hip-Hop will know that you cannot underestimate the importance of Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box. He saw the need to archive and document our culture before MTV, and before YouTube. Without him I am not sure Hip-Hop as an art form or as a business would be the multi- billion dollar industry that it is. We are his children and the Festival is a continuation of the trailblazing spirit manifested by Ralph and all of our other elders," Wes Jackson, Festival Chair and Executive Director.

Uncle Ralph is also celebrating 25 years of Video Music Box, his groundbreaking music video show. In the 80's, Video Music Box was the only place to see music videos for much of New York City. Before Yo MTV Raps!, or 106th and Park there was one game in town, Video Music Box. Video Music Box gave Ralph the platform to help launch the careers of Jay Z, Black Moon, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS ONE, De La Soul, Leaders Of The New School and more. In addition to continuing to host and produce Video Music Box, Ralph also hosts "The Bridge" on WNYC. "The Bridge" focuses on classic videos and interviews from legendary groups and artists.

The Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival takes place July 10th - 12th Ralph McDaniels will be hosting the Main Day at Empire Fulton Ferry State Park on July 12th

Homeboy Sandman

Just added to the Festival

Divine Styler - Ain't Sayin' Nothin'

remember this.
He is not playing the Festival. We just love this song

Ralph McDaniels Biography

arguably one of the most important people in Hip-Hop.

The great Uncle Ralph

our host for BHF 2008

Smif N Wessun - Bucktown

Come see Tek and Steele, The Cocoa Bovas, Smif N Wessun whatever you wanna call them JULY 10th at masonic Temple as part of BHF 08

Who is DJ Premier?

DJ Premier is...

DJ Premier is, rightfully, one of hip-hop's most revered producers, and a cornerstone of the New York scene, an active testament to its once and future vitality. But while Preemo has his fundamental features—the impeccably curated jazz and soul samples; the spot-on scratched choruses; the effortlessly flowing hip-hop sound bytes—no one track will ever quite capture the man.

You'll have to go farther back to do that: back to Brooklyn, and 1989, when Premier—born Chris Martin in Houston, Texas, in 1966—first hooked up with Guru, an MC from Boston, under the name Gang Starr. Their debut, No More Mr. Nice Guy, was just a hint at what was to come; namely, 1991's Step Into The Arena, the first in a deadly string of albums—Daily Operation (1992), Hard to Earn(1994), and Moment of Truth(1998)—on which Premier defined the East Coast sound, bending spare sounds into his spartan, incessant beats.

Premier didn't sleep much this decade, working with a remarkable, varied array of artists: KRS-One, Jeru the Damaja, Bone Thugs n' Harmony, Big Daddy Kane, Mobb Deep, M.O.P, Rakim, and Fat Joe, among many others. But it's his work for the mid-90's hip-hop holy trinity that hit the hardest: the stomping bass line on Nas's commanding "N.Y. State of Mind"; the remorseful piano runs on Jay-Z's breathtaking "D'evils"; the ominous horn burbles on Biggie's cool-as-fuck "Kick in the Door."

Preemo could have eaten off his incredible 90’s run for the rest of his life, deeply entrenched in the rolodexes of the industry's elite. But, to his credit, he never stopped embracing hungry MCs—from a fresh faced Mos Def to the grimy Non Phixion to his latest project, the fleet-tongued Termanology. And, oh yeah, a few years back, maybe just to prove he could, he flipped some sharp trumpet blasts into "Ain't No Other Man," a chart-topping Christina Aguilera single that was—unapologetically, uncompromisingly—a Premier track.

Thanks to our man Amos Barshad for this gem

Come see Primo on July 12th. Word

It's Mickey

We have had a few people (some haters) ask us 'Who is Mickey Factz' and why is he on the bill instead of my client MC Murda Murda Kill Kill.

My first reaction is 'do a Google search before you show your ignorance.'
My second reaction is 'you have a point. I remember in '06 when people asked the same question about Lupe Fiasco.' And in the immortal words of Q-Tip, the real John Davis, 'I really don't mind if it's over your head / because the job of ressurecters is to wake up the dead.'

So with that being said here is the first in a series of our attempt to explain who is rocking with us this year.

-------------------------

"Who Is Mickey Factz"
by Eavvon O'Neal

Hailing from the Bronx, NY Mickey is considered the NYC representative of what is now being called “hipster rap.”
Similar artists: Wale, Kid Cudi, Kid Sister, The Cool Kids, PAC DIV.

While the term Hipster rap has somehow turned into a cuss word when you listen to Mickey you realize that outside of the labels (whether you like them or not) he is an artists trying to push the art form forward. Much the way the models for today’s ‘Hipster’ MC’s did in the Golden Era.

Mickey is about his Supras very similar to how Slick Rick was about those Bally’s.
As Tip said, “Daddy, don’t you know things go in cycles.”

His lyrical connection, to his fan base harps on his nonchalant handling of racism and classicism, as if he doesn’t really see what the big deal is. He has put in intense thought on his wording, and this sometimes creates a choppy feel that revolves more around his intent instead of the actual song thus creating an uncanny cadence that’s hard to ignore.

What do we have to look forward to with Mickey Factz? The future only knows. As it stands now, he’s riding and building that all elusive ‘buzz.’

His growing catalog boasts enough diversity that the threat of impending monotony that looms over all artists isn’t a concern.

Along with fellow up and comers Blue and Exile and Fresh Daily Mickey will be waving the flag of the new school at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. This new generation sharing the stage with masters like KRS and DJ Premier is what this Festival is all about.

So kickback and watch a new movement grow right before your eyes.

For more info on Mickey Factz visit www.myspace.com/itzmickey
Mickey Factz will be performing on the main stage at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival on July 12th

Zaki Ibrahim Money King Britt Remix Video Preview

let's rock with this one too

Zaki Ibrahim Grow Again Video

this year's funk soul sensation

Dj Spinna and Fresh Daily Pt 2

Just added to the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival

Just added to the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival!!

Just added to the bill for this year's throwdown

Fresh Daily
High Water Music
Zaki Ibrahim
J Period

Look for the official announcement on Monday but you heard it here first

Make that donation
Get those tickets
Let's Do it

KRS ONE speaks about being in Brooklyn during the '77 blackout

Taken from "Check the Technique"
by Brian Coleman
Oral memoirs of KRS-ONE

Skip ahead some years to 1977 and I’m in Brooklyn now. Flatbush. 170 East Thirty-fifth Street, at Church Ave. In 1977 there was a blackout in New York, and that night I felt an overwhelming desire to say something to society. Me and Kenny [Kris’s brother] was there in the apartment, waiting for my mother to come home. The lights go out and everybody was breaking into stores, stealing TVs, cars are crashing into each other. It’s complete madness. And I remember this weird feeling. Wanting to say something right out of the window, something that would stop the people from looting and robbing. When my mother came home that night I said, “mom, why are they doing this?” And she said, “When there is no light, there is chaos.” And I never forgot that. I just struck me. I saw people reducing themselves to savages, if I can use that term. And I didn’t like it.

So I started writing poetry from that day forward. Poems about social injustice and about how I felt about living in Brooklyn at that time. I would write them to my mother and she would grade them for punctuation and grammar. Not so much on content [laughs]. That was my second break into hip hop.

By then, of course, block parties were prevalent, live tapes were out. You’d go into a basketball court and somebody would have a big box and they’d be blasting a homemade tape of someone kicking rhymes over “Love is the Message” [by MFSB] and “Sing Sing” [by Gaz] and all these breaks. I fell in love with it at that point. I knew what rap was and I knew what MCing was, and I just wanted to be part of that. I was growing up in that.

btw, get this book. read it.
shout out to our boy Brian Coleman

Calendar update

The June 28th date at Prospect Park is a CELEBRATE BROOKLYN event and is NOT affiliated with the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. Sorry for the confusion.

and to everyone who emailed us about Fresh Daily and the AOK Collective - we get it and we're working on it.

the bridge is over

let the education begin for the young'uns

Film Series Date and Venue change

The first three dates of the Film series have been changed. They will happen after the July 12th date.

The July 10th date is still in effect.
We will have a Happy Hour featuring Brooklyn Brewery freshly brewed brew followed by the flick

The Brooklyn Historical Society is located at 128 Pierrepont St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.brooklynhistory.org

Check them out they are good people and down for the cause

5 weeks and counting

As you all hopefully saw in our press release on Wednesday, we've pretty much rounded out the lineup for this years BHF. We are proud to continue our tradition of bringing new artists to Brooklyn. This year we've got Blu and Exile in from L.A. which has the whole office buzzing.

We are also keeping it local by featuring your boy Mickey Factz. This is going to be one of Mickey's biggest NY shows so all of his fans should lace up their kicks and come and support.

Our boy 88-Keys will be in the house. 88 and the Bodega (via 7H) crew gows back to the days of Black Star and 88's basement in Strong Island.
Can't wait to see the family rock it.

The PPP (Platinum Pied Pipers) crew will be leading the charge at the after party. The new single will have just dropped and the show at Southpaw is guaranteed to rock.

Remember y'all, we need your help to pull this off right. Buy that ticket, make your donation, and let's do this. We have a chance to change the game this year. New blood (Blu and Factz) right next to the Teacha (KRS). I know it sounds somewhat cheesy and cliche, but all of us togerther WILL save Hip-Hop. Let's do it!

SUPPORT CELEBRATE REPRESENT!

Mickey Factz Interview + Freestyle [SitDownStandUp.com]

get to know him