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| Keepers of the art's Don Juan with Pete Rock & CL Smooth |
For certain people the summer has ended when school starts or when football season kicks off. For people like myself the summer is officially over when The Keepers Of The Art (KOTA) throws their annual Hip Hop showcase in downtown Akron Ohio. For those that's not in the know (KOTA) is a collective of concerned African American men that utilizes Hip Hop and it's culture to combat all the negativeimagery that we see daily. Now I know some of you are thinking, how can they use rap music to spread positivity. And some of you would be right if I said today's rap music. In-short some of the negative imagery that (KOTA) combat daily are from most of today's rap stars. That's why the brothers of the movement focuses on the entire hip hop culture but in-particular, the music. The reality is once upon a time rap music was more than what we hear and see today. Hip Hop artists of the 1980's to mid 90's were concerned citizens and they to utilized the art form to promote a more positive message. This era of time is now called Hip Hop's Golden age.
Keepers Of The Art members Don Juan, Big Ish and Bayshawn (the crew) put in hard work all year round to bring these annual Hip Hop shows to the stage. The crew uses it's radio show Hip-Hop Flavors as a promotional tool. Hip-Hop Flavas is an independently sponsored and produced "edutainment "radio program currently available via downloadable or streaming podcast. Recorded in Akron, Ohio. Hip-Hop Flavas was designed to fuse “true-schoolrap music (past and present) with relevant social commentary. When listening to the podcast, at any giving time you will hear artists like: Big Daddy Kane, Whodini, Black Moon, Mc Lyte, KRS-ONE, Slum Village,Brand Nubian and Rakim all of which have performed at the annual Hip Hop showcase in Akron.
This years show was held on Sunday September 2ND 2012 at the Akron Civic Theater. Jeru The Damaja hit the stage first and he worked the crowd with his powerful delivery and infectus personality. After his performance we met up in the media room where he told us what he's been up to. I thinks it's good for an artist like him to be still touring the world making a living. One of the things that I found interesting about him is how easy going and funny he is. Chart topping rappers today should take note.
Special Ed hit the stage second and he was shocked that Akron came out to support real hip hop. Which made me feel proud because myself and my brother Ace Boogie stood in line to pay for our tickets. All in all Special Ed did his thing on the Civic stage in front of a crowd of true hip hop fans screaming his classics. While backstage waiting to chat with Special Ed I looked to my left and was surprised to see Dres of Black Sheep chilling right next to me. For those that don't know Dres is the one who made the hit song "You can get with this or you can get with that". The song is titled: The Choice Is Yours and his voice has been used and sampled in many commercialsand promotional ads. Again I've got to give a shout out to (KOTA) for showing love to me and my brother like they do every year.
One of my favorite groups in all of hip hop, Pete Rock and CL Smooth hit the stage next. First Pete Rock worked the crowd with his Djing skills then CL took to the stage and rocked it. In all honesty his performance and delivery was one of the best that I've seen in my life. The two rocked all of their classic material. During my interview with the two, Pete Rock said that today's music makes his job a little more easier as a producer. CL Smooth said that today's music can always use some more responsible content. He also showed a lot of compassion and respect for today's music. These are truly the type of brothers that we should promote to the next generation as not only artists but role models.
Last but not least De La Soul hit the stage and the three rock the crowd with all of their classic material. But the best part of their performance and perhaps the entire show was when artists Dres of the Black Sheep came out (to the crowd's surprise) and did his classic joint titled: The Choice Is Your. All in all this years 5Th annual Hip Hop showcase was awesome. And as always these events are like class or family reunions. Whereas everybody that you know from back in the days are always going to be there. I can go on for days trying to give everybody that I've seen at the event a shout out so I wont. But I will say I enjoyed hanging out representing some real hip hop with real hip hoppers. Until the next time have some fun and get something done.
