This past weekend midwest rap duo, The Cool Kids, performed at the Halifax Wave. They brought their signature mix of bassy boom bap beats and lazy flows to the all ages crowd for Hopscotch: Halifax’s Hip-Hop festival.
Local rapper, Kayo provided an opening set with a live band, which featured songs from his latest record S.L.A.V.E. and Halifax’s Poet Laureate, renown spoken word artist El Jones, gave an emotional performance.
The festival finale was a Silent Disco at The Marquee Ballroom later that night during which the crowd could flip on either T-Woo or Tommy Knuckles, Zora The Sultan or DJ Dollar – all over headphones.
Photos by Evan McIntyre
Here’s a letter from the festival’s chair, Michael McGuire (aka Hermitofthewoods), published on the festival Facebook Page that speaks to the ability of art to bind and strengthen a community:
“A message from our chair, Michael McGuire:
Hey everyone,
Well, another Hopscotch festival is now behind us and I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved and everyone who came out.
First of all, the executive committee, who worked hard to make all of our ideas come to life. Billy, Mel, Suzanne, Christian, Jonbob, Alexis, Sam, Derek, Luke – all of you do amazing work and thank you all for everything you did to make this year come together. To everyone who volunteered or pitched in to help out in one way or another, thank you so much. Finally, to everyone who came out to one of our events, fans and supporters and people who just happened by and stuck around to take it in, thank you for taking the time to share in this culture we love. We put this festival on for the community and getting love back makes it all worthwhile.
One thing I/we hoped for with this year’s festival was to connect our rich and diverse hip community with each other and with the rest of the City of Halifax . From the ciphers on Friday, where all of the elements of hip hop were in full swing – in all styles, from all parts of the city (and beyond) – to the pure enjoyment on the faces of people at the waterfront for Saturday evening’s performances – both those who came on purpose and those who took a chance in the moment – we tried (and I dare say succeeded) to be a showcase for the wonderful music, dance, and art coming from our homegrown hip hop community.
And then there were the after parties. The first was a reminder of the absolute brilliance of live music and everyone who played – Ria Mae (you, too Lil’ Ambo), Universal Soul, DJ IV, and The Caravan – did so with their hearts on their sleeves and their passion for what they do filled the room. The second was an incredible experience that I’m sure left many people with the shared feeling that something weird and special was going on, and we were all in it together (and, if not, the flip of a switch would get you there).
It was an absolute joy to see veterans rocking alongside newcomers to the culture. To see the artists who graced our spaces finding enthusiastic new fans. To see our former Chair and current Provincial NDP candidate, Drew Moore, running at full speed to the stage so he wouldn’t miss a chance to throw down before his judging duties began. To see Three Sheet’s Vanessa Furlong and our Poet Laureate El Jones take the stage and defy all expectations with performances that were more inspirational than either of them likely know. To see young kids, barely able to walk, mesmerized by b-boys and b-girls, dancing their little hearts out in the crowd. Most of all, for me, it was a pleasure to meet and talk to so many people who felt the same way I do – that something special happened on the weekend and that this is something that should happen more often.
Thank you all.
Love and Respect,
Michael McGuire aka Hermitofthewoods
Chair, Hopscotch Executive Committee”
My friend Johnson was present at that show. He told me it was awesome show & he enjoyed there lot.