I attended different events related to Hip-Hop music and culture during the spring & Summer months.
Summary
It includes a festival on The Legacy of 50 years of Hip-Hop, live music from the legendary slum Village and the break dancing finals at B-side Hip-Hop festival. Also, a special hip-hop takeover event.
50 Years Of Hip-Hop Festival
A touring Festival which covers five different major UK cities organised by the legendary
DJ 279
A day-long Festival with different events during the day. I attended the festival from the afternoon onwards.
DJ Pogo hosted a panel discussion on a different perspective on Hip-Hop culture. With different voices on how radio was developed and represented the music.
I asked an unusual question to apply this in context that in comparison to the United States, the UK sport arenas do not embrace Hip-Hop music past and present. Pogo responded that this opens up massive discussion on racism and sport in the UK but thought it was a very good question to ask.
Later, the legendary Hip-Hop emcee
Funky DL led a discussion with the art of concepts and do's and don'ts for music artists along with responsibility.
Visual artists
Sal Freckles &
Jay the Creator from Creator of Art.
The evening session includes a live music mix and exclusive performances. It includes Birmingham-based
Sanity also
Mysdiggi and the legendary
Blak Twang and many more. With mixes from,
DJ 279,
DJ Pogo and much more
B-sides Hip-Hop festival (Break Mission Finals)
Due to other commitments, I attended the Sunday version of the B-sides Hip hop festival, focusing on the Break Mission break dancing finals. With contenders from around the world.
Due to the privacy, the images from the festival are limited to social media. Watch out for extracts soon.
The Terrace Takeover Birthday Jam
A special daytime event organised by my close friend and the award-winning music producer & filmmaker, Pritt Kalsi to celebrate his birthday. It took place at Hockley Social Club (the team behind the award-winning Digbeth Dining Club). It features mixes from some of the respected and legendary names from DJ Sparra, Andy Giggs, DJ Fade, Mr Higgs, Sean B, and Pritt Kalsi. Additionally, the local legend Casual T was in the mix (the DJ of the group M.S.I + Asylum). He mentioned he hasn't done a DJ mix session for many years.
Slum Village, in concert
I attended the concert of the legendary Hip-Hop group and Producers
Slum Village. It took place at Birmingham's O2 Institute.
The night was hosted by the local beatboxer legend
Madflow and a local legendary
DJ E Double D. Additionally, the night was supported by the Brother & Sister Hip-Hop duo
Abstract Mind State.
When Slum village performed, the vibes were electric and took everyone on their musical journey past & present.
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Notice to editors
Keith Mckenzie
Keith is an awareness campaigner, a creative designer (Graphic design and digital art) and a salsa dancing participant
With a background in Art & Design (including Graphic Design & Digital art) and a participant in music-related film documentaries, events & record label project King Of the Beats including filming and behind the scene preparations.
Keith was educated at Hereford College of the Arts, the University of Northampton, Birmingham City University and Google's Digital Garage. Since 2000, he has developed over twenty years in providing awareness projects, campaigns and activities with the Awareness brand Plus Value Awareness along with Differences Originals. Also am involved with salsa classes in the local community as an assistant. I also have participated in major dancing conventions at Birmingham's NEC, including Motion City (created by Birmingham Latinmotion and London's ManboCity) during the summer and Latinmotion's NYE Fest during the New Year public holiday.
In 2022, Keith became a featured community participant for Birmingham who became part of special projects and campaigns to promote a positive legacy beyond hosting the Commonwealth Games