South By Southwest SXSW March 16th, 2007

An article by Senor Kaos    1 Comment

I’ve been hearing about the South By Southwest Music Festival since about 99 or 2000 but have never attended. Back then I used to hear about Hits, Gavin, CMJ, WMC, Rocksteady, Scribble Jam and SXSW. By the time I had a little money to travel Hits and Gavin were over. I hit Rocksteady in 02, WMC in 05, and CMJ 03, 04, 05, and 06!

It took 7 years after me hearing about it to finally get a chance to attend. Well…. I guess everything happens for a reason. I flew into to Austin, TX on March 16 2007 EARLY in the AM. I had a lot of people who I knew would be out there so I knew it was gonna be a good trip. Amongst the peoples my homgirl Allyson (Miss Al Boogie from Bklyn), Semp, Wil Wes, And my LA homies Danny, Paul Chang, Ian, Karen, and the whole Beyond Staff.

One thing about these conferences… Theres always a million things going on at the SAME TIME. I had no idea I flew in a few days late, and missed UGK and many other performances.

I check into the telly, catch a quick nap and hit the streets around noon. Within being in Austin (A city I had never been too by the way) I meet Brother K who turns to be a cousin of good friend of mine back in ATL.

I hit a meet and greet, mingled with some of my CMJ peeps (the homie Akir), and Jessica (Spectre – Who is Everywhere By The Way).

I caught a daytime party (which theres millions of) with The Rub Djing, and some free liquor (MY FAVORITE!). My homegirl Dee who used to work at 88.5 in ATL is doing big things out in Austin.

I caught a show that night with Public Enemy and X Clan performing in a huge field just outside of downtown. It was FREE and it had to be about 15,000 people out there. P.E. were also celebrating their 20th Year Anniversary as a group 1987 – 2007!!! WOW.. Its been 20 years already! I can still remember getting my first PE album on Cassette around late 88.

Saturday I hooked up with Allyson for Breakfast, Ghostface was having Baked Ziti for Breakfast across from us, lol. Then it was off to the show – Ghostface and Rakim performing live.

Saturday at Stubbs BBQ in Austin Rakim and Ghostface Killah both performed with Live Band – Rhythm Roots Allstars. The show was Free as usual. Oh.. and it happened to be St. Patricks Day as well. For half the day I just thought people in Austin liked wearing Green. Ran into the Fam: Danny Rocha, Will Wes, Semp Rok, Ian. And the show was Great. Ghost and RA Killed It!!!

After that we walked over to the Fader House (Fader Magazine) and were treated to a show with first Amy Winehouse (who was the talk of the town) and Redman.

Shout to Dj Eleven and The RUB crew – they held the city down this weekend by being any and everywhere ready to Spin. Heres Eleven rocking the Fader House on Sat before Redman took the stage.

Saturday night my homegirl Allyson (Miss Al Boogie) performed (I forget the name of the venue.) And we spent the rest of the night looking for the Vice party which got shut down cause apparently a balcony collapsed!!!

Oh… And everything was pretty much free you just needed a wristband to get in. Check my Wrist Band Game!!!

Sunday was the chill day all the parties were over and everybody was headed back home.

I kept hearing about these Bats that came out at Sundown on this particular bridge…so I had to check it out. Every evening around the same time around a thousand bats who live under this bridge fly into night in search of food. Crazy!!! I always thought bats weren’t real – growning up in the city the only bat we knew was Count on Sesame Street.

As I was checking out Monday Morning, I ran into none other than Rakim Allah in the Lobby. It was a honor to meet him, and he was actually very very humble!!!

SXSW 2007 was Definitely off the chain and God Willing I will be returning for 2008.