“We have created a historic night in RVA, something years from now I can tell my kids about. And the folklore from this night will spread that September 10, 2011 was a great night for RVA Hip-Hop.” –Cain McCoy, Slapdash Promotion.
A historic night and a new beginning for RVA Hip-Hop was the sentiment swirling around The Camel in the early hours of September 11th. While the nation braced for a very emotional day of remembrance, RVA Hip-Hop was putting the finishing touch on its own history; The RVA Music Fest Hip Hop Hooray Showcase. “We have reached a milestone tonight at Slapdash, the good folks at RVA Mag contacted us because they wanted to show RVA Hip-Hop in a positive light and we got together with the homies, Just Plain Sounds, Hollywood Cemetery, and Charged Up Entertainment…we came together, Super Friends Style, and worked together to put on an awesome event.” said Cain McCoy.
McCoy pulled double duty Saturday night as a lead promoter and featured emcee on a bill that led off with Just Plain Ant and Ohbliv dropping a mixture of their classic sounds with some new production. The beats of Just Plain Sounds truly echoed throughout the night with DJ Dizz representing as the house DJ for the event.
Cain McCoy then followed with his routine high energy set; working all over the stage and even in the audience. McCoy finished his set with some new tracks and a new voice: Lucy Freedom. McCoy and Freedom collaboration on the track "iRocketing Baby," putting the crowd in the right mood for the storm that was on its way.
That storm came in the form of performances by Nickelus F with Conrizzle and Black Liquid & the New Juice Crew. Nickelus F has been in his lab putting in work on new tracks for his upcoming project Faces, but it hasn’t slowed down his live show at all. He blazed The Camel with mostly new material: “I was going to do a set of older joints but then I decided to try the new stuff out and everybody seemed to rock with it.” He had the crowd rocking with him from the moment he stepped onstage; excited to hear a familiar track like "Chocolate Milk" but equally hyped during new material like "SMH," the first single released from Faces. Nickelus F was joined on stage by emcee and producer Conrizzle. They blessed the Camel crowd with their collaboration "Swangin." Nickelus F and Conrizzle left the stage knowing they made a strong impact on a special night.
Next up was the lyrical wordsmith Swordplay. The RVA vet, whose rhyming style you can’t help but to compare to a certain “Shady” emcee, definitely respected his indie rock influence. But don’t be fooled--Swordplay came correct with pure Hip-Hop darts to the warm audience and represented well.
The table was then set for the Hardest Working Man in RVA Hip-Hop: Black Liquid and the New Juice Crew. With Swerve 36 on the wheelz, Black Liq went in with energy like no other; he likes to calls it “Melting Faces,” and if you were in the building you’d have to agree. With 15 albums, the main challenge for Liq might be selecting what songs to perform, but he hit the crowd with his normal high tempo set including his latest anthem, "Can I Get A Deal," and the growing classic "Richmond." Black Liq worked the crowd into frenzy before exiting to start his radio show in 5 minutes--the man works hard.
If that wasn’t already enough, it was then time for the man whose single has RVA (and MTV) on lock right now; Noah O. Strongly representing the movement Charged Up Ent., Noah O is clear to point out that he is working for underground Hip-Hop, and Virginia, as a whole. “In the past, the Richmond Hip-Hop scene seemed a little more standoff… people really were doing their own thing. But now with spots like The Camel, [where] Charged Up puts on the Rebirth every month, the whole thing is about people coming together and sharing a fan base. And if we can keep coming together for events like the RVA Music Fest, it’s just going to make the scene that much bigger.” Streetz Deep, who later joined Noah O on stage to perform the smash "I Got It," went on to say, “The RVA Music Fest is one of the few places in the 804 where you see a mixture of everybody in one place supporting each other. It’s such a diverse crowd coming together, and that’s why this is important and that’s where our strength is; power in numbers. It’s a blessing to be on MTV, but we got so much more work to do. We are here on Broad Street, showing love, talking to people, and cross promoting. This is just the foundation.” In a strong moment of consciousness on stage, Noah O asked the crowd for the time. It had recently passed midnight into the early morning of September 11th. Noah asked for a moment of silence, then went into an a-cappella freestyle in remembrance of the tragic anniversary that had the crowd moved. It was from the heart and the most powerful moment of the night. He then finished his set with the aforementioned MTV Jams heavy rotation single "I Got It."
After Charged Up left the stage, it was time for another hard working Central VA artist, Artik Phreeze. Phreeze told me before his set that his goal was to impress RVA Mag so much that I would come find him after for an interview. Well, he did not disappoint RVA Mag or anyone in the audience. He started with a single for the ladies, "Sex in the AM." Sitting in a chair with blue light shining, it was a little more sensitive than the audience may have been ready for, but he quickly picked up the tempo with tracks like "Big $ (Big Money)" and "Imma Get Mine." Phreeze showed a diverse rhyme flow; and his stage presence had all eyes on him. I couldn’t get that interview after the show (though he earned it); but I did catch up with Phreeze on Sunday, near the main stage of RVA Music Fest, enjoying a wide range of music. He let me know that his mixtape is coming this fall, so stay tuned for what’s next from Artik Phreeze.
The last performance of the night (early morning at this point) was Young Richmond Outkasts. YRO is onto something special. As a group, they can’t be defined, and their sound is unique for RVA Hip-Hop. I’ve learned that in 2011 there is a very thin line between swag and just too much. YRO toes that line, BUT after hearing their music, particularly the track "Warrior," their talent can’t be denied. Unfortunately, most of the crowd had thinned by the time YRO took the stage. But if you stuck around, it was well worth it.
I concluded the night by speaking with the hosts of the evening, Bee Rice and Tan Carter of Beats and Breakfast Radio. They were exhausted, but resolute that RVA Music Fest could really spark a larger movement in the RVA Hip-Hop scene. The positivity of the night was really a microcosm of what’s been building in the over the last few years, and they were proud to be a part of it. The final blessing of the event came from RVA Mag’s creator himself, Tony Harris, who swung by to check on the action. When asked about why this night was important for RVA Hip-Hop, Tony said it best: “RVA Hip-Hop is important because it gets the story out there of what people are going through. If we can get the word out, I think Richmond will catch on and start valuing what we have here, because we have a lot of talented people and they are working hard.”
Words and Images by Marc Cheatham/The Cheats Movement