I have been anticipating this year’s Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival for months now, and it finally happened this past Saturday June 20th located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It’s been shitty weather these past couple of weeks in New York, but thankfully it was a rain or shine event. Hosting this years event was Uncle Ralph McDaniels– with artists, vendors, photogs and hip hop lovers all under one huge white tent. It does sound a little chaotic but it was again– a very peaceful event, minus the two annoying drunk dudes that were trying to have a five finger discount on the photographers in front of them, and flashing lifestyle condoms the ENTIRE TIME..they did seem to manage to get the attention from the camera’s so you might see the morons…I mean– promotion coming to a hip hop blog site near you. I did feel bad for the two ladies standing next to them.

On the other hand…I did get there a couple of hours late, so I’m bummed that I missed out on a few of the opening acts such as DJ Brina Payne, Nyle, Brokn.Englsh, DJ Misbehaviour and Children of the Night (shout out to Remy for giving me a mixtape, anyways). I lucked out at this event, I was able to squeeze my way to the front. I am definitely going to be lookin‘ out for Brown Bag All Stars for sure. They definitely had a lot of energy–rocked the stage and they gained a new fan after Saturday! Keys N Krates a group from Toronto was definitely a different kind of performance, and when I say different it’s not at all in a bad way. Live mixing with DJ Parler (shout out for playin‘ a Dilla joint from my request on twitter) and the band. The crowd was definitely feelin‘ it. Tiye Phoenix, a very petite shorty, with a strong voice! And I quote, “The bad news is the Female rapper is dead. The good news is the female M.C. is back.” That definitely was refreshing to hear, and and apparently an album I must take a listenin‘ to, ‘Half-Woman, Half-Amazing’ (she must be a Nas fan, I like her already…just kidding ;] .) Kudos to Metermaids and Chip Fu. I was excited to see Marco Polo and Torae on stage. Torae was a swoll-body that made me think of Saigon? Hmm…maybe not, but you get where I’m going with that. Tanya Morgan gave a decent performance. I’m really not up to date with their material, but I would definitely like to hear more from them. Believe it or not I just got put on to Homeboy Sandman not to long ago, and he has a big fan base here in New York. I’ve seen him a few times outside of BHF so he was definitely a comforting familiar face to see on stage. He did tracks that was produced by Shawn J Period. He did manage to get booed by some people in the crowd, which I didn’t understand. But whatever, everyone has their own opinion. Tek and Steele duo members of Smif-N-Wessun got the crowd very hyped, so hyped I think my ribs were being crushed by the bar gates. No worries, I still got to record footage for you guys! And of course, Buckshot pleased the crowd! It was definitely a memorable moment for myself when members from Brand Nubian performed classics such as, ‘Slow Down.’ DJ J Period did his set bringing out surprise special guest, Black Thought, which also, so happens to be my best friend’s favorite rapper, so if anyone was going crazy it was the big dude behind me. The ever so talented DJ Premier came on stage to spin, but his set wasn’t that long, but you know how it is. Shout out to DJ Green Latern for getting Stic.Man and M-1 from Dead Prez in the studio for this new album! It was refreshing to hear some new tracks, but of course…they can’t leave the stage without performing ‘HIP HOP’! Styles came out with Sheek Louch reppin‘ D-Block hard with some new shit…and of course some old tracks to please the crowd. Black Thought came out for a second round before, Pharoahe Monch shared the stage with Milk Dee from the group Audio Two and blessed the stage with the classic song, ‘Top Billin.’ Monch’s time was cut due to the festival’s schedule, (which is a bit disrespectful to an artist,) especially when he was in the middle of, ‘Simon Says.’ They did let him start the song over again and actually let him finish the second time running.

Overall, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival was a success. They promoted the after party in South Paw, but I was just too damn exhausted to attend. A few dudes from the Hip Hop Underground community such as Warrenaissance, Kalil Kash, Wordspit, Prezzure, J-Monopoly, YC, Joe Columbo were cyphering until stepping foot out the park. It was a great day in my hip hop life, if only every weekend was like this.

So, I want to give a big iHeart thank you to Brooklyn Bodega for putting this well secured festival together for all the Hip Hop lovers out there. I just hope next year’s festival won’t be under a tent due to the weather.

*And If you missed out BHF ’09 check out some flicks and videos on my site. If you have any footage from this event or a hip hop show that you want people to see –hit me up on twitter.com/iheartdilla or e-mail me at iheartdilla@gmail.com.

-JessBlaze.

Check out picture’s at this link: http://photobucket.com/iHeartdilla