{"id":430,"date":"2009-04-14T23:32:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T07:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/?p=430"},"modified":"2009-04-14T23:32:39","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T07:32:39","slug":"finally-a-sxsw-post-and-an-epic-one-at-thatlolshows-shows-more-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/?p=430","title":{"rendered":"Finally, a SXSW post!!! And an epic one at that…LOL…Shows, shows & more shows…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Before we start this (c) Dilla on Ruff Draft.\u00c2\u00a0 This post is crazy long, you might just wanna download the Tanya Morgan<\/a> live at SXSW EP below, featuring me<\/a>, Blu<\/a> & Peter Hadar<\/a>, if you’re not big on reading & clicking links, otherwise, please read on & enjoy -><\/p>\n

.:Tanya Morgan w\/DJ Low Key, Blu & Peter Hadar – Live at SXSW 2009:.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Like most of my flights out of town, my trip to Austin started with next to no sleep and a mad dash to wrap up loose ends for the time I’m gone, prepare for whatever random DJ iddish I’m spinning & all the normal travel stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 I rushed to the airport after sleeping an hour and missed my flight’s check-in by literally couple of minutes, thanks to some confusion on the part of Frontier Airlines’ employees (WTF…come on y’all).\u00c2\u00a0 Anyways, after 4 1\/2 stressed, frustrated & tired hours of explaining the situation and talking\/yelling\/bargaining\/etc with a variety of Frontier employees & managers during the busiest flying week short of Christmas I ended up barely making it on a flight to Austin.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A couple of short hours and half a nap later I touched down in Austin, where I was picked up by Tanya Morgan and the homie Dom from IM Culture and after catching up for a minute, it was time to figure out some last minute details for the set and get me SXSW credentials (word to DJing for rap groups & the parties it can get you into…LOL).\u00c2\u00a0 Once\u00c2\u00a0 I had my artist bracelet it was off to the infamous Red Bull Moon Tower to spin a few sets before the 1am Tanya Morgan show I’d be DJing at later.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

It’s a well known fact that Red Bull is known for throwing exceptional parties and the Moon Tower was another one for the ages.\u00c2\u00a0 People were lined up super early and there was an excitement (or maybe just an impressive energetic drunkness) for the exclusive, invite-only event that the Denver Post called the #1 SXSW party<\/a> (although technically it’s not even a SXSW party).\u00c2\u00a0 I played a bunch of new music from Che Grand, Daniel Merriweather, TiRon, Colin Munroe with some older classics and sleepers, plus some exclusive TM and U-N-I\/Ro Blvd songs that the crowd was into.\u00c2\u00a0 I wish I had those sets to post along with the TM stuff, sorry y’all.\u00c2\u00a0 Around 12:30, I rushed off stage at the Moon Tower as the homie (and fellow Red Bull Music Academy<\/a> Mr. X) DJ Scuba Gooding<\/a> showed up to take over the turntables and it was off to DJ for Tanya Morgan at Back Alley Social.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

This being my first SXSW trip I wasn’t quite ready for the rushed conditions and mess of equipment that goes along with having so many acts playing marathon style (no soundcheck, horrible sound in the club, switching out mixers between acts without checking any levels, one turntable that was broken and completely useless, no vocals in the monitors, etc).\u00c2\u00a0 With that said, it wasn’t my best show with TM, but I think we pulled things off pretty well all things considered.\u00c2\u00a0 Mad energy, a set featuring all new songs from the upcoming TM album Brooklynati (it drops on 5\/12, preorders are available now), a special appearance from Kay<\/a> (of the Foundation and Time:Line w\/Nicolay fame, who I didn’t recognize because he wasn’t wearing his trademark glasses, even though we’ve kicked it in Denver…LOL) & super-producer Aeon<\/a> rockin out on the edge of the stage when we played “She’s Gone” (the song he produced from the new album).\u00c2\u00a0 After the showcase it was back to the packed Red Bull Moon Tower for a relatively uneventful wrap up<\/a> to the night (only uneventful because it I was exhausted, the party went on strong til 5am).<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Above: This pic corresponds to the beginning of the “All Eye Need” snippet from the SXSW live EP if you’re keeping score at home.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Above: Donwill & Ilyas of Tanya Morgan\/Ilwil<\/a> with me on the turntables. Below: Me & Von Pea use teamwork to show the crowd how to count to ten.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The next day started in the early afternoon with me rushing over to the Nahright<\/a>\/Smoking Section<\/a>\/Ruby Hornet<\/a> showcase for a sound check that never ended up happening (the venues seemed overwhelmed with all the acts performing everywhere we went).\u00c2\u00a0 Once I was at the spot I managed to see my friends from the Hiero tour, the Blue Scholars<\/a>, crush it as usual for a packed house before getting caught up with the homies Blu, Exile<\/a> & J Kim, who I hadn’t seen since the “Blu Collar Worker” video<\/a> shoot in LA (I was heavily\/randomly involved<\/a> in making the video from the classic album Below The Heavens happen).<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

The place was full when me & Tanya Morgan got on stage to rock a completely different set than the night before. This time the venue was way more on top of things than the spot from the night before (two working turntables even…LOL) and the show went off a lot smoother.\u00c2\u00a0 Both Peter Hadar & Blu made a special appearances to rock their features from Brooklynati (once again, it drops May 12th), check out the video below of “Morgan Blu”<\/a> (featuring guess who). After our set we stayed and watched Blu & Exile rock (Blu spitting over Ex playing live on the MPC is awesome). Then, as Blu & Exile were midway through their last song, Charles Hamilton managed to play himself by starting his set before Blu & Ex had even finished performing (and after that same set he played himself again by claiming he produced a song he performed that was actually produced by Black Spade, another performer in the same showcase, SMH, check the whole story at freshselects.net<\/a> if you haven’t already). Anyways, check out more coverage of the Nahright\/Smoking Section\/Knuckle Rumbler party over here<\/a>, here<\/a> & here<\/a>.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

After the show I was supposed to join Tanya Morgan for an interview out in front of the venue but instead got caught up talking to Exile inside.\u00c2\u00a0 I ran outside looking for the group and saw their frequent collaborator, producer 88 Keys<\/a>, so I asked if he’d seen them.\u00c2\u00a0 He hadn’t but I turned the corner to find TM, tell them 88 was around the corner and see Donwill chase him down to say what up and have him join us for the interview.\u00c2\u00a0 About five minutes into the interview, Homeboy Sandman<\/a> walks by, TM flags him down and a crazy cipher that eventually came to feature all of Tanya Morgan, 88 Keys, Truth Live<\/a>, Fresh Daily<\/a>, Homeboy Sandman & P. Casso<\/a> broke out. You can find the four parts over at 2Dopeboyz<\/a>, but make sure you check part three where Von Pea spit the instantly classic (ahahaha) lines “Now it seems we in a house of dreams\/trying to keep it low key & still sound supreme” (word to the Solution<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 There were all sorts of dope MCs rapping with me in the background, check out the clips, ahahahaha.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n

That pretty much finished the “work” (I LOVE my job) part of my trip to Austin.\u00c2\u00a0 I definitely gotta mention that the pics with the fancy logos were taken by Seher Sikandar<\/a> from RehesCreative.com<\/a>, make sure you check her work out, she’s great (and nice and hopefully not mad I’m posting her pics).\u00c2\u00a0 Also, make sure you download the live EP below if you haven’t already and check out the pics & stories from the rest of my trip after the jump:<\/p>\n

.:Tanya Morgan w\/DJ Low Key, Blu & Peter Hadar – Live at SXSW 2009:.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Above: “I got my Yankee on wild & my stabs type spotless” (c) Von Pea\u00c2\u00a0 Below: Ilyas & Von with me on the turntables<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After the interview turned monster cipher, we wandered around downtown Austin for a while (I met Twilite Tone<\/a> and proceeded to rap the first 4 bars of his verse from Resurrection<\/a> to him to show I was a fan…LOL) before ending up at the Trackademicks<\/a>, 1OAK<\/a>, Mike Baker<\/a> & DJ Tap 10<\/a> (not pictured) aka the Honor Roll<\/a> showcase (please tell me you’re familiar, if not get your google on, these cats are super talented).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Honor Roll click MURDERED their showcase, although I gotta admit, by that time on Friday night I was hurting bad after two days of going extra hard (pause) on next to no sleep.\u00c2\u00a0 After the show I was so exhausted I had to catch a quick nap in the car while the rest of the crew (TM, IM, Finale, etc) hit up the Wax Poetics showcase.\u00c2\u00a0 We were parked on a hill above the (then closed) Fader Fort and twenty minutes into trying to take a nap I heard Kid Cudi sound checking for his set at the G.O.O.D. Music showcase the next night.\u00c2\u00a0 I halfway dozed off again and ten minutes later I woke up to the surprise guest for next night, Kanye, checkin “We Major”.\u00c2\u00a0 It was extra surreal and started a rally that ended up with me “saving the show” (c) Kid Cudi’s manager Emile<\/a> a few hour later at the Red Bull Moon Tower.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After listening to part of the G.O.O.D. Music soundcheck I linked back up with TM\/IM and we headed out to the Red Bull Moon Tower for more late night madness.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometime around 3:30am I was heading to the back stage area and my boy James from Red Bull stopped me to say that Kid Cudi was going on in a half hour and his DJ didn’t have a serato box (a necessary piece of equipment that allows DJs to play songs from their laptops on turntables, crucial in ’09).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Luckily, I’d been dragging around my DJ bag with my serato box all day (I was annoyed to have it up until that point), so next thing you know both the Red Bull team and Cudi’s manager Emile were extra thankful, saying I “saved the show”.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know that I’d go that far, but it’s always dope to help out.\u00c2\u00a0 Plus, with them borrowing my equipment, I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about watching Cudi rock from onstage (while eating fish tacos at that…LMAO).\u00c2\u00a0 Not that I’d really have felt bad doing that otherwise, the stage manager was the homie, plus I had the all access pass from performing, but still.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The next day started with BBQ with TM, Finale<\/a> & the IM Records crew before heading back downtown for more shows.\u00c2\u00a0 The first show we hit up was Janelle Monae’s<\/a> packed showcase that ended up being my favorite show of the whole trip.\u00c2\u00a0 Janelle was AMAZING!!!\u00c2\u00a0 Great band, great music, great performance and man, she’s even more beautiful in person.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s a doll, no really, she doesn’t even look like a real person…LOL.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine a little doll who’s on stage with a nasty funk band rockin extra hard on some rock star iddish.\u00c2\u00a0 She finished her show by stage-diving into the crowd and making her way to the back of the room and all the way back to the stage again.\u00c2\u00a0 Needless to say, her performance was on some whole other shit, it’s easy to see why she was one of the darlings of SXSW this year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After getting turned out by Janelle Monae we were off to the Okayplayer<\/a>\/Frank151<\/a> showcase where we caught shows from Izza Kizza<\/a>, U-N-I<\/a> w\/Theo<\/a> & Curren$y, Blu & Exile, Res & the Rub.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d never seen the homies U-N-I perform but had heard a lot of great things from people who had.\u00c2\u00a0 Y-O & Thurzday rocked extra hard with a ton of energy and enthusiasm (jumping into the crowd to finish their set).\u00c2\u00a0 Performers who are genuinely excited and happy to be on stage can really get a crowd into the show and U-N-I did just that.\u00c2\u00a0 After U-N-I finished up, Blu & Exile took the stage and rocked a different set than the night before.\u00c2\u00a0 Ex manned the tables and killed the MPC once again, plus he kept it moving despite his laptop falling off the table twice, all while Blu rapped songs from his albums with some other randomness mixed in (including a verse of Nas “The World Is Yours” over the title track from Below The Heavens).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After the Okayplayer\/Frank151 party I finally got a chance to link up with the homies Reggie, JJ & the DRG Films<\/a> crew who’d been wanting to get footage of me for the A Love Supreme Sessions documentary they’ve been workin on for a while now (more on A Love Supreme & the documentary here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

We then made our way over to the Fader Fort where Jadakiss & Styles P were on stage as we skipped the line (shouts to whoever got us in so easily) and grabbed some free drinks.\u00c2\u00a0 Green Lantern & Dead Prez both performed short sets and then came the event we’d been looking forward to, the G.O.O.D. Music showcase.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone from label was there, Kanye, Common, Kid Cudi, Mr. Hudson, GLC, Big Sean, Consequence, Fonsworth Bentley, Really Doe, Tony Williams & special guest Erykah Badu plus a band.\u00c2\u00a0 Check out the video clip below of Kanye, Com & Erykah’s freestyle session from the show and a link under that to download the whole performance (yes, the whole G.O.O.D. Music set).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

.:G.O.O.D. Music – Live at SXSW 2009:.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Next stop was Finale & Invincible’s<\/a> showcase.\u00c2\u00a0 When we got to the venue, Buff1<\/a> & 14KT<\/a>, two other great acts from Michigan were finishing up a dope set.\u00c2\u00a0 You might know Buff1 from his guest verse on my recent mixtape with TiRon (Ketchup y’all<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, when I walked in Buff was rapping that verse over a different beat and it took me a minute to figure out how I knew it so well…LOL.\u00c2\u00a0 Invincible was up next and proceeded to rock with an authority rarely seen in any perfomers, let alone a female.\u00c2\u00a0 She commanded the crowd for a while before bringing up the homie Finale, who MURDERED his faster than fast verses from “Jungle Music” (check the video below and link at FreshSelects.net<\/a>) before they finished out a fantastic set together.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

After the Finale\/Invincible show, me, TM & the cats from IM Records broke out to grab food and pack up before the heading over to catch Erykah Badu & her new band, the Cannabinoids, at the Red Bull Moon Tower on some grand finale shit.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, things don’t always go according to plan. Most everybody was beyond wore out and leaving early in the morning so only me, Truth Live, Finale & a couple of their homies made it over to the Moon Tower around 3 am.\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently the Austin P.D. had other plans<\/a> as well and had killed the music and threatened to arrest the party’s organizers just minutes before we pulled up.\u00c2\u00a0 We still all drank some free drinks, ate some free fish tacos & kicked it in the green room to pretty much wrap up my SXSW experience and the night.<\/p>\n

Whew…that was easily the longest post I’ve made on here since starting the site four years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re still not SXSWed out, check out more SXSW stories at RappersIKnow.com<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Last but not least, shouts to the my old friends and new cats I got to meet in Austin: Don, Von, Il, Dom, Ashley, the Red Bull cats behind the Moon Tower (Danielle, Tresa, James & Keith), ID, Truth Live, Aeon, Finale, Invincible, Blu, Exile, J Kim, Seher, Scuba Gooding, Y-O, Thurzday, Theo, DJ Hyphen, Tap 10, Trackademicks, Mike Baker, 14KT, Buff1, Emile, 88 Keys, DRG Films, JJ, Reggie, Fresh Daily, Homeboy Sandman, P. Casso, Geo, Sabzi, Safia, Lisa, Rosalinda, Rob Viktum, Peter Hadar, Victor Nguyen, Crew54, Che’s manager Matt, Jake One, Michelle from Audible Treats, Domingo from Frank151 & the many people I’m sure I’m forgetting, please excuse my bad memory.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before we start this (c) Dilla on Ruff Draft.\u00c2\u00a0 This post is crazy long, you might just wanna download the Tanya Morgan live at SXSW EP below, featuring me, Blu & Peter Hadar, if you’re not big on reading & clicking links, otherwise, please read<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,9,6,4,8,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.djlowkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}