It had been announced for a long time: 12 hours of hip hop for only € 5. Demonstrations of all elements of hip hop, DJs, live shows, expositions, ... A great program for all hip hop lovers. Location: Kortrijk. Yeah, that little city where nothing ever happens, especially nothing hip hop related.
At an underground location in Kortrijk's most multi-cultural street the graffiti crew Lost Flammos arrived in the afternoon to spraycan the whole room with some great work. A dedication to Guru by Cazn, a self portrait by Jipse, Boris repping Beat The Streetz on the walls, ... The whole vibe of the room changed into a hip hop location in just a few hours.
With a delay in the schedule, due to the lack of people, the evening was opened by the breakdancers of Total Madness Family. Even though Bboy Iron brought his youngest dancers, they put down an amazing routine, after every dancer had his and her solo moment. The crowd was enthousiastic and the mood was set for the night.
After that Devoo gave his best during the beatbox show. With his great techniques and recognizable beatbox version of famous hip hop tracks, he left the people in awe.
DJ Ubuntu (resident) warmed up the crowd by playing his best oldskool and underground hip hop tracks while the people waited on what would be next.
45 minutes Fez called the crowd closer to the stage, as the people from Beat M UP (Rotterdam - Holland) prepared their set up on stage. 3 producers (IvanIce, Ray the Barbarian and Spaceman) had picked a sample and all 3 of them made a beat with that sample in 45 min, while sitting in the backstage. Then they let the crowd decide which beat they loved the most. IvanIce won! The beatbattles of Beat M Up are new for Belgium, but they'll bring the concept over here, in cooperation with Beat The Streetz.
After the beatbattle, the open mic was announced and the MCs lined up. All of them did their thing on the mic, beginners and professionals, side by side, showing off their best freestyle skills in a respectful cypher. The crowd was loving it!
After the local group Expa did their thing on stage, De Rijmtechniekers took over and then the mics were passed to Flowlife Bumz. DJ Grazzhoppa wrapped the party up.
The sound wasn't that good. Mainly due to the shape of the room (which was build at a porn cinema in the 30s, with a balcony and everything). Flowlife Bumz experienced the most technical problems, but they finally got solved and they still gave a great show.
Unfortunally there wasn't a lot of people. 110 - 150 hip hop heads. Because of the size of the room, it seemed empty, but the vibe was still very good. Everybody had a blast. Too bad there was a delay of an hour at the beginning of the evening, which messed up the schedule. A tip to the organisors: next time don't book so many artists and DJs, start the evening later and find a smaller location. But besides that, it was a great hip hop night! Back to the basics. Celebrating the whole hip hop lifestyle. I'm waiting for more!
